"Not the only reason," Peter mumbled, avoiding looking at the three vampires.
Nathan wandered through the room, shuffling through Peter's papers, moving his things. Peter made a sound of protest when Nathan picked up a beaker of oily liquid, but he didn't challenge him. Not like he would have before. It was out of character for the arrogant sorcerer to let me see just how much Liam and company scared him. Nathan's lips quirked at the sound, and he held the beaker a moment longer before setting it down and moving away from the table full of interesting liquids.
"What did you do to him?" I asked, tilting my head toward Peter.
Liam arched one eyebrow in a superior expression that had my fingers tingling with the need to smack it right off his face. "Nothing he didn't deserve."
That answered nothing. I let my frustration show on my face.
"We simply had a little chat about what would happen the next time he decided to take his frustration out on you," Liam said, his voice soft and calm.
I bet that conversation had been one-sided and contained a physical expression of Liam's feelings. Whatever happened had left a big enough impression on the sorcerer for him to treat me with a level of caution approaching fear.
My lips tightened.
"You're angry. Why?" Liam asked.
Oh, I don't know. Perhaps because I suspected Liam and his minions had done something to the sorcerer—that something involving a closed fist. Something that instilled enough fear in the man that he was still affected. It had been two months since the eye incident. Human memories were short. Nothing less than a traumatic experience would have had such an effect.
"It's nothing he hasn’t done to others," Eric said from his post by the door. It was a surprising admission from a man who didn't speak much.
Peter made a sound of disbelief. He hunched in on himself when Eric turned cool eyes his way. Peter reminded me of a rabbit in the presence of a much larger, fearsome predator. It was not a visual I thought I'd ever associate with the man who had so casually tortured me on our second meeting.
Liam stepped closer, distracting me. His blue eyes pinned me in place. He was beside me before I could think to avoid him, his hand coming up to cup the back of my neck.
"I thought we had an understanding," he said, his breath whispering across my ear.
I pulled back slightly, putting pressure on his grip. It tightened, not hurting me, just letting me know I wasn't going anywhere just yet.
"You would stay in our care, and we would allow you to continue with the job you feel is so important."
I set one hand on his chest but didn't respond. There was an undertone of anger in his voice—one that sent shudders down my back, not all of them stemming from fear. A part of me found the danger radiating from him exciting. It was the same part that reveled in the taste of blood and screeched for the destruction of my enemies. It was the crazy, suicidal part that I'd gotten good at ignoring. Mainly because listening to it led me into dark waters that would pull me under given half a chance.
"Nothing to say?" he asked, his voice a sultry rumble.
What did he want me to say? That I'd do it again given half a chance. That my loyalty to Caroline meant any word out of my mouth would be a lie if it in any way threatened her well-being. I'd failed her once. I wouldn't make the same mistake again, even if that put me in hot water with Liam and the vampires.
My only regret was getting caught.
"How did you know I'd be here?" I asked. I was interested in learning how he'd tracked me, so next time I wouldn't get caught.
He chuckled, the sound a dark rumble as his eyes watched me like I was a fascinating specimen. "Where else would you go to track down your friend?"
"Could have gone to the witches," I said.
He shook his head. "Their price would have been too steep, and the sorcerer has already demonstrated an attachment to her."
I did not like that he knew me so well.
My frustration seemed to amuse him, draining some of the intensity from his eyes and leaving the normal Liam behind. He released me and stepped back.
"Besides, the sorcerer has already agreed to work for me on locating Caroline."
Wait, what? My eyes went from Liam to Peter and then back to Liam before returning to Peter as I processed that statement, unable to believe what I'd just heard. "You're working for them?"
I took back any regret I had that he'd probably been tortured. My only hope was that they'd made him suffer.
"It's not like they're giving me much of a choice," Peter snapped. "Believe me, I want as little to do with vampires as possible. That goes for you too."
"You're a sorcerer. Aren't you supposed to be all powerful?"
Nathan snorted, the sound anything but amused. "Maybe if he was fully trained or had reached maturation. For now, he's on the low end of the spectrum and will be for a few decades more, I'd wager."
Shock silenced any question I might have, as I turned incredulous eyes on Peter.
"Oh, shut up," he snapped before I could say anything. "This is all your fault. I never would have been on their radar if you hadn't messed everything up."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. I had a good thing going before you decided to make that mark permanent. Everybody thought I was my master, so they left me alone." He gave me a fierce frown—one with enough heat to it to have incinerated me where I stood.
"It would have made little difference had you been past your maturation," Liam said, his voice amused. "Thomas was most put out to learn his yearling had a sorcerer's mark and her master had gone so far as to use it to hurt her." He looked at me with a somber expression. "Furthermore, he had a very strong reaction to learning what the sorcerer did to your eye."
There was a hesitation before the word ‘reaction’ as if Liam had to think of a less violent word than the one he'd originally come up with.
Peter flinched at Thomas’s name, his face going ghost-pale and his shoulders rounding.
So, it wasn't only Liam and his men who'd been involved in this. Thomas too. For someone who wasn't supposed to be in my life unless I invited him, he was sure finding lots of ways to interfere.
"You know she won't forgive you for helping them catch her," I said, ignoring that for the moment. "You help them and any chance of a friendship between you two is over."
Not that there was much chance either way. At this point, I’d say anything that might keep him from handing her over to them.
"That's enough." Liam's voice cracked through the air. "You've put me in a difficult position. The wolves know about your little adventure and are calling to have you turned over to them. Their accommodations would be much less nice than the ones we've provided."
"Not to mention, I'm seriously pissed you sic’d a pack of harpies on me," Nathan said with a scowl. "They stole my wallet, phone, and even my lucky penny."