Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
It was annoying, but it was also comforting to have someone who put her first like that. For so long, Ally had been close to a nomad—flitting from place to place, never putting down roots. She’d never felt “home.” Until now. She felt settled, like she fit in somewhere, like she belonged. But it wasn’t being part of the Mercury Pack that made her feel that way. Derren was home, he was her safe place, and he settled her.
Hearing a short, doglike yelp, she froze. That was when she noticed that the dog was nowhere in sight. “Bruce?” All she heard was a heavy thud. Torn between following the sound and signaling for—
Ally flinched as a sharp sting struck her neck. Son of a bitch. For a moment, she thought she’d been stung by a wasp or a bee. Then, as she brought her hand up to her neck, she felt it: something long, metal, and feathery. Yanking it out, she realized it was a fucking dart. She howled a warning.
Or, more specifically, she tried.
Nothing happened. She couldn’t even open her mouth, let alone use her vocal cords.
Then, as if the muscles in her body lost their tone, she slumped . . . into a set of strong arms. The scent of the person holding her was male, tiger, and totally unfamiliar. Another male tiger shifter appeared in front of her, equally unfamiliar, and lifted her by her legs.
Carefully and quietly, they carried her through the trees . . . and she could do nothing but watch as paralysis set in, leaving her awake and alert but unable to move. Fuck it all.
Her wolf howled and lunged for the surface, fighting for supremacy so that she could defend Ally and rip the strangers apart. But Ally was just as unable to shift forms as she was to do anything else.
Soon enough, they reached a vehicle parked among the trees. Then the fuckers opened the trunk and dumped her in it. Oh, she was going to burn shit down when she could finally fucking move again.
“Something’s wrong.” Derren came to a total standstill seconds after crossing the border back onto Mercury territory.
“What?” asked Nick, spine locking. Roni and Marcus, who were dragging an unconscious Kerrie, also tensed.
“Ally,” replied Derren as apprehensiveness began to build in his system and his wolf started to pace anxiously. “I could feel through our bond that she was nervous and frustrated with waiting,” he explained as he dug out his cell phone. “But now . . . now she’s seriously pissed and feeling sort of helpless.” Which made no sense.
He called her phone. It rang. And rang. And rang. No response at all.
Every instinct he had went on high alert, and his apprehensiveness became blind fear. “Something’s wrong,” he repeated, adamant this time.
“I’ll call Shaya. You try reaching Ally again.”
Again, Derren’s call went unanswered. Shaya, however, answered her call from Nick with a “Please tell me everything’s okay?”
“We’re fine, we have Kerrie,” Nick assured her quickly. “Where’s Ally?”
Through the receiver, Derren heard Shaya’s answer clearly: “Ally? She went to take Bruce for a walk just outside our lodge. Why?”
With that, Derren raced through the trees, fear pumping through him. He called out her name several times as he searched the area surrounding the main lodge, but there was no answer, nor was there any sign of her.
Pausing, he spun around to face Nick, who had followed him. “I don’t see her. You?” Then two scents reached his nose. Two scents that didn’t belong. “Tigers.”
Nick inhaled deeply, inspecting the scents. A growl trickled out of him. “Fuck.”
He and Nick both followed the unfamiliar scents, continuing through the trees, while Derren’s heart slammed hard against his ribs and his wolf lost his fucking shit. Nothing could happen to Ally. Nothing.
Derren swore loudly as he found Bruce’s body slumped on the ground. Dropping to his knees, he pulled out the dart that was embedded in the animal’s flank. “He’s alive. But he’s been drugged.”
Nick frowned. “His eyes are open. Alert.”
“He’s been drugged with something that’s paralyzed his muscles. And so has Ally.” That was why she was feeling so helpless. She was basically a prisoner in her own body. “I need to keep following their scents.”
To Derren’s utter frustration, the strange scents disappeared abruptly at a spot farther ahead. Studying the tire tracks, he spat a string of curses. Returning to Nick, he said, “Someone took her. The Collingwood wolves are behind this.” He knew it as surely as he knew that if anyone hurt Ally, they would die a long, brutal, excruciating death at his hands. “I have to get to her.”
As if suspecting Derren might run around aimlessly in his panicky state, Nick grabbed his arm. “Yes, but we don’t know where she is. Try calling her again.” As Derren was cursing when Ally’s phone went unanswered for the third time, Dan and Cain came rushing toward them.