Page 76 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

Rising Darkness

CHAPTER ONE

My body bounced,causing my restrained wrists to move and burn.

What the...

I attempted to open my eyes, but my head lolled to the side as my body jarred again. Heat surrounded me with the faint stench of exhaust, making my head swim even more. If I didn't know any better, I would think I was drunk or had lost a lot of blood, but that couldn't have happened. I'd been in the coffee shop just a few minutes ago…

Griffin, my fated mate, linked,Sterlyn. Please tell me you're awake.

Wow, he’d called me by my real name.I like you saying my name.He’d always called me Dove before we’d become mates.

Oh, thank God.Griffin sounded relieved.Where are you?

The question nudged me to focus a little more. I pried my eyes open and took in the dimness around me. At first, I saw double, but slowly, my brain filtered the picture into one. Gray upholstery was smashed against my face and silver metal outlined the ceiling, which was about a foot above me.

Holy shit. This was the kind of nightmare I’d had as a child.I'm in the trunk of a car.

What?he growled.I'm going to kill whoever did this to you.

Not if I got to them first. I took a deep breath, trying to get my head on straight. The first task I needed to address was getting my wrists unbound. Luckily, Griffin had gotten some guards to run to the store and purchase me some shirts and a few pairs of jeans, so I had my security measure strapped to my ankle.

I turned on my side, bending my legs as far back as they could go. While I was growing up, part of my alpha training regimen had included daily stretching, so I was more flexible than most wolves. Something my father had drilled into me from birth.

In the eyes of male alphas, I already had one disadvantage just by being a woman, so I had to be stronger, better, and faster than all of them.

Sexism was real—especially in the supernatural world. Unfortunately, I had no pack to lead because they’d all been slaughtered, not even a month ago.

But that didn't mean I'd give up. My mother had taught me better than that.

My fingers fumbled on the handle of my knife, and at this odd angle, the rope dug into my wrists even more.

At least, the pain helped clear my head. I inhaled, enduring the sting of the rope, and managed to pull the knife from the sheath. My best friend growing up, Zoe, had always teased me about carrying the knife everywhere—but the habit had served me well, especially during the past few weeks.

Are you hurt?Griffin asked, as misery laced his words.

Getting the knife’s sharp edge onto the rope proved difficult, between the jarring from the road and the awkward placement of my hands.No, not really. They drugged me with something that's still affecting me. How long have I been gone?

About an hour. You linked me with "Help," and when I got to the coffee shop, Carter was frantic and told me that someonetook you. Whoever it was drug you out the back door, and then your scent disappeared.

At his words, something tickled the back of my mind, but I was at a loss as to what. Either way, the car had to have been waiting for me. After we’d been attacked yesterday by the men who’d murdered my pack, and we’d killed everyone, I hadn't expected them to strike again so soon. But someone had come back to capture me.

My skin rubbed against the rope, and blood dripped down my hands, making it difficult to keep a good grip on the knife. If I didn't get out of here, I'd be rolling up to God knew where, and my chance of escaping would be greatly reduced.Carter asked me to grab some coffee beans, and that's the last thing I remember.I felt like there was more to recall…but I couldn’t access the memory.

Someone had gotten the drop on me—which shouldn't have been possible—and the encounter was a blur. That had to be due to whatever had knocked my ass out.

Gritting my teeth, I continued to saw at the rope and, after what felt like an eternity, it began to loosen.My hands are almost free.

Do you have any clue where you're going?Griffin sighed.Rosemary is looking for you, but we don’t know where to search. Killian went north, and I'm heading south.

I'll get you some sort of location in a second.I was getting my ass out of here. I wasn't going to wait for one of them to find me—they might not be able to. From the rhythm of the car, whoever was driving was going the speed limit and not driving wildly, which meant there probably weren’t any visible signs that he’d kidnapped someone.

When I cut through the last bit of rope, I came damn near close to crying. I placed the knife beside me and flexed mywrists, trying to get some circulation back. They were raw but would heal quickly on their own.

After wiping the blood onto my pants, I searched for the emergency release. My gaze landed on a white handle that had arrows pointing to pull right to open.

Griffin linked,What do you mean, you're going to get a location?

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