Chapter Nineteen
They were about two blocks from the Council Building, waiting for a red light to change when suddenly Halle’s hackles rose. She had two seconds to look towards Viktor before the driver’s door was ripped right off its hinges, and two huge grey, unnatural arms reached inside and grabbed her mate, dragging him away.
“Halle!”
“Viktor!” she screamed his name at the same time he did hers. She reached for him, but the door on her side opened up as well and she glanced at the smirking vamp as her fangs slid down with a growl.
“Now, now, pretty kitty.” The stranger pointed a gun at her as he slowly took a step back. “Conrad doesn’t want you hurt, but I’ll shoot you if you come at me.”
“What do you want? Where is Viktor?” She glanced around her, but couldn’t see her mate or the grey monster that had pulled him out of the car.
“Viktor is busy right now, trying not to lose his head to an ogre, I imagine.”
“I’ll kill you.” Her heart almost stopped when she thought about something happening to Viktor. “I swear I will.”
“Making sure that no one gets killed to today is up to you. You’ve got that part right, Halle.” His face was no longer smiling. “We have more than just Viktor, as I have no doubt that eventually, he’ll get away from that beast—he always does. But I’m afraid Tavin won’t be so lucky. Conrad has your brother, and if you don’t come with me and do what he says, your brother will lose his life today.”
She couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be true. She was so fucking close to being happy—why couldn’t fate just leave them be?
“Why should I just believe that you have my brother?”
The vamp dialed his phone and held it up for her as it rang until finally it connected and Conrad’s cruel face filled the screen.
“Do you have her, Joe? Ah, sweet Halle, so good to see your beautiful face once again.” The asshole had the nerve to smile at her, like they were old friends. “Such an angry look, however, I’m assuming that means you didn’t offer to come willingly? Here … let your brother convince you otherwise.”
He stepped back, and she cried out to see her strong, big brother, strapped to a chair and bleeding from too many places to count. One of the skanky vampire bitches was leisurely lapping at the blood dripping from a cut right below his collarbone.
“Don’t go with him, Halle! Stay away from this bastard! Find Krescech!”
But her brother's words were cut off by his own scream as the woman sank her teeth deep into his neck.
“Stop!” she screamed. “Stop it! What do you want?”
“Just what was promised to me is all, my dear,” Conrad answered calmly. “Let Joe bring you to me and you fulfill your mating agreement with me in front of the Council, and your darling brother will be sent back to your pard safe and sound. You have my word on that.”
“The word of a sociopath? Even if I agreed, Conrad, it's too late,” she sobbed. “I found my true mate, and we’ve marked each other. I am already mated.”
She waited for the other shoe to drop, for the horrible consequences of her telling Conrad the truth, but he just laughed instead.
“Silly girl, you think I care if you are already mated?” he sneered. “Your genes will ensure me an heir regardless of if you are my mate or not, which is all that I require from you. Taking you away from that irritating bastard Krescech is simply a lovely bonus to make my day even brighter than it already is.”
Halle’s heart raced as she hoped against hope that Viktor would suddenly appear and save her. Her mind tried to come up with a plan, but there was nothing she could think of besides going along with this monster to save her brother.
“Don’t think too long, dear—your brother doesn’t have that much blood left in him to give…”
“Fine!” She broke when Tavin’s groan sounded out from behind Conrad. “I’ll go with him and do what you want. But you’d better keep your bargain, Dair, or so help me, I will find a way to end you.”
“As soon as our mating paperwork is signed, your brother will be released.”
Halle took one more look around them, hoping to catch a glimpse of Viktor before she slid into the car with Joe. She said a prayer to the Goddess that he was all right. She didn’t know anything about ogres, but anything that could have surprised her mate and taken off with him like that had to be a frightening opponent. Silent tears ran down her cheeks. It had only taken minutes for her entire world to implode, her dreams of happiness plowed over by some megalomaniac’s master plan. She knew for a certainty that she would never allow Conrad to bring a child of hers into his sick care. Once Tavin was safe back with the pard, Halle would do whatever it took to make sure that never happened. She was the only female in the family line of childbearing age, so his plan would end with her, freeing the rest of her family from his debt. If death was the only way to flee him, then she would have to be brave enough.
****
“I will kill you for this, beast!” Viktor raged as he tried to break free of the ogre’s hold. The male had grabbed him and the next thing he knew, they were suddenly running through the woods. Viktor had desperately tried to subdue him and get back to his mate, but the thing’s arms were like an ungiving vise that he could not escape.
“I have no quarrel with you, vampire,” the deep, echoing voice answered back.
“No quarrel?” Viktor’s voice was high in disbelief. “You just took me away so I cannot protect my mate from a madman who wishes to mate and enslave her against her will!”
“I simply collected what I was told, I have not harmed you,” he answered almost nonchalantly. “I made a bargain with Dair to get my cousin out of his debt. I am to hold you for thirty minutes, no less, no more.”
“Where are we? How did we get here?”
“We traced, of course,” The beast looked at him like Viktor was slow, but he’d never heard of an ogre having the ability to trace before. There was more to this one than brute strength, so he needed to be cautious.
“I didn’t realize that ogres could travel that way.”
“They can’t.” The large, dark eyes stared back at him, unblinking.
“But, you just did,” Viktor screamed in frustration. This creature had to be being deliberately obtuse, and he didn’t have time for such games. He needed to get back to his mate.
Viktor didn’t want to think about what Halle must be going through right now. She must be terrified. He tried to break free of the beast once again, thrashing and biting at every exposed inch of skin.
“You are quite persistent—and wiggly, but you cannot harm me. You will only harm yourself if you insist on this.” The coal black eyes peered down at him. “Dair said he would not harm the girl, that she was contracted to him through her family. He said that you had stolen her and held her against her will.”
“Conrad is a lying bastard! Halle and I are true mates, and we were on our way to the council to register our mating officially. All he wants is an heir from her, and he would take what she is unwilling to give.”
It was odd to watch the words he’d just spoken seem to sink into the mind of the huge grey beast, and when his overly large brow began to furrow in anger, hope began to blossom in Viktor’s chest.
“He would force her?” The deep voice was surprisingly gentle. “I don’t abide by that at all.”
“Will you help me get her back then? Do you know where he’s taken her? I can pay you anything you want.”
Viktor wasn’t one to normally ask for help from others, but things were different now. He had Halle to protect and he would do anything to make that happen.
“I try not to get involved in things in the outside world,” the large beast sighed.
“Well, then you should have left me alone to protect my mate.”
“…and that is exactly why I try to keep to myself. Why don’t people just leave me alone?” His big stone, grey shoulders slumped in defeat, and Viktor almost yelped as he was released and he fell to the ground, “I will show you where Conrad is, and then I’m going home—where other people aren’t.”
With those final words, the huge ogre put his meaty paw on Viktor’s shoulder and then suddenly, everything went black.