Married To The Mad Vampire Lord novel Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Her abductor_Part 2

She did not know if Rohan, or anyone else, had realized she was missing yet, but deep down, she knew that relying on someone to find her in time was a dangerous gamble. Waiting would only mean getting caught again, and that was something she could not afford when she feared being sold.

Unfortunately for her, her body had not recovered. It was far too weak, and the drugs still clung to her system like a heavy fog that sleep hadn’t been enough to clear. Her vision swam in dizzy circles, and before she could steady herself, her knees buckled beneath her and she crashed face-first into a shallow puddle of cold, sticky mud.

A cry escaped Belle’s lips, low and pained, but she couldn’t dwell on it. The sound of fast-approaching footsteps snapped her out of her daze, and she forced herself to twist around on the ground, blinking through the blur to see the cloaked person closing in, just a few feet away.

Fear gripped her so fiercely it stole the air from her lungs. She couldn’t run, could barely move, but her hand scrambled through the mud and curled tightly around a rock lying beside her. She clutched it with trembling fingers, wide-eyed and desperate.

She braced herself, her body shaking as she prepared for the figure to come close enough, close enough for her to strike. Just a second longer, and she’d hit them with all the strength she had left and run again.

But then the voice came.

"Oh my God, Belle! Are you hurt?!"

The words rang through the chaos in her head, cutting through her panic with a rush of relief and disbelief. Her fingers unclenched around the rock as her wide, frightened eyes searched the shadowed face beneath the cloak.

"Jamie..." she whispered, her voice breaking, barely more than breath.

Relief slammed into her like a crashing wave. Her limbs turned to jelly, and the flicker of bravery she’d felt only moments ago vanished beneath the weight of exhaustion and pain. Her entire body sagged against the ground, and she realized then, she wouldn’t be able to walk for at least an hour.

She did not try to fight again as Jamie caught up to her, bent over, and hurled her into his arms and strengthened. Belle couldn’t even move and let her head lay weakly against his chest where his heart was beating wildly just like hers. She wanted to ask how come he was here and had abducted her, but her mouth couldn’t form any words. Her thoughts moved through thick fogs and her body did not feel like it belonged to her.

Weakness was all she felt.

"Damn it, Belle. You would have killed yourself. Why the hell would you jump out of a moving vehicle?!" he demanded, worry and concern in his familiar hoarse voice as he put her gently down on the open back of the wagon and then sat next to her so she could lean her head against him.

He brought out a gourd of water and held it to her mouth. Belle parted her lips and gulped it down thirstily, but the urge to vomit overcame her. She quickly pushed it away from her mouth and bent her head. Her stomach turned and knotted painfully with every breath, and she gripped it and squeezed her eyes shut.

"What... is wrong with me? What did you make me breathe in the castle?" she questioned forcefully, as she did not like how she was feeling.

Jamie’s face twisted with guilt. He crouched beside where she was bent holding her stomach, brushing back the damp hair that clung to her clammy skin.

"I’m sorry, Belle. I didn’t want to do it like this... I had no choice, and—"

"What is it you gave me?" she demanded, too in pain and disoriented to care about his explanation for it. She just wanted to know what it was that was strong enough to make her feel worst than she had ever in her entire life. The back of her eyes burned with tears from the discomfort in her stomach and throat.

The sky was slowly darkening, the rain clouds fading to reveal the moon, which lit up the lonely road leading out of Nightbrook. The air smelled like damp earth.

He looked back on the day he had received that letter from her.

Something in him had told him she had totally moved on and accepted her husband, but the love he had for her was blinding enough to convince him that she was forced to write that letter and send it to him.

If not, how could it have gotten into his room if not for the madman bringing it in with some vampire ability? His door had been locked, and none of the inn workers had seen anyone go into his room or come to visit him.

Jamie had been unwilling to accept that he had lost her and made his plan to get her away. But that nagging voice in the back of his mind, telling him she had written the letter because she no longer loved him, had made him take the steps of drugging her. He knew it was absolutely wrong of him, but he couldn’t risk going back without her.

What if he confronted her and she told him the bitter truth he himself did not want to accept?

He had taken that measure and hoped she would be unconscious until they reached the ranch he had prepared for them to stay in Barbara. Once they got there—whether she still loved him or not—he had been determined to make her love him again and make her remember all the dreams they had together.

It hadn’t been easy getting into the castle, but then there were no guards guarding the castle like many other rich homes, and he had studied the days the servants went out to the market by standing in the junction that led from town to the castle. He had seen the servants’ carriage pass by and made his move.

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