Looking back as they entered the woods, a window lit up, spilling golden light out onto the ground below. A loud roar of rage came clearly from inside. Marco!
One of the wolves yelled back up at the window. “If you follow, we’ll kill him!”
Trying to scream Marco’s name around the rag stuffed in his mouth, Nicky’s frantic efforts to wrestle free of the hands doubled until a sudden blow behind his ear knocked him to the ground. He heard an unearthly howl of anguish and outrage before another blow put out all the lights.
When he awakened, it was daylight. He was tied up in a bed of some sort, and furs tumbled on the bed over him keeping him warm. He tried to sit up and heard a voice from across the room.
“He’s awake. ”
“Thank God. I thought you might have really hurt him. Why on earth did you have to hit him so hard?”
“I don’t know; I just panicked. I heard Marco’s howl from the window, and he sounded so close and so furious. I just wanted to get out of there fast. When Marco started to leap out that window, I knew we couldn’t escape if he could hone in on him. The threat to kill his mate was enough to buy us a little time. ”
“If you’d seriously hurt or killed his mate, he’d hunt us all down one by one. There’d never be peace between us. As it is, I can feel his outrage and his pain. It’s very upsetting. ”
Nicky lay silently, unable to see who was speaking over the thick jumble of furs until a dark-haired woman appeared in his field of vision. He looked up at her curiously. She actually smiled at him.
“My name is Shawna. I understand your name is Nicky. Is that right?”
He nodded warily.
“No one is going to hurt you, Nicky. One of the younger members of our pack panicked last night and hit you to keep you quiet, forgetting his own strength. I’m so sorry. ”
Nicky cleared his throat. “Why-why have you taken me like this?”
“Because you’re Marco’s new mate, and rumor has it he’s pretty much obsessed with you. Blood mates, right?”
“Yes. ”
“That would explain it. Since we took you last night, there’s been great unrest in the pack. Even this far away we can sense the vibrations. He must be very distraught. ”
Nicky whimpered, uneasy at the idea of Marco being upset. Shawna looked at him strangely. “You feel it too, don’t you?”
Nicky nodded miserably.
“The raid was mainly for you, but we got another one of the females we’ve seen you talking to, and she’s very upset and crying a lot. Could you speak to her—calm her a bit?”
“Of course. ”
Shawna nodded to someone behind her and a door opened. Nicky struggled to sit up as Tara, weeping softly with her arms tied in front of her ran over to the bed where he lay and snuggled up against him.
“Tara? Did they hurt you?”
“No,” Shawna spoke up behind her. “She’s just very timid. We’re wondering why you were not as frightened and fought us so hard. Surely Marco has been feeding you. Are you, like my mate, one of the resistant ones?”
“Your mate? The one in the basement cell?”
She nodded, worry in her expression. “They haven’t let me see him for days. I had to take you to use as leverage to try to get him released. I was inside the compound, you see. That’s how I was able to let in my friends. ” She looked down at Nicky. “Perhaps now Marco will be willing to negotiate. Trade my mate for the two of you. Her mate Tristan will be quite upset too. ”
“If you don’t release us both, a terrible fight will occur. They’re probably out looking for us now. I’m surprised they haven’t already come for us. Surely you must know that. ”
“They would have if we hadn’t set off some small explosions right after we took the two of you. They had to stop long enough to put out the resulting fires, and that gave us time to escape. By the time they’d got the fires in the compound under control, we were far enough away Marco and Tristan couldn’t sense the two of you. We’ve been rogues and outsiders for a long time. By now we know how to lay down enough false scent in the forest that they can’t easily track us. They’ll still find us soon, but we’re fortified and have sent messages threatening to harm you both if they try to break in. ”
Nicky shivered and cast a nervous glance up at her. “You wouldn’t really kill us?” Nicky asked softly, tightening his grip on Tara as she whimpered.
She shook her head quickly. “Of course not. Please don’t worry. We can’t hurt pets—it goes against our natures. We’re bluffing, but as far as my mate goes, they won’t listen to reason. So far, the threats are holding them off. They still have my mate, you know. I think they’ll be willing to set up a swap. We’ve been trying to convince them they’re wrong about the pets. My mate is not feral and never has been. They simply won’t listen to reason. Now they’re giving him unnatural hormones. You understand how desperate I am, surely. ”
“Marco said pets who aren’t dominated go feral. ”