by Leilani Love
Hope struggled against the binds and when he was directly behind her she swung her head back effectively head butting him in the face. He made a low growl sound then stepped back from her. Before she could enjoy her small moment of triumph she felt a hand smack her against the face, hard enough to leave a stinging impression on her cheek.
“Bitch,” Sandra gritted, a look of pure hatred on her face.
Hope was more surprised by the look on the girl’s face than the smack she’d just received. “Why are you doing this Sandra?”
Sandra’s upper lip pulled back in a snarl and as she repeated the question, her voice sounding unusually high. “Why, why am I doing this? Maybe, because thanks to you I lost everything. I was to be his mate once you and Warrick were gone. We had it all planned out, we just needed to find your mother first and those witches would’ve sealed our place at the head of both packs.”
“What do you mean find my mother?” Hope asked. “I thought you…” her voice trailed off. If Gabriel didn’t know where her mother was, did that mean that her mother had escaped? How come they hadn’t heard anything?
Gabriel laughed as he grabbed a towel, putting a part of it into her mouth before wrapping it around the back of her head and tying it in place. “I’m looking forward to seeing Warrick’s face when he finds out that I have you.”
Hope knew that Warrick’s guilt would kill him. She felt her heart twist in pain for her mate. Gabriel gave her a wicked grin before she felt something heavy strike the back of her head causing her world to go black.
22
Warrick felt a stab of pain in the back of his head but shook it off when he faintly heard Hope’s voice. He had been feeling anxious all day today. When he came home he was happy to see Jared standing there letting him know that he saw Hope leave a few minutes ago with her friend and that the dragons were relieving the wolves for the night.
Jared was one of the dragons that had helped save him and they had become fast friends. Jared could have chosen to be a very rich playboy; instead he dedicated himself to helping his people and those that needed help. From the little he’d learned about Jared, his family did not approve of his choice to be a member of the king’s guard, even went as far as to threaten to cut him off. Jared never mentioned his family but he knew it was a sore subject.
Warrick walked outside feeling anxious. It was early and he didn’t expect to hear from Hope so soon but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were missing your mate,” Jared said as he walked up the trail to the porch.
With a shrug, Warrick rubbed the back of his neck, which made Jared laugh. “I just can’t shake this feeling…” Warrick started to say, feeling like he sounded a bit paranoid.
Jared opened his mouth to respond when they both heard the sound of a motorcycle pulling up…fast. He recognized it immediately as Damien’s. At the speed he was going Warrick found himself worried he wouldn’t be able to stop in time.
Damien came to a screeching halt in front of them. He took his helmet off quickly giving him a look that worried Warrick. “Where’s Hope?”
Before he could answer, Damien was in front of him grabbing his shirt, the paniced look on his face the only thing keeping Warrick from pushing him off him. “Where is she? I can’t feel her.”
“She went to Sandra’s for girl’s night.” Warrick said, a feeling of panic starting to set in. “What do you mean you can’t feel her?”
Damien realized he was still holding onto Warrick and released him. “I felt a moment of panic and sadness and then nothing…it was like she just disappeared.”
Warrick felt himself starting to lose control, his wolf coming near the surface trying to find it’s mate through their link. Since newly mated, their connection wasn’t that strong but he couldn’t feel her either.
Before Warrick could start to go into an all-out panic he felt Jared touch his arm. “Before you do anything rash, let’s head over there and see what’s going on.”
Warrick nodded, glad when Jared pointed out that his truck was parked close by and offering to drive. They sped through the town and Warrick had the door open and was out of the truck before it even came to a complete stop.
He was up on the front porch, Damien at his heels before Jared had finished putting his vehicle into park. No lights on in the house, Warrick banged on the door before turning the handle. It was unlocked and without even stopping to think about it Warrick charged in.
Damien growled as they both walked in following her scent to the kitchen. Hope’s smell stopped there in the doorway. He could smell Sandra but that was it. It was like the two of them just disappeared without a trace.
Jared came in through the back door. “I can see the smallest hint of a trail outside but I can’t detect a scent from anyone.”
“We need to follow it.” Warrick started to go, when Damien grabbed him by the arm. Warrick bared his teeth, turning around with a snarl. “Let me go.”
Damien snapped back, lengthening his teeth. “She’s my sister but if I let you go after her and something happens, she’ll kill me.”
Jared blocked the door while holding the phone to his ear. He distantly heard him talking to someone. The ringing in his ears was muffled by the sound of his wolf howling. He wanted to run after her but Damien was right, what good would it do to charge after her. Gabriel managed to kidnap her without leaving much of a trace. If Gabriel managed to hide her scent and conceal her from her mate connection as well as her twin connection, then that trail was mostly left for them to find on purpose.
“Viktor and Chase are on their way. Aithne is coordinating rescue parties to start searching the woods.” Jared paused looking at Warrick, his face softening. “You have to trust Hope to keep herself alive. We’ll find her.”
Warrick nodded, knowing he wasn’t the only one who was fighting the urge to charge head long to find her. The sound of a car pulling up got their attention. The door flew open and Kassandra ran into the living room. Her eyes going instantly to Damien.
“I got here as soon as I could,” she said walking to him. “We’ll find her.” She looked at Warrick and frowned. “What do you know about Sandra?”
“Not a lot. She befriended Hope when they started working on the finishing touches on the houses so families could move in. She only stopped by for a minute. Have you met her?”
Kassandra frowned thinking about it. “No. Whenever she was supposed to go places with the two of us, she cancelled. What does she look like?”
Warrick frowned, “Pretty average. Little shorter than Hope, dark hair, brown eyes average build.”
He watched as Kassandra thought about it. “The only girl I really remember was the one that was on Gabriel’s lap when we got there. I wonder if…”
Damien nodded. “There were other women helping out. I think there’s a list in the office. Maybe they’ll know if she’s the same one.”
Kassandra nodded, cupping Damien’s cheek before she walked over to Warrick and gave him a hug. Surprised, he stood stiffly until she pulled back. “I promise we’ll find her.”
With that, she left as quickly as she had appeared. Warrick ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. What was he expected to do? Just sit and wait? He knew what kind of torture his brother was able to come up with. He had practiced on him and perfected it over the years. If Gabriel was hurting her he would kill him.
With a growl of frustration Warrick punched the wall. He felt his bones hitting the plaster and the pain at what he had done but none of it made him feel better. He needed Hope. This feeling was worse than enduring the torture he’d suffered at Gabriel’s hands. From the moment Hope put her hands on his cheek and called him hers, Warrick would do anything to protect her.
Chase and Viktor both showed up a few minutes later. Warrick had been fighting the urge to shift and when they both showed up looking calmer than him, he fought the urge to punch them both in the face.
“Your brother’s not goi
ng to hurt her,” Chase said as if he knew for sure. “He just wants to get in your head. This is all about you. Can you think of any place that means something to the both of you?”
“The only place I could possibly think would be our childhood home. But I don’t think that’s standing anymore,” Warrick said, pacing again while tuning them out. He was thinking about every horrible thing his brother could be doing right now.
After a few minutes, Jared touched his arm. “Warrick, let’s go home. If Gabriel reaches out to you, I think it will be there.”
Looking around he saw that Viktor, Chase and Damien were all watching him. Warrick had a feeling they might have been talking to him before Jared got his attention. “I can’t go home. What if…”
Damien shook his head. “She’s my sister and I want her found as badly as you do. But I agree, this is a head game for your brother. Whatever game he’s trying to play involves you.” Damien paused, waiting for him to nod. “Kassandra can go invisible and mask her scent completely. She’s going to go home with you. I don’t want you alone. He’s not getting his hands on both of you.”
“He’s going to want me alone. If it comes down to her or me––”
“I’ll sacrifice you in a heartbeat,” Damien said his amber eyes never leaving Warrick’s. “But they’ll never know Kassandra’s with you and she will be with you. I will track her through our connection. Hope will kill me if I let anything happen to you. Your brother does not get to win.”
A look at Chase and Viktor told him they all agreed with the plan. It was true. Gabriel was after him and in the end Warrick knew that Gabriel could never take his place as pack alpha. When Damien and Hope showed up, all of Gabriel’s plans had been ruined.
“Where’s Kassandra?” Warrick asked.
23
Hope moaned as she tried to open her eyes. Her left eye was swollen. Whatever was suppressing her wolf had also managed to suppress her healing ability. She had a funny feeling she had a black eye but there was no mirror. The rag was still stuffed in her mouth and she tried to move her jaw from side to side. It was tender but hurt less than her eye, which she guessed would soon be swollen shut if movies were to be believed.
As she looked around she realized they had dumped her into a room alone. There was some light coming in from the window and she could see a bed and a dresser but not much else. From the smell, she would guess they were in a room that had not been used in a long time. The room itself smelled stale, as if neither the door nor the windows had been opened in a long time.
Trying to stand was difficult with her hands tied behind her back but after some maneuvering she was able to get up on her feet. As a twin, Hope had always felt Damien through their connection, but with it cut off, for the first time, she felt totally alone. But if she couldn’t feel him, then he couldn’t feel her and whatever time they had hoped to gain would be cut short. Telepathic connection between twins wasn’t uncommon among shifters but she doubted anyone had known how strong the two of theirs actually was.
Damien would have gone right by Warrick to find her and Warrick would have known what happened. It wouldn’t have taken them long to figure everything out. Her chest hurt at the thought of Warrick feeling guilty about this, or that her brother Damien might blame him.
Walking toward the window Hope looked outside. Woods surrounded the house they were in. There were no other houses or roads in sight. She wondered if the two of them had taken her to one of the many cabins that ran along the woods in the mountains. There were hundreds of acres of land and many cabins, not to mention that the area they lived in had more than one mountain close by.
Hope found herself wishing she at least had her wolf’s night vision as she looked around the room. She needed something to help untie the binds on her wrist. The room was pretty sparse, a small twin bed, a dresser and a chair. Based on the stale air she was willing to bet everything was covered in a layer of dust. The closest thing to a sharp edge was a rounded corner on the windowsill.
With a sigh Hope turned around and began to use the edge of the windowsill as she tried her best to pull the ropes open. As she rubbed the rope on the rounded edge she realized what she was doing was mostly futile. Without being able to shift enough to make her claws grow she felt useless. She should have had Kassandra teach her how to escape. Maybe she would have been better at that than defending herself from Gabriel.
The house was pretty quiet but Hope didn’t think that meant she was alone in the house. She listened intently as she rubbed the rope up and down on the windowsill. Her thoughts naturally drifted to Warrick and Damien. She hoped her brother wasn’t too hard on Warrick, he would already blame himself and didn’t need her brother in his head.
She hoped Warrick knew that his brother was using her as bait and that he wouldn’t fall for it. There was no doubt in her mind that Warrick would come for her, she just hoped it wasn’t to sacrifice himself. Hope needed him to fight for her, for himself, for the future they deserved together. She needed him to know that she loved him. Not just because they were mated but also because despite everything he was still the most selfless person she knew. He always put her and his people first. With everything he had been through, he was still kind and gentle.
A sound outside her door made her pause. One of the floorboards creaked and she saw a shadow of someone standing in front of the door. As the door slowly opened, she took a step away from the window and used her nails to scratch at the pieces of rope she could feel had been rubbing on the curve. When the light revealed Sandra instead of Gabriel she narrowed her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” She asked as she watched her walk in. “Where’s Gabriel?”
Sandra smirked as she pulled out a knife and began to play with it. “Gabriel went to go and find your mate and bring him here.”
Hope felt her heart tighten in fear for him. She watched as Sandra continued to move the knife so that it caught the light coming in from the window. “Why are you doing this Sandra? Why are you helping Gabriel? He doesn’t care about anyone––”
“He loves me,” Sandra shouted at her as she took a step deeper into the room. “He wanted to claim me since I was young. Told me how his brother had stolen everything from him. That we just had to wait until the witches could find a way that we no longer needed yours and Warrick’s connection so I could rule by his side.”
Hope laughed shaking her head. “What did Warrick steal? He was first born and the rightful alpha, he was my mate…determined by the Fates. What claim did Gabriel have to anything? He was a second son and if he really was your mate he would have given everything up to be with you. Don’t you know how mating works?”
The look Sandra gave her was one of pure hate. “That’s not true. You know nothing.”
Hope smiled as she felt the rope move slightly. She was able to use her fingers to work the knot as best she could. “Are you sure? Because my mate was willing to sacrifice himself for years to make sure I was safe and happy. Endured torture at Gabriel’s hand just to keep me safe. Someone he met a few times as a young kid. Gabriel wouldn’t give up anything for you––”
Before she could finish Sandra yelled and charged at her. The knife held in the air as if she planned to stab her with it. Hope waited for the last minute until she moved low and used her body to hit Sandra, knocking her into the wall, causing her to drop the knife. With her hands tied behind her back, she didn’t have a lot to use besides her body and legs and Kassandra had loved to show her how to kick.
Hope did her best round house kick, managing to hit Sandra in the side of the head. When Sandra staggered back Hope followed her and shoved her back against the wall. When she heard her make a loud umph sound Hope thought she would take her chance and make a run for the door. If Gabriel was not here she might be able to make it outside and into the woods.
Hope ran out the door looking around. To the left, there appeared to be another room at the end of the hall but to the right, it looked like the hall opened
into the living room. She sighed and chose to go right hoping that there was no one else in the house.
She found herself alone in the living room so she hurried to the front door and turned in order to use her hands, which were still tied behind her back. A crashing noise behind her let her know Sandra had managed to get back up so Hope hurried to finish twisting the handle while using her body to push it open. Nothing had sounded better to her than the squeak of the hinges as the door opened and her footfalls as she ran outside.
When the door pushed open she ran outside. Besides being surrounded by woods there was also a gravel road. Hope took off towards the woods knowing that the gravel road would be too easy to follow. She’d started to run when she felt a body hit her from behind.
Her hands still behind her back, she was unable to brace for the fall. The wind was knocked from her and it felt like she slid along the gravel face first. The weight of Sandra made it hard to breathe. She felt a hand slide into her hair then she got yanked back up onto her feet.
“I promised I wouldn’t hurt you until after Warrick gets here,” Sandra said as she began to try and drag her back to the house by her hair.
Hope tried to stand as Sandra pulled her. Half crawling, she followed along, wanting to pull back but Sandra’s grip on her hair was so tight Hope thought for sure she would be bald when she let her go. Into the house, past the front room, Sandra pulled her into the bedroom before releasing her.
“I’m going to enjoy cutting you in front of Warrick. If I were you I’d be quiet because I’d hate for him to get here to find you already dead.”
With that, Sandra slammed the door leaving Hope alone in the dark. She lay on the floor pulling her legs up as a tear slid down her cheek. The rope binding her hands felt just as tight as before and if Sandra was correct Warrick would be here soon. How was she going to help him?
Feeling herself start to give in to the feeling of despair she looked up to see something catch the light. The knife Sandra had dropped earlier was shining like a beacon. As she sat up she smiled thinking she would have a surprise for Sandra when she saw her.