Selene’s POV
I don’t know how much time has passed since we arrived here. Without windows I have no way of deciphering whether it is day or night, and while it feels like it’s been hours, misery always makes time move more slowly.
Sophie has finally stopped crying and is manically hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth on the ground. I feel sorry for the poor woman, but I cannot forget that she is partially responsible for our situation. I might be more understanding if she’d only involved me, but endangering my pup was unforgivable.
Lila is sleeping comfortably in my lap, and I am trying my best to hold it together. My head is pounding with stress and dehydration, and if we were anywhere else I would be terribly embarrassed by how loudly my stomach is growling. It sounds like an angry bear out for blood, but I know I can handle it.
I’ve starved before, I can starve again. Thankfully my daughter has not had to experience that particular hardship – yet. I don’t think I can bear to watch her waste away as I once did, and I need to get us out of here before that happens.
Think. I hiss in my mind, there has to be a way.
Attack the bastard. Luna suggests, let me at him!
He’s too strong. I remind her, and I don’t want to risk pissing him off. He might retaliate by hurting Lila.
I stare hopelessly at the door. If it were just made of wood Luna might be able to smash through it, but Martin was clearly prepared for a hostage situation. Iron bars have been installed in front of the standard oak panel, and we don’t have any tools to try and pick the lock.
I don’t know what to do, and I hate feeling so helpless with my pup’s life at stake. We’ll find a way out of this. Luna declares, we always figure something out.
I know she’s trying to be positive, but the fact remains that Luna wasn’t around for the most difficult trials of my life. I haven’t survived through skill or intelligence; I haven’t solved my own problems.
I escaped Garrick out of luck. Bastien saved me from homelessness and starvation. Drake saved me from drowning and being assaulted. Someone I have never been able to identify rescued me from the fire, and kind strangers helped me make it to Eros territory when I woke up. I can’t even take credit for building my life in Asphodel – it was handed to me.
I might feel more confident and sure of myself now that I’m older – now that I’m a mother –but the truth is that I owe my survival to other people and accidents of fate. If I’d been left to my own devices I would have died a long time ago, and I’m terrified that my string of luck has finally run out. I will never forgive myself if anything happens to Lila because I never learned to fend for myself.
My throat itches with emotion, and I try to force the feelings away. I can’t fall apart. If I start crying then I’ll be no more use than Sophie.
I’m only just getting myself back under control when a loud clanking fills the air. Martin appears as the basement door swings open, followed by the thick black bars. He’s wearing his familiar smirk, dragging scornful eyes over his struggling sister and then closing in on me and Lila.
My pulse races as he comes down the stairs, a thousand possibilities racing through my mind for what might happen next. He’s got something in his hand, and as he draws closer I realize it’s a syringe.
Oh Goddess, I think, that can’t be good.
Are you sure you don’t want me to attack him? Luna questions.
He’s walking straight towards me, and I turn into the wall, placing my body between Lila and Martin. “Stay away from me.” I snarl, letting my fangs extend.
“You don’t tell me what to do.” Martin glares. “And unless you want me to hurt your brat, you’ll shut up and submit.”
“Submit to what?” I demand, nodding toward the syringe. “What is that?”
“Just a little something to help you relax.” He states icily.
“Martin–” Sophie squeaks, not seeming to know what she wishes to say.
“Shut you goddess-damned mouth.” Martin thunders, his temper detonating from a single word.
He begins moving towards me again, and I shake my head frantically, “No!” I exclaim, “You’re not putting that in me!” Luna is right at the surface of my skin, but I don’t know how to shift and keep hold of Lila at the same time.
Martin lashes out and wraps his fist in my hair, using it to pull me from the ground even as I struggle and fight, trying as hard as I can to keep my pup away from this monster. I’m snapping and snarling, thrashing with all my might – but it’s no use. The needle stabs into my neck with a vicious sting, and burning liquid shoots into my nervous system.
The last thing I see before the world goes black, is Martin preparing a second syringe – one headed straight for my daughter.
___________________
Bastien’s POV
The meet is set.
We’re on our way out of the city, headed for a remote location in the nearby hills. Axel is already straining to get out, and I can’t wait to get my teeth in the mongrel who stole my family. It’s been less than twelve hours since Lila was taken, but this day has been among the worst of my life.
We pull up to the trailhead of a popular hiking path, deserted now in the dead of night. A wolf I don’t recognize is standing in front of a parked vehicle with glaring headlights, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he leans against the hood.
I can smell him before we’re out of the car, and I immediately recognize the aroma from Selene’s rooms and the kidnappers’ apartment.
He’s alone. I don’t see my family or his accomplice, and this is the only reason I don’t kill him on sight. I can feel Selene and Lila. I know they’re close, but we can’t risk some sort of contingency or booby trap. It bothers me that his sister is not visible. Is she waiting just out of sight? Is she holding the hostages in case we try to shortchange him?
Martin’s eyes widen in horror when Drake and I step out of the car, and fear instantly muddying his scent.
“Where are they?” Drake growls, taking the lead when he realizes I’m too furious to speak. All I can think about is destroying this wolf in the most painful manners possible.
“I don’t understand,” Martin replies instead. “What are you doing here?”
“Did you really think you could get away with this?” Drake demands, ignoring the shifter’s questions. I’ve never viewed Drake as a particularly strong Alpha, but it’s clear his own people feel differently. I suppose it’s difficult to recognize the dominance of a weaker man, but the fact is that Cavanaugh is still at the top of the food chain in his pack.
Martin is apparently even dumber than I realized, because he continues to argue. “The bounty–”
“There is no bounty!” I explode, unable to stand this a moment longer. “It was a ruse to root out traitors like you. Now, Where. Are. They?”
The same shifter who cowered before Drake now shrinks where he stands, his knees caving as he watches me in abject terror. “If I tell you, you’ll kill me.” He argues hoarsely.
“And what do you think is going to happen to you if you don’t?” I inquire threateningly.
“I’ll make you a deal.” He offers, looking directly at Drake and shaking like a leaf. “I’ll give you Selene and the pup now, but you have to let me leave, if you don’t, Sophie will die.”
Drake looks as if he’s been slapped, and I’m barely able to smother my own surprise. He and his sister were working together, weren’t they?
The color has drained from the Eros Alpha’s face, “What have you done to her?”
Martin straightens ever so slightly, as if growing a fraction of a backbone. “She’s unharmed – for now.” He explains, “But she’s locked up with no way out. Unless I go back and release her, she’ll starve to death.”
“Wasn’t she helping you?” I grumble when Drake doesn’t respond.
Martin snorts, “That worthless slag could barely get the pup away from a pair of old crones without being seen and broke down the second Selene confronted her.” He rolls his eyes, “I planned for weeks, I waited so patiently for the opportunity to arise to grab the Volanas, and she fucked it up within minutes.”
“I don’t understand.” Drake still has the strangest look on his face: anger, confusion and fear all rolled into one. “How did you convince her to help you in the first place?”
“Oh that was your doing, Alpha.” Martin announces smugly, “I knew I needed a patsy to take the fall for the kidnapping after I collected the bounty, but I wasn’t sure how to convince Sophie until you decided to declare your love for the Volana bitch. My sister tends to collapse under physical coercion, but seeing you kiss his mate did just the trick.” He explains, nodding toward me with gleeful cruelty.
I’m not sure which comes first: Drake’s realization of what ‘physical coercion’ must mean, or mine, that the other Alpha kissed Selene – after I marked her.
