Page 358 of Primal Bonds

She threw a wild-eyed glance around her. They were on a highway she didn’t recognize, and according to the dashboard clock, it was a little after nine a.m., which meant she’d been out a couple of hours.

They could be almost anywhere, and she was trussed up like a pig on a spit.

Her lungs seized. Drawing up her knees, she slammed her bare heels into the back of his seat.

“I want to know what’s going on. Now.”

A rough growl. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Do you know wh—?” She clamped her mouth shut. She’d been about to threaten him with Dion, but if the earth fada didn’t know who she was, it might be smarter to keep it that way.

She surreptitiously tested her bonds, but the rope was bespelled. The more she struggled to get free, the tighter it got, biting painfully into her wrists and ankles until she gave up, exhausted. Bile burned her throat again.

Water.

She worked the bottle from the seat pocket with her bound hands, awkwardly removing the cap and bringing it to her mouth.

Her throat felt too swollen to swallow. But she craved fluids. Water fada needed hydration more than other species.

She took a small, painful sip. The cool water slid down her throat. She took a few more careful sips before returning the bottle to the seat pocket.

Now that she was calmer, her internal GPS told her they were heading south, with the Chesapeake Bay ten or twenty miles to her left. So they were on their way to southern Maryland, or possibly Virginia. Not on I-95, though—this was a narrower highway with only two lanes in each direction. They passed through a small town and she tested the door, but her captor had removed the inside handles.

If only Adric would ride up on that black motorcycle of his… But he’d been gone before the earth fada had attacked her—or had he?

Her fingers curled into her palms. For a breath-stealing instant, she wondered if Adric was behind this.

No. He might be a hard, take-no-crap kind of guy, but he’d always been straight with her. He wouldn’t kidnap her in this underhanded way.

Hell, he’d left her sleeping in his bed, which hurt, big time. Still, it wasn’t the action of a man who intended to kidnap her.

She inhaled slowly, sifting the air for the driver’s scent. Definitely an earth fada, but his scent had an unusual overlay of silver, like he was mated to a fae…or under a fae’s power.

Fear scrabbled up her spine. She gripped her hands in her lap.

Nobody knew where she was. That note she’d left for Dion and Cleia? All she’d said was that she was going to Baltimore to be with Adric, and that they shouldn’t worry about her.

She glanced at her left wrist and groaned. Cleia’s protection charm was in the pocket of the jeans that she’d shoved into the backpack along with her boots and other clothes.

The backpack she’d dropped outside the shed.

She briefly closed her eyes, and then opened them to kick the backseat again. “Your alpha won’t like this,” she snarled. “I was in his den with his permission.”

The driver’s jaw worked. The pungent scent of anger filled the small space.

“He’s not my alpha—not anymore. And some river fada bitch doesn’t belong in his den anyway.” His mouth turned down contemptuously. “Especially the Rock Run alpha’s sister.”

So he did know who she was.

She frowned. “You’re not a Baltimore fada?”

“I am. But—” His fingers clenched on the steering wheel. He shot her a single, burning look in the rearview mirror and then shook his head, tight-lipped.

“Cleia won’t like this, either.” She spoke the sun fae’s name clearly and distinctly. “If you know who I am, then you know Queen Cleia is my brother’s mate.”

They were out in the countryside again, with farmland on either side of them. The earth fada swerved onto the grassy berm, slammed on the brakes. “Don’t say her name.”

She lifted her chin. “Cleia! Help!”

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