The Abduction

by Nichole Allen

As the festivities died down, I found myself excusing myself to head back to small room when I was grabbed by the wrist and forced to stop. Adam stood behind me, eyes smiling as much as his mouth was curved into a grin. I thought back to what his father had said outside the meeting room and I found my heart racing.

  “Where are you going?” I could tell from his speech that he’d had quite a bit to drink with his dinner.

  “I’m tired and would like to go to bed.”

  He shook his head. “No, not yet.” He began to pull me towards the door that lead outside. “I’ve been waiting to have you without the watchful eyes of your lovers or my sister meddling about.”

  I wanted to scream, I wanted to punch him in the face, but I at least let him guide me outside before I unloaded on him. “When did this bargain have me becoming your play thing?”

  “I told my father all about you, what you are capable of, how smart you are. I even told him about your arrangement with the bears. We both saw the benefits that could be had by bringing you here.”

  “If you think I’m having sex with your father, you are going to rudely disappointed.” Once again, making jokes when it was certainly not the appropriate time.

  Adam shook his head as he began to walk me in the direction of another long building. I wondered if it was the one that he was in charge of as he was his father’s heir. “You and I both know that it will only be me who has his way with you.”

  “You know us full- bloods call it rape when someone doesn’t consent.” I demanded.

  Adam shrugged. “It won’t be rape if one of us opens their mind. I thought you had no boundaries or is that only for bears?”

  I didn’t have the nerve to tell him that I wasn’t that girl anymore, that I only was with one bear now and that I was falling in love with him. It wasn’t able to get the words out because I looked into the woods and froze in fear.

  Matthew was there in his bear form watching us and he was definitely on wolf land. Things were about to go from bad to worse.

  *****

  Don’t move a muscle! I screamed at Matthew with my thoughts. I just ended the feud, please don’t make it come back with a vengeance. Stay where you are before someone sees you or smells you.

  Adam dragged me into the house and brought me to a large room that was his. Not only did it have a large bed, but it even had its own private sitting area. I tried to appear calm but with knowing that Matthew was outside and that I was most likely going to have to do things with a guy who thought I was whore. This was the one time that I was regretting my sexual adventures in college.

  “I don’t know why my father gave you your own room when there is one to be had in here. I can assure you that it’s more comfortable too.”

  I bit my lip, hoping that the wolf wasn’t aggressive and violent. “The room I have is just fine, thank you.” I collected myself one more time before I let out my thoughts. “I’m flattered that you are attracted to me, but things have changed since I’ve first met you. I have a boyfriend and I’m exclusive with him and only him.” I braced myself for a slap or for him to yell at me but instead he offered me a spot on one of his sofas.

  “Please, Lena. Sit down.” When I obeyed he continued. “You aren’t by any chance talking about the shifter that is currently on our land. The shifter that I could have murdered at a moment’s notice are you?” I felt like I’d been sucker-punched. Adam had seen Matthew too. I was stunned I couldn’t think of anything to say that could help my situation. “I smelled him the minute we came outside.”

  “Please don’t kill him.” I pleaded. “He is worried about me. He will only attack if you hurt me,” I narrowed my eyes, “or rape me.”

  Adam laughed. “Well that leaves us in a situation because the only way I won’t alert my people on patrol of his presence is if you willingly go to bed with me.”

  I swallowed hard. This was the moment I had always feared but knew was going to happen if I helped the enemy. I could see now that truly were my enemy as much as they wanted to keep my home safe and beautiful.

  “Fine.” I answered. “I will do what you say.”

  Adam looked at me surprised like he hadn’t expected it to be so easy. “Fantastic, why don’t you come here then?”

  “No!” I exclaimed and then held back my tone. “I mean not yet, if he’s out there I want to tell him what I’m doing and why.”

  “Very well.” He gestured towards the door. “You have five minutes.”

  I couldn’t believe that he was allowing me to go on my own. I power walked out of his quarters and into the woods. I didn’t look to see who was watching or if anyone had followed. What I was about to do was going to mess up all the hard work that I had done. But I refused to be used and abused by someone.

  Matthew was there, and I ran to his bear form and hugged him so tightly that his fur tickled my skin. He probably thought that I was telling him to go, or what I had told Adam, that I would have to betray him, but instead, I whispered in his ear. “We need to run. Now.”

  Matthew gestured to his back with his snout and I climbed on, grabbing on for dear life as he thundered down the hill. It wasn’t long before I could hear wolves howling behind us, but I was too scared to look and I kept my eyes wrenched shut as we made our way over the borderlands and safely into bear territory. We had just declared war and Evergreen Hills was about to become a war zone, but I knew in my heart I had done the right thing. There had been no other way.

  *****

  In the weeks that followed, the feud reignited with renewed fervor. For the first time in years bears and wolves were crossing the borderlands to attack one another on enemy territory. The townspeople were more convinced than ever that something needed to be done to the wild animal population. They decided that developing the land wasn’t the best choice but instead had animal control out there relentlessly hunting for animals that seemed dangerous.

  It felt bad to fail, and at the end of my sophomore year, I found myself putting in applications to transfer away from Evergreen Hills, away from Washington completely. In a way I felt a lot like Helen of Troy; I’d started a war and the only way I could stop it was to remove myself completely. I’d go to a place where Adam had no power, a place where I could finally feel safe.

  I’d had to leave campus housing and when I was at school I only stayed in the buildings I had class. I had to make sure there was someone to walk me to class. Even though it was neutral territory, Adam was always there, and I knew if I was alone he’d snatch me up and take me back to wolf territory.

  Matthew and I ultimately decided to transfer together and that summer we left Washington behind and moved to the University of Maine. Sprawling forests where we could still make a difference, but Matthew was the only person who had two forms and the bear form stayed hidden.

  It was bittersweet to leave Darren behind but he assured us that his place was with the clan. He would come to visit us when he could and I couldn’t believe that we used to be three kids fooling around. So much had changed. It made me wistful, but I didn’t need that anymore. I finally knew what true love was and had been willing to break rules and almost die for it. As much as the future scares me, I know that with having Matthew by my side, everything will have a way of working out.

  THE END

  See the next bonus story at the next page!

  14 of 25 Bonus Stories

  Charmed by His Looks

  Sandra knew that this was her chance, but she just didn’t know how she could get Duke to look at her as a woman and not as a friend.

  “I really don’t know what I'm going to do about this man, Lynette, he won't even look at me the way that I want him to. He looks at me the way that one would look at their little sister,” she said to her friend, feeling frustrated and torn.

  “This is your chance, girlfriend. Duke and Macy broke up and if you don’t get with him before Macy realizes what a fool she has been to let go of him, you might never get him again,” Lynette said, pushing a blonde lock
off her forehead as they sat at a coffee house sipping on cappuccino.

  “I know, but how am I supposed to do that. I need to come up with some sort of way to make him actually take me for a woman and not a friend,” she felt exhausted as she tried to rack her brain for the right thing to do.

  Sandra had a crush on Duke since they were teenagers in high school when she had been a few classes behind him. Duke had always been like some sort of demi god to her. She had this mad crush on him, something that she at times thought was pure obsession. Just looking at Duke had the power to make her wet in all the right places, and especially when she imagined all of the things that they could do together.

  Duke was two years older than her, which meant that he was 25 right now. He was a tall lanky guy with cute brown hair and seaweed green eyes that Sandra could look into without ever tiring. In high school, he had made the football team, which had made him the most sought after guy among the girls, Sandra not spared.

  She had known him since they were kids, her brother having been in his class, but still, Duke only looked at her like his little sister. It had devastated her to see him dating other girls when all the while she was waiting for him to take notice of her.

  When he had graduated from college, Duke had soon after hooked up with Macy, their relationship moving at an alarming rate. Before Sandra knew it, they had announced their engagement and they were to be married. She had given up any hope of ever being with him, even though she knew deep within that she was the right person for him.

  The news of their breakup had spread quickly like bushfire throughout the city because they were one of the most popular couples. Apparently, Macy had seeing an older man behind his back. When the news finally hit the roof and he confronted her, she threw a tantrum and broke up with him. It was bad news, but to Sandra, it had to be the best news that she’d heard all her life. She felt as if she had been waiting for such a miracle to happen all her life, but now that it had happened, she was not really sure what she was going to do about it.

  “I think that I have an idea,” Lynette said, interrupting her thoughts. “Bring him closer and give him a shoulder to cry on. Act like you are his friend, someone that he can count on in times like this.”

  “I was actually thinking along the same lines. There is this yacht that an uncle of mine left me, and I was wondering if offering him to go for a spin with me for a couple of days would make him feel any better. I mean, I really want him to be mine, but I don’t want him hurting after his ex either,” Sandra said to her friend thoughtfully.

  “I think that’s a great idea, but who’s is going to steer the thing for you,” Lynette asked, her eyebrows arching upwards as she looked at Sandra, whose lips broke into a smile.

  “That is something that you won’t have to worry about. Have you forgotten that my dad was a renown sailor and that the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree?” she said to her friend, grinning from ear to ear. “I can manage to operate anything that moves on water, I have done it since I was a child.”

  “I must have forgotten that, but anyway, I think that it’s a good idea and that you should probably go and look for Duke right away so that you can offer him the trip. Don’t forget, if you need further company, I really wouldn’t mind coming on the cruise with you,” Lynette said.

  “Don’t even think about joining us on the trip, maybe some other time. Right now I need to be alone with him so that I can get him to think straight and finally see the light,” Sandra said, whipping her cell phone out of her pocket and quickly punching in some numbers so that she could find out the condition of the yacht.

  She spoke into the phone with the guys that were storing her yacht for her, before she hung up and turned back to look at her friend Lynette with a smile on her face.

  “Well, everything is set. I can use the yacht whenever I wish. It is well serviced and fueled up, and besides, they even offered me someone to steer the craft, but I told them that I can manage,” she said to her friend. “Now the next thing is to find out where the hell Duke is so that I can convince him to come with me on the trip.”

  *****

  The sound of the doorbell ringing stirred him out of his drunken daze. “Go away, I don’t want any visitors,” he shouted without bothering to get up, instead taking a hold of the bottle of whiskey and bringing it to his mouth to take a huge gulp of the bitter drink.

  He closed his eyes as he felt the liquor burning down his throat and going through his belly and then his intestines. He heard the bell going off again. He opened his eyes, but this time, he also heard the door of the house opening. Heels sounded in the hallway and when he turned to look at who it was, Sandra walked into the room. He was not sure whether he’d had too many drinks, but she was looking hot, dressed in an oversized t-shirt and tights, finishing off her look with a pair of red heels matching the t-shirt that she was wearing. Her blonde hair was combed backwards neatly, held in place with a hair clip. Today her blue eyes were a little more pronounced than they were, and she had put on just the right amount of makeup to make her look sexy. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and looked at her just to make sure that he was seeing right, and yes, he was.

  “Duke, don’t you think that it is too early in the morning for you to be drinking,” she said, walking over to him and taking the bottle away from him. “I don’t think that this drink is going to do you any good at all, even if you are mourning the breakup with Macy.”

  “And what do you care, Sandra?” he slurred as he took in her beauty, the scent of her perfume mixed with the scent of her skin arousing something deep within him that he could not quite understand.

  “Just because you are not my girlfriend doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you. Right now I'm pretty worried that you are drinking way too much and probably not eating at all. That is why I am here to fix you something that you can eat,” she said, storming off to the kitchen along with his bottle of whiskey.

  “Sandra, just where do you think that you're taking my drink,” he said, getting up and beginning to stagger towards her in the kitchen.

  “Like I said, if you must drink, then at least drink when you have eaten something. That way, you are not going to drink yourself to your grave. Just because some silly woman does not realize the treasure that she had does not mean that there aren’t other women that are not interested in you,” she said, tying an apron around her waist and beginning to busy herself preparing for him a meal.

  “In the meantime, I suggest that you go and take a bath and then pack up some clothes, because you and I are going on a little vacation to make you forget about the hurt that you are feeling. This is going to be my little treat to you, and I am not going to take no for an answer. We have known each other like forever and it kills me inside me to see you hurting like this.”

  “Okay, wait a minute, you are talking way too fast for me to digest what you are talking about?” he slurred, trying to get his balance as he staggered to where she had taken some steak out of the fridge and was busy chopping.

  “What I am saying, Duke, is that you and I are going on a short vacation for a couple of days so that you can get over Macy and get on with your life. There is no use in crying over spilled milk. A break is going to do you some good,” she said, putting the knife down and going to the fridge to come back with a bottle of mineral water, which she handed him.

  Duke took the bottle as he checked her out. He knew that Sandra had wanted him for a long time, and she had never given up on him, even when he had never shown an interest in her, instead hopping around with every other skirt that he could get. She was Austin's sister, and Austin was one of his friends, which would have put him in an awkward situation if he had been with her.

  He opened the bottle of water and brought it to his mouth, drinking the water as he looked at Sandra through the corners of his eyes. She was leaning forward on the counter and the t-shirt had hiked up her waist, leaving her tights exposed, and for the first time, Duke noticed
what a sexy figure Sandra had.

  “If I were you I would go and take a shower instead of standing there pretending to drink the water when you are actually staring at me,” she said to him without bothering to look up from the meat that she was chopping.

  Duke looked away from her quickly, embarrassed that she seemed to know what he was doing without even looking at him. He placed the bottle onto the counter and turned around to walk out of the kitchen.

  “I'm off to the bathroom,” he said, staggering out of the room and heading up the stairs to his bedroom so that he could take a shower.

  He was actually glad that Sandra had actually come, because he was not only feeling stuffy, but he was also feeling very hungry. He had been planning to order take out but kept on postponing, and he was sure that in the ending he would have ended up not ordering the food.

  *****

  Sandra put the food onto the table and was just about to head out of the kitchen to go and look for Duke when she heard him coming down the wooden stairs. She filled a glass of fresh fruit juice for him just as he walked into the kitchen.

  “Mmm, something sure smells good in here,” he said, raising his nose into the air.

  “Sit down and eat up, you and I have a long journey ahead,” she said to him, pulling back a chair for him at the table as he sat down on it.

  “Hmm, baked potatoes and pepper steak. Boy, it does smell good,” he said, picking up a fork and poking it into one of the potatoes, bringing it up to his mouth.

  Sandra watched him as he ate the potato, seeming to enjoy it to the fullest before he turned to look at her again.

  “This is really good, I didn’t know that you could cook as well as this,” he said to her, reaching for his knife and beginning to work through the steak.

  “I'm just glad that you still have your appetite after drinking nonstop for the last couple of days,” she said to him, noting just how handsome he looked, and especially now that he had taken a shower and looked fresh.