by Lila Jean
“Great. Right this way.” He said, waiting for her to stand before leading her through the doorway. Tina followed behind him as he led her down the stairs, eyes peeled for a stage door entrance. As he led her through the hallways, she patted her pocket again to make sure the werewolf mace hadn’t fallen out, and as she felt its satisfying weight, she took a deep breath, calming her nerves. She could do this. She could find Amy.
Sure, maybe Amy really had sent for a car for her. If that was the case, her friend would definitely understand Tina checking in before she left. If Amy hadn’t sent the car … well, Tina almost didn’t want to think about that.
As they rounded a corner into the main theatre, crowds of women hovered near the bar for one last drink or filed toward the exit. The waiter nudged his way through them, apparently eager to get Tina out of the club.
With ever-slowing steps, Tina blended with the crowd and scanned the walls, desperate for a door that would lead her backstage. Though she didn’t know her way around this club, she assumed the private rooms had to be somewhere near the stage.
Bingo. A nondescript door by the bar had a black sign on it with the words Employees Only.
Tina inched toward it, careful to keep an eye on both the waiter’s oblivious head bobbing in the crowd and the bartender as he poured a few final shots. When the bartender finally looked away, she pushed through the door and gently shut it behind her as fast as she could.
A dimly lit hallway stretched in both directions, running the length of the building with doors every ten feet or so. All but one stood open. Deep in her gut, she knew Amy was in trouble. Worse, she probably wouldn’t have long to figure out where her bestie had gone before someone saw her.
With no idea of where to go, Tina moved toward the first door. The Sapphire Room, according to the shimmering silver letters printed on a dark gray plaque by the door, led to a small empty space lined with black leather sofas. Blue lights overhead cast a cool glow on the dark walls, and as Tina looked at them, she realized each of the doors along this hallway probably led to the private dance rooms.
“You like?” a man asked from the next room over, his gravelly voice muffled by the closed door.
“Very much,” Amy said, her reply equally muted.
A blush crept up Tina’s neck. Apparently, the waiter hadn’t been lying about Amy being preoccupied, but something about this whole mess still set off alarm bells in the back of Tina’s mind. The waiter had been trying to get rid of her, and she refused to believe Amy had told him to send Tina home. No. She wouldn’t believe that until Amy said it to her face.
Resolving to do just that, Tina inched toward the door, eyes scanning the empty Sapphire Room one more time. Part of her wanted to enter and break up Amy’s fun in the name of safety, but at the same time, if Amy had wanted her to leave …
“You three are gorgeous, really,” Amy said, her voice louder now, “but I want to share you with my friend. Where is that waiter? He said he would get her at least thirty minutes ago.”
“She’ll be along,” another man said, his voice deeper than the first. “She was really into the show and wanted to watch it all before coming backstage. There are still a few acts left.”
Liar. Tina bit her lip. From the sound of it, Amy was in a room with at least three werewolves who were definitely up to something.
There was just one problem. She was a human and they were all wolves. If something happened, she’d need help. The last thing she wanted to do was bust in and get immediately overpowered. After all, there had been videos of a few of the larger shifters shaking off werewolf mace, despite the reassurances from the company who made it. It seemed like the strong ones were barely fazed by it, and she had no idea who was in the room with Amy.
Guess now is as good a time as any to call Anthony. Tina pulled out her phone.
As her thumb hovered over Anthony’s name in her contacts, the employee-only door to the main theatre swung open.
“Dammit,” Tina squeaked, glancing over her shoulder. They’d definitely find her standing here in a minute. Moving on instinct and panic, Tina slipped quickly into the empty Sapphire Room and pulled the door shut. She didn’t want to be thrown out before she checked on Amy, and she wouldn’t be able to do anything useful if even more men showed up.
She held her breath, waiting. The footsteps mercifully faded as whomever entered walked the opposite way, and a second later, a door slammed shut.
With a relieved sigh, Tina went back to her phone, but as she went to dial Anthony, she heard one of the men with Amy speak.
“Our time’s up, darlin’,” one of the men said as the music shut off.
A chair scraped, and Amy sighed deeply. “That’s too bad. My friend would have loved you guys. Maybe next time.”
“There won’t be a next time,” one of the men said right before something crashed against the floor.
2
Tina
The strippers exited the room where Tina had heard Amy’s voice wearing nothing but boxers and boots, their tall frames blocking most of the view beyond them. Each was easily six feet tall, with broad shoulders covered in muscles.
Amy lay draped over the tallest man’s shoulder, her wrists and legs bound with rope. A thin trail of blood snaked from her temple. A gag covered her mouth, and she caught Tina’s eyes as the men walked away from her.
“I’m getting help. Stall them,” Tina mouthed to her friend as she texted Anthony as quickly as she could.
Amy’s in trouble. The strippers at Howlers tied her up, and now they’re taking her somewhere.
Amy nodded, tears in her eyes, and elbowed the man carrying her in the neck as hard as she could. He cursed and shifted his grip on her, shaking her roughly as another man grabbed her hands to keep them still.
Tina’s phone buzzed as Anthony replied. Follow her and don’t get caught.
Oh, of course, she thought. Easy as pie. Just follow the kidnappers down a hallway with no cover. Don’t get caught.
Tina took a deep breath and pushed down her fear. She could do this. Sure, she might have been just a human, but all she had to do was follow along. She could manage that. She had to manage that.
She craned her neck, listening for footsteps, but could only hear the shuffling of boots as the kidnappers disappeared down the hall. When the sound of their movement faded, Tina peeked out in time to see them push their way through a door at the far end. The blond man in the back of the pack paused and spun on his heel. Heart hammering, Tina barely slipped her head back inside the Sapphire Room before his eyes could land on her.
She held her breath, waiting for the scuffle of boots in the hallway and the inevitable chuckle as he caught her. But nothing happened. Instead, the door at the end of the hall clicked shut, and everything went silent.
For several moments, Tina forced herself to wait just in case they were watching, but after ten excruciatingly long seconds of painful silence, she couldn’t take it anymore. She tentatively peeked around the doorframe to find an empty hallway. With no time to lose, she darted toward the door they had used and, doing her best not to make a sound, gently opened it.
A stairwell stretched down to the floor below, the walls lined with gray stone and frosted sconces instead of the white drywall she was expecting to find.
“You goddamn bastards!” Amy screamed, her voice echoing up the staircase.
Guess she got the gag off.
Tina stole down the steps, back pressed to the wall as she squinted into the dimly lit hallway at the bottom of the stairs. More stone. More sconces. No kidnappers.
Each step down the stairwell reminded her of walking into a castle dungeon. Though she expected a shifter or monster in every doorway, there was nothing but eerie silence.
That scared her more. After all of Amy’s struggling, it was now too quiet.
Tina peeked through the first open door to find a bland meeting area, complete with a whiteboard and a table. If it weren’t for the stone walls, it would ha
ve looked like any other bland office space.
But there was no Amy. No kidnappers.
Room after room sat empty. A few others were locked, but since no noises came through the doors, she ignored them and turned the corner. Once again, the hallway was filled with doors. Creeping forward, she peered into the first room.
A glittering pool of water sat in the middle of the vast space, with ornately carved stone pillars every six feet along the walls. Stepping stones led to a marble slab in the center of the small pond and the sight of it made a chill run down Tina’s spine.
This place made her think of sacrifices and rituals, of dark magic and blood.
“Well, nothing here …” she mumbled to herself, and as she started to take a step back, she heard voices at the far end of the hall. “Dammit!”
Dread sank clear to her toes as she glanced around the room, desperate for somewhere to hide. Her eyes settled on the three sets of double doors on the left wall.
“Well, here goes nothing,” she said, dashing toward the first set of double doors and pulling them open to find a small closet lined with shelves and brown boxes. Perfect. She hurried inside and pulled the doors nearly closed.
Through the small gap in the doors, Tina watched the three men from earlier carry Amy into the room. They now wore silver robes that revealed their hard chests through gaps in the loose fabric. Amy moaned as they placed her on the table, her hands and legs still bound. The sight made her want to punch them in their stupid furry faces.
No one hurt her best friend.
Gripping her phone, she quickly texted Anthony instructions on how to find the altar room. As she waited for his reply, her gaze shifting nervously from her phone to Amy’s body on the altar and back.
“She still smells like that human,” one of the men said with a laugh. “It’s overpowering.”
“It would have been nice to have a bit of fun with her too,” a second piped in with a sneer. “I bet she’s great in the sack.”
Tina growled despite herself, her grip tightening around her phone.
“Shut up, both of you,” the third man snapped. “We’re being paid a shitload to get this done, and the boss isn’t going to be forgiving if we screw it up. Focus.” His lips curled into a sneer. “Besides, we all know that human will come looking for her tomorrow. You can get your rocks off with her then.” He licked his lips. “After all, we’re not supposed to have witnesses …”
A sickening realization crashed over Tina. Someone had paid them to kidnap Amy and do something awful to her, but what’s more, they were talking about killing Tina, too. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Not if she could help it.
Her free hand shifted to the werewolf mace, ready to whip it out. It wouldn’t be enough to deter these massive guys for very long, but she wouldn’t let them hurt Amy. Besides, she didn’t need to stop them. She just needed to buy Anthony enough time to get here.
Gripping her mace tightly, she waited, watching the men for an opening. That’s when the door to the hallway slammed shut, and Tina stifled a gasp of surprise as two more men in suits stepped into the altar room from the hallway. With their hands clasped behind their backs, it took a second for Tina to realize what they were doing.
They were guarding the entrance, and something told her the dinky little bottle of werewolf mace wouldn’t be enough. The mace had felt inadequate before, but now … No. She couldn’t think like that. She just had to wait. Opportunity would present itself.
With a nervous glance at her phone, she debated ignoring Amy’s request not to call Mr. Saunders. A pissed off father was better than—well, Tina didn’t know what these men were going to do to her friend, but it couldn’t be good.
By the altar, the three werewolf shifters began to chant in unison, speaking in a language Tina didn’t recognize. Their deep voices reverberated off the bare walls, and as they called out, the water at their feet began to churn, causing frothy bubbles to splash onto the stone floor.
A strange humming filled the air, slowly at first, but the sensation built into an overpowering vibration that shook the very walls. The closet doors began to slowly inch open, so Tina had to let go of her mace and grab them to stay hidden.
As Tina readjusted herself so she could remain hidden, Amy began to glow. White light slowly washed over her skin causing every inch of her to shimmer.
Tina’s phone buzzed, and Anthony’s name popped up on her screen. There will be a distraction in five minutes. When it comes, grab Amy and get to the car out front.
I’m not sure we have that long, she confessed in her reply. These guys are chanting, and Amy is starting to glow.
A moment of silence. Then, her phone buzzed again. Two minutes. We’re coming.
Tina pocketed her phone and grabbed her mace, ready to jump out the moment this mysterious distraction appeared. Eyes on Amy, she itched to race out early, to stop these assholes from hurting her friend.
But she waited. She had to. Solo, she didn’t stand a chance.
The sound of gunshots filled the air as the men beside the doorway screamed. The two guards ripped open the door and charged outside, slamming it behind them as two more gunshots fired in the hall. Tina flinched at the painfully loud booms, heart skipping beats as she gripped her mace tightly. This was it ...
At the altar, the chanting slowed. Two of the shifters tilted their heads toward the exit, but the third frowned. “Keep going. We’re almost done.”
With what? Tina asked herself.
The entry burst open. Wood splintered as the jamb exploded into a spray of twisted metal and a massive black wolf leaped inside. It snarled, its enormous frame blocking the entire doorway.
For a moment, Tina couldn’t breathe. It was both beautiful and terrifying.
The wolf tilted its gorgeous head toward her, its eyes focusing on her through the gap in the closet doors. That was enough to snap her out of her daze.
This was the distraction she had been waiting for.
She kicked open the closet door and bolted for the altar, mace at the ready. The steam of blinding pepper rained from the can like fire, hitting the closest man right in the eyes. He screamed and fell backward into the water while the other two ran for the black wolf, apparently gauging him as the bigger threat. Their forms shimmered as they shifted into wolves themselves, but Tina ignored them.
On the altar, Amy’s eyes shot open. The irises were gone, and her eyes glowed white. Her mouth opened as though she were trying to scream, but she didn’t make a sound. The ropes around her wrists and ankles glowed red and as Tina reached her friend, they blew away, disintegrating into ash.
“Amy!” Tina grabbed her friend’s face. The moment Tina touched Amy’s skin, pain unlike anything she’d ever felt exploded through her.
It was like being hit by lightning. Like being burned alive. Like being dipped in a vat of acid.
Tina screamed.
Time slowed to a crawl. As the pain snaked through her body, she could feel every heartbeat, every breath. The soft caress of her cotton shirt on her torso felt like heaven, a sharp contrast to the agonizing sting of her blood boiling in every vein. Every sensation erupted through her brain, almost too much to bear and beautifully orgasmic at the same time.
“What’s going on?” Tina cried, one hand going to the altar to brace herself, only as she gripped it, the marble slab broke off, pitching her to the ground.
The chill of the hard stone against her knees snapped her out of her suffering enough for her to get a sense of her whereabouts once more. The black wolf wrestled with three slightly smaller wolves. With a mighty kick of his hind legs, the black wolf launched all three past the altar. The three wolves sailed across the room, slamming into the far wall. Snarling and snapping his jaws, he charged after them as they slumped down the stone to the ground.
“Ugh, what happened?” Amy sat up on the slab with her hand on her head as though nursing a headache. Her skin had returned to normal. Thank God!
“You�
�re okay!” Tina moved to pull herself to her feet. But as she gripped the altar, she nearly went blind. From her own hands. Brilliant white light radiated from her body. Somehow, someway, the glow had transferred to her.
“Tina, what’s going on?” Amy asked, but as her eyes fixed on Tina they widened. “Oh my god. You’re glowing?”
“Come on,” Tina said, shaking herself back into action. She might have been glowing, and the world might be spinning, but that didn’t mean they could stand around. No. They had to move.
She tried to walk, but just that small movement made stars of pain flash behind her eyes. Then her toe hit the corner of the altar, knocking her off balance.
Tina’s arms flailed, windmilling, and as Amy reached out to try and grab her, Tina toppled into the pool surrounding the altar. The silky touch of the water splashed against her face, and the rush of overwhelming sensation returned. Tina could barely think, barely breathe, barely do anything.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to do anything. Amy grabbed her by the arms and pulled her from the water. As she turned her eyes toward her friend, she realized Amy was speaking to her.
“Hold on, Tina,” Amy said, her voice barely audible. “You’re going to be okay.” Every sound warbled and echoed in Tina’s ears, making Amy’s voice almost unrecognizable.
And with that, Tina’s world went dark.
3
Tina
The sound of rushing water through an open window pulled Tina out of a dark and dreamless sleep. She woke to the cooling sensation of silk sheets along her bare thighs. A gentle breeze rolled over her face, and a soft blanket lay over her body.
Slowly, she blinked herself awake and lifted herself onto her elbows. Her vision was blurry, but the wooden posts of a canopy bed gradually came into focus. The white curtains were drawn, hiding the world around her.
At first, Tina didn’t understand what had happened. The heavy lethargy of sleep and a pounding headache made her brain fuzzy. As she sat up, though, a wave of memories crashed into her.