Katy stared sullenly out the plane window, the bright golden moon lighting up the night seeming to mock her dark predicament. Antonio sat stiffly next to her while Sleazeballs One and Two were across the aisle, looking far too relaxed for her liking.

  She supposed she should feel afraid, being whisked away to be the captive of some snake king that had who-knows-what in store for her. Instead, simmering anger bubbled through her veins. How dare they abduct me against my will! They can’t very well abduct me with my will, dumbass. One thing was for sure: she was not about to end up married, mated, or whatever to something that could be turned into a belt, or boots, or a handbag. They had snake handbags, right? She tapped her chin. No matter. Katy batted the thought away. Scales weren’t her thing. She needed a plan, and a plan required information. First things first. “How in the world do you two own your own plane?” Because that is super important, Kat. But then again, no bit of information was too small. Crime Documentary 101.

  “The plane belongs to the kingdom,” Myron answered. “Long-lived beings, if smart, can acquire quite a bit of wealth.”

  “Hmm.” Katy nodded and she puffed out her cheeks and then blew out the air before adding, “interesting.”

  “What?” Slick’s brow rose causing wrinkles to form on his forehead.

  “That your kingdom has managed to acquire any wealth. Since you just pointed out that in addition to longevity, you also have to have some smarts.” She scrunched her face up and shook her head. “Something doesn’t add up.”

  “Good grief, Katy,” Antonio muttered her name like a curse. “Could you just not be, well, you for the next three hours and twenty minutes?”

  She took several deep breaths and considered that perhaps her smart mouth wouldn’t be the key to getting herself out of this mess. She probably needed to take a different approach. Katy turned to Antonio, deciding that the vulnerable act was the way to go. Yes, I know that’s hilarious, she told the part of herself that pointed out she’d never acted vulnerable a day in her life. She raised her brow and batted her eyelashes at him. In her mind, she was going for that whole Precious Moments figurine look. Her dad had started collecting those for her when she was a baby, and now she had one for every milestone from being born to getting a job. Maybe there was also one for being kidnapped. Or, even better, for being safely returned home.

  “What’s wrong with your face?” Antonio pushed his messed-up hair away from his forehead.

  Okay, so operation be-a-Precious-Moment-figurine was a fail. Thankfully, Katy was no quitter. No Quitter Kate. NQK. That was her new motto. Good grief. Getting kidnapped has made me crazier than I already was. And now I’m talking to myself like Lola does. Someone shoot me now.

  Moving on from her inner monologue, she tried Antonio again. “What’s going to happen to me?” She let her voice wobble just a little.

  Antonio’s shoulders slumped. Maybe she pulled off the vulnerable sound better than the vulnerable look.

  “King Azure will determine if you’re a suitable match for one of his beastwalkers. If not, you’ll likely be sold to another kingdom.”

  Okay, so that was more forthcoming than she had expected. Wait a minute. She sat up straight. “Sold? Like property?” Katy tamped down her ire and focused. “What exactly makes me a match?” Because I’m totally doing the opposite of that shit.

  “It’s just like with humans,” Sleazeball Number One—Slick—said. “You meet someone, you’re attracted to them, he courts you, then you mate.”

  Katy thought back to what Roan had said in Lola’s room, that Lola was Callon’s One. He’d made it sound like Lola was it. Like a soul mate sort of thing. Which was nothing like humans. She started to mention that, but she held her tongue. Maybe knowing something they did not would come in handy.

  “You will have your choice of any single male in our kingdom,” Sleazeball Number Two—Myron, who still looked nothing like a Myron—added. “Animus females are the only ones who can free a male’s inner beast. They’re incredibly rare and valued.”

  “Like blood diamonds,” Katy offered.

  Myron bowed his head in acknowledgment of the comparison.

  “And”—Katy drew the word out—“like blood diamonds, animus females are tossed to the highest bidder when they’re of no use to the person who found”—she used quotations around the word—“her in the first place.”

  “You don’t have to be sold.” Antonio shrugged, “Just pick a mate from the Kingdom of Venom. Then you won’t have to wonder about your fate. You’ll control your own destiny.”

  “You have complete control.” Slick nodded at Antonio, grasping on to that bandwagon like it was the last one coming through the station.

  “Right. Because the abductee always holds all the power. Silly me for not realizing that.” Katy instinctively touched her tattoo, recalling the Sleazeballs’ suggestion that it signified she might have been destined to mate with a wolf. She tilted her head, thinking about the possibility. If he was a wolf that looked like Callon or Bane, then she could jump on that train. Wolves were soft and snuggly. More importantly, they were warm-blooded, unlike these damn snakes that had taken her. But they still had teeth. Sharp, wicked teeth. That might not be so good. Maybe she could just get a puppy wolf and not do the whole mate thing.

  “Don’t worry about the tattoo.” Slick must have noticed the way her hand rubbed up and down over it. “That can be replaced. Our tattoo artists are incredibly talented.”

  “You could almost call them magical,” Myron added with a wink.

  It just wasn’t okay that guys who supposedly turned into reptiles were good looking. She narrowed her eyes, hoping to see their beastly side, but all she got were some iridescent scales and vertical pupils before the handsome faces returned.

  She leaned back in the seat. “I don’t want a different tattoo. I like this one just fine. Considering I picked it.”

  Slick shrugged. “If you insist on keeping it, we can just have a snake added, wrapping itself around the wolf. Like a hug.” He sounded so pleased with his idea that Katy blinked several times to assure herself that he was serious.

  “A snake … hugging a wolf.” She blinked rapidly. “That’s what you think I should have tattooed on my arm?”

  “No,” Slick said in a deep voice. “I think you should have the wolf removed and replaced by a snake—a bright green one with stunning, moss-green eyes.”

  Myron snorted. “Nice try. She’s not going to pick you.”

  “She could,” Slick argued.

  “She won’t,” Katy offered.

  Slick grinned. “But she might.”

  Stupid grin was damn cute. But not cute enough. “But she can’t.”

  His grin dropped. “Why can’t she?”

  This had to be the dumbest conversation she’d ever had. “Because she made herself a promise when she was a little girl.” She looked at him and waited.

  “Well?” Slick’s eyes were eager as he scooted to the edge of his seat.

  Katy leaned forward as well and then said in a conspiratorial whisper, “She promised herself never to play with snakes. After all, it was the snake that deceived the first woman on this earth. And if you know the story, then you know how that turned out.”

  “I think you’ll like my sn—” Slick started, but was abruptly cut off by Myron hitting him on the head.

  Myron shook his head. “And you wonder why no female has chosen you.”

  Slick glowered at his cohort as he rubbed the offended spot. “You do remember which one of us is venomous, right?”

  Katy’s eyes grew wide. Holy snake eggs. She hadn’t thought about the possibility that these individuals could transform into various types of snakes. Some that constrict their prey, others that use venom to kill, and whatever other kinds of snakes existed. She regretted not watching any informative snake documentaries, but as she had told Slick, they weren’t exactly her thing.

  “Could you two maybe let her get some rest? It’s the middle of the night, and she’s got a long day ahead of her.” Antonio seemed almost regretful, his tone somber and nearly pleading. Or maybe he just found the two snake guys annoying. She was hoping it was the former. Perhaps there was a conscience lurking beneath that unsavory exterior, after all. If there was, she’d exploit that bitch for all it was worth.

  They lapsed into tense silence. Katy waited until the plane was in the air before speaking again. “So Lola tells me you’re from a whole different realm. Why’d you leave?” Lola had filled her and Maddie in on the things Callon had told her, but Katy wondered if there was another side to the story. If maybe every kingdom had their own take on how they wound up destroying each other, only to then have to find a new home.

  Slick gave her an approving look, seemingly happy that she was interested. “Does every human nation coexist peacefully?”

  “No. Most families don’t even get along.”

  Slick nodded at her. “Like humans, Damarians have their differences. And our realm wasn’t as big as earth is. So the kingdoms battled for territory and power. There were prejudices between some that were generations upon generations old, and they couldn’t let go of the hatred that had been bred into them. The wars went on for so long that our Shaman—the holy men appointed by Visata to guide the ten kingdoms—realized we were going to drive ourselves to the point of extinction not only by killing each other but by destroying our world because of the wars.”

  Okay, the same story told by the lions.

  “To be clear,” Myron interjected, “Slick and I never lived in Damaria. These are stories that have been passed down to us from our family.”

  “So you were born here, in my world? Doesn’t that make you Americans?”

  Slick and Myron looked at one another. Then Slick said, “If you want to get super technical, we’d actually be Romans. We were born during the Holy Roman Empire.”

  Katy’s eyes widened, absorbing his words. “Holy Roman Empire,” not just “Rome.” While history wasn’t her strong suit, she did enjoy documentaries—not about snakes, but mainly crime ones, with a few historical ones occasionally. Realizing that Slick’s reference to the Holy Roman Empire indicated the medieval period, she cautiously asked, “Um, what year were you born?”

  “I was born in 1589.” Myron’s voice was somber, as if remembering a time he preferred not to.

  Slick leaned back in his chair, propping his right ankle on his left knee, “1599 for me.”

  “And when did Damarians come to earth?”

  Myron chuckled. “We didn’t ‘come to earth.’ We’re not aliens.”

  “Maybe not by your definition,” Katy muttered.

  “Our people came into earth’s realm in 1505,” Myron continued. “Some of our elders have said that your realm seemed huge compared to Damaria.”

  “They say it’s gotten a lot smaller since that time,” Slick added.

  Katy shrugged. “Improved healthcare, population growth, and technology will do that.”

  “But you die so easily and so quickly,” Myron countered. “It seems these forces would balance out.”

  “We may die relatively young compared to you, but we procreate even faster.”

  Both of their faces fell flat at her words.

  “What?” Her brows rose with the question.

  “Procreation is a sore topic for our people.” Slick’s voice was tight.

  Katy wracked her brain for any information Lola had told her and Maddie. It had only been hours ago, which seemed hella crazy because it felt like she’d been on this plane talking to the serpent twins for days. They were actually kind of endearing when you got past the whole, ‘we’re abducting you to mate you off or sell you,’ character flaw.

  She struggled to recall Lola mentioning anything, then suddenly it hit her. “Oh snap.” Katy breathed out as she remembered her parting words after Callon had shown up in Lola’s room ready to kill all of them, except Lola, of course. Lucky heifer. Katy had said, “If your parents are awake, we will let them know that a crazy, lion man is trying to make female babies with you.” Females were important because Roan had made a point to tell Callon that with Lola they’d be able to have both male and female children.

  “Oh snap, what?” Antonio had been so quiet throughout the conversation, Katy had thought he’d fallen asleep.

  “I remembered why procreation is a sore topic for them.” She pointed to Slick and Myron.

  Antonio’s eyes widened. “How did you go to freaking out about being sold on the open market to a conversation about procreation?”

  Soooo he had been asleep. “Dude, you’re not a good guard dog if you’re sleeping on the job.”

  “I’m not a damn guard dog,” he huffed. “They are.”

  “Nope.” She popped the P. “They’re guard snakes. Which means they suck too because snakes don’t guard crap. They slither, hiss, squeeze things to death, or dart really fast if you make a wrong move.”

  “All of those things sound like something a guard would do.”

  Antonio had a point. Moving on. “So you guys can’t have babies…” The last word came out slowly. Her eyes widened. “Are your babies hatched? Do you lay eggs?”

  Myron and Slick both looked horrified, and their faces scrunched up simultaneously.

  “What?” Katy’s eyes bounced back and forth between them, and then to Antonio, who was looking at the two guys expectantly. He obviously didn’t know what they were so freaked out about, either. “It’s a fair question, dammit. You turn into snakes. How can I not be curious how you have babies?”

  Slick opened his mouth, but Myron spoke first.

  “You do realize that we’re male, right? I mean, I’ve gotten the impression you were totally clear on that fact.”

  “Of course I know you're male,” she started, then shook her head. “Well, I obviously can’t know that with a hundred percent certainty unless I saw all of your maleness.”

  “Katy…” Antonio groaned and then cursed in his Italian tongue, something he usually saved for when he was annoyed with Lola or his father.

  She held up a hand. “I’m not asking for a demonstration. I’m just answering his question honestly. But I’ll take your word for it.” Okay, so now she was just messing with them. What was she supposed to do? Play nice with her abductors?

  “Beastwalkers from the Kingdom of Venom do not lay eggs.” Myron ignored her argument. “And even if we did, Slick and I would not, because we are male.”

  Katy tilted her head and bit her bottom lip. Okay, now she felt a little less bright. Of course, they didn’t lay eggs. They were totally dudes. Even if she claimed she couldn’t say for certainty without seeing their … little snakelettes. I am glad I didn’t say that out loud. Every masculine thing about them screamed DUDES. “Okay, well, I feel like things just got really awkward.” She tapped her fingers on her knee. “Let’s go back to the fact that you three kidnapped me.”

  “How long are you going to throw that in our faces?” Slick’s eyes filled with humor.

  “Until hell freezes over, or I decide I’m over it.” She brushed her hair from her face. “Which, let’s face it, I will never be over it.”

  “I think she’ll get over it.” Slick winked.

  Antonio shook his head. “She won’t.”

  Katy pointed at him. “He knows. I hold a grudge like it’s the best lover ever.” She leaned back in her seat, gripped the armrests, and straightened her arms, pressing herself deeper into the seat. “You two better hope I don’t pick one of you. I’ll make your very long, long, long life miserable.”

  Myron ran a finger across his lips, and Katy couldn’t help but notice how sensual the action was. Wait, what? There was nothing sensual about it. Totally not sensual.

  “I think I’d take my chances.” Myron continued to stare at her.

  Katy shifted in her seat and turned to look out the window. She still had things she wanted to know, but at the moment, she needed to remind herself that the two non-humans who were staring at her like she was the first glass of water they’d seen in a decade were not her friends. No matter how nice they were, they didn’t care about her. If they cared, they’d have left her right where she belonged.

  “So how long ’til we land and I meet this king of yours?” she asked after a good twenty minutes of staring out into the dark.

  “An hour,” Slick answered. “Azure’s not a bad guy.”

  “Psht,” Katy blew out and rolled her eyes. “People who take others against their will are never ‘not bad guys.’”

  “What would you do to protect the human race?” Myron’s voice suddenly grew serious. “If your entire existence was at stake, what would you do?”

  Katy started to speak but then decided to think about it. She tried to put herself in the shoes of a species that might one day no longer exist unless they found a way to fix whatever it was that kept them from having female babies. What would she do? “I think a better question is what I wouldn’t do. And I would hope that I wouldn’t take away someone else’s free will.”

  “Then you’re a better person than us.” Slick slid down into his seat and leaned his head back. He chewed on his bottom lip as his gaze bounced from the dark of the window then back to her face.

  “What?” Katy snapped after this continued for several minutes.

  He gave a subtle shake of his head. “Nothing. You’re just different.”

  Katy didn’t like the way he said “different.” She also didn’t like that things had become so cordial between her, Slick, and Myron. Antonio was on her Shit List for life. He was supposed to be her friend. Friends don’t let friends get abducted.

  “I’m going to get some sleep.” She yawned, not even having to fake it. Exhaustion seemed to settle over her like a weighted banket. Katy turned her body so she sat sideways and then propped her head against the side of the seat. Her eyes slipped closed, and the drone of the engine lulled her to sleep.

  It felt like no time at all before her eyes shot open, and she was wide awake. She disliked the sensation of going to bed one moment and waking up as though it had barely been any time at all. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes in order to gain some clarity.