Page 62 of Bosse
Someone yanked him away from her. “Time to go to the Black River Pack!”
Bosse jolted awake, breathing hard from the way that dream shook him. It felt so real. She felt real. He thought over all that she’d said and spoke up. “I need water.”
“What’s your problem?” Kinter snapped at him.
“I must have water. Has been too long.”
Kinter brought him a bottle and held it so he could drink without uncuffing his hands. He’d been allowed to use the urinal once during the flight, but even with two more bottles of water, he’d still been so dehydrated that it had been the only time. He did as Alifair told him and kept drinking water to flush the drugs from his system.
Had she really been in his dream, or was he imagining the whole thing? How would she know to get rid of drugs with water?
He was allowed to use the urinal one more time, but even after three additional bottles of water, he did not go again. The last time he had water, he felt his body relax as it hadn’t the entire flight until now. He fell into a peaceful sleep and then woke when he sensed the change in lighting.
Blinking as his eyes adjusted, he sat up to see the first hint of dawn approaching. Were they close to their destination? He silently asked,Titan, are you okay?
Better now. Not so sleepy.
Bosse stilled.I had a dream about Alifair. She told me to drink water to push the drugs out of our body.
His wolf replied,She is a good woman.
Yes.
Muscles in Bosse’s chest eased at the clear sound of Titan’s voice. Alifair had given him confidence and a new drive to continue. He shared that with Titan.I know I started sounding like I would give up. That was the drugs. I am better now. We are both stronger now. We will fight to the end.
Titan sounded relieved.Good. We are ready. We can win.
Although Bosse agreed, he admitted they needed food to regenerate to full strength. He still wore the cloth bag strapped over his shoulder and hanging under his arm. It smelled of Kinter’s scent from where the shifter had dug through it, probably looking for weapons. At least they had not thrown away the bag. It was a gift from Alifair, the only physical connection he still had to her.
He’d been telling the truth when he said he had not met a decent shifter.
There would always be shifters, like Beast, that were just monsters.
Bosse clenched his fists and muscles, then relaxed his hands. His body would respond when called upon. He had to escape before the ruthless Black River Pack got their claws in him.
He and Titan would take death over being experimented on.
These shifters who kidnapped him and the others had not beaten him while he was handcuffed and given him water might sound decent, but he looked at it from their perspective and came up with why.
They needed their captives to be healthy specimens to sell.
He could use that against them.
Careful to tell the truth when he spoke around shifters, Bosse said, “I haven’t eaten in over a day and not much before that. Will I get any food?”
After an exchange with the big guy, Kinter walked to the front of the airplane and pulled several bags from a cabinet. He carried them back, dropping one in Bosse’s lap, then continued walking past him and dropping cold paper bags in the laps of the other handcuffed shifters.
Still behind Bosse, Kinter told the other shifters, “If you want to eat, I’ll unclip your cuffs from your ankles. Make one wrong move, and I’ll hit you with another hypodermic needle.”
Grunts of understanding followed.
The big shifter strode up to Bosse, speaking with an accent he couldn’t place. “You heard that, yes?”
“Yes.”
After unchaining Bosse’s handcuffs from his ankles, he handed Bosse a bottle of water with the cap loose, then stood over him as Bosse ate slowly to keep from cramping his stomach. They’d given him a thick roast beef sandwich, potato chips, and an apple. Not a huge meal, but protein.
Bosse eased his head around to see how the other captives were doing.
