Chapter Four
Cueing her students through pranayama, counting through the inhales, exhales, and pauses, Sam's lungs stopped working as she looked over fourteen women, their eyes closed, and watched a cloud of dark magic move into and throughout her room. The magic so strong and swift, she had no time to alert anyone before each student fell unconscious, to savasana, too soon, her shocked brain surmised. Hoping the magic hadn't hurt them, she began to rise, to tap into her own magic to counter. Only up into a crouch, her hands out in front of her, nothing happened. The darkness swirled closer, grew more opaque, as if draining hers. She found her powers stifled.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a hand cupped firm over her mouth. Her hands instinctively met the arm of the stranger, clutching the thick, roping muscles and veins along the limb. A half second later, though time appeared to have been set to slow motion, another arm snaked around her waist. A meaty hand gripped her hip, as it pulled her back several steps toward the wall that had been at her back in a swift, graceful movement.
She clenched her body, her instincts screaming, fighting the steps, the speed too fast to not slam into that wall. Instead of impact, the breath pulled from her lungs with nowhere to go, as they went beyond the wall. All reason felt suspended during a moment that lacked explanation, and thus panic set in, as she found herself forced into a seated position.
She spotted a hole cut into the wall she'd not known there, shimmering around her for the briefest of time, though that wall closed in front of them, blocking her from whatever was happening in her studio, before she had time to process its existence fully. Shaking uncontrollably, her fingernails now digging into, as much as they could, the steely arms around her like a vise, she may have whimpered, she wasn't sure, as a cold sweat broke out all over her body.
Forced to sit, her back against more rock hard muscles, she couldn't help but note the large male organ pushing into the cleft of her ass either. Not that the guy was hard, but he'd been gifted. The thought seemed so out of place in the moment, and then another wave of panic erased it, as the body restricting hers prevented her need to squirm. The effort too much, her vision blurring, she stopped, if only to focus on the light that had appeared in front of her face. As it came into focus, she realized it to be a phone, not having realized the hand at her middle had disappeared. She resumed squirming in this small space, her legs immobile thanks to the wall, her arms bumping whatever was on both sides of her. She barely had room for her lungs to expand in the crouched position she shared.
The thought to flee built in her muscles only to be stopped by the vision of Ian's face appearing on the screen. The phone disappeared a moment as something was shoved into her ear. It didn't hurt, but the automatic flinch showed her she had slim chances of getting her head out of this guy's grip, as he kept his hand firmly cupped over her lips. To say he hurt her, she couldn't even tell at this point, her body blended into the dark surrounding, something, who knew the hell what, touching her at every angle, as dust and must filled her nose.
Ian's voice filled her ear, jolting her into a state of paralysis. It took a moment for her brain to catch up, that whomever held her had her had put an earphone in her ear.
She sat stiff as a board, her brows knit, her body taking over and making her labor for deep breaths as she listened to the message. The sound of Ian's voice, the sight of his face, gave her a moment's pause for hope. For a desperate minute, she pleaded with the universe that the man holding her was one of his bodyguards, that this had been a rescue rather than a kidnapping. She wanted this man to be her savior rather... Her thoughts dropped off at the thought, panic already high yet increasing still as she forced herself to focus on Ian's words, So far, he'd only apologized profusely.
"Listen to me carefully, Sam. Jacob has you. I employed him today as your savior."
Uh, that word again, she thought. Her body fought between a sense of solace and another deluge of hysteria, both continuing to interfere with her normal breathing pattern, as well as her heartbeat. The ache in her chest so profound, now, she fought to concentrate.
"Again, I am sorry that you became a target," Ian rattled on, the message obviously recorded, which would have been more cause for concern if she hadn't already been shaking enough she had to work at maintaining consciousness in the dark room with only the light of a phone that held a friendly face and the grip of a man she didn't know how to deal with.
Ian's voice sounded flat in the small space. "My enemies, having seen you with me so much over the past weeks, must have assumed that I care for you deeply. While you are a wonderful woman, we both know the circumstances of our connection. Anyway, in their lack of knowledge of this fact, they surmised that going after you was a way to hurt me. I'd heard the rumors of an impending attack. Not knowing if or when the attack would come, I had Jacob and a few of my men utilize the space in the wall around the furnace system as a failsafe, to get you out if need be. Forgive me for not wanting to alarm you if the threat had been fake, but I still had to set up a means to protect you.
"I've had you under constant surveillance while we set about preparations to safeguard you against an attack. The other night my men cut a secret door to get you out unseen if my enemies, another pride, came after you. Knowing you are a witch, I did hear that they had thought themselves smart in hiring a witch themselves. My security team has been one step ahead of them, though, hearing the chatter through strategically planted connections. So we assumed the attack, if it happened, would be magical, which stood to our advantage in saving you."
She attempted to process all of this information, her body not yet responding to the part where she was being saved. She couldn't help but worry about her students, or if these enemies of Ian's would find her anyway.
As if he'd read her thoughts, Ian answered, "I'm sure you are worried about your class. From what we know, they have only been spelled to sleep. They intended to make you sleep as well, we assume, to kidnap you, use you as ransom. But, again, one step ahead, I used my own witch connections. I had him stifle your magic so they couldn't sense you where you now hide. You may have to wait there for some time until Jacob gets the message that it is safe to take you out.
"Now, I don't mean to sound bossy, but I have instructed Jacob to do whatever is necessary to keep you safe, which to me means keeping you with him, even if he has to chain you to himself or a bed or whatever until this is all over. We all know you to be a headstrong woman, justifiably so, as you are also quite capable of taking care of yourself. It's just, in this situation, against these sort of men, I will take no chances with your life. Gerri would have my hide. So, everything will be handled until I know you are safe. Again, you have my sincere apologies. This is why I never date a girl more than a few times, but I was doing Gerri a favor. Not to say I didn't enjoy my time with you, I did, you are a nice girl, but this isn't what you want to hear right now, as you probably hate me at the moment anyway. So again, my apologies. You are in good hands. Please, let Jacob be your savior. And yes, Gerri told me to say that last line just like that, though it is true. I believe he will be." With that last bombshell of his, as there had been multiple in the speech, the phone went dark and the recording ceased.
Sam didn't relax one bit, though, rather her entire body became aware of each and every inch of his where hers and Jacob's connected. She could still hear the commotion on the other side of the wall. They weren't safe yet. She blamed still being in flight or flight mode for the way her skin tingled given she had no magic to blame it on at the moment. She certainly wasn't about to admit it had anything at all to do with Jacob or how his skin felt where it pressed against hers. Nope. Not at all.
"Relax," Jacob demanded in her ear, his voice low, deep, and harsh. "I have you. I'm going to keep you safe. Nod if I can trust you not to scream if I remove my hand from your mouth."
She nodded fast multiple times until gray specks hindered her sight, which had just begun to adapt to the shadows in the darkness. With her affirmation, he slid his other hand around her middle again, pulling her in to him. Each and every muscle in her core tightened. She nodded again for some unknown reason. The muscles in her neck and shoulders were so tense they protested this movement with both pain and nausea, making her grit her teeth, as much an instinct as a means of keeping the nodded promise. His hand on her mouth moved away at a snail's pace, the distrust evident. His chest rose and fell in an exaggerated motion, even more so than it had been. This increased her own breath again, making her ache to just slouch back into him, let him protect her, be her savior. Although something stubborn, something defiant, in her kept her from doing so.
She continued to sit up straight, took in a few gulps of air now that she had more than just her nose to rely on for the basic need. Thick, dirty air, heavy with ages of mold and dust, filled her lungs. To stifle the cough that threatened, she closed her mouth tight, focused on her breathing as much as she could manage. She couldn't even manage to come up with one of her breathing exercises, though, just the inhale and exhale were tough enough at the moment, regulating the air in and out of her nose so as not to pass out.
"Get comfortable, if you can. We are going to be here for a while until they clear out. Even then, we will have to wait, as I am sure they will watch the place for a time. I will get the all clear through the phone to let me know when it is safe for our ride to come and rescue us."
He'd whispered all of that in her ear, sending goose bumps to rise over her flesh. She stayed as she was, stiff frame, overly cognizant of each spot where they connected. His free hand, the one that had been over her mouth, came to rest beside her upper thigh. Given the tight corridors, it was about all he had. Heat rose from his palms, one on her leg, one on her side.
As she calmed herself, little by little, she became more aware of the filth of their dark surroundings as her sight adjusted to see into the shadows. She couldn't so much see it, as smell it, more and more. The shadows took on new meaning, her eyes playing a game with her of cobwebs and dust, until she could feel the grime coating her sweaty skin.