Chapter Nine
When the men took off their masks, Audrey knew they meant to kill her.
She stayed hunkered in the back of a nondescript van with tinted windows, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. The only chance she had at escape was if their concentration lapsed long enough for her to bolt. But where could she go in a moving vehicle?
The city skyline soon disappeared, replaced by trees. They were taking her out into the bush to kill her. There was no doubt in her mind that these men were the Fist of Humanity. Would they torture her like they did the first woman they killed?
"Do you think your precious king will listen to us if our message is written in your blood?" one of the men asked, a crooked grin on his face. "Rumor has it that he's chosen you as his mate. Is it true?"
Audrey didn't look at him. What would Dimitri and Sanjay do when her body showed up at the gates of the palace?
"Ah, it is true," the man purred. "Do you know why he chose you? Not because he cares about you. Vampires don't care about anybody but themselves. You're a reporter. A popular one, too. All that your precious Dimitri wants from you is to have you in his bed and for you to spew out your ridiculous stories of women flocking to the Harvest Moon Festival every year, so the vampires can corrupt them."
It was exactly what she expected to hear. Audrey turned her face away. If she pretended to agree with them, would they let her go? Or was this all just words, trying to provoke her? If they truly believed that Dimitri didn't care about her, why take her in the first place?
Her heart ached as Dimitri and Sanjay's faces came to her mind's eye. How close had they been when she was taken? Had they seen these men drag her into the van and take off? And if they had… would they be following?
Don't cling to hope, she told herself. Think. There has to be a way out of this.
"He threatened to kill my parents and sister if I didn't write those stories," she said, making her voice waver. It wasn't hard, although making herself say the words was. If she could make them think she was on their side, she might be able to get out of this. "If I didn't… mate him, he would have killed them. I didn't want to, but he didn't give me a choice."
The man laughed. "We've done our research. You don't have any family. He wasn't blackmailing you, you're just like all the rest. Women who want to tear down what makes society, destroy our families."
"I thought you just said that the vampires corrupted the women that came to the Harvest Festival."
"Think you're smart, hey? Well, you're good for one thing at least." He smirked. "Let's get started."
Another of the men pulled restraints from a black bag he was holding. Audrey stared in horror. What were they going to do? Didn't matter–she wasn't going to give in without a fight!
Audrey lashed out, but they caught her wrists and twisted them behind her back. She screamed–and the van jolted to one side. A screech, deep, terrible, and totally inhuman, echoed through the air. The men cursed, pulling away from her. Audrey looked up just in time to see a massive cat leap over the front of the vehicle. It sank sink its claws into the roof of the van. Metal screeched as it tore the roof clean off.
"Sanjay!"
Gunfire erupted, making Audrey scream. She pressed her hands over her ears. Sanjay jumped back. His body was as big as the van, fur a tawny-gold with bold black stripes. His tail twitched and he yowled, his massive paws batting at the van, shaking it from side to side.
The back doors opened. Audrey opened her mouth to scream again when a pair of arms wrapped around her. A couple of the men started to turn. One of them pointed a gun in her direction. And then Sanjay was back on them, tearing the side of the vehicle open.
Dimitri pulled Audrey from the van. He tucked her into a ball in his arms and ran. Gunfire, Sanjay's howls, and screams followed after them. Audrey clung to her vampire king's arms, protests of leaving the Liger behind getting caught in her throat. The vampire bolted through the forest, jumping over logs and ducking under branches to put distance between them and the kidnappers.
Eventually, they emerged from the trees again. A white Lexus sat on the road, doors open and the engine still running. Dimitri slid her into the passenger seat before leaping over the vehicle and getting into the driver's side. Audrey could still hear gunfire among the trees.
"Stop," she gasped as Dimitri threw the car into gear. "Dimitri! Stop!"
The vampire ignored her, eyes sharp as he scanned the road ahead of them. They were off within seconds. Dimitri's foot pressed the gas petal flat to the floor. The forest whipped by around them, making Audrey feel sick to her stomach. She clutched at her seatbelt and the armrest. But she knew better than to try to open the door.
"Dimitri," she said again, her voice cowed. "Dimitri, you have to stop. Sanjay… we can't just leave him behind. They'll kill him."
"The shifter is far stronger than you realize, Audrey." Dimitri glanced at her. Worry was etched into his face, but he managed a small smile. "He'll be fine. Besides that, there are other vampires on their way to help him. As soon as we saw them taking you, we knew what we were going to do. We needed you safe above everything else."
A lump rose in Audrey's throat. "But Sanjay… if he's killed, I don't know how… I love him."
Dimitri slowed just a tad and reached over to grasp her hand. "I know. And he knows. It's going to be okay, Audrey. He's going to be fine."
Audrey closed her eyes and prayed he was right.
***
Even back at the palace, Dimitri wouldn’t leave Audrey's side. He was constantly on the phone, getting updates from the vampires he sent to help Sanjay or calling the human police to get them involved. If Audrey wasn't so distressed about the possibility that Sanjay might never come back, she would have admired the way he set things in order.
Hours stretched by, and each minute felt like an eternity. Finally, the vampires called and told Dimitri that they had smoked out the rest of the humans involved in Audrey's kidnapping. They returned quickly after that, driving ambulances painted all black.
Sanjay, in his human form, was wheeled into the palace on a gurney. Audrey wasn't allowed to see him, but doctors came to update her on his condition. Major blood loss. Riddled with bullets. Immediate surgery required.
Audrey's mind was in a haze as Dimitri explained what had happened, how Sanjay had found out where the kidnappers were taking her, and that he had gone after the rest of them on his own. The vampires were barely able to get there in time. He took more bullets than anybody Dimitri had ever met, but he was alive.
"He's one strong shifter," the king said with admiration. "No wonder the other shifters are in so much awe of him, even though he doesn't have his own pack. I thought the stories were exaggerated, but they're not."
"He does have a pack," Audrey whispered. Her eyes were dry, though guilt consumed her. "He has me and you. But all this is my fault. If I hadn't run away—"
Dimitri wrapped his arms around her. "No. Don't think that way, Audrey. We were forgetting that you were human, and we put too much pressure on you. It's our fault that you ran away."
"I don't know about that. I always do this. Do you know how many relationships I've had that have lasted more than three months? None. Because I always get stressed and scared and confused. And my job has always been my excuse. It's like I'm addicted to it."
"We aren't asking you to give up your career."
"I know that now. But I think it would be healthy for me to scale back, anyway. And to have others to live for besides myself." She had to repress a sob that crawled up her throat. "What if Sanjay doesn't make it?"
"Of course he will. And we'll make this work. Once Sanjay is healed, the three of us will talk."
Once Sanjay was healed. Audrey buried her face in Dimitri's shoulder, breathing in his scent.
I'd give up everything for them, she thought. Was that why I was so frightened before?
It had to be. But that didn't matter, because from this point forward, she wasn't running away. She would give her all to Dimitri and Sanjay. Her life, her love, her forever. And she knew they would give her the same back.