Page 94 of Kidnapping Their Third

“Please don’t kill me,” she begged as she brought her hand up and placed it on the back of his. She stroked as if trying to soothe him, hoping he’d relax just a little. “I have money. Lucy asked for it, but I refused. It’s at my house in a safe. You can have everything.”

The alpha shifted from wolf to human and stared at her. “You have the money?”

Seeing hope, Cora put her hand in place to pinch but waited. Maybe they could buy their way out of this. “Tons of it. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. In cash.”

He eyed her, as if gauging her words, then scoffed. “You’re lying.”

“What if I’m not?” she asked. “If you kill me, you’ll never find the safe.”

The alpha nodded his head. “Sure, I’m willing to listen to you.” Cora saw a possible escape until the man continued talking. “I’ll keep the bear with me. Quick and Bagger will take you on a little road trip. If I lose contact with them or there’s no money, your bear becomes a rug.” He looked at Pike. “You try to maul my men, and Quick will ventilate the human’s neck. Do we all understand each other?”

Cora wanted to cry. This wasn’t what she wanted to happen. There wasn’t money back at her place. She was going to have to come up with another plan during the car ride there.

“What’s going on here?”

Horrified, Cora watched Mrs. J hobble into the apartment with her little dog at her side. Muggsie blinked milky white eyes at the strangers and gave a yipping bark while Mrs. J frowned at everyone.

She raised her cane and pointed it around the room at the wolves. “Cora and Pike are friends of mine, so all of you should go.”

Pike shifted back to his human form and faced the old woman. “Please, Mrs. J, you need to leave.”

With his back turned, Cora could see dozens of deep puncture wounds all over his thighs, buttocks, and back. Those were bad enough, but there were several deep gashes across his left side. Blood streamed down his skin and even in the short time he stood there, puddles had formed at his feet.

He was hurt so much worse than she thought. Now Mrs. J was in danger. Could this get any worse?

Chapter 35

Pike

There wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t hurt, but the pain was nothing compared to his terror at losing Cora. He was ready to keep fighting, push every wolf into the bedroom so Cora could escape. He was ready to die, but once one of the wolves got a hand around her throat, he didn’t know what to do.

Dying seemed inevitable, but he didn’t want Cora going with him, and the addition of Mrs. J meant another innocent life would be lost.

“Please, Mrs. J, you need to leave!” He begged even as the elderly woman brought her cane down with a thump on the floor. Muggsie barked again and pulled on his leash.

“I heard you the first time,” Mrs. J said as she slowly leaned down to pet Muggsie. “But I think you need me here, Pike. This is too many wolves for one bear to handle and poor Cora is over there bleeding.”

When she straightened up, Pike could see Muggsie’s leash wasn’t attached to the dog anymore. What was Mrs. J thinking? She’d never seemed confused or suffering from dementia before. Why wasn’t she running, or rather hobbling, for her life?

“Fucking old bitch,” the alpha grumbled. “You should’ve minded your own business.”

Mrs. J tilted her head as she looked at him, her deep brown eyes curious. “That wasn’t very kind of you. Are you the alpha of this pack?”

Nodding his head, the man pushed a limping pack member out of the way so he could loom over the old woman. “I’m the alpha. Why? You think I’ll give you time to call for help? Who would come help you anyway? More humans?”

He laughed at his own joke and the wolves that were still conscious laughed with him. The ones in wolf form yipped and howled mockingly.

Pike was puzzled. These guys might not realize it, but this was odd behavior for an elderly human. By the time they reached Mrs. J’s age, they were usually far more cautious around strangers and quick to leave at any hint of violence. Why was Mrs. J acting like a pack of violent wolf shifters wasn’t a big deal?

Mrs. J looked sad for a moment. “You’re correct. I have no one to call for help. They all died long ago, but I’m still here in the same place. Perhaps it’s time to start living again instead of hiding. When my sweet Harry died, I fell into a deep mourning. That was a long time ago. I’ve mourned enough.”

“Ain't that the saddest damn story,” the alpha mocked. “But if you want to keep living, you’re going to have to give me something.” He turned to another wolf. “Take her to her place and clean out anything of value.”

When the wolf jumped to do the alpha’s bidding, Mrs. J put up her cane to ward off the wolf. “Stay right there, pup. Before any of you try anything, I’d like to give you a chance to leave.”

The wolves laughed again and the one slapped Mrs. J’s cane out of the way and reached for her arm. “Don’t make me hurt you, lady. All I want is money and jewelry, yah?”

“You’ve made your decision then,” Mrs. J said with a sad little shake of her head. “I warned you.”

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