Page 42 of Claimed By the Sinful Dragon
The window was open. Fuck.
I strode across the room, inhaling the lingering scent of a certain wolfless shifter…and no-one else. Wherever our errant Tribute was, our enemies were not involved.
My relief was as short-lived as it was intense.
My enemies might not have been here, but she was still gone. Unless…
I leaned out of the window, my gaze snagging on the spot of slightly trampled grass where she’d landed after jumping from what I had to estimate was around halfway down.
Less,my dragon said.She’s light.
I nodded my head absently. Maybe a third of the way up from the bottom, then. Low enough down that she was unlikely to be injured. But there was no reason to assume she hadgoneanywhere. Most likely she’d climbed out of the window just because she could, like the rebellious brat that she was. She’d probably be out on the grounds somewhere, or down in the kitchen torturing some innocent piece of meat with which to attempt my murder.
There was no scent of her by the front door, my dragon pointed out, and I nodded again. True, and the front door would have been the only way she could have gotten inside. Still, that didn’t mean she hadn’t decided to spend the afternoon in the gardens.
She’s probably asleep under a tree somewhere,I told my dragon, and I couldn’t help a tingle of anticipation at the thought of sneaking up on her, catching her asleep, and watching her eyes widen as she realized she’d been caught. But I couldn’t quite shake my unease. Something wasn’t right…I just didn’t know what.
I followed the nagging sense as I walked round the room, but nothing was out of place. Everything was tidy, spotless even, the same way it had been every day since her arrival.
Wait.
My eyes darted around the room, then I bit back a curse and raced for the window, not even breaking my stride as I jumped straight through it, thudding to a crouch on the ground outside, then pushing immediately to my feet, searching for her scent. Her trail.
Nothing was out of place in her room…but I’d left a bag there last night. A bag that was gone. Which meant only one thing: Kaylee had gone over the wall.
I followed the remnants of her scent—several hours old, at least—with a growing sense of dread. Kaylee was out there in the wilds, unprotected, defenseless, and I washoursbehind.
Shift,my dragon demanded.We’ll be faster if we fly.
We can’t track her from the air.
I followed her scent at a lope, my dread confirmed when it led to the tree I’d set by the wall, the one intended as a lure so I could catch any Tributes who wanted to escapebeforethey got themselves killed in the trying. I wished to hell I’d never planted the damned thing.
Move faster,my dragon demanded, and I didn’t argue. My Tribute was out there alone and vulnerable, and I needed to find her…before someone else did.
Chapter 22
Kaylee
My arms werebound tightly, ropes cutting into my wrists, but at least they were in front of me—mostly so that my captor could yank me forward by his end of the rope every time he thought I wasn’t moving quickly enough, which seemed like every three steps. Each step made my head throb painfully where he’d hit me, and when I’d touched it earlier, my hand had come away bloody. But we’d been moving long enough that the sharp sting had receded to a dull ache, and I could feel the bruise forming.
He'd taken me completely unawares. I never should have dropped my guard out here, not even for a second, and by the time I’d gathered my wits to fight back, it was too late. One punch that I wasn’t even certain had been full strength, and I’d been dazed enough for him to tie me up. If I’d realized how truly fucked I was, I would have found a way to fight harder.
Another yank on the rope sent a sharp pain through my wrists and up to my shoulders, and I let out a gasp.
“Move,” he growled.
“Please, Alpha Landon,” I said, searching his face as I tried to keep up—to spare my wrists, if nothing else. “Just tell me what’s going on.”
“Shut up,” he grunted. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. If my alpha—no, myformeralpha—was abducting me, I sure as shit wanted to know why.
“Why are you doing this? I did what you ordered. I went with Rook.” I’d also escaped, but I didn’t think that was what this wasabout. Because I’d lived my whole life under Landon’s rule, and lurking in the woods playing guard dog was not his style. He had people for that.
“Don’t say that beast’s name to me,” he snarled, rounding on me. I shrank back from the fury in his eyes. “He’s takeneverythingfrom me, and now it’s time for retribution.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Two weeks of being that beast’s fuck toy and you still don’t have the first idea what’s going on, do you? Stupid girl.”
