Crave the Night by Sharon Ashwood, Michele Hauf, Patti O'Shea, Lori Devoti

There was even a
painting on one wall—the image was formless and abstract, but
splashes of greens and muted reds made it stand out. It was the one
thing he’d seen with some color.
    Then he understood. Lila had taken him to
the part of the house that was her personal space. There was even a
stack of books on an end table. He’d read some of the same titles.
Apparently they shared a weakness for spy thrillers.
    She hadn’t talked nearly as much as he
had, but in other ways she was revealing herself. That meant she
trusted him. The thought made his chest hurt.
What’s she doing here, tangled up with
Masterson?
    His exploration brought him to an open
window, one of the tall kind that could be used as a doorway to the
patio beyond. Through it, he could smell the warm stone and the
tingling wash of pine on the breeze. There were more tables and
chairs, spangled by light glittering from the pool. All it needed
was people. He was used to his large family, always with kids,
always with voices raised to be heard over the roar of
conversation. This house was so damned quiet.
    Tentatively, he raised a hand to reach
through the window to the swath of sunshine beyond.
    His palm touched something as hard as glass.
Its temperature was the same as the air around him, but the
unyielding surface was slick and solid. A thrill of fear rushed
through him. He’d promised not to leave the house, but surely that
didn’t imprison him completely? Even from the garden?
    Rafe pushed, putting all his weight,
and then all his muscle against it, straining until his arms shook.
It didn’t budge. He was trapped, well and truly unable to touch the
world beyond the bland white walls.
No,
this is impossible for a wolf to stand!
    How am I going to
protect my Pack?
Wild panic fountained up, squeezing his
ribs until his lungs refused to fill with air. Rafe paced from
window to window, throwing them open and testing himself against
each possible route of escape. By the time he had circled the
perimeter of his invisible cage, sweat slicked his skin, cold with
the need to run away.
    Frustration peaked as he got back to the
original window. He backed up twenty paces, eying the apparently
empty space. He took a running start, piling up speed and kicking
from the hip.
    The force of the blow knocked him from his
feet, but nothing gave.
    It was no good.
You made a vow in the presence of a fey
. He’d
just become another casualty of Lila’s magic. Animals chewed off
their own limbs to escape a trap. He didn’t even have that option.
He was stuck.
    Rafe scrambled to his feet, almost dizzy
with the need to fight back.
    Calm, calm, calm.
He reined in his skittering nerves, forcing them under
control.
Running won’t help. There’s
nowhere to go.
    He stood mute and stiff as Lila returned
with a tray of food and coffee, arranging it all on the table by
the window.
    “ I can’t get out,” he said, hearing
the tremor in his voice.
    “ I know.” She kept setting out the
food and drink. “I heard you.”
    The weirdly domestic moment made his head
hurt. He was a prisoner, but she served him with her own hands. She
wanted him to coerce his people into giving up their home, but she
listened with bated breath to every story of their small-town
lives. He could feel her fear and loneliness, but she had all the
power. Beautiful and terrible, she held him.
    “ Did you understand what I said?” he
ventured, struggling to keep his voice light. “I’m
trapped.”
    “ You traded yourself for your father.
I know you haven’t forgotten that.” She sat down, gesturing for him
to take his chair.
    His temper lurched, filling his voice with
rage. “Do you have any idea what it feels like?”
    “ No.” The look she gave him was filled
with pain. “No. But my sisters have told me.”
    “ Are they prisoners?” He forced
himself to sit down, though his limbs tingled with the need to
move.
    “ They gave up a lot to help me come
here.”
    Her oblique answers fuelled his