Page 108 of Follow Your Instincts

“Honey, I’m home,” I called to Kira as I unlocked the door.

As the door swung open, a rush of sweet orange smell hit me, and my stomach dropped in panic.

Todd Phillips was sitting on my couch.

There was a moment when my brain tried to make senseof what was happening because surely this had to be a hallucination. Todd Phillips couldn’t be sitting on my couch.

“Hi, honey,” he sneered and brought the gun he had been holding loosely in his lap to point at my face. “We’re going to go for a little walk.”

I took a deep breath, fighting the panic. “My alphas are coming. You can’t do this.”

Todd crossed the room quickly and grabbed my ponytail to yank my head to the side. “What Alphas? You don’t smell bonded to me,” he said. He pressed the gun to my stomach and pushed me back out into the hall.

“Where’s my sister?” I asked.

“How the fuck should I know?” he said and shoved me backwards again. “Now fucking MOVE.”

Relief shot through me even as terror cut deep. I tried to pretend it wasn’tmein this situation. I knew I couldn’t let him take me somewhere, he couldn’t be in control of the situation. I just needed to stall somehow until the guys could make it upstairs. I just couldn’tthink, couldn’t get my brain to move past the gun shoved into my ribs.

“Fuck this,” Todd growled and I felt a sharp crack against my head before everything went black.

Chapter 42

Soren

“Fuck,” I said, doubling over. My chest went tight and my heart raced. Was I having a heart attack?

“What’s wrong?” Lucas asked. We were about three blocks from Maggie’s building and had finally found a place to park the car.

I tried to catch my breath, but I realized the panic wasn’t mine. It was coming through the bond. She was fucking terrified.

I took off running. Lucas cursed and followed me. We made it about a block when the terror in my chest vanished as quickly as it had come. It was replaced bynothing,which was so much worse.

I kept running and Lucas caught up as we reached the back of Maggie’s building. A black van squealed away, but I kept going, skidding around the corner until I reached the front door.

I tugged at the door handle, but it was locked. “Fuck!”

“What is going on?” Lucas asked, panting.

A man came out of the bodega next door, glaring at us. “What do you think you’re doing? This is a nice street, we don’t cause trouble.”

“Do you have the code for this door?” I asked impatiently,tugging the handle again.

“Not for you,” he said. He crossed his arms.

I pulled out my badge and showed it to him. “How about now?”

The man grumbled under his breath but moved to the keypad to enter the code. “You’re the second cop to ask me for this code in the last hour. Couldn’t your buddy up there let you in? I told you, this is a nice street and you’re causing a scene.”

Panic churned in my stomach. “What did the other cop look like? Was he an Alpha?”

“I don’t know, brown hair, about your height. And yeah, he was an Alpha. Smelled like a Christmas orange,” the man replied. I cursed again and bounded into the lobby. Lucas followed me, and it seemed like he’d finally understood what was happening because he didn’t bother with any more questions.

I could already smell that fucker Todd Phillips’ scent, along with a trace of Maggie’s, her peach scent gone sour with anxiety. I didn’t bother going up the stairs, but proceeded through the lobby into a hallway lined with mailboxes. I bolted down the hallway and slammed the door open into the alleyway behind the building. Right where we’d seen the black van take off.

“We need to call the cops,” Lucas said.

“Iamthe fucking cops,” I growled.

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