Page 66 of Stolen By the Lycanthrope

I swipe at Gideon and catch him across the jaw, red blood splashing on the floor. He snarls and lunges forward to pin me to the ground, Abel grabbing my free arm and wrestling me down. I realize there’s someone else in the room only when a third man holds my legs, immobilizing me completely.

Gideon keeps his knee on my shoulder as he puts the syringe into the vial, drawing out a shimmering fluid. I snarl and plead for him not to, torn between fighting them off and begging for my life.

Because I know exactly what that is.

I’ve seen it a million times in the fighting pits in Miami, flowing freely across the city. I’ve watched people overdose and not given a damn because I was high myself. I’ve gotten the shakes from withdrawal, done anything to score a hit, found myself taken in by predatory people because all I wanted was my next dose…

Kraken.

The glittering opiate the Angels brought with them, ready to be injected straight into my veins.

“Don’t!” I gasp out, but Gideon is already flicking my inner elbow, getting the veins to pop. The needle plunges into my skin a second later, the initial burn hitting me like wildfire in every nerve.

The pleasure comes a moment later.

I writhe.

Lights erupt in my brain, waking up places that have been asleep for a long, long time. The dose they gave me is big—too big, maybe—but I don’t care because this is like a full-body orgasm, wracking me with pleasure and joy. I grunt and pull on the chains, then go limp.

Abel and Gideon back off. The other man disappears again.

A smile breaks over my face and I let out a laugh, though I’m not sure why. Something is just…very,veryfunny about all of this. The dripping water, the situation, the men pinning me down. I can’t even get up, and I’m supposed to be a fucking dad. Howfunnyis that?

I laugh and laugh as Gideon and Abel watch, the kit discarded next to me. Through the roar of laughter, I feel Abel come closer, then unchain my limbs—but I don’t even move, I just roll over and keep laughing. I laugh until my lungs are sore, my chest aching, my sense of humor exhausted.

“Now, Javier? I think it’s time you got back to Esther,” Gideon’s voice says, twisting and warping in my head. “Ain’t that right, Abel?”

“Yeah,” Abel says. “I think that’s a great idea.”

And I…

…well.

Javi’s gone.

The wolf is the only one here now.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

?

PEACHES

Something is happening to Javi.

I can feel it all over my body, my sixth sense for him going nuts. His heartbeat picks up. He panics. My skin crawls with that unmistakable feeling of being trapped, unable to move, with people around you that mean you harm.

Panic surges. I try to calm myself by enveloping myself in his scent in our bed, but the panic just keeps going on and on and on…

And then the line goes dead. Like a dropped radio connection, only static remains.

“Javi?” I whisper into the dark.

If he’s dead…I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll be alone on the Rig with Ephraim and Abel and Gideon, two people that want to hurt me and one who doesn’t give a damn if I live or die. The Austin Pack said they were going to come and get me, but what use are they against a horde of feral alphas allied with the Heavenly Host?

I’m doomed.

In that moment, I realize I have to be strong—for Javi, for me, for our baby. Something shifts in my chest, a sea change, and I put my hand over my lower belly.

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