Page 35 of Unwanted Bonds

“Put your hands in the air and no funny business. If you make any wrong moves, your human driver will lose his life because of you.” The man’s voice was muffled by the mask covering his face, but the straining veins in the back of his hand which held a knife to Joel’s neck were evidence that he was prepared to hurt Joel if I didn’t cooperate with him.

I was startled at the sight of the man, the wheels in my brain turning as fast as they could as I raised my hands in the air.

I also felt like knocking myself in the head for being so stupid and careless.

After everything that happened the previous day, this was the time I should have been the most cautious, but I was too careless because I’d underestimated Angelique’s parents. I’d thought they wouldn’t attack me because they’d already sent over a pack council summons to me. Even while we were considering the consequences of everyone in Crawford Town, knowing that I was a member of the Supernatural Council, the highest danger we’d predicted was me getting into a fight with a member of the Crawford Pack.

Therefore, when I finished training with Levi later than usual this morning, I’d been preoccupied with getting ready and getting to school on time for my first class of the day because my Soul Animals Communication lecturer hated tardy students. I never imagined that anyone would dare attack me in Crawford Town, so I lowered my guard and put Joel’s life at risk because of my carelessness.

When my hands were raised, I caught a whiff of the rusty smell of blood, which made me stiffen as I studied Joel carefully and realized that there was a dark patch on his red shirt, located by his right side, where he’d probably gotten stabbed by the attacker.

“What do you want?” I asked, staring at the attacker and trying to record every detail I noticed about him despite his full body cover-up with a hoodie, gloved hands, and masked face.

“Oh, that’s simple. I want him to cooperate with me and drive in the direction I’ll show him. As for you, you just need to sit where you are and follow me to where he’s driving us. As long as you two cooperate, I don’t need to hurt anyone. I’ll just drop you off somewhere. Understood?” The attacker asked.

“Understood. Please don’t hurt us.” I answered as meekly as possible.

“Good. Start the car.” He ordered Joel, obviously feeling very satisfied with my cooperation.

What he didn’t know was that I was watching him carefully for any sign of weakness, so I noticed it the moment the veins in his hands relaxed. I knew I had to make a move fast and right now because I wouldn’t be able to do much when Joel started driving without the risk of a car crash, which could get Joel and other innocent people killed.

When I noticed that the attacker had relaxed his grip, I lunged forward in a swift movement, my hands aiming to disarm him.

The knife gleamed menacingly in the dark car space as I managed to deflect his arm just in time, with adrenaline surging through me and fueling my strength.

We struggled, the car rocking with our movements, as Joel’s terrified sobs filled the confined space.

Despite my training and strength, it was difficult to subdue the fierce and determined attacker. In our struggle, he landed a punch to my jaw, stunning me. Pain flared, but it only fueled my determination. Tapping into the primal strength of my Alpha werewolf, I slammed my elbow into his side, forcing him to gasp and loosen his grip on Joel.

Seizing the opportunity, I twisted the knife out of his hand.

Unfortunately, I still underestimated him, because while I was focused on disarming him, he pulled out a syringe with his left hand and pushed it into Joel’s arm.

I squealed as I slammed my arm down on his neck, aiming at and successfully striking his carotid artery to knock him unconscious.

I was breathing heavily as I pulled out the syringe in Joel’s arm before its contents were totally emptied into his body.

“Are you okay? Joel?” I asked, pressing my fingers to his pulse to determine how hurt he was and whether I would need to use some healing spells or not.

Joel was nonverbal, so most of the time we communicated in sign language. Unfortunately, whatever was in the syringe had made him drowsy and he was just seated there, using the steering wheel to prop himself up while pressing his other hand to his wounded side. So he could only drowsily tell me that he was okay using his fingers on the steering wheel.

I was panting as I tried to comfort him in the calmest tone I could summon. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay. I’ll get help now . . . I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Once I was sure that he was okay for now, I pressed my index and middle fingers to the pulse on the neck of the unconscious attacker to make sure he’d truly lost consciousness and wasn’t faking it. Then, I placed the half-empty syringe and dagger in the small pocket behind the driver’s seat as I pulled out my phone with shaky hands and called Levi, Caden, Aiden, and Mateo via our emergency group contact method.

While the dial tone echoed in the car, I assessed my injuries. My jaw throbbed, and blood was trickling from a cut on my forehead. However, compared to Joel, I was in tip-top condition.

Once I understood my condition, I reached forward to turn off the car engines. I had just torn off a piece of my shirt and pressed it to Joel’s wounded side when someone picked up the call.

“Aurora?” I heard Levi and Aiden call my name at the same time and turned my attention to the call.

I’d been trained for emergencies like this, but they had never happened to me. At that moment, Joel slumped forward and fell unconscious, his head falling on the steering wheel and on the car horn, releasing a startling loud honk that made my heartbeat speed up a few extra beats per second.

I tried to regulate my breathing as I reached forward to lock all the car doors, in case the honk alerted someone related to our unconscious attacker. “Levi, please come down to the parking space two blocks away from the apartment. Joel is hurt. I don’t know how to drive and something was injected into his body and he’s unconscious—”

After this incident, I was going to learn how to drive. Not knowing how to drive was way too inconvenient.

“Aurora, stay calm. I’m on my way there right now,” Levi said.

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