Chapter Five
Day by day, Joe felt he and Kai were making progress. And the more time they spent together, the more he wished Axel was there with them. There was something about Kai, something endearing, that built on Joe’s instinctive liking of him.
Throughout the week they’d been in Hilltop, Kai had shown a willingness to learn and to work hard, alongside a well-hidden desperation for contact. And not just physical. The few times Joe had got him talking about himself and his past, Kai had chattered on until he abruptly seemed to realize how long he’d been talking for and clammed up. They were working on that, too.
Heath’s babies were born on the fifth day, to much celebration among the den’s occupants. Joe stayed two more days, making sure Jensen had spoken to Julian about Kai, and then he and the omega were on the road.
Kai turned around in his seat to watch Hilltop as it disappeared into the distance.
“Do you think you’ll miss it?” Joe asked him.
The omega sat back down, shaking his head. “I felt like an unwelcome guest.”
“Well, don’t worry, River Den will be different. Everyone is excited to meet you.”
Which was true, they were. Ollie had planned a welcome party and everything.
“I’m looking forward to meeting them, too,” Kai said. “I kind of feel like I know them already.”
That had been all Joe’s talking. It seemed to be the best way to calm Kai enough for him to actually get some benefit from the touch treatment.
Joe’s attention was drawn back to the road when a van drove up fast behind them. The road was winding and narrow, leaving not a lot of room for the other vehicle to pass. Joe kept to the side, maintained his speed, and hoped the road would widen soon so the van could pass by.
Abruptly, the van pulled out onto the road and sped forward, driving side by side with Joe’s car.
“What are they doing?” Kai asked as Joe slowed down. The van slowed too, jerking right suddenly, and banging against their car.
Joe clung to the steering wheel as the van knocked into them again. The wheel of their car hit the ditch and he slammed on the brakes, bringing them to a sudden stop. That was no accident.
The van stopped next to them, the doors thrown open.
“Kai, get out and run.”
The omega was clinging to his seat, wide-eyed, his breath coming in short pants.
“Kai, now.”
Kai threw his door open and barreled out. Joe jumped across the seat to follow him. But it was too late. One of the strangers grabbed Kai even as the omega fought and started to shift. A pair of arms locked around Joe’s upper body, pinning his arms to his sides. He fought, kicked, and struggled. Something hit his head, and everything went black.
He woke in darkness, feeling the ground beneath him moving. His hands were pinned awkwardly behind his back. He struggled, trying to free them, but there was something around his wrists holding them fast. His legs were similarly bound.
Kai’s voice came out of the dark.
“Joe?”
“I’m here. Wherever here is.”
“We’re in the van.” Kai sounded scared and miserable.
Joe’s eyes adjusted, and he could make out Kai in the gloom. The omega was bound too, lying awkwardly on the floor nearby.
“How long was I out?”
“I think it’s been a few hours. I tried to shift, but they jabbed me with a needle and now I can’t.”
At Kai’s words, he reached for his wolf, but the animal eluded him. He felt a dull ache in his upper arm.
“Me, too. Some kind of sedative or muscle relaxant, maybe.”
He focused on the practical, the factual. It helped keep the terror from bubbling over.
“What do you think they want?” Kai asked.
Joe tried to sit up, get his balance.
“I don’t know. Can you get your hands free?”
Kai huffed with frustration. “No, I keep trying but my wrists are really hurting.”
Joe tried to get some slack in whatever was wrapped around his wrists but, if anything, it seemed to get tighter.
“Joe?”
“Yeah?”
“What are they?”
“What do you mean?”
“The men who took us, I’ve never scented those animals before.”
Which wasn’t too surprising. Kai’s limited experience with other shifters had been really stretched by his time in Hilltop.
Joe thought back. “One of them was a lion, but the others, I don’t know.”
He’d heard enough from Liam and the situation in his pack to know to fear the lions, but he tried to hide that fear from Kai.
“I called Cade before we left, which means they’ll be wondering where we are soon. Both Hilltop and River Den will be looking for us, Axel too. They’ll find the car and they won’t stop until they find us.”
He put every ounce of confidence he had into his words. They were true. He knew Axel would never stop looking for him.
Sinking back down to the floor, he held Kai’s gaze, willing the omega to stay calm. If he could stay calm, so could Joe.
The rocking of the van and whatever those shifters had injected him with sent Kai into a restless sleep. He woke to the doors being thrown open. It was dark outside. Rough hands reached for him and he called out.
“Joe!”
“I’m here, Kai, I’m right here.”
The beta’s voice came from behind him. Kai latched onto it. He was carried across uneven ground by careless hands. He kept catching glimpses, of the dark night sky, of the crescent moon, of a scattering of stars hidden by the leaves of tall trees.
Abruptly, they were through a door and walking down a set of stairs. He twisted and turned, but the hands didn’t yield, and he got a box to his ear for his efforts. And then he was thrown to the floor, landing hard. Hands were at his wrists and ankles, freeing him from his bonds. Joe landed with a thump on the floor next to him. There was another pinch in his upper arm, a wave of weakness washing over him as the darkness returned.
It was light when he opened his eyes again. He could see sunlight coming in through a window high up on a wall. Rolling over, he tried to get his bearings. Was he still in Hilltop?
Everything came back in a rush; the car, the van, the shifters. Joe.
Panicked, he sat up, ignoring the wave of dizziness that nearly sent him reeling, and searched for the beta. Spotting him lying on the floor nearby, Kai tried to make his way to him.
“Joe?”
The beta groaned and pushed himself up on an elbow. “Axel?”
“No, it’s Kai. Remember? Those men, the van.”
Joe was wide awake a moment later, sitting up and looking around.
“How’s your head?” Kai asked.
The beta rubbed at the spot where he’d been hit, wincing.
“It’s not so bad. Are you okay?”
Kai nodded slowly. “A little sore. And dizzy. And cold.”
As he said it, he realized it was true, a shiver coursing through him. He felt the need to shift, having been human for probably close to a day if the sunlight through the window was any indication. But when he tried to draw on his fox, nothing happened.
“Joe, can you feel your wolf?”
The beta frowned and closed his eyes, opening them a moment later and shaking his head. “No.”
He rubbed thoughtfully at his upper arm.
“It’s the sedative. We should be able to change again once it wears off.”
Another shiver ran through Kai from head to toe.
“We should try the door.” He got to his knees but no further.
“I tried it, earlier,” Joe said. “It’s locked and reinforced. We won’t be getting out unless someone lets us out.”
But who was ‘someone’?
“Joe, who are these men? Why have they taken us?”
The beta seemed to know a lot. Kai hoped he could help him make sense of this.
“I don’t know. River Den had a run in with a lion pack a while back. And the lions attacked my mate’s pack, killing his brother.”
Kai listened, feeling his heart sink. “So, lions are bad news?”
“Essentially, yeah.”
“Oh.” He wrapped his arms around himself as he shivered again. His head was starting to ache. He wished he could shift. He’d feel better then.
“Come on,” Joe said, waving him over. “Come over here.”
Kai tried to stand but his legs were weak, and his head spun. He settled for crawling on his hands and knees across the floor.
“Here, lie down beside me.”
He lay down with his back to Joe, the beta’s arms around him.
“I can’t shift, Joe. Everything feels wrong.”
The other shifter hugged him. “It’s just what they gave us. Once that wears off, you’ll be able to shift. For now, we’ll use physical contact to level you, just like this.”
They stayed like that as the minutes and hours passed. Both of them were still groggy from the sedative so neither of them spoke much.
Gradually, Kai stopped shivering and started feeling a little more himself. Until footsteps echoed outside. They both sat up and turned as there was a rattling sound at the door like locks were being opened, bolts slid back.
Joe was in front of Kai, partially blocking him from whoever was there. The door opened, and two men stepped inside. Kai recognized one as being the man who’d grabbed him and dragged him to the van. But the other wasn’t familiar, not his face nor his scent.
“Well, what do you think, Marcus?” the first man asked. “Blondie’s an omega. The wolf is a beta, which is a pity, but he’s small and young. He’ll fetch a decent price but not as much as Blondie.”
“I’d have preferred two omegas, but they’ll do,” the second man replied.
Joe got to his feet and after a breath of hesitation, Kai followed suit.
“Who are you? Why have you brought us here?” Joe sounded confident, angry, betraying none of the fear that was coursing through Kai.
The shifters looked at one another and laughed.
“You’re here at our pleasure, little beta.”
“Not for long. You’ve no right to keep us prisoner like this. Our people will be looking for us.”
The first shifter grinned, but it was the second one who stepped forward, looking Joe up and down.
“You’ll be long gone before they ever track you here. The auction’s tomorrow. Sleep well.”
They turned and left. Joe threw himself at the closing door but was no match for the other shifters who slammed it closed and locked it.
When Joe turned back around, he looked as scared as Kai felt.
“Auction?” Kai asked him.
Joe rubbed a hand over his mouth before he spoke. “The lion packs keep slaves. And maybe they’re not the only ones. It sounds like they’re planning on selling us.”