Page 101 of Ruin Me Knot
"I’m not feeling so good. Can you please take me back to my room?" I slide to the edge of the seat. I don’t care how shaky I am, the sense of him behind me is overpowering, but before I can stand, the doors open to the dim lighting in the underground parking lot.
Every shred of me shrieks. "What are we doing down here?"
My heart is a trapped bird, frantic in my chest. This is wrong, wrong,wrong. My body reacts and I plant my hands on the side of the wheelchair to get to my feet, but the Beta’s hand clamps on my shoulder, pinning me down as Hugo steps into the doorway opening and yanks me out of the chair.
I fight against his hold, nails clawing, body twisting, terror exploding up through my throat but he’s too strong. He pins my arms and I scream as loudly as I can.
"Shut the fuck up, Omega. I’m sick of hearing your screams," Hugo barks at me.
My stupid body is all too eager to obey the Alpha bark. My mouth snaps shut as the command slams into my nervous system.
I might be muted but I can still move. I buck as hard as I can and manage to slam my knee into his nose. There’s a satisfying crack and wet warmth sprays on my leg.
"You fucking bitch!" Hugo throws me off his shoulder. I hit the ground hard as pain flares through my ribs.
I see stars but I can’t let them stop me from getting away. I rise onto shaky hands and knees in a desperate attempt to run from the predator, but hard hands grip my hips and throw me to my back. Hugo looms over me, blood coating his mouth and lips. "You’re going to regret that, Omega."
Then he backhands me hard enough to snap my head sideways, and darkness descends.
Chapter Forty-Six
Ronan
My phone vibrates across the dash just as I reach for the door handle. Adrian’s name flashes on the screen and something in my marrow goes stone-cold. I snap up the phone and put it on speaker. Gabe and Jax need to hear this, whatever it is. "Adrian? What’s up?"
The pause runs a livewire through my veins.
"She’s gone, Ronan. Leah’s missing.” Adrian’s voice is tight with barely controlled panic. “One of the nurses went to grab a hair dryer after she helped Leah shower. She was going to make her feel special, do her hair for your dinner tonight, but… when Claire got back, Leah wasn’t there. "
A red haze spreads behind my eyes. "Security feeds?"
"Already checked. Greg, one of the Beta nurses, took her into the elevator in a wheelchair. They went down, but never came back up. No sign of them anywhere." His words are clipped, brittle. “Cole is checking every security feed in the building. Pinnacle’s on lockdown. I have every exit on every level covered. No one can come in or out until we find her."
Jax’s low growl knifes through the air. Gabriel's breathing is shallow, color drained from his face.
Cole speaks in the background. "I’ve got something! She was taken to the underground parking lot." His words are a snarl of disbelief and fury. "How the fuck—"
"What are you seeing?" I fight off the black edging my vision.
"It’s Hugo, Ronan. He knocked her out, shoved her in an SUV right under our noses. Checking the traffic cams now," Cole growls.
The world contracts, time boiling down to a single point of useless rage. A crack appears in the phone screen as I squeeze the device.
Cole’s voice ratchets higher, edged with helpless fury. "Fucking shit! All the traffic cams have been tampered with. I lost the trail, Ronan. There’s no way I can track her."
Everything inside me snaps. I slam my fist into the steering wheel, the sound ripping through the cab. "Fuck!"
The sharp stink of fear leaks from me. There’s nowhere to put it. Every instinct to save my Omega is useless with every second Leah is missing.
"How long ago?" The words strip out.
"An hour."
The bottom drops from my gut. A goddamn hour. An eternity for a monster like Hardwick. "That’s an hour too long. Hardwick has her. No one else would dare snatch Leah from the safest building in the city."
Cole’s voice is wired with frantic determination. "I’m scanning every cam in the city. Hardwick can erase a trail, but there will be a hole somewhere. I’ll find it."
Every second is another mile Hardwick could put between us and Leah, another hour for her to set up some new hell.
