Page 1 of Flying Blind

Chapter One

Bethany sat in thebank office and watched the loan officer go over her paperwork. “Well, Miss Kendrik, it looks like you have everything in order for your new storefront. You have a solid floor plan, the equipment list, and a client list for your dessert catering arm. The plan is complete. All is looking very good. Leave this with me, and I will get back to you in a day or two.”

Bethany nodded and said, “Let me know if you need anything else.”

He nodded to her and smiled. “I am sure the decision will happen quickly. You will be onto the next step before you know it.”

He stood and extended his hand, and she got up to shake it. “Thanks. Working with you on this will be very interesting. I look forward to it.”

Bethany smiled and left the bank.

She headed back to her teeny bakery and looked around, smiling at the space and imagining the joy of blowing out one of the walls and expanding into the enormous space beyond and into a bakery and deli.

Bethany went over the lists of orders for the following day and checked the supply list. Eggs. Why did she always need eggs?

She put her purse on, locked up the front door, and walked to the alley on the way to the grocery store. She felt happy and bubbly until the hand wrapped around her mouth. She smelled sulphur, and everything went dark.

Bethany woke with her hands cuffed behind her, her shirt torn, and a leering alpha with protruding fangs leaning over her. “There we are. Hold still. This is going to hurt.”

He hissed at her, and a fine mist struck her eyes. The world went dark, and she started screaming. There was laughter, and a familiar voice spoke. “We just have to wait for him to arrive, and we can start marking her. Will you finish preparing her?”

The alpha with the venom muttered, “Oh, my pleasure.”

The door opened and closed, and Bethany gasped and shuddered as she tried to get control. He released one handcuff and stretched her arms forward, attaching the cuff back onto her left wrist. She could smell hot metal.

“This is going to be so much fun for me. You don’t know why you are here yet, but you are so welcome to our little gathering. I am going to prepare you for the three of us. We need a mate, and you are just perfect.”

The heat smell got closer, and Bethany screamed as the brands pressed into her skin and heard sizzling. She blacked out.

When she woke, her back and eyes were burning, and she was shackled to a bed.

“Now that you have proved you are alive, I am going to get some food. Even demons need to eat.”

She heard the door close and did something she had stopped doing in high school. She dislocated her thumbs and pulled her hands free of the cuffs. It was difficult to do both and then put them back in, but her hyper flexibility was handy. She sat up and closed her eyes, feeling her way in the room to where the door noise had been. There was a cuff on her left ankle, but it had a long chain, and she couldn’t get it loose. He had the key, but he was going to come back.

Bethany’s heart was pounding as she walked as far as the chain would go. She found a table. Her hands groped, she found a fork and a plate, and she sobbed when she found chopsticks. She could do this. She had to do this.

She stood behind the door, on the side where it opened. She had pulled a chair to the side and was standing on it. She measured on her own head and clutched the chopsticks in her hand. Her muscles cramped, her body sweated, but he came in. She slammed a hand on his head and jabbed the sticks into his ear. He went down silently, and she started sobbing. A groping of his pockets gave her the key, and she released her ankle and headed for the door.

When she stepped outside, she smelled downtown. She walked with one hand on the rough walls, and when she heard a feminine voice, she said, “Call the police, call an ambulance, but call someone. Please.”

The voice was startled, then there was a gasp, and an arm came around her. “I’ve got you. You’ll be okay.”

Bethany sobbed and held on as she heard the distant sound of an ambulance getting closer. “Thank you.”

“Who did this to you?”

Bethany sobbed. “I don’t know. I think my loan officer was there, but I don’t know.”

“Okay. You are safe now.”

“What’s your name?” Bethany whispered.

“Wren. My name is Wren.”

“Like the bird?”

“Yup. Do you want me with you in the ambulance?”

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