Free Enslaved in Shadows by Tigris Eden

when she finished talking. The silence in the room was telling as the air seemed to chill. The men around the conference room began strategizing on how they could locate Marcus’s place before he moved the vampires again. Captain Dravaggio approached her and sat down in the seat next to her. He scooted his chair forward and placed his elbows on t he desk. Head bent towards her, he looked right into her eyes. The man was dangerous with sexy. Jus tin Timberlake had it all wrong. H e was not bringing sexy back, Dravaggio was. And he was doing it times ten and then some . There was no way some woman hadn’t snagged him.
    “Jesminda? Can I call you that or would you prefer me to use your maiden name?” His voice did funny things to her skin. It c aressed her arms and face. She blinked and cleared her throat.
    “Jesminda is fine , thank you Captain Dravaggio.”
    “Please call me Stephan,” he gently took her hands into his and leaned closer. Did he not understand the boundaries of personal space? The sultry scent of him had her leaning forward as well. It was a mixture of spice and anise. He’d obviously forgotten to turn off his pheromones. She was still effected, more so, now as he sat closer to her. Jesminda cleared her throat, and Dravaggio seemed to understand her meaning. Suddenly the heat on her skin evaporated and was replaced with calm. Much better.
    “Agent Stone wasn’t here for the meeting this evening. He should have been but he’s just a little upset about hav ing to take on this assignment. ” The captain said softly. She knew he wa sn’t hitting on her, but damn all her woman parts were on board with offering her body up as a sexual sacrifice .
    Through the semi- sexual induced haze Dravaggio supplied , she realized he’d told her that her protector wasn’t on board with his job. She let her disdain show. She didn’t want someone who wasn’t in this fully. She needed real protection. If the captain couldn’t provi de her with the proper security, Faith would be taken from her and she would be killed. Jes removed her hands from Stephan’s a nd absently rubbed her stomach.
    There was a long slash across her shoulder down to her stomach. From t he night she’d tried to escape. It had been before she even knew about captive vampires. She’d quietly slipped from bed and walked into her daughter’s room. A stashed duffel bag and some cash were under the back seat of one of his Escalade ’s . She’d dressed Faith before putting her to sleep into a warm jumper, so the night air wouldn’t affect her much. Not much did as her daughter’s temperature ran higher than any humans. But she was a mom and a responsible one. There was only a hand full of steps to freedom when she’d thought she was safe. She’d reached for the clasp on the front door, pulled as softly as possible. Faith was sleep and warm in her arms as the door swung wide. She saw the car, was stepping off the step when an arm wrapped around her stomach and jerked her back into solid chest. The air in her lungs froze in fear. It had taken all of her strength to keep hold of Faith as she was violently swept against his body. One of Marcus’s men stepped from the kitchen taking Faith from her. Helpless to stop him, she watched in horror as Vince slung her child over his shoulder. Faith slept through the entire ordeal, and she hadn’t known why until Marcus whispered into her ear.
    “Little Faith won’t come to Jesminda . I had Vince dope her full of my latest concoction. Don’t worry, she won’t be hurt. I’m sure her shifter genes are burning thr ough the medicine as we speak.”
    Marcus licked the side of her neck making her ent ire body shiver in disgust . She stood as still as her heart and nerves would allow whil e he spoke in low tones to her.
    “Were you really just going to leave? Take our daughter and just disappear without a trace? Tsk Tsk my lovely. I love you, I will always find you.” Marcus even sounded sincere, but