Page 86 of Drive me Wild (South Island Shifters)

I see I, too, am chained around my wrists and ankles. Someone doesn’t want us getting away.

Moments later, I hear a noise outside, and then an iron door opens, exposing the entire room to light. It appears to be some kind of dungeon. All around, the walls are lined with old-style candelabras, glass ornaments line the fireplace, and there is a glass desk in the room. The scent returns more potent and intense than before. A woman walks into the room, the one who owns the scent we’d been following.

“Get a good look because this will be the last place you ever see,” she says. I cast my gaze higher and recognise her as the nurse who has been looking after my mother. Scarlett, was it? She grins. “Zane, how nice of you to drop in.”

“I didn’t drop in, and what the fuck have you done to my brother?” I demand.

“He is under the control of a very powerful love potion.” I watch as Declan looks at Scarlett dreamily. “It affects his DNA. It’s designed specifically for him. To torture him into giving me exactly what I want him to.”

I snort. “You want him to marry you so that you can become his Luna? That’s never going to happen.”

She cackles. “Oh, you foolish man. I don’t want to be his Luna.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I’ll tell you all in good time. What I would really like to know is how the hell you found me?” she demands with a light slap to my face. It burns.

“Scent. Yours specifically, from the burned-out car,” I reply through gritted teeth. “It’s a sweet and putrid scent if you ask me.”

She looks horrified. “Damn it, a flaw in my almost perfect plan. I masked his scent but not mine,” she says mostly to herself. Now, I know this bitch is crazy. Crazy enough that it’s highly likely we are all going to end up dead.

“Now that I have answered your question, you need to tell me what you want.”

“You’re about to find out. It looks like the Alpha is waking up.”

Declan indeed opens his eyes and looks around the room. He takes his time as he stares at me. I grin. “Hey, bro, thought we would join the party.”

He grins back, but Scarlett crosses the room. “These fools attempted to try and save you, but they failed. If I have my way, I will be Alpha of your clan by the end of the day.”

She wants Declan’s clan. Why? “What do you want with our clan?”

“It was supposed to be mine. My father attacked your parents. He wanted your mother to marry him and become his Luna. Together, they would run the biggest pack across the lower South Island.”

“You mean force our mother to marry him?” I’ve heard of this happening in other packs, Alpha’s forcing Luna’s to mate. It’s painful, and the Luna never truly loves the Alpha.

Declan growls. “Then I’m glad our mother lost her mind because there is no way in hell I would want her with a man like your father.” This earns him a slap which he takes, unable to fight back.

“Your clan will be mine.”

Scarlett crosses back to lean on the glass desk. She gets a funny look on her face and looks like she’s listening to something. “Oh, my minions have found another stray wandering around in the woods. Looks like I got the full set. Alpha, Luna, Beta and Omega,” she says gleefully.

Luna? Oh, fuck! Winter clearly didn’t listen despite my instructions, and now she has been captured as well.

* * *

DECLAN

“Did you hear that? I found your Luna,” Scarlett croons.

“I am not your love, nor are you mine.” I glance across the room at Zane and Graham. “Why the fuck did you bring Winter? She could be injured.”

“Trust me when I say I don’t want her here as much as you do, and I regret even bringing her out to see your car,” Zane says.

Moments later, I hear a woman’s screams, and it’s not just any woman.Mywoman. As they bring her into the room, I watch as she swiftly kicks one of the wolves between his legs, then cracks him square on the nose, the sound of bones breaking as blood spurts out resonates through the room.

He whimpers and looks at Scarlett, who ignores him before he exits. “You're a little too feisty for my liking, and I don't like the women in my pack to be anything but submissive. You'll have to learn to control it and quick.”

"I won't," Winter declares.

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