“Just you now.” Carl sneered at me, the semi-polite veneer finally shed. “Drink up and go to sleep, or I’ll make you sleep, and you won’t like my methods. Wouldn’t want to hurt the babies, would we?”
Trying to lift the mug was difficult. My arms weighed too much. Exhaustion was trying to pull me under, only my panic keeping me awake. I wanted to slip away, even if escaping later would be easier if I knew where I was going.
“Here,” Carl moved to sit next to me, much closer than I was happy with. “Let me help you.” With careful movements, he lifted the mug to my lips, allowing me to take a big gulp of the cooling liquid.
There, I tasted the bite of the magic that had been hidden under the chocolate. I’d never look at hot cocoa the same again.Fuck you, Carl, I thought.
I scanned my consciousness for my tiger and found them missing. Maybe not missing, but hidden from me. There was a wall in place.
The extra mouthful of my drink worked like a charm. My heart rate slowed, my mind fogged, and I slipped into sleep.
Something wasn’t right with the drugs they had given me. Okay, so it looked like I was asleep, but I could hear everything. I couldn’t use my pack bond or mate bonds, so whatever they had used for that had worked.
Carl made a phone call as soon as we were all down. He left Larken and Micah on the floor after tying them up. It wouldn’t contain them for long, just long enough for him to do whatever he had planned for me and Tate.
“They’re all out. Tied up the alphas. Bring the van around.” He barked out orders to whoever was on the phone.
I heard a vehicle pulling up, someone getting out and opening the front door. Our wards weren’t working. Only people that we’d allowed entry could enter the house.Fuck!
Carl picked me up. “Get that one. He wants them both.”
The other person grunted. I heard sounds like he was doing as he was told. I was in sweats and barefoot, so the March air was chilly. The tingle of magic I usually felt just outside the perimeter of the house was missing. We were so fucked.
They loaded us into the back of the van. The inside had been prepared, with soft blankets and what felt like a mattress wedged inside. Clearly, they didn’t want us injured. One of them even covered us with the blankets, muffling the sounds a little.
A short drive took us to what had to be the new back gate by the factory. The pack had removed the previous exit from the sleuth side of the compound when they had added the additional security, deeming it a weakness to have three exits to guard.
We must have been in a factory van and the person on watch must have been in on the plan, because no one looked inside before they waved us through.
It was hard to tell where we were going. Even after living here for the last couple of years, I had explored little of the area. I’d been too busy.
When I couldn’t scent the sea, I assumed it was away from Northarbor, likely the other side of Sweetwater, a place I knew even less of. I didn’t even know the names of the towns near Sweetwater.
The potions were wearing off by the time we made it to our destination. Tate was stirring. I could feel the faintest traces of his mental voice as his raven tried to pull him from sleep to protect him. My tiger was there, furious and ready to gut someone, but I couldn’t pull them forward into a shift.
The van pulled into a large building and stopped. I sensed several shifters outside, their scents all mingling. One was all too familiar.
No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.
Tate’s eyes opened as panic nearly overtook my common sense. I needed out. Needed away.
The door slid open.
“Hello, my mate.” Jared smirked. “Glad to have you back.”
Delusional
Tate
Thevehiclewewerein was slowing by the time that I came to. The bonds were silent, either by magic or distance. I realized it was magic when I saw Hiroshi next to me.
At least the van was sort of comfortable.
I wished I had trusted my gut when Carl had come to our house. Micah didn’t give me a weird squirmy feeling, so I was assuming it was the gorilla alpha who looked more ape than shifter. Judging people on their looks was wrong. The familiar refrain from my mother came to mind, but I knew that something was off with Carl.
Maybe I’d been cowardly, hiding out from the strange alpha in our home and letting Hiroshi deal with it. Yet, it was what I had done, still reeling that Asher was on his last chance.
I’d received a message from Asher telling me what was happening and asking me to apologize to Hiroshi because he would be without Roan until they sorted it either way.