He nodded. “It does. It’s very rare in our world, but I’m starting to get the picture. Rumy helped you escape, didn’t he?”

“He did, but he insisted that I search for your blood-chains first. When I actually found them in my captor’s office, I finally believed everything he’d been telling me. You have to understand, until three days ago, I didn’t even know about your world except for vague rumors some of the staff mentioned now and then. I thought it was all gossip.”

Lucian scowled. “So Rumy sent you here wearing the blood-chain intending for you to bond with me.”

She swallowed hard. “Yes. He believes that Daniel orchestrated my capture and that he’d fully intended one day to use me for exactly this purpose, to become part of a tracking pair in order to find the weapon he’s after.”

His frown deepened. “What did Rumy tell you about the blood-chains?”

“That when they were created, they were infused with your blood, which makes them specific to you. He also said that you had tremendous power and that once you put on the blood-chain and we bonded, that you’d be able to break out of these shackles.” She glanced down at the horrible, heavy iron bands around his wrists and ankles. Lifting her gaze back to his face, she added, “And I hope more than anything that it’s true.”

Lucian searched her eyes. “But what’s in it for you?”

Claire’s throat seized and her eyes filled with tears. “I need help to find my friend, Zoey. She’s lost somewhere inside your world.” Images of her best friend from childhood suddenly came to mind. Zoey was so different from her in almost every way. She had short, jet-black hair, for one thing, and large blue eyes. They’d lived on the same street and been in and out of each other’s houses from the earliest time Claire could remember. The moment Rumy had told Claire that Zoey had probably been trafficked into the vampire slave system, she’d set her course. She had to find her if it was the last thing she did. “Rumy’s convinced Zoey was auctioned off as a sex slave. If you and I do form a chain-bond, and it turns out we really can track things, then I’ll need your commitment to help me find Zoey. That’s what’s in it for me and Rumy assured me that you’d be willing to help.”

Lucian wrapped his arms around his knees and closed his eyes. “Fuck. This isn’t right, not on any level.”

She reached out to him, touching his arm. “Lucian, I don’t have the luxury of thinking in terms of whether this is right or not. I only want one thing, to find my friend. I have no idea if she’s alive, but I can’t leave your world without knowing one way or the other, without making an effort. This seems like the only way.”

He put a hand to his abdomen.

“Are you still in pain, even though I just gave you some of my blood?”

He nodded, then lifted his gaze to hers once more. “Again, this won’t be simple, and you could get hurt in the process. There will be times when I’ll be completely out of control, do you understand?”

“You’re talking about your recovery process.”

“I am.”

“I know and I’m still okay with it. I just need your promise that if we do this, you’ll help me look for Zoey.”

He met and held her gaze for a long moment, as though considering all that she’d said. She sensed not so much his deliberation as a rebuilding of his commitment. “We’ll need to find the extinction weapon,” he said at last. “That’s the commitment I need from you. We’ll hunt for both, for Zoey and the weapon, whatever it takes, but I can’t let my father get hold of a weapon that has the capacity to destroy every last vampire on the planet. Do you understand? Will you make that commitment to me?”

She didn’t hesitate, not for a second. “Absolutely.”

He put his hand to his chest. “I can sense that you’re speaking the truth.” He rose slowly to his feet, this very naked man, this powerful warrior.

He overwhelmed her as much by his sheer size as by the strength of his commitment to end Daniel’s reign of terror.

He held her gaze. “Then I’ll bind myself to you.”

She dipped into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out the matching blood-chain. “Let’s do it.”

Lucian struggled to remain focused on the human and on her intentions. His thoughts wanted to fix themselves exclusively on Marius’s death and his burning desire to hunt Daniel down and destroy him. But he couldn’t do anything until he got out of this prison, which meant he had to turn his attention to more immediate issues, like the weapon and to helping Claire find her friend.

He met her light-brown eyes again, caught by their unusual shade, and dipped his chin once. She extended her hands, and as he lowered his head to give her a better angle he felt the vibration of power that both sets of chains held.

She quickly slid the second chain over his head, lowering it onto his neck. Her gentle touch reminded him that for over a year he’d known only brutality and isolation.

He met and held Claire’s gaze once more, but this time she came into sharp focus. Her auburn beauty struck him all over again; he had the sudden awareness that if circumstances had been different, she was exactly the kind of woman he would have gone for.

She blinked several times as she searched his eyes. “Rumy showed me pictures, but you’re so tall in real life.” He watched a blush suffuse her cheeks and sensed a rippling of interest. She found him attractive.

Her gaze skated over his face, then down his neck. She touched his chain and gasped softly. “The vibrations have really grown stronger.”

“They have.” He leaned close, sniffing her neck and her cheek. “There it is again. You smell like sweet herbs. Your blood tastes like that as well.”

Her hands found his arms and slid over his biceps. “Lucian, this is so strange. I can’t believe how much I’m feeling from you right now. It’s as though I know you.”

He nodded. “Same here.” The sensation disturbed him deeply. She threatened him in a way he couldn’t quite understand.

When she pulled away from him, her lips were parted. “I think I’m in trouble here. I’m feeling things that don’t seem appropriate. Is it the chain-bond?”

He shook his head. “I’ve been told that the bond can only reflect what’s already there.”

She blushed again. “Oh, I see. I guess that makes sense.”

The next moment, a jolt of something powerful passed through him.

Her eyes went wide. “Did you feel that?”

He nodded. “Almost like a steel door slamming shut. It’s the bond.”

“I feel so strange right now. More than just human.”

“That would follow. You were siphoning some of my power before, but now it will become a strong, steady flow. Your vision will improve as well.” He glanced down at the powerful chains that held him captive. “And now we’ll see if the bond will be enough to take care of this part of the equation.”

He focused on his manacles, on the charge Daniel had placed within the chains. If they hadn’t been preternaturally enhanced, he could have broken out of them two seconds after they’d locked in place. But Daniel’s power had made them impervious to his natural strength.

He let his newly enhanced power flow, and little by little he felt Daniel’s locking mechanism give way. He applied the full force of his ability, but the resistance to his effort stunned him.

“I can sense what you’re doing. I might be able to help.” Claire placed her hands on his arms, and that small touch caused his power to surge. The next moment the charge within the shackles fizzled. A little more pressure and the manacles split apart, falling off his arms.

Claire squealed her excitement. “Yes!”

Adrenaline spiked and his heart rate went through the roof. “Hell, yeah.”

He repeated the process for his ankles. Once the shackles fell away, he was free.

He stepped away from Claire and turned in a circle. “I haven’t had these off in a year. Now just like that, they’re gone. They’re fucking gone.”