Page 41 of Promise & Artem

“They look awesome.” Isolde had gone with a dark peach topped with silver glitter.

“Yours do too,” Promise said. They stopped on the sidewalk. They’d been gone about three hours, between grabbing a snack at a local bakery and window shopping at the boutique stores, the day was topped off by the manicures where they shared stories of their childhoods and got to know each other better. They were sisters now, after all.

They headed toward the corner to walk the length of the building to the parking lot. As they rounded the corner, Promise swore something in the air changed, an odd electric tingling that made her skin prickle with awareness.

“Do you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Isolde asked.

An engine revved suddenly, and Promise looked over her shoulder to see a large SUV careen around the corner toward them. She pushed Isolde away, worried the SUV was going to run onto the curb.

Instead of continuing down the alley, it stopped and the back doors opened. Two males wearing dark clothes lunged at Promise and grabbed her roughly, pulling her toward the vehicle. She screamed and struggled, but the males were far stronger than her.

“Hey! Let her go! Help! Someone help!” Isolde cried out, rushing toward them.

One of the males grabbed Isolde by the throat and lifted her off the ground. “Stay out of this.”

“Leave her alone!” Promise shouted.

The other male punched Promise in the face and her vision blurred as pain coursed through her. Her wolf let out a howl of panic as she was shoved backward toward the SUV. “No! No!” Promise yelled, struggling to get away. “Isolde!”

The male holding Isolde tossed her to the sidewalk. Promise tried to get out of the SUV but she was shoved back and then bracketed on either side by the males who’d grabbed her. She tasted blood from being punched, her upper lip split and the front of her face aching.

“Hand over your phone or I’ll take it from you,” one of the males said as the SUV raced down the alley.

She was tempted to play dumb, but she was at their mercy and scared to pieces. Digging her phone from her front pocket, she handed it over. He rolled the window down and tossed it.

“Hey!” she shouted.

She looked over her shoulder as the SUV turned the corner and the alley disappeared from view. She saw Isolde getting to her feet and running after them, her phone to her ear.

She was calling Artem, Promise was sure of it. Or the police first and then Artem.

Turning slowly around, she said, “What do you want with me?”

The person in the front passenger seat turned and stared at her with an unnerving, calm gaze.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked after what felt like the longest pause on the planet.

“No.”

She could see the scenery blurring by as they left town. She remembered seeing a gas station as she entered Little Hope when she first arrived and they’d just passed it.

Where the hell were they taking her?

“My name is Nero. Perhaps your mate told you about me?”

She tried to school her features so she didn’t reveal anything, but she knew she failed when his calm gaze turned smug.

“I’m sorry you were hit, I told my men not to hurt you.” He let out a short growl and the male who’d punched her lowered his head.

Promise recognized that Nero was a wolf shifter and powerful. He was middle-aged, with the hard look that came from a male who’d been fighting for everything he’d ever had and didn’t mind taking out anyone who got in the way.

She’d known he was dangerous from what her mate had told her, but she’d been worried about Artem, not herself. It never occurred to her that she might be taken.

“So what do you want with me?” she asked, folding her arms.

“Your mate made a mistake. He thought he could walk away from the league, but no one leaves without consequences.”

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