Page 11 of Betrayed Kidnapped Mate

My mom wouldn’t have sent me somewhere dangerous. She’s too careful for that. Her diligence got us out of there before my dad could catch up.

“Okay,” Linnea says, “This used to be a bar. But we’re working on remodeling it into something of a community center. I want to staff it with childcare, shifter health experts, and some therapists. All free to the pack.”

I look around the dilapidated building, raising a single eyebrow. It will take a lot of work—and a lot of money—to do something like that here. It still smells like stale beer and cigarette smoke.

“I know it’s a way off,” Linea laughs, leading us further into the building. “We were so busy remodeling the pack center, then I had my first, then we started renovations on the house, then I had my second, then we adopted Bits—”

“Bits?” Kaila asks, her sweet voice ringing through the room.

“Oh,” Linnea says, laughing and waving her hand. “You might not believe this, but Bits is my pet pig.”

“A pet pig?” Kaila says, her eyes widening, and she turns to me, hope all over her face.

“Absolutely not,” I say, wrinkling my nose and patting her head. She swats my hand away, and I laugh, “I already have one little piggy to take care of.”

Kaila giggles and snorts a little, making Olivia and Linnea laugh. Linnea leans down and scans her thumbprint on a little pad.

“If you choose to stay,” she says, “we’ll also program your thumbprint into this. So you can come and go as you please.”

From somewhere down the hallway, there’s a distant shout, and I meet Linnea’s eyes, my brain screaming at me that this isn’t safe.

“There are other compound sections,” Linnea says, not looking down the hallway. “For research, pack purposes. Aris is in charge of those sections. But they are far, far away from this part and well-secured. None of the staff from that section of the compound have access to this part.”

Olivia nods, and I eye the hallway as we walk past, my pulse skyrocketing. If a doctor took my blood pressure right now, I’d be committed. Not a single part of my body wants to follow this woman, especially when the door seals shut behind us silently, but I have no choice.

“Wow,” Kaila says, running her hands along the walls, which are LED and lit up like the inside of an aquarium. “This is so cool!”

“Programmed by our resident nerd, Byron,” Linnea says, pointing to her head. “With the blue hair.”

I see Olivia raise her eyebrows.

“Is this town big enough for two tech nerds with dyed hair?” Olivia asks, laughing and twisting a strand of her pink hair through her fingers.

“Oh, you’re into that stuff as well?” Linnea asks as we cross through another hallway.

“That’s one word for it,” Olivia says but doesn’t explain more. Even without looking at her, I can tell her interest is piqued in this Bryon guy.

“What about the alpha?” I ask, clearing my throat when Linnea gives me a look.

“That would be my husband,” she laughs.

“Your mate?” I ask, knowing that traditional marriage isn’t prevalent among shifters. Our option for that is the blood bond, which is very powerful but not really used. Especially when people have kids.

Linnea coughs.

“It’s a funny story,” she says, and the faintest look of worry passes over her features for the first time. “Maybe I can tell you sometime if you choose to stay. Oh—here we are.”

She scans her fingerprint again, and the door to the room slides open, revealing a big common room with a clear area for adults and children. On one side is a huge, gated fireplace—I can’t tell if it’s real or just LED—a tall bookcase filled with leather-bound books and several armchairs that look very comfortable. The chairs face the other side of the room, which features a tiny bookcase shaped like a tree full of children’s books, a jungle gym, and several bins of toys.

“Wow,” Kaila breathes, tugging on my hand. I let her go, and she immediately jumped onto the jungle gym across the monkey bars. When she drops down, she sinks a little into the padded floor.

“This is really something,” Olivia says.

“I did my best to make it an area everyone can enjoy,” Linnea says, “if you follow me, I can show you the living area.”

We cross through another door—with another fingerprint scanner—and into a different area. A large kitchen is on one end of the room, and several dining tables are in the middle. On the walls all around the dining table are doors. Linnea leads us through one, and it reveals what’s essentially a little apartment with kitchenettes—microwaves and mini-fridges, like something I had in my college dorm. Each little apartment has an area with a couch and small TV and two bedrooms—one with a queen-sized bed and a crib, the other with two bunk beds.

“This is amazing,” I say, finally giving in. It is pretty amazing. “But where are all the people?”

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