Page 34 of Betrayed Kidnapped Mate

Ado dips his chin, and I clear my throat.

“I think we’re missing the most important thing, here,” I say, starting to pace as the realization dawns on me. Increasingly, the room is beginning to feel smaller and smaller, like there’s not enough room for me. I try to calm my breathing, but it comes faster and faster.

“What? Isn’t the fact that Percy is alive pretty astonishing to you?” Aris says, quirking an eyebrow at me.

“That’s not it,” I say, shaking my head and running my hands over my short hair. “Of course I’m glad that he’s alive, but you can smell that fur as well as I can. That’s not our Percy. There’s something—something serum-related going on there. And, if we’re running with the assumption that Percy is alive because we found this in Lisa’s window, then we also have to run with the assumption that Percy is the one kidnapping the humans. Hopefully just kidnapping, and not something worse.”

Linnea gasps, her head rocking forward like she might be sick. She puts a hand over her mouth and turns to Aris, speaking through her fingers.

“Why would Percy do that? He wouldn’t, right?”

“You’ve seen the shifters down in the compound,” Aris says, not meeting her eyes, instead staring at a spot on the floor like he needs to burn through it with his vision alone. “You’ve seen how they act like animals. We can only assume that if Percy is alive, the serum has taken complete control of him. There’s little to no chance that we’re going to find those humans alive. If we manage to find them at all.”

Ado lowers his head further, and the familiar rage that’s been growing inside me—all the pent-up anger and stress and wanting for Rosa all day, every day since I first laid eyes on her again—it washes over me like poison. I try to move out of the room, but there’s furniture in my way. I kick the side of a table.

“Hey, man,” Aris says, starting to come my way, “it’s okay—”

I let out a roar, moved away from the table, and threw a chair into the wall.

Chapter 18 - Rosa

“Gods, Bryon, you are such a cheater!” Olivia cries as she has to hand over more money to him. I watch Byron slip Kaila part of the money under the table and stifle a laugh. She’s right that he’s cheating, but it’s not in the way she thinks.

“That’s what sore losers say,” Byron says, pursing his lips and re-arranging the money in his hand. “Just admit it, Ollie Pop.”

“Do not call me that.”

“Losers don’t get to pick their nicknames,” Byron says, making Kaila giggle. I’m about to roll the dice, taking my turn, when there’s a knock on the door, and Linnea opens it, peeking her head in before I can even get up to answer it.

“Hey, guys,” she breathes, “Rosa, any chance you can come out here, quick?”

I glance at the others around the table. Kaila looks between me and Linnea curiously but doesn’t say anything. After a moment, I stand, sharing a look with Olivia. I trust her to put Kaila’s safety above everything else if something goes wrong here.

“Hey,” Linnea says, putting a hand on my arm when I come out to meet her. “I didn’t want to alarm you, it’s just—”

There’s a loud growl from outside the garage, and I look at her wide-eyed. I recognize that growl. I turn, sprinting outside, ignoring her calls for me to wait.

Bigby is standing outside of the garage, and Ado and Aris are both corralling him, keeping him from moving forward.

“You need to calm down, big guy,” Aris warns.

“Don’t fucking challenge me to a fight,” Bigby warns.

“Nobody is challenging anyone!” Linnea shouts, running out and past me, putting up her hands. “Please, Bigby, let’s just count—”

“I’m fine!” Bigby roars and the sound bounces off the houses around us. I stare at him, at how his chest rises and falls, at how unhinged he looks, his eyes darting around. “Get out of my way so I can go into my fucking house.”

“Bigby,” I say, pushing past Ado and going to stand right in front of him.

“Rosa—” Aris starts, his hand darting up like he might pull me back, away from Bigby, but I’m moving too fast. Bigby lets out a growl, but I come to a stop in front of him, placing a single hand on his chest.

His eyes go dark, and he licks his lips.

“My daughter is inside that house,” I say, staring at him with my lips pressed together. “I have never known you to be a violent man, or to act aggressive like this. But I am telling you this right now—I don’t care what you’re feeling or how bad it is. The second you scare my little girl, we’re done. Do you understand? You will never use your size or your aggression in a way that scares her. I grew up with a dad like that. I will not allow her to.”

The implication of this hangs in the air around us. I’ve just admitted to everyone standing here that Bigby is Kaila’s dad. And I’ve acknowledged that I’m considering allowing him into her life.

Bigby lowers his head, staring at me through his lashes.

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