“I’ll be right out. Get the stuff from the kitchen.” She quickly dressed in black tights and a black long sleeve shirt, all in preparation for later that night. She pulled on her slippers and an oversized hoodie to cover her disguise. Sydney rolled her eyes and snorted as she left the room. That was ridiculous, and she was starting to get on her own nerves.
She reached the living room where Trevor was laying out snacks for them, along with various wine bottles and three glasses. Nothing seemed to faze the man, Sydney thought ruefully, not even the prospect of three women getting drunk and talking sex all night.
“I have all three Bridget Jones movies, P.S. I Love You, Me Before You, and The Notebook. I was thinking we’ll do one Bridget Jones in between each of the others so that we don’t get totally depressed before the sun comes up,” Marie announced as she placed the stack of DVDs on the coffee table.
“And I brought my facial kits and various types of nail polish.” Briana hauled a large suitcase into the living room.
“That is only facial kits and Cutex?” Sydney asked in disbelief.
“No, silly—there is an unhealthy amount of chocolate stashed in there as well.”
“Good, because I kind of swerved from the original agreement on beverages as well,” Sydney announced with a wide smile as she pulled out a bottle of tequila. The two other women groaned.
“I really can’t drink all that; I’ll be passing out before the first movie ends,” Marie groaned with a shudder.
Fine by me, Sydney thought as Briana gave the golden liquid a distasteful glare.
They started the first movie and began giving each other facials and manicures. The wine was flowing and luckily no one noticed when Sydney didn’t actually drink any of her own.
“So, B, why don’t you want to talk to—” hiccup “—Caleb?” Marie asked as they opened the third bottle of wine.
“It is just the weirdest thing…” Briana started giggling. “Usually your wolf would go crazy when your mate goes missing or dies, but mine didn’t. She just sort of became dormant, I knew she was there but I couldn’t talk to her or shift or anything. But I know whenever Caleb is near because then she stirs in my mind.” Sydney thought that seemed strange enough, but she didn’t know enough about it to give her opinion.
Marie however had no tact and no filter of any sort. “Maybe you should bang him.” Trevor coughed somewhere in the background and Sydney had to stifle her laugh.
“No! I can’t do that! When Cole comes back and he finds out I slept with his twin brother… No, I can’t do that.” Her voice faltered and Sydney wanted to have a Marie moment and squeal.
“You totally have the hots for Caleb!” Sydney slapped Briana’s leg and giggled.
“No, I don’t! I’ve never even met the man!” Her cheeks were tinted pink and Sydney was sure that it wasn’t just the wine.
“Then you have to meet him! Like right now.” Marie stood up and pulled Briana up as well.
“What? Where are we…”
“Trevor!” Marie yelled and Trevor appeared in the doorway. “Take us to Caleb, right now!”
“I have to stay with the luna…” Sydney waved it off.
“I’m going to be staying right here—you can go quickly. Max and Dave are right outside, and you’ll be coming back so it’s not a really a big deal.”
“Guys, I really don’t think…” Briana started but Sydney cut her off. “Just go. You know you want to.” Briana bit her lip and then she gave a hesitant nod.
“Go go go. Before she chickens out.” Trevor still seemed reluctant. “You can lock the door and take the keys with you if you want to, Trev.”
“Okay, but I’ll be back in a few minutes.” And then they were out the door and she heard the lock turn. She rolled her eyes then she pulled the hoodie over her head and tossed it into a corner. She only had ten minutes before Trevor was back and the man was prompt as shit. She quickly went out to the patio and eyed the distance between the ledge and the next balcony. She should be able to make the jump. She just hoped that Max and Dave didn’t check in on her.
She stepped over the railing and took a deep breath before jumping. She could barely believe it when her feet landed on the other balcony. Okay then, she thought before climbing over the next railing. One more jump and she’d be on the balcony outside Alexander’s office. With another disbelieving gasp she made the jump and had to take a moment to catch her breath. Then she opened the door and sneaked inside. She didn’t switch on the lights; she didn’t need anyone to come in and check out why the lights were suddenly on.
She took a seat behind his desk and waited with bated breath for Benjamin to show up. With a startled yelp she jumped up as the bookcase behind her opened up. Of course it would, she thought, it was a freaking castle! There were bound to be secret passages around here somewhere.
“Well, hello, princess.” It was the bush dweller—how could she not be surprised at that.
“How the hell did you get in here?” she asked as she rounded the desk to get some distance between them. She wanted to get the name of the traitor and find out where Cole was, not to be stalked and taunted by a psycho, vengeful rogue. She frantically tried to send a message to Alexander and hoped the damn mind link thing worked like he said it did.
Rogue’s in your office—I think Benjamin let him in. Hurry the fuck up because this guy is really creepy.
And then he lunged over the desk and grabbed her. She screamed bloody murder and heard a growl that nearly rattled the walls.
“Oh, the Big Bad Alpha is mad—let’s see how fast he can run.” He stuffed something into her mouth and she had a hard time breathing. The cloth tasted funny, a strong and sweet flavor. She felt she should not breathe in but couldn’t resist. As she did, darkness descended just as the bookcase closed in front of her drooping eyes.
Chapter Nine
Sydney groaned as she struggled to open her heavy eyelids. Her head was pounding like a son of a bitch and her mouth tasted like she had way too much to drink the night before. Yuck.
“Easy there,” a deep, rumbling voice said next to her. She finally forced her eyes open and looked around the darkened room.
“Where am I?” Her voice was groggy, and she tried to swallow some saliva to ease the scratchy dryness. It didn’t work.
“In hell,” the same voice answered and as her eyes finally adjusted to the dim lighting, she could make out the silhouette of a man, sitting against the wall a few feet away from her. His hands and feet were clamped to a chain connected to the wall. Positively medieval. His appearance matched the entire ludicrous setting as well: torn and tattered clothing, barefoot, and he was in serious need of a haircut, shave, and bath.
“Yeah, sorry about the smell—no showers.” She wrinkled her nose and felt her stomach rolling. She tried not to show how bad she felt but her face must have given her away.
“It’s the chloroform. It tends to make humans nauseous.” He moved a bit and the light caught his face; when Sydney saw his features she gasped. She had only seen such vibrant eyes once in her life.
“Are you… Cole?” His eyes focused on her again in a slightly narrowed gaze.
“Depends on who’s asking.”
“I’m Sydney. Alexander’s mate.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
It was silent for a while and Sydney worried her lip, wondering if she should talk to him about Briana. At the end, she decided that it couldn’t do any damage.
“She waits for you, you know.” Cole frowned. “She is sort of part of my personal guard, but I see her more as my friend. She misses you, a lot. And she is waiting for you.”
“She shouldn’t,” Cole murmured.
“How can you say that? She loves you.”
“You know, it’s funny. We met and fell in love and mated and it all happened so quickly. I never got a chance to introduce her to my family.”
“You’ll get there.” He gave her a skeptical look before shaking his
chains in frustration.
“I’m chained up, underfed, and pumped full of wolfsbane.”
“And I’m the alpha’s missing mate—how long do you think it would take for him to come barging in here?” Cole gave a shout of laughter.
“That’s true.”
“What’s wolfsbane?” she asked after another short silence.
“It’s a normal little weed that grows in the forest. Quite harmless until it gets injected. It basically turns a werewolf into a human.”
“Permanently?” she asked, shocked.
“Depends on the dosage. Sometimes it can kill you, other times just your wolf. They give me just the right amount to silence my wolf and weaken me enough to not be able to escape.”
“That sucks. So… any idea about where we are?” she asked hopefully; maybe she could still try to get a message through to Alex.
“Nope, but it can’t be too far off territory.”
“How do you know that?”
Cole smiled at her and she had a knee-weakening moment. No need to wonder how Briana fell head over heels for this one. She suspected that once he was clean, shaven, and well fed, he would look a lot like Caleb. They both had the same piercing eyes, strong jawline, and even though he was a bit thin at the moment, he was still larger than the average male. Stupid werewolf genes. Still, that smile—damn, that was a freaking Orlando Bloom megawatt kind of smile. With a start she realized he was talking again.
“…but I can still smell the forest on them, the same pines that grow just off pack territory. You too, by the way. I can still smell Alexander’s scent on you now that the chloroform has worn off a bit so it couldn’t have taken them more than a few hours to get you here.”
“Huh.”
“So, you should try to get some sleep. These guys are all sorts of crazy and you might need your energy for whatever they have planned.” Sydney swallowed hard as his voice turned somber.
“Planned?”
“Sweetie, you don’t kidnap the alpha’s mate if you don’t plan on using her against him.”
Sydney had absolutely nothing to say to him and she had a hard time keeping the bile rising in her throat down.
“I’m sorry,” Cole whispered.
“Me too.”
* * *
Sydney had somehow, despite the dread weighing her down, managed to doze off and awoke with a start as she felt something softly tugging at her hair. She jolted upright.
“What the…?”
“Ssh. We are getting out of here, lie still and pretend to be asleep.”
“What… how… why?”
“I’m taking a bobby pin from your hair and getting out of these cuffs.” With a final tug he took the pin out of her hair and after wiggling it around in the small keyhole of his cuffs, they sprang open.
“Okay and then what?” She watched, fascinated as he unlocked his legs before standing up and stretching. She winced as several bones cracked and popped. With a surge of hope she realized that although he was a bit thin, there was still an impressive amount of muscle left on his body.
“Why did they keep you alive and basically unharmed for so long?”
“They wanted to get the Blood Moon Pack’s war strategies, probably figured that if they kept me here long enough, tortured me enough, I’d give in eventually.”
“Did you?”
“I will never betray my pack!” he said with a slight growl. “But I did give them a few bullshit lines to keep them satisfied enough for the time being.”
Somewhere above them a door slammed and Sydney’s heart hammered in time to the footsteps coming closer.
“Deep breaths, Luna, everything will be okay. Now, lie down and pretend to be asleep.” Sydney complied immediately and tried to take deep steady breaths to settle her thundering heartbeat. She closed her eyes and heard Cole sitting down again. She heard the clanking of chain shortly before a key in the steel door rattled.
“Wake up, princess. The boss wants to see you.” She was pulled up roughly by her arm and she gasped at the manhandling she was receiving.
“Hey, you jerk! Watch the hands!” She struggled against his hold but he was much too strong for her. He pulled her closer and she turned her face away from his reeking breath.
“Oh, feisty. I like it!” He licked the side of her face. “Maybe when the boss is done with you, he’ll give me a turn.”
“Hands off, Paul, Christopher said she is mine.” Sydney gasped as she recognized the voice.
“Benjamin?” She heard a soft growl from behind her as Cole realized who the traitor was. “How can you be a part of this?”
He laughed softly. “Such a silly human. You won’t live long enough to understand what is really going on.”
“Try me.” She struggled again but Paul tightened his hold until she was sure he was leaving bruises.
“Well, your beloved mate killed my dad—who was a rogue by the way—so my mom, who happened to be part of the Blood Moon Pack, had to go through her pregnancy alone. She died during childbirth because she was already weak after her mate died. I had to grow up in a pack, surrounded by happy families but I was treated like the runt. Always getting pushed around because of what my dad was and it was all his fault!” he screamed in her face, saliva flying everywhere. His skin was red in his anger, veins popping out and his eyes pitch black.
He seemed totally crazy and Sydney was petrified at the sight in front of her as his fingers turned into claws. He was starting to shift and she was powerless as Paul pulled her in front of him, using her body as a shield. One thing she had learned was that a crazed wolf was a dangerous wolf. The sound of clothes ripping was drowned out by the sound of a ferocious growl from somewhere outside.
The next few seconds passed in a blur. Benjamin had completed his shift and just as he lunged for her, she was pushed out of the way. She fell against the wall, her head hitting it with a sickening thud, turning her vision and hearing into a haze. She could vaguely make out the shape of Cole, standing with his back to her protectively. Paul, the other rogue was lying in a heap in the other corner, his body twisted at an odd angle that had her empty stomach rolling with nausea again. Benjamin lunged for Cole and she screamed, raising her hands to cover her face. She couldn’t witness him getting killed by a wolf. There was a growl, a grunt, and a loud crack followed by silence.
“See? Told you everything was going to be all right,” a cocky voice said. She peeked through her fingers and saw Cole crouching down to face her, not a single scratch on his filthy, bearded face.
“Oh, my…” She flung her arms around him. “I thought he was going to kill you!”
“Nah, I am not the head warrior for nothing. He was just a pup, nothing I couldn’t take care of.”
He pushed her away gently as she swayed slightly. He examined her head quickly. She could feel the dull ache and a stickiness running down the side of her head.
“That might leave a bruise. Shit, you won’t let the alpha kill me, will you?” Sydney managed a weak laugh.
“Not as long as you get me to him as soon as possible!” Cole straightened before picking her up bridal style.
“Just don’t close your eyes. It might be a concussion and you shouldn’t fall asleep.”
“I’ll try,” Sydney answered as she rested her head against his shoulder. Cole left the room, his footsteps silent and his eyes scanning the hallway for possible threats. They went up a short flight of stairs, through a small kitchen, and down a creepy hallway. The further they went, the louder the sounds of snarling and growling became. It was dusk outside and Sydney could see a fight going on. There weren’t a lot of wolves outside, but she could clearly make out which wolves belonged to her pack. They were bigger, stronger, and their fighting skills were ridiculous. Just then, the biggest wolf raised his head, sniffed the air, and locked eyes with her. She wanted to call out to him, but she was having a hard time holding onto her consciousness.
Alexander threw his massive head back and howled in
to the crisp night air. In a matter of minutes, the fight was over and Alex was walking toward her. He shifted back to his human form a few feet away and took her in his arms. She was crying—whether in pain from the bump on her head or from the joy of seeing him again, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she was holding onto him like she would never let him go again, whispering the same words over and over again.
“I love you, Alexander. I love you so much.”
Chapter Ten
Sydney was lying in bed, relaxing and far too lazy to get up anytime soon. It has been two days since she had been kidnapped and Alexander had kept her basically confined to the bed. Not in a kinky way, but in an overprotective mother hen kind of way. It was kind of cute but also frustrating. He barely touched her in any way, but she saw the promise in his eyes. The promise of punishment as well as a promise of an intense love, both of which he would deliver to her once the doctor cleared her concussion. That was where he was now, discussing her various bumps and bruises with the pack doctor. With a sigh she got up and made her way to the kitchen to fix herself a cup of coffee. She was settling down on the patio when Briana came barging in. The normally well put together woman looked like a mess and there were tears streaming down her face.
“B! What’s wrong?” Sydney jumped up to console her friend, but she wasn’t quite sure what to do.
“This isn’t right! I don’t know how… They can’t…” She burst out sobbing and it took a while for Sydney to get calm enough so that she could form a coherent sentence.
“Okay, now take a deep breath and tell me what’s wrong.”
“They are both my mates!” Briana nearly yelled before sniffling.
“What? Do you mean…”
“Yeah. Cole and Caleb are both my mates and I don’t know what to do.”
“Have you talked to them?” Briana rolled her eyes.
“They didn’t give me a chance to. They were all dominating and telling me how this is going to work and what I should and shouldn’t do.” A blush crept up Briana’s cheeks and Sydney giggled. She bet there were promises of punishment between every sentence. It was simply the way things worked with these domineering male wolves.
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