At Risk by Gayle Parness

Author:Gayle Parness [Parness, Gayle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-9997089-8-9
Publisher: Gayle Parness

15

Garrett

They’d taken us to a room without windows or furniture, then shoved a human servant in with us, thinking we wouldn’t hesitate to kill the poor girl after passing her around to feed. In the outside world two hungry vampires might have drained her to the point of death.

“We’re not going to hurt you.” I spoke at a soft volume with a mellow tone. I wanted information and if she was frightened she’d never talk.

The only blood I indulged in was given freely by my lovely mate, and those experiences were private and brought both of us extreme pleasure. The rest of the time I was able to get the nutrition I needed by taking energy from shifter donors I’d used for years – part of my cheetah bloodline that came in handy. It was a gentle way to feed and the financial help I gave these widowed females put their kids through college, paid off mortgages and repairs on their homes. My donors never asked for a penny, but in our area, it was common to see a family living in a car or huddled on the street under a cardboard roof. California might seem like a land where you lived your dreams, but like so many other places these days, if you didn’t have enough regular money coming in, you ended up having to make the kind of hard choices born of nightmares.

Sasha and Heinrich relied on blood donors.

She waited. We waited. “If one of you doesn’t feed from me, they’ll toss me into the common area and I’ll be dead in fifteen minutes.” The female wasn’t shaking in terror, as I might have expected. Instead she looked resigned to her fate.

“Don’t they use volunteer donors?” Rick asked.

“When they’re available. But the higher-ups like to watch their victims struggle. Like the sound of screams. They say it’s punishment for some infraction that never actually happened.”

“How long have you worked at NAVA?”

“Two months. I’m a maid here. Not by choice. They took me from my New Hampshire pack as payment for a debt.”

“A shifter alpha paid a debt to a vampire with a member of his own pack?”

She nodded. “The alpha turned over five of us. I’m the last one with at least some amount of freedom. Two died right away from blood loss. My twin sisters are bound to Dane. Slaves, really. Kept in cages or sent to his bed. Gregory has a dormitory full of shifters from various species. He’s testing our blood to see which breed is the most satisfying.” She rubbed her arms. Rick gave her his jacket.

“Was it a financial debt?” I asked.

“More a territorial dispute.”

“Why didn’t your pack alpha turn to the New England Shifter Council for help?”

“That board is made up of leopards, lions and cougars. We’re bobcats. Treated like shit by the other shifters. Look, can we just get this over with?”

“Give me your name and the name of your alpha and I’ll contact your family when we leave.”

“I wouldn’t count on leaving anytime soon.

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