his throat wouldn’t allow him to say more. That was fine. He swore to himself that if a single hair was harmed on Fox’s head, he would prove to Damon and all his little flunkies why the vampire world feared him. The Angel of Death would claim them all.
Chapter 28
Fox flipped off the TV and dropped back against the couch cushions with a loud sigh in the oppressive silence of the loft. He wished he could have gone to the meeting with Winter and Aiden. Going, of course, would have been stupid and dangerous, but it would also mean he wasn’t wondering what the hell was happening with Damon.
Stupid fucking vampire.
Damon, that was.
Not his sweet, funny, and grumpy vampire.
Just thinking of Winter put a sappy grin on his face. He was a hopeless mess when it came to his vampire, but he didn’t care.
Winter wanted Fox to stay. Winter loved him.
And Fox loved him so completely. He’d never expected this to happen. And definitely not in the middle of a kidnapping. Well, sort of kidnapping. Damon technically kidnapped him. Winter liberated him and then kept him for safety reasons.
Fox snorted at his own thinking. Therapists around the world would be scoffing their heads off at that line of reasoning.
Despite a rough start, Fox had never felt threatened or in danger when he was with Winter. He was sure that if he truly pressed the matter, Winter would have found a way to let him go.
But Fox had wanted to stay to get to the bottom of this prophecy nonsense.
And if he were being honest with himself, he’d wanted to stay near Winter. The vampire was too intriguing and too much fun, even when he was being all stiff and reserved.
Fox groaned at his own thoughts and pushed off the couch, but he stood there, in the middle of the living room. He should be practicing his magic like Zelda taught him to instead of thinking about Winter. He swore and dropped down again. There was no way he’d be able to concentrate on magic like he was supposed to. Worry was crawling through him over this meeting.
What if something went wrong? What if Damon double-crossed him?
Well, of course Damon was going to double-cross him and Aiden, but what if they couldn’t escape from the trap?
Shoving his hand into his hair, Fox tightened his fingers on the strands and pulled. He couldn’t sit around, doing nothing all night. Winter was going to be fine.
He released his hair and stood yet again, but this time he walked over to the breakfast bar where he’d left his new cell phone. Winter had just gotten it for him to use in emergencies. He’d left it across the room to charge to keep himself from checking it every two seconds for a text from Winter.
But he’d look just this once. Maybe Winter had texted to simply say that they were at The Gallery. That way he could start a countdown clock in his mind. Winter had said he didn’t think the meeting would last more than thirty minutes at most, and then he’d return to the loft.
Unlocking the phone, Fox frowned when he noticed there were no messages waiting for him. He was about to put the phone down again when he noticed he had zero bars. That didn’t make any sense. He’d already used the phone a few times to text with River and Ethan—both men had urged him to follow Rafe’s Instagram account so they could all make fun of Winter’s brother. It had been working earlier in the night.
He unplugged the phone from the charging cable and walked to another spot in the loft with the phone held up, trying to see if he could pick up a signal. But no bars appeared. That was strange.
Sighing, Fox lowered the phone. It was annoying but not a big deal. The phone was still connected to Winter’s Wi-Fi signal. He could send him an internet-based message, telling him he didn’t have a cell signal.
As he opened the app, there was a loud pop a heartbeat before all the lights went out. Darkness blanketed the loft. The low hum of white noise created by the refrigerator and air conditioning went silent.
A power outage too?
No.
Fox’s heart skipped a beat. There was no way he had no cell signal and the power went out at the same time. This was bad. Very fucking bad.
Tucking the phone into the back pocket of his jeans, Fox turned toward Winter’s