His response had come through gritted teeth, but it was a start.
I’d also felt something jump in his blood at my question. Like he hadn’t wanted to answer but had been compelled to do so. Naomi had knelt next to me. She’d had my blood, too, but nothing like that had ever happened to us. “Naomi, I have to ask you something. I gave you just as much blood to heal your wounds as I did to Ray, but Ray and I seem to have an internal connection. I can feel Ray’s emotions, almost like I can with the wolves, but I don’t get much of anything from you. Do you know why that is?”
She shook her head. “I do not. But I’m very old and have drunk from many, including some very powerful supernaturals. My blood is a thousand times more potent than any human’s. I would likely need to drink much more from you for us to forge the same kind of connection. But, again, your blood is an anomaly, so it’s hard to know.”
“Hannon,” Ray said. “I don’t care about all this other bullshit. I want out of here.” He rattled his chains. “I promise to follow your program, but I’m done with the prisoner routine. I deserve time to myself to process this like a grown-up. I’ve been on your leash for weeks now and I want my life back, starting right now.”
“How do I know you won’t get into trouble and that you’ll come back?” I asked.
“Where the hell else would I go?”
“It’s not that easy,” I replied.
“Of course it is. You let me go and I come back. End of story.”
“When?” I asked.
“When I’m good and goddamn ready.”
“I don’t think so.” I put up a hand to quiet his protests. “And before you go off on another tangent, consider what we just talked about. You’re too unpredictable. We need one more day to see how things settle, see how this is going to work.”
He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “If you don’t let me go now, you will regret it. I can feel the bond between us, and it’s not like it was with her”—he nodded toward Naomi—“but I want to be free. I’m not going to compromise. You can’t keep me locked up here like an animal.” He strained against his chains, some of the links bending. “You want me to follow your program, but you’re not willing to give me a chance to prove I can. Looks like the shoe’s on the other foot and you’re the one who needs to trust me. It’s either that or we keep fighting.” His fangs snapped down and he hissed. “And I get out of here on my own and don’t come back.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “Gods, Ray, why do you have to be so damn bullheaded? This would’ve been so much easier if Nelson were here instead,” I complained. Chris Nelson had been Ray’s partner when I’d been on the force. He was a mild-mannered cop who’d transferred willingly to traffic violations after two years with Ray.
“Nelson was a putz. He had no gumption,” Ray retorted. “Consider yourself lucky I’m strong and capable and not going to be some ninny vampire.”
“Why can’t you be like all the other fledglings?” I said. “I want a puppy, not a hound from hell. Is there any part of you that feels the need to obey me?” I pushed power into the last words and I watched Ray react as the echo of my voice bounced around the cave.
He’d tried to cover it, but he hadn’t been fast enough.
“Raymond Hart, if I let you go, will you come back here in a few hours?” I shoved as much emotion as I could into the words.
His eyes went full black. “I already told you I would. What else do you want?” He gritted his teeth as he fought against my question, his features shifting slowly, but I knew he was answering truthfully.
“If I let you go, you can’t go near humans.” I continued the onslaught of power, until he was cringing back into the cave wall. “You can’t get into any trouble and you can’t feed from anyone.”
“I’m not fucking hungry. I just ate,” he snarled.
This was working, but I needed him cooperative in the end, not hostile.
I glanced at Naomi and she shrugged. “I’m obviously getting through to him, but he’s still as pigheaded as ever,” I said. “I don’t think the Master shtick is going to work. If I continue to use it, we’ll be at each other’s throats when this is all over. Literally. We’re going to have to think of something else.”