Motive

I was floating below the ocean, looking up at the fuzzy bright light. I couldn’t hear anything, and I couldn’t move anything. My vision went in and out of focus. The smell was what I recognized first; stale, musty air.

I fought towards the light, my senses coming online as I woke up. I could feel the sheets and the mattress below me. I blinked my eyes, and they adjusted into focus. Moving my head took a little longer.

I was in a small room with a bare light hanging from the ceiling. The concrete block walls were bare and unpainted, with stains and bugs crawling over them. I could hear a fan running, and found the ductwork in the ceiling where fresh air came in. There was a metal door in the wall closer to my feet.

I tried to roll onto my side, and that is when I noticed the collar. Laying back, I moved a hand up to my neck. The silver collar had a loop in front, connected with a padlock to a chain piled to the left of my head. Following the chains back, I saw an eye-bolt set into the concrete.

I tried to send out over the link to Leo, knowing it wouldn’t work. My kidnappers knew what I was, and they would make sure my wolf stayed down. They had taken all my clothing and left me naked on the bed, probably to ensure I wasn’t wearing any tracking devices. I forced myself up on my elbows and backed up towards the wall until I was sitting up. My muscles were sore, telling me I’d been out for a while. My stomach flipped, and I focused on my breathing until the wave of nausea passed. It was only then that I checked my body for injuries and blood.

They hadn’t raped me, at least not yet. My throat was sore from when my kidnapper dragged me out with the chain. I swallowed and managed to whisper to myself, finding reassurance that there wasn’t permanent damage.

Relieved, I took a closer look around the room. A folding chair and a small metal table sat in the corner near the door. On the other side of the room, a compact refrigerator sat with a box of granola on it.

It took another ten minutes for the drugs to fade to the point I could move all my limbs without having to concentrate on it. I stood to my feet with a hand on the wall, and then I took a few steps to determine how far the chains would allow me to go.

It wasn’t far. I got about halfway to the door. If I reached out with one foot, I couldn’t quite reach the refrigerator or the table. I heard footsteps coming, and decided I better sit down before the door opened. I was sitting with my back to the wall again as the metal door unlocked and opened. Two men came into the room; one I recognized, and one I didn’t. “Beta Todd,” I said to the younger man as he stepped aside, watching the door.

The other man looked to be in his fifties, with grey hair at his temples, a receding hairline, and the start of a beer gut. He kept the scars and bearing of a man who had been a warrior all his life. “Good, you’re awake,” he said as he moved to the table and sat down. “I know these aren’t the usual accommodations for a celebrity like yourself, but we have a lot of privacy out here. There’s nothing but snakes and gators for miles in any direction.”

“I’m sure I’ll be much safer chained up on a dingy mattress with silver around my neck,” I answered defiantly. “Especially with a couple of upstanding Betas from the Killington Pack watching over me.” The older man fixed his son with a glare. “Did you enjoy the beach party, Todd? I’m sorry I had to run off and save someone instead of listening to your lame attempts to get laid, despite that inbred face of yours.”

That last bit of sass just MIGHT have been a bit too much. The older man was out of his seat in a flash. I felt pain explode over the left side of my face as his punch hit me, knocking me off the mattress. I rolled up to my feet, taking a defensive stance at the end of the chain. “Fucking BITCH! You WILL learn your place.”

“Take off the fucking silver, and I’ll show you just how well I know my PLACE, Beta. You and your loser of a boy over there will never be the wolf I am, and you both know it.” He came across the bed, lashing out with his left foot. I blocked it with my right arm and counter-punched into his thigh, only for his right hand to hit my ribs hard. The collar went tight, keeping me from moving away as he started to beat on me. Without my wolf speed and strength, I was nowhere near the fighter he was.

I ended up face down on the floor, bleeding from my mouth and face with a few broken ribs. “I had planned to give you food, water, clothing, and a bucket to piss in. Your attitude will keep you from any of that today.”

I crawled up onto the mattress, unable to hide the pain from my ribs as I moved. “My family will find you, and you will suffer for your actions,” I promised.

The father just laughed. “No one will EVER find you, Vicki. And no one will ever know what happened.” He walked out, with Todd following quietly behind him. I heard the door lock as I managed to roll onto my back on the mattress.

They hadn’t bothered to hide their identities, I realized.

That was bad. If my capture is for money or political reasons, they would have hidden their faces and their scents, ensuring it couldn’t trace back to them. Todd and his father weren’t worried about it because I was never going to leave this room alive.

My face was throbbing, and my left eye started to swell over as I thought about what might be going on. Killington was Timothy and Traci’s Pack. The Alpha of Killington, Theodore Lords, had been furious at his son when he found out he’d rejected me in favor of his chosen mate. Was all this a means to fix that mistake, and force me to mate Timothy after all?

As I thought about it, I saw all the reasons why that would NEVER happen. The first problem was Traci; she was now the future Luna of the Pack. The only way to put me in the job would be to have her killed first. Todd’s father would never kill his eldest daughter to put me in place. That doesn’t even count the whole “gotta get my wolf to agree to it and bite him” thing. After he claimed Traci, the bond Luna had for us broke and wasn’t coming back. No, if they wanted me to cooperate, they would have taken Amy instead of me.

Amy. I started to cry as I thought about my best friend and my last glance at her. She had no idea it was coming and was out before hitting the floor. These assholes might have KILLED her with how hard they hit the back of her head. I couldn’t imagine what Kai was thinking when he saw his new mate lying on the carpet. What about Susan? Hell, my Mom and Dad were probably on their way to Florida already!

I had to keep my wits about me. They would NEVER stop looking for me, and they would tear the Werewolf world apart to get me back.

So if mating wasn’t the long game, what was?

Revenge? Was this Alpha so petty that he would take me to get at Leo? For what? Leo had a son and heir; I was close to him, but they had to know that Leo would stop at nothing to avenge me. There was no need to abduct me, just to kill me, unless they wanted to torture me to death and send him the tape. If THAT was the case, why have food and drink in the room?

As if I didn’t have enough of a headache, the two started talking in the other room. I rolled over until I could put my ear to the floor and listen in. “I’ve got to get back to the Summit before my absence is questioned. The Alpha can only pretend I'm out searching for so long,” the father said. “Take her temperature every morning as Doc told you, and call me when it is time. Don’t even turn on that burner phone until then, got it?”

“Yes, and only say that Mom is coming,” Todd said. “If anything goes wrong, call and let you Mom is sick.”

“Don’t leave the house; you’ve got everything you need for weeks here. You can use the bitch’s mouth if you need to get off, but don’t dip your wick. We need to make this work for Traci. We’re all fucking dead if you screw this up.”

“I know, Dad.”

“I’m proud of you, son. Everyone thinks you are training with a Russian Pack so they won’t question your absence. Do this right, and you’ll be home by the end of the year.” I heard a door open and close, then a vehicle started and pulled out.

It all made sense now.

They didn’t need me as more than an incubator. Impregnate me, take my mantled baby, then kill me and toss my body to the alligators.

I tugged at the collar, the exposed silver burning my fingers slightly. This kidnapping wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing; their Pack had found a remote home, stocked it with food, prepped a cell for me, and planned their exit strategy. They had been planning this for months, maybe years.

Timothy and Traci were going to mate after this weekend, and Timothy could have a mantled heir. Why bring me into the picture?

I felt a pit in my gut as I realized why. Like my biological father, he must have given his mantle to another child, one no longer in the Killington Pack and beyond Alpha Theodore’s control. Without me, the only female Alpha-mantled to come of age for the next twelve years, his Pack could be left without one.

Timothy and Traci wanted to steal my baby and raise it as their own, and Traci’s father and brother were going to make it happen.