Page 44 of Wolf Unleashed
“You think the DSA was behind this attack?” Liam asked.
“It’s hard to say. I recognized three of the five scents. Shifters from training. But they were followers, not the type to put together an operation to breach another pack’s borders and escape unseen. Ironically, it was the type of op we were training for, except against anti-shifters, not shifters.”
Liam’s expression didn’t change as he and the medic lifted Tiernan and placed him on the bed, which still held Alyssa’s scent. That would be good for Tiernan, to be surrounded by her scent while he healed.
“If Tiernan dies, so will Gallagher,” Liam said, more a statement of fact than a threat.
“Not before I find Alyssa,” Rafe answered. “Right now, he’s my best source of information.”
“Tiernan told me Gallagher wanted to use her as bait to capture her father. That he outed her identity in front of all the shifters at the training camp.”
“All true, and Gallagher would endanger her again if it served his needs, but this attack on Tiernan doesn’t strike me as his style. It was unnecessary. Tiernan was outnumbered, and the viciousness of this attack was unwarranted. I can’t do anything to help your brother if I stay here.”
“Go, find your female. I’ll take care of Tiernan.”
“If… when Tiernan recovers, tell him… Fuck, I don’t know what to say. I just hope Gallagher took Alyssa, even if he plans to use her. She’s smart and can handle him. It’s the alternative that terrifies me. Shifters out for revenge against Woodrow Monroe. There’s no telling what they’d do to her.”
* * *
ALYSSA
Alyssa’s head throbbed.She could barely breathe, and she couldn’t see. Her hands had been bound behind her with a zip-tie that had been tied too tight, and she couldn’t stop shivering from the cold. The trunk of the car smelled like vomit, but most disconcerting was that she was naked with a bag over her head. The bastards who had taken her hadn’t even wrapped the blanket from her bed around her.
The last thing she remembered, Tiernan had been in the shower. She’d drifted off to sleep and jerked awake, her heart racing and every part of her body screaming as a hand clamped over her mouth and a needle sank into her arm.
Terror welled within her, mostly because she didn’t have any facts, just her imagination conjuring not only about who had kidnapped her, but what had happened to Tiernan. He never would have let anyone near her, especially while she was sleeping. Had they shot him? Had they taken him too?
The thought of Tiernan dead paralyzed her. She searched inside herself, hoping the bond was there. He hadn’t gone feral. There had to be a bond, even a slight one.
Unexpected and unwanted, a rush of memories struck her. Curses directed at her, but not her. Three sets of arms holding her down in a dark room. No, a cellar.
Alyssa calmed her breathing and began counting by twos. Focusing was the only tool she had at the moment, and she was damn well going to use it to prepare herself for when her kidnappers opened the trunk of the car.
The car’s steady ride turned bumpy, as if they’d left a highway. She didn’t know how long the car bounced along uneven terrain, but the vehicle finally stopped.
Car doors creaked open and slammed shut.Not government cars. Shit.She’d been hoping the DSA had taken her. With them, she’d have a chance of talking her way out of this mess.
The trunk lock clicked. Then a wave of fresh air struck her naked body. Rough hands pulled her from the trunk.
“On your knees,” a man ordered.
She stepped to her right instead and was struck on the side of her head as meaty hands shoved her to her knees. Twigs and dirt pressed painfully into her knees.
“Each time you disobey, I’ll punish you.” He yanked the hood from her head.
Alyssa blinked, trying to clear her vision as the flashlight beams blinded her. The scent of woods, dirt, and animals filled her nostrils, but one scent she recognized and had never hoped to smell again.
“Kingsley,” she said.
“Hello, my little slut,” he said, his hard cock bobbing in front of her face. “I’ve been waiting to get you naked or on your knees, and here you’re doing both just for me. You must have missed me.”
“If you touch me, my pack will kill you.”
“Your pack? I didn’t know you were so funny, female.” He fondled a breast before wrapping her hair around his hand and yanking back. “No one will find you where you’re going.”
* * *
MADDOX
