Blood and Wine - Margot Scott Page 0,39

cage, staring at Will’s prone body. I use her hesitation to my advantage, turning my focus on the screw securing Will’s left ankle cuff. It takes a couple of tries, but eventually, it starts to turn.

Will pulls on my arm. “Mariah, you have to wake up.”

I shake him off.

“Not yet.”

The screw is at least two inches in length, and badly tarnished. It twists and turns and twists some more, until it pops out onto the floor.

We stare at the fallen screw and wait for Lilliana and Christopher to notice, but they’re too busy arguing over who’s the bigger pussy.

“When’d you learn to do that?” Will asks.

“Just now.” I focus on removing the screw from his right ankle, then his wrists. My head pounds as I struggle to work the final screw from his throat cuff.

Will wraps his arms around me from behind. I lean against him, throwing all of my focus into loosening the screw.

It falls to the floor.

“You’re incredible,” he says into my hair. “You know that?”

I smile. “Don’t thank me just yet. We still have to get you out of this cage. Wait for one of them to drag me inside, then pounce.”

“No. I’ll rip you to pieces right alongside them. You have to get out first.”

“If they don’t open your cage then it was all for nothing.” I kiss the inside of his palm. “I trust you, Will. Now I need you to trust yourself with me.”

He kisses me, his hands grasping at my body like he’s afraid to let go. But he needs to. Releasing the demon inside him is the only way he can free us both.

“Okay,” he rasps. “But the second the bloodlust takes hold, I become a hunter. I won’t be able to stop until my prey is dead.”

“So, don’t stop,” I tell him. “Hunt them down.”

Will’s face hardens with renewed resolve. He searches my gaze for understanding and finds it. He’s going to kill them all, and I’m going to let him do it.

There’s a loud clang and the grinding of metal against metal. Lilliana has turned the key in the lock.

“The second you wake up,” Will says, “crawl to the corner behind me. Hopefully I’ll be too busy chasing these two down to notice you.” He smooths my hair and kisses my forehead. “And no matter what you hear, Mariah, don’t follow me.”

Chapter Sixteen

Mariah

The cage door squeals as it swings open. Lilliana grasps my wrists.

Will is no longer standing beside me, which means he’s returned to his body on the wall—held there now by his own predatory stillness. I’m still unconscious from the sedative, but I’m beginning to feel the edges of my awareness thinning as the drug wears off.

Lilliana steps into the cage, dragging me in after her. Will’s eyes snap open. They’re the same impossible shade of blue they were the night we first met.

“He’s awake,” Christopher says.

Lilliana looks over her shoulder and sees Will watching her.

“I don’t know how Dad gets so close to that thing,” Christopher says.

She tugs harder on my arms. “Just shut up and help me with her legs.”

Christopher grasps my ankles. The sound of creaking metal causes them both to freeze in place.

“Is that normal?” Christopher asks.

Lilliana sees the screws on the floor and releases me.

Will’s cuffs burst apart as he lunges. Lilliana screams. He’s on her, his mouth at her throat, fangs sinking into her neck.

Ripping. Tearing. Shredding.

The sound alone makes me shudder. There’s so much blood...

Will crouches over Lilliana’s form on the floor, his back heaving as he swallows. Christopher slams the cage door shut. Lilliana cries out to her brother, a garbled call that sounds like she’s trying to speak underwater. Blood drips from her mouth. Christopher rips the key from the lock and then fumbles with the keychain, dropping it.

He’s trapped me in here with his dying sister and Will’s bloodlust.

“No,” I say to no one who can hear me.

Christopher flings open the exterior door and disappears into the darkened hall. I kneel by the cage door, looking to see where the keychain fell. It’s about an arm’s length from the bars. I pour my concentration onto the keychain, willing it to slide toward me, but just as the keys begin to twitch, I feel myself waking up.

I sink back into my body. My head hurts like it’s been kicked by a horse. I blink against the light and roll onto my side, coming face to face with Lilliana’s open-eyed stare.

“Jesus...” I jerk back. Will has torn a hole in