Page 69 of Noah

I staggered, the world tilting. My vision blurred, limbs suddenly heavy.

The bastard had drugged me.

My knees buckled, my wolf howling in rage as darkness threatened to pull me under.

The last thing I saw before my vision went black was the stranger’s smirk, his voice a low whisper against my ear.

“Sleep tight, little wolf.”

Pain throbbed dully at the base of my skull as I groggily drifted back to consciousness. My limbs felt heavy, my thoughts sluggish, like I was swimming through molasses.

I tried to move, but the scrape of rough rope biting into my wrists told me I was tied down.

Panic flickered at the edges of my mind as I struggled to pull myself fully into awareness.

Blinking against the dim light, I lifted my head. Wooden walls. An old, dust-covered floor. The scent of mildew and something metallic filled my nose. A cabin.

One of the abandoned ones deep in the Pecan Pine woods.

My pulse spiked as fragmented memories pieced themselves together. The bar. The wolf with the needle. A sharp sting in my neck before everything went dark.

I sucked in a breath and flexed my fingers, testing my restraints. My body felt drained, weak. They must have drugged me.

Footsteps creaked against the wooden floor, and a familiar, loathsome voice cut through the silence.

"You’re awake, little wolf."

My stomach turned. My head snapped up, and my vision swam before locking onto the smug, leering face of Adrian.

Standing beside him, his arm in a cast, was Karl, watching with cold amusement.

I knew their scents, but a third scent lingered in the cabin. The wolf that ambushed me at the bar.

So he was one of Adrian’s wolves. Adrian had probably ordered him to keep a close eye on me. When the spy overheard I was planning to meet my brother in town, he tattled to his alpha.

I forced my breathing to steady. Fear would only feed Adrian’s sick enjoyment of this.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" I rasped, my throat dry.

Adrian smirked and gestured to Karl. "Keep watch outside. I want some alone time with our guest."

Karl gave me one last mocking glance before disappearing out the cabin door, leaving me alone with the psychotic alpha.

I clenched my jaw. "You’re making a mistake. Jackson, Griffin, and the rest of my pack will hunt you down. It’s not too late to let me go and walk away from this,” I reminded him.

Adrian’s smirk curled into something more sinister.

He stepped forward, gripping the arms of my chair and leaning in so close that I could smell the acrid scent of alcohol on his breath.

"Let you go?" Adrian laughed darkly. "Did you really think you could humiliate me and walk away unscathed?"

I frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Adrian’s expression darkened. "Don’t play dumb. In front of everyone at the dining hall—you made a fool of me. You should’ve been mine, Noah."

My stomach twisted in revulsion. "I was never yours, Adrian. And you need to understand what it means when someone tells you no,” I told him firmly.

Adrian didn’t want me. Not really. I doubted he even understood what want or love truly meant.

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