“I’ll do my best.” He put one backpack on his back. “Why did you agree to me doing this? I could tell you thought I needed to go back to the village.”
Brandi nodded. “You’re right. I did. That would have been the best plan. The reason I went along with this is because I think you’re way more worried about Katarina than you are about your people. You trust me and Gareth to protect the village, and you trust Ariel to lead them. Katarina has no one to go after her. I also agreed, because if it were Gareth who’d gotten abducted, you can bet your giant wolf ass that I’d be headed to find him. No one would stop me.”
Reed laughed even though it wasn’t really funny. His life was a mess. His pack was a mess. He was a leader who was tired of leading. “I should probably feel ashamed of not putting my people first, but it no longer feels natural. Instead, I feel like I’m filling the spot for someone who’s late showing up. Everything in my life has been off-kilter since I found out about Travis and Hanuk.”
“Well, get over it. Everyone deserves to put their personal life first once in a while. Becoming a werewolf taught me that. This situation is about you potentially losing someone who interests you. See? I’m not the only one using code names. But we both know what’s really going on here. I think it would be terrible if you two don’t get your chance and that’s not happening on my watch.”
Smiling, Reed pocketed the GPS and picked up the other backpack. “I never had daughters with my mates. I only had sons. Now I have the best daughters a wolf could ever have hoped for in his life. I have been strangely blessed by the spirits.”
Brandi stood on her toes and kissed Reed’s cheek. “Your nano wolf daughters feel the same way about you, Reed. So take care of yourself. Gareth and I will be back to help you as soon as we can. We will not leave Katarina in there long. Promise.”
Reed nodded and bent to kiss Brandi’s cheek. “Thank you. For the help… and the lecture.”
Brandi chuckled. “What are daughters for if not to lecture?”
Laughing softly, Reed moved through the ravine and into the woods. Behind him, he heard Brandi turning around in the vehicle to head back.
8
Katarina watched the dark descend outside one small window located high up in the room containing her cage. The guards came frequently to check on her. She decided to use the rest of her alone time for a good purpose.
She looked around for cameras and when she didn’t see any, she raked some food from the plate into the bucket they’d given her to relieve herself. She promptly fulfilled that function to help ensure the food would not be discovered.
With her escape plan in motion, Katarina settled down on the cot and stared at the ceiling. Maybe she should count her blessings. She wasn’t unconscious like she had been when Travis had abducted her. Plus, there was no silver collar around her neck this time either. See? Things could have been far worse.
She swallowed back the rage she felt toward her captors. It was useless to feel hate for them when they were absent. She would not waste her time.
“Great Spirit Nicolai, I don’t want to seem ungrateful for still being alive, but I could use some bigger help. Have you got another miracle for me, comrade?” she asked, conjuring up an image of Nicolai’s ghost. Unfortunately, the ghost was laughing at her, which made her laugh at herself. “Bah… Katarina Volkov. You are desperate female like kind you hate. Go to sleep. It will take energy to kill your captors.”
The moment her eyes closed, her mind conjured an image of Reed. His eyes were bright green in the dark and luminous as he shifted gracefully into his massive wolf form. Reed was truly the biggest wolf she’d ever seen.
In her dream, he walked across the field toward her. She could feel his gaze, and his interest in her made her want to howl.
What would it be like to be her wolf self alongside his wolf? They could run through the field and nearby woods together—maybe take down a deer to eat for dinner.
She’d never dated a werewolf. The idea of running with Reed as a wolf was very appealing.
“Idiot,” she grumbled to herself, shaking her head to clear away all the wishing. No matter how much she longed to do so, she could not conjure the Black Wolf alpha.
Nicolai probably couldn’t do it either—not that she would ever pray for something so silly.
The moment she finally got comfortable, Katarina drifted off lightly to sleep.
She woke hearing voices—plotting voices. Her eyes wanted to open, but she kept them closed and listened.
“We can’t do this. She only ate half of her food,” voice one said.
“Stop whining. I have enough in the hypodermic in my pocket to make sure she stays out until we get her delivered,” voice two assured him.
Voice one quivered a bit when he spoke again. “They will be angry to find her gone. Someone said the older wolf guy was her father. Some bastard he is to sell his daughter, eh? Do you think the other guy was related to her as well?”
“Shut up and focus. The only thing you need to think about is the fact that we will be rich when we sell her to the highest bidder. Her bastard daddy said she was a highly prized alpha female. The scientists will get both wolf’s blood and babies from her. She’s worth a freaking fortune.”
Voice one escalated. “Yeah, well, if you know so much, tell me how we’re going to sell her. It’s not like we can advertise her on Wolfs-R-Us.”
“Just shut up and turn off the cage,” voice two demanded.
“I still don’t like this.”
“You don’t have to like it, just do what I say.”
Katarina heard the humming noise from the cage suddenly stop. She heard the bars open and felt someone roll her over in the cot. She opened her eyes and reared back with her elbow to disable her attacker. She squirmed from a sharp prick as she reared backwards but ignored it as her elbow connected sharply. The most important thing was silencing her startled aggressor, which she finished by knocking him back into the bars. She nodded as he slid to the ground.
The man outside the cage ran to the wall and felt it with trembling fingers.
“Touch switch and die,” Katarina spat as she exited the cage. The man’s fingers slid off the wall.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “This wasn’t my idea.”
“Too bad you go along,” Katarina said.
She grabbed the scared human by the neck and lifted him from the floor. His hands tried to loosen hers, but she was not letting go. Her vision wavered. The bastard stuck her with a tranquilizer. “Is boy and girl here? Are there bears? Speak quickly or I change my mind about you.”
“No,” he choked out when she eased off his windpipe. “Just… you…”
“Good. Now you join conniving friend.”
Katarina lowered him to the floor and dragged him with her while he fought to move her fingers from his throat. She threw him onto the cage floor ahead and picked up the tranquilizer needle from beside the man she’d knocked out. The hypodermic was long and full of white liquid. Hopefully, that meant she hadn’t gotten much from that tiny sting she felt.
She picked the needle up, walked to the now begging man, and shoved it into his arm.