Chapter 52

DOE

“…not going to do this to your son!” a woman’s voice snapped, cutting through the heavy mist of my sleep.

The sound wasn’t just loud—it was sharp, grating, and jarring enough to yank me into consciousness.

I blinked against the weight of my eyelids. The bed beneath me was all wrong—too stiff, too foreign. This wasn’t Ace’s bed, the one I was sure I’d fallen asleep on.

Panic gnawed at the edges of my hazy mind as I tried to sit up, only to find my limbs wouldn’t obey.

I was trapped, my body numb and unresponsive.

~What is happening to me?~

“I’m doing this for my son, so he can live a life unburdened by that girl!” a man growled.

That voice. Mr. Stoll? Why did he sound so furious?

Where was Ace? Why wasn’t he here? He was always here when his father turned like this, always the shield between us.

“That girl is his mate!” another voice snapped—a woman’s, trembling with fury.

Esther. Ace’s mom. Relief flickered faintly through me. She was here. She’d protect me.

“He’ll never forgive you—”

“He won’t know it was me!” Mr. Stoll cut her off with a sneer. “Omegas die all the time of random causes. They’re weak creatures.

“The bond between them is still fresh, fragile—it can be severed. By the time Ace is ready to lead, he won’t even remember her.

“He’ll be stronger for it in the long run, free to take a mate worthy of him. A mate who can strengthen the pack.”

“No.” Esther’s voice wavered slightly. “I won’t let you do this. Dorothy hasn’t done anything wrong. She’s just a girl, an innocent girl!”

“She is why Ace can’t control his wolf! Why he can’t concentrate in school or sleep on his own! He used to care about his pack mates, his family. Now all he cares about is ~her~! She is poisoning him—”

“If his goddess-given mate is the cause of his weakness, then maybe Ace isn’t worthy of being alpha at all. Dorothy does not deserve to die for the faults of her mate.”

A low, humorless laugh echoed through the room.

“I am doing that girl a favor,” Mr. Stoll said coldly. “There is no such thing as a good life for an omega. They’re pathetic, completely dependent on their mates, unable to live on their own.

“They become mindless, whining animals when they go into heat, desperate for a hard fucking and a good knot—”

The crack of a slap split the air like a whip.

“How ~dare~ you?” Esther hissed. “How dare you speak about your son’s mate—a child—like that?”

Mr. Stoll’s breath rasped. “She’s not just a child,” he bit out. “She is the downfall of the Embermoon Pack.”

“You are evil,” Esther spat, her voice breaking.

Fabric rustled and a scuffle broke out before his voice dropped to a low, venomous murmur. “You are my mate, Esther. You will stand by me, as you vowed.”

“No,” she said. “Not after this. I’ll never forgive you if you hurt her.”

“You won’t have a choice. The bond will force you back to me, no matter my sins. You’re mine.”

***

Waking up felt like clawing my way out of a fog. My eyelids felt like they’d been glued shut, and my mouth tasted bitter, like I’d been chewing on pennies.

~How the fuck does this keep happening to me?~

How did a person get kidnapped ~twice~ in the span of a few months?

The universe was out to get me.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t in pain. I wasn’t even scared. It felt like I was drifting down a warm, golden river, my body soft and weightless.

It felt similar to the euphoria I experienced after completing the mate bond with Ace—but with more numbness.

I didn’t have the time or energy to process what my strange dream about Ace’s parents meant. I knew I was in trouble, even if it didn’t feel that way.

My heart was pounding like a drum in my chest, but even that felt strange—like my body was far away from my mind. My subconscious was screaming danger at me, but it sounded muffled and distant.

Little by little, the memory of what had happened returned to me.

I was drugged.

The thought should have sent me spiraling, but instead, my mind latched onto it with an eerie calm—like it was someone else’s problem, not mine.

The warmth in my veins told me whatever I’d been given wasn’t just to knock me out—it was to make me feel this way. Relaxed. Comfortable. ~Happy.~

I should’ve been fighting to move, to get up, to run. But the drug whispered to me, telling me it was okay to stay still, to let my body sink deeper into that syrupy, false calm.

I was being carried, I realized. One person held me beneath the armpits while another had me by my ankles. My head hung back limply, bobbing with each of my captors’ unsteady steps.

It was raining. Cool drops of water pattered against my hot skin. I could smell the mountain air and hear the trees in the wind.

I could still sense Ace, so that was good. He was in the far back of my mind, trying to get through to me. He was terrified.

I wanted to mind-link him and tell him that I was okay, but my thoughts were too muddled. I was trapped in my own body, a puppet with its strings cut, floating on a high that felt too good to escape.

“A girl this small shouldn’t be this damn hard to carry,” a deep voice said with a grunt. The man was holding my ankles. “She’s like a limp noodle.”

“You’re sure she isn’t dead? She looks dead.” This second voice came from above my head. It was familiar and strained.

“I gave her the exact amount Will told me to give her. I can hear her breathing. She’s fine.”

Will? Who was Will? I only knew one person by that name—William Stoll, Ace’s father. But he was locked up in a dungeon somewhere in Croatia.

I was jostled as the man at my ankles readjusted his grip on me. “Fuck the moon goddess,” he said, sounding in pain.

“She got you good, huh?”

“Little bitch stabbed me three fucking times. She’s lucky I didn’t tear her throat out.”

“I’m surprised she fought back at all. She should’ve known a tiny omega stood no chance against a werewolf.”

The more that second voice spoke, the more I recognized its nasal undertone.

It was the same voice I had listened to for countless hours at school as it’d droned on and on about covalent bonds and the periodic table.

My old science teacher, Mr. Callahan.

~Of-fucking-course. Why is this loser so obsessed with me?~

“Last time we kidnapped her, she cowered and begged before we took her,” Mr. Callahan continued.

~That’s because you drugged and threatened the lives of my little brothers, you sick fuck. I was trying to keep them alive!~

I could only assume by “we” that Mr. Callahan meant himself and Robert.

They were probably dragging me to a car so they could take me to Montana again. I would surely wake up back in his basement in a few short hours.

~Great. Just great.~

I needed to mind-link Ace. I tried probing at our bond one more time, only to be met with numb silence—alarmingly soothing numb silence.

I realized that must have been the real reason they used this specific drug. It wasn’t to placate me or make me comfortable. It was keeping me from reaching out to my mate to tell him where I was.

~If I could just move my arms. Open my damn eyes…~

“Well, she didn’t cower this time,” the man from the cabin said. He inhaled deeply and groaned. “Fuck, she smells good. Like fucking candy. I could lick her all over.”

~Um, what?!~

“Jesus, what the fuck, man?” Mr. Callahan snapped. “The nips are simulating her heat symptoms, but she’s not ~actually~ in heat. Keep your cool. Breathe through your mouth if you have to.”

Nips? I’d never heard of that before, but it sounded like the omega version of a date-rape drug.

Even with my dulled senses, I could smell how thick my perfume was. My body had been tricked into thinking it was in heat again already and was showing the symptoms.

It made sense. I’d spent the last ten days unable to do anything but make love to my mate and rest in my nest. Being in a kind of heat state would certainly make it easier to kidnap me, wouldn’t it?

“Right, right. Breathe through my mouth…” The hands around my ankles tightened.

“Josh.” Mr. Callahan spoke carefully. “Seriously. Are you good?”

The Josh dude grunted. “The cabin I took her from reeked of her perfume. Her heat has only just passed, so I know she’s ripe. Ready to breed. I bet she’d even beg for it without her mate around.”

~Huh. I’m starting to believe that I’m in more immediate danger than I realized.~

Spurred on by my fear, I willed my body to move. I needed to be able to fight back if this Josh character acted on any of his horrendously disgusting thoughts.

“Josh. Josh, man, look at me.” Mr. Callahan stopped, and the top of my head brushed up against what I assumed was his stomach. “Your pupils are dilated. Maybe go wait in the car or go for a run.”

Josh snarled. “I’m fine.”

“You look like you’re about to lose control of your wolf—”

“I said I’m fucking fine!” Josh’s voice was about five octaves lower than it had been a few seconds ago and much, much louder.

It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“What do you know about how my wolf is feeling anyway? It’s not like you can relate.”

“I’ve been around werewolves all my life. I think I know when someone’s wolf is about to force a shift.”

Josh scoffed. “Please. You’re basically a human.”

“I am not a fucking ~human~.” Mr. Callahan spewed the word as if it were the most disgusting insult a person could say.

“I may not have a wolf, but I was born of wolves. I still have the heightened senses and strength that come with being a werewolf.”

“Bullshit. You couldn’t even carry this tiny omega on your own.”

“Well, at least I didn’t let ‘this tiny omega’ stab me three times!”

It was like listening to the bickering of two little boys.

While they continued measuring dick sizes, I worked on regaining full awareness and range of motion. I twitched the tips of my fingers, and my eyelids felt lighter, fluttering slightly.

I could see pine trees towering overhead and a cloudy sky sprinkling soft rain.

My thoughts, my body, and even the cold air around me still felt distant, dulled by the warmth thumping under my skin, and my muscles were heavy and unmovable as if weighed down by stones.

But at least I could see. That had to be a good sign. My senses were slowly returning to me.

“Let’s just get her to the spot,” Josh said. “How much further is it anyway?”

I looked at him through half-lidded eyes.

He had raindrops sliding down his bald head, the right side of his white shirt was stained with blood, and he was holding my ankles with only one of his massive hands while the other was at his side.

A strange sense of pride expanded in my chest. I really had gotten him good. I just had to work on my aim.

Josh gazed down at me as he finished speaking, his black irises traveling over my immobile form, starting at my stomach and traveling up to my breasts.

I was sure my bra must have been visible through my wet T-shirt.

“Will said he was going to meet us—”

Josh’s gaze slid up to Ace’s mark on my neck. He sneered. Then his eyes finally stopped on my face. “Hey. We’ve got eyes. She’s waking up.”

I looked up, blinking sluggishly, focusing on the face of my old chemistry teacher.

“Well, shit,” Mr. Callahan muttered. “The little omega’s tougher than she looks.”