Page 9 of Lost
“Then we’ll wait,” Cian murmurs. “Hollis is strong enough to fight and hold on until we can get there. Without a straight path to her, we won’t be able to find her. Keep working.”
Those on the couch bob their heads, their eyes never shifting from the screen. As my eyes close for a moment to breathe and find my own patience, I feel the tug of the bond.
“I feel her,” I say, my pack murmuring that they do as well. “She’s alive, and that’ll have to be enough for now.”
HOLLIS
My eyes open to find that I’m tied to a chair, and a man with wide shoulders and intense, dark eyes is pacing in front of me.
I’m supposed to be Nova. I don’t know what my sister sounds like, which will make it tricky to impersonate her. I don’t want him to know that I’m not the girl they stole away.
I’m stronger, darker, and more evil than Nova.
“You’re finally awake, girl,” he complains. “You’re getting soft from being away from me. The drugs I was using are the same shit I used to use to fuck you with so you wouldn’t fight me. Pliant and soft is the way I like my daughter best.”
My lashes brush my cheeks as I blink, struggling to process the information presented to me. My sister was ravaged and raped by this man. Fuck. No wonder she ran.
I need to make sure she never has to again. Fortune is smiling on me today, because no matter what happens, I’m saving Nova from it.
Everyone involved is going to fucking die, after I get some answers though. Since I can’t ask any questions now, I swallow them back, gazing up at the monster in front of me.
“Nothing to say?” he growls. “Answer me!”
The bastard uses his bark on me, and I shudder. If he uses it so easily, then I shouldn’t fight it. I don’t know if Nova can breakthrough it, but the second I’m out of here, I’ll be teaching her how.
“What do you want me to say?” I rasp, thankful that my voice is hoarse from screaming earlier.
“‘Hello, Father,’ would be a nice change of pace after the merry chase you’ve had us all on. Your mother is worried sick. In fact, she should be here soon.”
Well that’s lovely. I’m trying to piece together the puzzle pieces of Nova’s life, and what it was like for her to live with these people.
“Hello, Father,” I say robotically, forcing down my natural instinct to sass him.
“Better, but I still feel some sarcasm there. You’ve caused us all a lot of trouble,” he complains.
“How?” I ask, playing up to my role now.
“You have responsibilities here, Nova,” he says, throwing his hands up in the air. “Mr. Domino asked to have you when you turned eighteen, and instead of stepping up to be his little whore, you left.”
My jaw drops unconsciously as I shake my head. Did Nova know this? Or is this something he’s been hiding.
The door behind me opens and slams shut before the sound of heels rushing down the stairs rings out in the concrete space.
“Your mother is here,” the alpha in front of me sneers. “Now you’re in for it.”
I can’t tell if he’s supposed to be a good cop or the bad one, and the woman who walks around to face me seems too pretty to be as evil as she is. She appears to be in her mid-fifties with smooth skin, her makeup perfectly applied, and in a skirt suit. However, even I know that beauty can be only skin deep, and hides the evil within.
“Nova,” the woman gasps. “What have you done to your pretty hair! John, you didn’t tell me she did this. Where are her contacts? This eye color is unseemly.”
The words of a crazy person flow over me, and I grow even angrier. I hide it away until I can strike back, because my head feels heavy from the drug on the rag from earlier.
“Louise, your daughter is rebellious,” John sighs. “We’ve been too soft.”
“Have we?” she muses. There’s something in her hand, and I don’t realize what it is until it’s shoved into my side. She made sure to bat my coat open so she’d have less layers to contend with.
My body shudders from the electric pulse, and I gasp as I lose control of my limbs. All I can do is ride out the torture, my eyes tearing up involuntarily.
“It’s so nice to have you back, Nova,” Louise croons, pulling back the baton. I’m gasping for air that won’t come, my lungs drowning in pain. These are the monsters that my sister grew up with.
