He rolled to his side, careful not to crush her. Then tugged her body flush against his. “Mine,” Adam said, his tone growly and possessive. His arms tightened around her, pushing her ass against his still somewhat hard cock. One of his hands cupped a breast and the other slid down her torso, coming to rest on her hip.
“Always,” Paige answered.
Adam grunted acknowledgement and nuzzled against the back of her neck.
Paige listened to his breathing even out as he drifted to sleep.
She was his. She’d always been his. More than she’d ever realized.
The few dates her friends had coaxed her out on through the last couple of years had all gone terribly. The only man who had a place in her thoughts had been Adam. Always Adam.
Paige sighed, a content smile stretched across her face. Her body was sore in the best way possible. Sunlight poured through the gaps in her blinds and the smallest tick tock drew her attention to the wall clock.
She wriggled loose from Adam’s arms and crawled to the edge of the bed. He was out to the world, but there was just enough time to cook a nice lunch for them to share. He could sleep, and she cook. Then she could bask in the joy that surrounded her.
Adam wanted her. They were going to be together and his family would love her once they got to know her.
She slipped into a pair of yoga shorts and a tank top before tiptoeing out of the bedroom. The kitchen called to her like an old friend. The few nagging worries she had about his family could easily be drowned out by the smell of freshly baked cookies.
Paige whipped up an easy chocolate chip recipe and popped a pan into the oven. The smell of the sugary dough and chocolate soon filled the kitchen and she padded over to the fridge to dig out what she needed to make them some sandwiches.
Something made her skin twitch and she stepped back to look around the door. An unfamiliar man stood mere inches from her. She opened her mouth to scream, but he covered it, muffling the sound to no more than a quiet groan.
Another man stepped up from the opposite side. Where the hell had they both come from? And who were they?
Fear clawed her heart. They were taking her away from Adam.
No! She kicked and writhed, overturning the mixing bowl on the counter with one flailing hand, but getting no leverage.
The prick of a needle in her neck stole any hope she might’ve had. The world faded to black and her joy disappeared with it.
Chapter Eight
A sharp, warm smell woke Adam from the haze of blissful sleep. Typically, good sex made him ready to take on the world, but something about being with Paige had exhausted him. Could’ve been the night of shifting, but he’d felt all his strength leave his body when he came inside her, and sleep had been almost instantaneous.
How had he not known she was his? How had it taken him six years to hear Fate talking to him?
He was listening, now, and he wanted to say the spell. Make sure she would never be without him again.
Paige’s bedroom was… shit, so much purple. Adam smiled and looked for his pants. Somehow, the purple didn’t surprise him. Not the drapes, not the blanket that covered him, not the sheets, not the rug under her nightstands. It seemed just exactly like Paige.
All his clothes had been laid out on the end of the bed, except his shirt. Fuck, she’d better be wearing that shirt, because that would be sexy as damn hell. He would peel it right off her body.
Just as soon as he tasted whatever sweet thing she’d baked that smelled so damn good.
“Paige?” he called, slipping one leg into his boxers. The edge of the smell seemed almost too sharp, like something might have over-baked. “Paige? Do you smell that?” Adam yanked his pants on and found his shirt hiding underneath them.
Damn, she wasn’t wearing his clothes. Oh well, he’d just have to undress her and rectify that situation.
He hadn’t even made it into the living room when a loud, sharp sound pierced the air. The smoke alarm.
He ran for the kitchen.
Two tiny pillars of smoke were floating out of either side of the white lacquered oven. He looked around for a towel, but something was off about the kitchen scene.
The towel was on the floor, below a silver bowl that was flipped over, hanging halfway off the counter. He grabbed the towel and started fanning the smoke while he kicked closed the refrigerator door.
“Paige!” he yelled again.
With a quick couple of steps, he had the smoking cookies in the sink and the oven off. He walked to the back of the kitchen to open the door, but it was hanging partly open.
Something grabbed his heart and he turned in a quick circle. She was nowhere to be seen, the kitchen looked like a disaster zone, and the cookies had burned.
They had taken her.
Adam grabbed for his phone, but it wasn’t in his pocket. He scrambled back to the bedroom and found it next to the bed. He dialed Lee’s number and pulled his boots on.
Voicemail.
He punched the wall, hard, while he listened to Lee give instructions about what he could do after the fucking beep.
“Lee. Dammit. I know you’ve been here at Paige’s, or Miles has. One of you has her, and I swear to God, I’m going to find you and pull every hair from your body if you take even one of her memories.” He took a deep breath and pounded the wall again. “Lee, I promised her. I promised her I wouldn’t let you do this. She’s my mate, dammit.”
His throat and eyes burned with all the emotion he couldn’t verbalize. I promised her. Damn fucking Fate to hell for taking so long to find her. I can’t lose her now…I just found her.
Adam ran back through the house, dialing Miles, and called for Paige. Please, let me be wrong about this. Let her be out riding her horse somewhere. Or let her be at the Sack’n’Pack getting milk.
The ringing stopped and Miles’ voicemail came through with a short, curt, “Leave it at the beep.”
“Miles, you have to let her go. One of you has her, and you have to bring her back to me. Please. You don’t know what you’re doing.” Emotion choked him and from deep inside, a growl bubbled up and turned into a roar. “She’s my mate, for fuck’s sake. You can’t let Aaron give her to the witches. They’ll make her forget me. Please.”
He pounded the floor with both fists until his phone fell apart in his hands. His wolf was so close to the surface. Part of him wanted to shift and run and kill everything in his way until he got to Paige.
No. He had to find her.
Adam searched his pockets for his keys. No. He hadn’t driven his truck. He’d driven Paige’s car. Where had he left the keys?
He racked his brain. He’d been going around, locking doors and windows. How the hell had Lee or Miles gotten into the house? Fuck. He had to find her.
Finally, he found the keys, sitting on the coffee table in the living room. He’d been sitting on that couch with Paige when…no. He couldn’t think.
Adam ran for the car and tore out of Paige’s driveway with one thought in his mind.
He had to get to Aaron before the witches took Paige away from him forever. He’d finally found his mate and there was no way in hell he would give her up without a fight.
* * *
Everything was swimmy and weightless. Paige couldn’t feel which way was up and which was down. She struggled to open her eyes but they wouldn’t cooperate. There were arms holding her and she could feel a hard chest, but the scent was wrong. It wasn’t Adam. That warm feeling that always surrounded her when she was with Adam was missing.
Unfamiliar smells assaulted her nose, a mixture of herbs and spices that stung the back of her throat. Why was it so strong? Why couldn’t she speak?
She opened her mouth, or tried. Nothing was working.
“Put her there on the table,” said one semi-familiar female voice.
“Are you sure we should do this without speaking directly to Aaron?” asked another female voice.
“This is protocol. Do the spell. We have t
o contain the exposure. Aaron has other things to deal with right now.” The male voice speaking was definitely not Adam.
The spell. No! No! Paige struggled through the fog drowning out her ability to speak or move. Don’t take Adam away from me. Anything but that. I won’t tell anyone.
Paige could hear the scream in her mind, but it wouldn’t form in her throat. They were going to take everything from her.
Surely Adam would wake up and find her. The cookies were baking. They would burn. The smoke alarm would go off.
He would come.
He had to come.
Please come.
* * *
Adam’s skin itched as he drove. His wolf was ready to push its way out of him, trying to get to Paige’s scent in the air. He couldn’t smell well enough as a human to be able to track her, but his wolf knew how to track. Never in his life had he felt like he couldn’t control the magick.
Gods, he had to find Paige.
He misentered the code at the ranch gate and pounded on the buzzer. “Someone, let me in!” he yelled, but there was no answer. His fingers shook as he entered the code correctly and the gate opened for him.
Paige’s little car skidded on the gravel and he roared up to the turnabout. He bounded out of the car, leaving the door open, and pushed into the house. “Aaron!” he screamed. “Lee! Miles!”
The interior of his brother’s giant house echoed with his anger, but no one answered him. They might all be asleep still, resting after the run, or they might be huddled around Paige somewhere with those damn Banfields, taking her memories.
“Someone answer me!” He ran into the dining room, then through to the kitchen, and back out into the foyer. No one.
Steps on the stairs stopped his progress and Tonya’s voice sounded from behind him. “Adam. What’s wrong?”
“Where is she?” He grabbed his sister-in-law by the shoulders. “Where did Aaron take her?”
“Wait. Who? Who are you looking for? Dee?”
“Dammit, no.” Adam backed away from Tonya and ran for the stairs. Not Dee. Not fucking Dee. Dammit.
“Aaron!” he called, running down the long hallway, past the workout room and the TV room and the guest rooms and bedrooms, all the way down to Aaron’s room.
“He’s not up here, Adam,” Tonya called after him. When he turned, she was standing at the top of the stairs, her face white. “What the hell is going on?”
“Paige,” he said. “Paige Lewis.”
“Paige who?” Tonya walked toward him, pulling a white shawl around her shoulders. “Honey, you’re not making any sense. Dee left a couple of hours ago, and so did the LeBlancs and the Trewitts. Nearly everyone is gone.”
“No, no.” He shook his head, stalking toward her, feeling his wolf getting more powerful with every step. “Not Dee. Gods, Tonya. Listen to me. Paige Lewis. Miles or Lee would have brought her to Aaron. She’s about this tall, and has red hair and—”
Tonya grabbed one of his flailing hands. “Adam, good heavens. You are burning up. What’s going on?”
“I told you, dammit. I need to find Paige.”
“Get your fucking hands off my wife!” Aaron’s voice was not only loud, but it reverberated through his head like a flaming pinball.
Adam backed away from Tonya and gripped the sides of his head, closing his eyes.
She gasped. “Aaron. It’s Adam.”
“I know who it fucking is.” His brother’s voice came closer. “Nobody puts their hands on my wife.”
“No, something is wrong,” she said. “He’s burning up and raving about some girl named Paige.”
Adam pushed his hands through his hair and everything inside expanded like it might burst. “She’s not just some girl.”
“What the hell is going on here?”
When he opened his eyes, his brother was standing in front of him, pupils glowing and angry.
Aaron’s breathing pulsed through his nose, like he had to hold something back, but Adam didn’t fucking care what his brother might do.
He had to find Paige.
“I woke up and Paige was gone. It had to be…I think Miles or Lee must’ve seen her. She saw someone shifting and—”
Aaron’s magick pulsed through Adam’s body so potently, it knocked him back against the wall.
“You saw her do this? And you didn’t come to me immediately?”
Adam shook his head and put out his hand to stop his brother from advancing on him. “No, I didn’t need to come to you.” His breath caught in his throat when he thought of Paige and the moment when he’d recognized what had happened.
He’d taken her away, when he should’ve brought her straight to Aaron. “She’s my mate,” he panted. “I didn’t need you to control her. She should know about us.”
Both Aaron and Tonya stared at him like he was speaking Greek. He settled his hands onto the wall behind him, trying for some stability. But he couldn’t stop the banging of his heart, or the desire of the magick to make him shift so he could track Paige.
“Wait. You found your mate?” Aaron’s eyebrows went sky high in surprise. “When the hell did this happen? You were hitting on every she-wolf in this house not four hours ago.”
“I’d say, roughly three and a half hours ago,” Tonya said. She stepped toward Adam and reached out a hand toward him but he pushed her away.
“Don’t touch me right now. I can’t…I don’t know if I can control it.” He panted and slid along the wall, away from his brother and sister-in-law. “You have to call off Lee and Miles.”
“Call them off what?” Aaron gave him an incredulous look. “I was just talking to Allan and then I went to check on the horses, and I swear, I took my eyes off you for all of ten minutes, and in that time, you came back from Narnia or something.”
Adam could’ve hauled off and smacked his brother in the face for making a joke, but he wasn’t sure he could control his wolf if he made one more move. Instead, he froze on the wall and closed his eyes.
Why hadn’t he bonded with her? Why had he waited? Now, his wolf was about to jump out of his skin, and Adam couldn’t make his stupid brother understand. They had to find Paige.
“She saw a couple of wolves shift and you took her away to talk about it.” Tonya’s voice was sweet, and it almost called Adam back from the dark magick place he was about to hit.
“Yes.”
“Okay, but wherever you took her, she’s not there anymore, so you came here looking for her?” she asked.
“Yes.” Adam’s breathing started to normalize, now. Everyone was making sense.
“Only she’s not here.” Aaron still carried a touch of incredulity.
Adam had no doubt he did sound a little Narnia-ish to someone who wasn’t living in his skin. But it was absolutely real.
“She’s not here? You swear?” Adam came off the wall and was in his brother’s face. “Because I promise you, she’s my mate.”
“She really isn’t here.”
“How do you know she’s gone?” Tonya asked.
“I woke up and her cookies were burning and the door was open. She was gone.” The words caught in his throat and he had to take a long breath before he could continue. “Her car was still there, and she didn’t even get dressed. It looked like someone took her. I assumed it was Lee or Miles.”
“Not on my orders.” Aaron dug in his pocket and pulled out his phone. “If they had found something as serious as someone being exposed to wolves, they would have come to me…”
But something on his screen made him pause.
Adam came around behind him and looked at the words floating on the phone.
Left to handle a situation. Will return and give a report.
It was from Lee Trent.
“He sent that half an hour ago.” Adam yanked a hand through his hair. “Dammit. If he didn’t come here. Where in the hell would he go?”
Tonya and Aaron exchanged a glance full of what Adam could only read as dread.
“Would he have gone straight there?” Tonya asked. “I mean, we only just told him about it.”
“He wouldn’t have done it without my permission.” Aaron typed something into his phone. “I’m going to tell him to come back right now.”
Adam grabbed his brother’s arm. “Gone straight where?”
“To the Banfields.” His answer was grim.
Adam had been afraid of hearing it, but the reality of those words was much worse.
They would take her into their little cave of a house in the country and they would erase her. It had never happened to a single human in the history of the VonBrandts existence in Somewhere, but it was always hovering there, over everyone’s head, as a motivation for secrecy.
They had some spell that would quite literally cut off a part of her brain from ever functioning again. It was not only invasive magick, but it was irreversible. It would make Paige, not-Paige-anymore.
“Tell me where they are.” He gripped Aaron’s shirt. “I have to stop them.”
“Out on Sweet Mountain Road.” Tonya pushed at Adam. “Hurry. It’s the last house on the driveway past Aidan Conley’s new place.”
Adam dropped his brother and ran down the stairs, out to the car. He drove as fast as he could off the ranch, almost clipping the gate on his way out. He had to get to her.
He couldn’t live in a world that didn’t have his Paige in it.
* * *
Lights shone bright in Paige’s eyes. She moaned and squeezed them closed harder. Something was wrong. The air around her crackled with familiar electricity.
“Adam?” she tried to speak, but nothing came out.
“Dammit. Didn’t you give her enough the first time?” a male voice growled above her head.
“P-please,” Paige attempted, but all that came out of her mouth was an unintelligible moan. Her mouth was thick and dry and her tongue felt like it was made of cotton balls.
She groaned again and tried to sit up. She opened her eyes and found herself staring up at the two men who’d snatched her from her home and the Banfield sisters, Katherine and Siobhan that ran the teashop in town?
To Find a Mate: Somewhere, TX Saga (VonBrandt Family Book 4) Page 7