A Reverse Harem Romance Collection Box Set

by Lane Hart

  The big guy grunts in pain as some of her blows land before he spins her around. Hauling his palm back, he then slaps the shit out of her face.

  “Nadia!” I scream as she crumples to the ground, and all I can do is stand there and watch. My legs can barely hold up my weight and now my hands are restrained.

  “Get her up, but don’t touch her flesh,” the guy holding my wrists instructs the other man. I try to break out of his grip, but all I get for my troubles is the big guy nailing me with a right hook.

  Chapter 25

  Cash

  “Nadia and Zaine should’ve been home by now,” I tell Evander and Trent as I clutch my phone in my hand, waiting for a text or call while pacing around the living area of the academy. “Neither her or Z answered or responded to my messages.”

  “Chill, man,” Evander says as he relaxes in a tee and athletic pants with his feet propped up on an ottoman, casually crossed at the ankle. “If something was wrong, I would have…”

  “What?” I ask when he suddenly pauses mid-sentence and lowers his legs to sit up straight.

  Scratching his shaved head, he says, “I haven’t had any visions since I got here! I think Nadia’s taken my powers away. I’ve been so wiped out that I didn’t notice!”

  “So we should panic?” Trent asks, already on his feet.

  “Ah, let’s just take a ride to the grocery store,” Evander suggests. “Nadia’s probably just working late, and we can just drive by and keep going once we check in with Zaine.”

  There’s a foot race between the three of us running out the door and to my SUV.

  I get there first, thanks to my vampire speed, and hop in the driver seat, cranking it up before Trent’s even sitting in the passenger seat. Evander’s the last to arrive, throwing himself into the backseat just before I take off.

  “Call the grocery store!” I instruct them while my hand presses down on the car horn until the gate finally opens, letting us out.

  A short hundred mile per hour drive later and we pull up before Evander even gets through the store’s automated phone service. I pull up beside Zaine’s car in the parking lot…and it’s empty.

  “Trent, go check the store and see if either of them are inside,” I order him, and he takes off without blinking an eye. “Evander, track her watch,” I say as I drive over to Nadia’s car to see if there’s any sign of her.

  “It’s off,” Evander says a moment later.

  “Off? Fuck! How did this happen?”

  “Guess we’ll have to ask Z,” the psychic says.

  “You didn’t see any of this shit before?” I snap at him.

  “I don’t have selective visions!” he yells back.

  Trent comes out of the store’s sliding doors, and I can tell by his drooping shoulders that he didn’t find them.

  I pull up to the curb for him to climb inside.

  “Did you ask about her? See if anyone knows where she is?” I ask the big guy as he climbs back into the SUV.

  “Yeah,” he mutters, slamming his door shut. “She went on her lunch break at noon, four hours ago and never came back.”

  “Goddamn it!” I exclaim, banging my hands on the steering wheel. “Now what the fuck do we do?” I ask them.

  “We should go to the police,” Evander says on a sigh. “It sucks, but they’re the only ones who can pull any surveillance videos.”

  “I’ll contact Tom Ellis and see if he can help,” I agree as I swallow around the boulder lodged in my throat.

  What if the coven masters have Nadia? What if they hurt her? And how the fuck are we going to find those assholes?

  Nadia

  I’ve never been hit before today.

  And while my cheek is swollen and throbbing like a motherfucker, I would rather these guys hit me over and over again than have to watch them keep beating the shit out of Zaine.

  His wrists are chained together and he’s hanging from the ceiling of the basement. He’s strung up so high his feet don’t even touch the ground. With each blow of their fists to his body and face, he swings back and forth and screams in agony as all his weight causes the chain to dig into his wrists a little deeper.

  “Do you want us to kill him?” the biggest, most violent man asks me. If I wasn’t tied to a chair with my hands behind my back, I would be very tempted to twist his nuts off while sucking his soul out of him.

  “Or are you finally ready to do what we want, Nadia?” the older man’s voice asks me. I have no clue what he actually looks like because he’s wearing a ridiculous metal suit from head to toe and just a small slit for his eyes, nose and mouth. If I had to guess by his voice, he’s in his fifties or sixties and the person running the show, giving the other two guys orders.

  “No, baby. Don’t…don’t…do –” Zaine says before he’s socked in the side of his head yet again.

  “Please stop!” I sob, because this time his entire body slumps lifelessly. His chin is pressed to his chest, and I don’t know if he’s dead or just unconscious.

  “He’s running out of time,” the older man says. “A few more blows like that and his brain will turn to mush.”

  “Okay! Yes, I’ll do whatever you want!” I tell him as tears pour down my face.

  “Good,” he replies. Then, to the abusive men, he says, “Take her to the academy. Now, listen very closely to me, Nadia.” He comes over and leans down in front of me as much he can in his full body armor. I really wish I could get my hands on his flesh. “If you don’t come back here within an hour, alone with my men and Harper, Zaine will pay the consequences with his life. You must convince Harper to come with you by any means necessary or he dies.”

  “H-how am I supposed to convince her?” I ask through blurry eyes and unrelenting sniffles.

  “The same way we’re convincing you,” he answers. “Threaten to hurt one of the men she thinks she loves. Steve and Nelson will go with you and be waiting in the van. Try something and I’ll kill Zaine. Call for help and I’ll kill him.” Removing a long, sharp blade from a holster on his armor, he holds it in front of my face and says, “Do anything besides what I told you to do and I’ll slice him from his throat all the way down to his guts. Understand?”

  I nod my head yes even though I’m already trying to figure out how to do this without hurting Harper’s men, Zaine, or anyone else except the pricks who kidnapped us.

  The big guy pulls me up out of the seat with my hands still zip tied behind my back.

  “Nelson will drive, and Steve will cut the ties off once you’re at the academy,” the asshole says. “Now, give me the phone.” He turns to the men with his hand out. The smaller one places a thin smart phone on his metal gloved palm. “This phone must stay on you at all times so we can listen to everything you say. If it disconnects, I’ll kill Zaine. If I hear you hurt one of my men, I’ll kill Zaine. I’m sure you understand how important it is that you keep this phone on.” Spinning me around by my shoulder, he slips the device into my back pocket, not so subtly copping a feel. Great, he’s an asshole and a pervert.

  “I think she’s ready,” he tells the guys when he spins me back around. Glancing down at the watch on his wrist, he says, “Your hour starts right now.”

  The men shove me in the direction of the stairs. I stumble but start walking. Zaine doesn’t move a muscle or make a sound as I leave. I just pray that he’s sleeping through this and by the time he wakes up it will all be over.

  No surprise, we go through a garage with two different shady looking vans with no windows in the back. I’m corralled into the back of one and forced to sit on the floor.

  “We’re in the van,” big guy, Steve I assume, says loudly when he sits down across from me, likely so the old man can hear him on the cell phone in my pocket.

  No one speaks again while the other man drives us. Not until the van comes to a stop.

  “We made it to the academy, about two blocks away,” Steve announces. “I’m going to cut her loose and then recite the pledge of allegi
ance until she’s gone so you’ll know I’m still alive.”

  “I pledge allegiance to the flag,” he starts, and then my hands are thankfully free. “Of the United States of America.” He points a thick finger to the back door, indicating I should go. “And to the republic for which it stands…”

  I’ve never moved faster in my life getting out of there and stepping onto the sidewalk.

  “Go directly to the academy gate and nowhere else,” a small voice tells me from my pocket. My feet carry me in that direction while my mind still runs through any possible solutions here. Unfortunately, I reach the guard gate before I have any good ones.

  “Hey, Nadia,” the guard, a shifter like Trent, says from his window and the gate instantly starts opening. “Cash was looking for you. He said if I saw you to tell you to call him and for me to report back.”

  “Don’t!” I tell him since I’m pretty sure the bad guy heard all of that through the phone. “Don’t call him.” I pull out their phone and hold it up. “I’ll call him right now,” I lie as I slip through the gate. “Thanks! And could you call Harper and ask her to meet me out front?”

  “Sure,” he says before he picks up the phone inside the gate house and puts it to his ear.

  By the time I reach the front of the main house, walking slowly, trying to slow my mind down enough to freaking think of a plan, Harper and all three of her men are already out there.

  “Hey,” Harper says in greeting, wearing a red cotton, long sleeve dress that shows off her growing bump. “Is everything okay?”

  “Ah, yeah,” I reply, figuring that my puffy, swollen eyes are a dead giveaway to her that I’m lying. “The other day when you stopped by Trent’s you mentioned…going shopping. What do you say we have a girl’s day out? Are you free right now?”

  I point down at the phone in my hand, hold a finger up to my lips in the gesture of keeping quiet before slashing a line across my throat to convey that this is a life or death situation, then slip the phone into my back pocket.

  “You know what?” Harper says as she looks to each of her men. “I do want to get out of the house for a little while.”

  “No, sweetheart,” Kingston says with a hand squeezing her shoulder. “We’ve got that…doctor’s appointment we can’t miss.” I know he’s reminding her about the pregnancy and how getting involved with my shit would be dangerous, but I seriously doubt Harper ever forgets the two little lives she’s responsible for keeping safe.

  “Can’t you reschedule?” I ask, making the line across my throat again. “I’m off this afternoon and working the rest of the week.”

  “Yes, of course,” Harper agrees while three masculine head all shake their heads no. “Kingston will follow up with the doctor’s office to reschedule.”

  “Perfect,” I say since I know she meant they’ll try to follow us.

  “Let me just grab my purse and I’ll meet you at the gate.”

  After she’s gone, the bearded man pulls out his keys from his jean pocket silently and holds them up, telling the guys to do the same. They’re going to follow us and do something to save Zaine, hopefully. I don’t want Harper to risk having to use her magic and hurt her pregnancy, but I can’t risk Zaine’s life either!

  “How are Cash and Zaine doing?” Drake asks.

  “Oh, they’re great,” I tell him. “Cash should be around here with Trent and Evander, and Zaine is…working. Late. He really hates his job, but what are you going to do, right?”

  “I’m sure he’ll find another one soon with better benefits and all,” Kingston responds, going along with our discreet conversation. I know they’re now aware that it’s Zaine who the bad guys have, which is why they were able to convince me to involve Harper.

  “Yeah, you just have to keep looking and not give up on finding the right one,” I agree.

  “Well, it was good seeing you, Nadia, but I should get back to work too,” the bearded guy, Rowan I think is his name, says, holding up his keys and pointing toward the house. If I had to guess, they’ll go inside and go out the back to the garage.

  “Oh, right. I’m so sorry to interrupt,” I tell them as they all slip away.

  Harper comes out several long minutes later, likely giving the men time to get to their cars.

  “I’m ready,” she says, coming down the steps with her purse on her shoulder. “Sorry it took so long.”

  “No problem,” I tell her. “I just really appreciate you indulging me on such short notice.”

  “Sure. Are you parked out on the street?” she asks.

  “I am. Figured it was easier to just pop in that way,” I say as the same guard lets us out with a friendly wave. Harper and I discuss the weather as we walk back to van. When we’re nearby, the back door opens, and then the meathead jumps out and shoves us inside.

  “I’m so sorry,” I tell Harper, who had her shoulder rammed against the van wall. Her hand goes to her belly protectively as she sits down next to me and Steve takes the seat across from us.

  “What’s going on?” she asks, face conveying fear and outrage to play along.

  “Turn around and put your hands behind your back,” big man instructs her while grabbing a roll of duct table. “If you try to use magic to burn through them or me, her guy is dead,” he says, nodding his head in my direction.

  “Got it,” Harper agrees before she turns to let him restrain her hands behind her back.

  Now what the hell are we supposed to do?

  Chapter 26

  Cash

  “When was the last time you heard from her?” Police Officer Tom Ellis asks when we sit down at his desk to see if he can help us find Nadia.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket as Evander answers the officer. When I take it out, I see Drake’s name on the caller ID. “Sorry, but I need to take this,” I say as I answer while hurrying out of the police station to make sure no one overhears.

  “Missing someone?” the vampire says by way of greeting.

  “What do you know?” I ask him.

  “Not entirely sure what’s going on, but Voss is definitely up to something,” he tells me. “Nadia walked up to the house and asked Harper to go ‘shopping’ with her. We’re following behind a van in two cars right now.”

  “Fuck,” I mutter. “He must have Zaine! That’s the only reason Nadia would go along with what that asshole wants.”

  “Most likely,” Drake agrees.

  “What are we going to do?” I ask him.

  “We’re gonna end that fucker for good. You got any guns?”

  “No, but we can probably get our hands on some,” I tell him since we’re in the police station surrounded by men carrying them.

  “Do it. Fast,” Drake says. “I’ll text you the address when the van stops. They’re going in circles now to make sure no one is following. But I think we’re far enough away that they haven’t noticed us.”

  “Okay. Talk to you soon,” I tell him before I end the call.

  Marching back inside the station, I head straight for Tom’s desk and tell him, “I need your help, and I need you to trust me and not ask any questions.”

  “Okay,” the cop agrees with an arched eyebrow.

  “Can we borrow five or six guns?”

  “Wow!” Tom barks with a chuckle. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

  “I’m dead serious,” I assure him. “Someone’s in trouble. Three someones — two women and a man. One of the women is my girlfriend, and the other is pregnant.”

  Getting to his feet, he grabs his keys up from his desk. “Then let’s go.”

  “No. You can’t come with me and I can’t tell you what’s happened. That’s why I need you to trust me,” I explain. “Please? Nothing will blow back on you. I promise, Tom. But I don’t have all day. So, either you agree to help me, or we’ll go buy guns off the street.”

  “I don’t like this,” he says through narrowed eyes.

  “Fuck, I don’t either!” I exclaim. “We probably won’t even use them,
but we need weapons at the ready. None of us are convicted felons and can legally own them. We just don’t have time to go through the proper channels.”

  “Jesus,” Tom mutters with a shake of his shaved blond head. “I’m only considering this because I know you, and I know you risk your life saving people from fires so it must be pretty bad if you’re thinking of hurting someone. I can maybe get you three guns with the serial numbers scratched off. But if anything happens and I think you’re responsible, I’ll still have to arrest you, Cash!”

  “Understood,” I agree. “Thanks, man. I’ll owe you one.”

  Zaine

  I’m pretty sure I’m dying. Like soon. I need Cash’s blood. A few gallons of it.

  And the worst part is not the physical pain.

  I don’t want Nadia to think any of this is her fault if I die. I shouldn’t have gone behind the store with her or fucked her and made myself too weak to fight. This entire mess is on me. And fucking Voss.

  Occasionally, I can hear whispers of Nadia’s voice coming over the phone Voss has on speaker. When it stops, I don’t know if she’s gone or if I passed out for a few minutes.

  It’s a huge fucking relief when she comes back down the stairs so I can see for myself she’s okay, although blurry thanks to the swelling of my entire face. And it looks like she’s with a pregnant Harper. Fuck.

  “She’s here. Now let Zaine go,” Nadia says while eyeing me. I try to give her a wink but fail to possess the energy to blink just one eye.

  “Right,” Voss replies. “Take him to the bridge over Salem Lake and toss him over it. If he lives, he lives. If not…”

  “Wait! You said you would let him go if I did what you asked!” Nadia yells at him.