Page 47 of Wolf Unleashed
She didn’t know what he meant, but she was starting to suspect. He was the reason her wolf had never emerged. “What did you do to me?” she asked.
“Nothing any other loving father wouldn’t do. I caged your wolf, Alyssa. Now we have to destroy the monster altogether to free you permanently.”
* * *
Alyssa woke with a splitting headache.But this time she had a nice soft bed beneath her in a room with a dresser, an attached bathroom, and a bookcase with books ranging fromThe Shifter Problemby her father no less to classics such asCrime and Punishmentby Dostoevsky.
As she dragged her legs over the side of the bed, the room spun. She was getting really tired of people drugging her. Nasty side effects aside, she’d lost all sense of time and the room had no windows.
She stumbled her way to the door. Locked. No surprise there. Her lovely accommodation was nothing more than a gilded cage with its plush white carpet, soft bedding, and from the look of the open armoire, a nice assortment of clothes, but no clocks, windows, or anything that would give her a sense of where she was and how long she’d been unconscious.
At least thecagecame with a shower. After having Kingsley’s hands all over her, not to mention the blood splatter that had dried to the side of her face and neck, she desperately needed to scrub herself clean with soap and water.
The bathroom held everything a woman could want in terms of toiletries, except anything with a sharp edge. No scissors, nail clippers, or even a mirror that could be broken and used as a weapon. The hairdryer would make a nice club, though an unwieldy one.
It seemed her father didn’t want her dead.
Just her wolf.
A wolf she had yet to meet.
After showering, Alyssa dressed in a pair of jeans, white sweater, and sneakers. There was no way she’d wear a dress and heels here, wherever here was. By now, her father had to have a handle on what she’d been doing with her life, but from the numerous tailored suits, cocktail dresses, fancy coats, and high heels in the closet, he must think she aspired to mingle with high society. Or perhaps that’s what he wanted her to do. To control her again. She was way past being controlled by him or anyone else.
Thoughts of Maddox, Rafe, and Tiernan flashed through her head. Alyssa sank to the chair by the desk, seeking that connection with Maddox.
Terrified. Shaky.
Had he been feeling everything she’d gone through? She didn’t want to put that burden on him. She tried to send a sense of calm over the bond, but the anxiety there remained as strong as before. Was Maddox in danger? This bond was both a godsend and a curse.
After she and Maddox had last made love, she’d felt his emotions across the bond as if they were hers. The sense of despair and hopelessness coming from him had been hard to ignore, especially when Rafe had come to her in Tiernan’s bed. She’d temporarily pushed the bond with Maddox down deep, where she could ignore it for a short while. For as keenly as she’d felt the loss of Maddox, she refused to drag Rafe and Tiernan down with her in her grief.
She closed her eyes and felt Maddox’s strength flowing to her as she tried to remember the feel of his arms around her. Their bond would bring them together again. It had to. The bond suddenly flared to life with hope. She could feel his anxiety ease and his determination skyrocket. She smiled as she focused on his image in her mind.
“You look happy,” her father said.
Her eyes flung open. She hadn’t heard him enter. With three guards. All heavily armed with sidearms, knives, and AK47s.
“That’s a lot of firepower. You think I’m going to take out three soldiers with a hairdryer and makeup?”
“Still a smartass, I see,” her father said.
“Still killing shifters, I see.”
“Would you have preferred I waited until after those shifters had abused you? You weren’t even wearing clothing when we reached you. Just a dirty sweatshirt barely covering your chest and no pants.”
“What he did doesn’t justify you killing four people for no reason.”
“Shifters, not people. A more apt description is animals. But definitely not people.”
“You don’t see it, do you, Father? You never have. Whatever you want to call them, they’re living creatures with every right to exist in peace. No different from—”
Her father turned, whispered to the soldiers. Two left. The one who remained, a bald guy with tattoos of dead wolves with human heads on one side of his neck, kept his eyes laser-focused on her. Ignoring Tattoo Guy was going to be hard, but he wasn’t the most dangerous person in this room right now.
“Look, sweetie,”
“Don’t call me that. You lost that right a long time ago.”
“I’ll call you whatever I damn well please. I’m your father. And I love you.”
