I was rolled over onto my back and taken into a pair of strong arms that lifted me out of the water. I looked up to verify what my wolf already knew. It was David. David Tanner.
He held me to his broad chest and walked back to the blanket with me as tears ran down my face. The drug had almost paralyzed me by now, I could no longer move my arms or legs and I was losing feeling. I reached into my mind for my wolf, but she couldn’t do anything. We were helpless and alone.
He set me down and Curtis and Nathan each took an arm to hold me in a sitting position. David kneeled in front of me between my limp legs. “Just relax, Ella, it will be over in a moment. Eventually you’ll realize this was all for the best.” His canines started to elongate as he leaned forward.
“Don’t do this,” I said. “I’ll never forgive you; I’ll kill you for this.”
He laughed. “The bond forgives all sin, my Ella. Your wolf won’t let you hurt your mate.”
I did the only thing I could; I spit in his face. His face changed, he was angry and backhanded me. The blow was strong enough that I could feel the cheekbone breaking. “You will learn, little Ella, to respect those above you.”
I looked back at him defiantly. “If you were so fucking strong, you wouldn’t have needed your sister to drug me. Pussy.”
He slapped the other side of my cheek hard. I spit out the blood from my mouth on his chest.
“I’m looking forward to having you in my bed, my little spitfire. The spirited horses are the most fun to ride.” I felt Carol come up behind me and put her hand over my mouth. David fully shifted his teeth and jaws, snapping them in front of my face before lunging forward. He bit down on the juncture where my neck met my shoulder on the right side. I screamed in pain, the bite burned from within as he placed his claim on me.
Blackness took me and I sagged to the ground.
Pain. Consuming, soul deep pain and loss greeted me when I awoke. I reached inside for my wolf, she was on her side and feeling the same pain and loss I was. It wasn’t a dream.
My parents were dead, and my future was no longer mine.
I tried to move my hand down to wipe my eyes, only to find it wouldn’t move. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was in a small cabin on the full sized bed in one corner. There was a small kitchen to my right with a small table and chairs; in the corner below the bed was a small bathroom. A woodstove was between the kitchen and the living area in the other corner. The smells were stale, as if no one had use it a while, except for one.
David Tanner.
The man who claimed me, against my will, with the help of my so-called ‘friends.’
I looked up at my hands, they were in handcuffs with the chain looped behind a bar on the cast iron headboard. I tried to scoot up, only to find my ankles had leather cuffs on them, with chains leading to the posts. I pulled a little to verify it was solid, but stopped before I made noise. I didn’t need David to know I was awake yet.
I was stuck, on my back, in my enemy’s cabin, and I was naked.
Dad had taught me that you have to remain calm and try to notice things in a bad situation, so I used some breathing exercises from my yoga class. I took another look around, and let my senses sharpen. On the bedside table was a plastic cup with a straw and a pitcher of water, also plastic. The kitchen held some promise, I could see a chef’s knife on the wall behind the propane stove, and there might be more in the drawer. There was no electricity, so a large cooler sat in the corner, also functioning as a bench for the table.
I focused on my wolf in my mind, calling her to my side. “I’m sorry,” I told her. “I tried.”
She put her head on my shoulder. “I know. Now focus on the bonds… what do you feel?” I sought out that place in my mind where they connect; I could feel all the Pack bonds were there, but I was too far to send to them. There were empty spots where my parents were. It took a moment to figure out what she was talking about, it wasn’t something that was there, it was something that was NOT there.
There was no mate bond!
“How?” She backed up and shook her head, she did not know either, but this was the best news I could have hoped for. What David did, what they ALL did to me, it didn’t work. I wasn’t his. I smiled as I pulled back to my surroundings, David was talking on the phone and I could just make it out.
“I’m telling you, something is wrong. I bit her good, right on the shoulder, but it’s not healing. I’ve been changing her bandages for hours, they are oozing blood and not closing up. Have you ever seen that in a claiming bite?”
“It’s been six hours, we both know that a bite should heal over as soon as the mate licks it clean.”
“Yes, of course, I did that several times, on the beach, at the dock and again when I got here. I did it three more times as I was changing the soaked bandages. I’m telling you, Doc, it’s not working. I need you here.”
“She’s still asleep, she’s breathing normally. The drug you gave Olivia worked just like you said, she couldn’t move anything but her head by the time I bit her. Do you think that has something to do with it?”
“Fine, I’ll expect you in ten minutes. You know the way to our cabin, right? OK.”
I relaxed into the mattress and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep as he came back inside the cabin and hung up his jacket. I followed him with my hearing as he walked over to the cooler, opened it and pulled out something from the ice. I heard the can open and smelled the beer, then heard the chair creak as he sat down. “You can quit playing, love, I know you’re awake. I could sense your heartbeat change.”
I opened my eyes and looked over at him; if my eyes were lasers, I would have fried him. “You’re a bastard, you know that? I’m going to kill you for this, and I’m going to enjoy it.”
He laughed as I struggled against the restraints. “I don’t think so, my Ella. That drug isn’t out of your system yet, you’re going to be weak as a baby for a few more days.”