Chapter Thirty
Piper moaned with the insistent pain throbbing in the back of her skull. She opened her eyes, squinting against the light shining from above.
It took her a moment to realize she was on her back, lying on a mattress with her hands bound behind her.
Memories came flooding back with a vengeance. She’d been standing in her bathroom with Rhonda, taking a pregnancy test.
Her gaze flew to her abdomen where her unborn child lay, and tears sprang to her eyes. She’d just found out about her pregnancy only minutes before—
Rhonda! Her mind screamed in denial. She scanned the room for any sign of her closest friend, but found it empty, save for a kitchen chair and a boarded-up window.
Where was she, and what had happened to Rhonda?
Tears gathered in Piper’s eyes—tears for her unborn child, for Rhonda, her dearest friend, and for Ethan, the love of her life. And she did love him, she realized, a fresh round of tears springing to the surface.
Voices suddenly sounded from nearby. Piper quickly closed her eyes, praying they would think she still slept.
“What do you mean, she’s pregnant?” an older man’s voice snapped from outside the closed door. “You shouldn’t have brought her here, you idiot. Do you think Ethan Seaborn won’t tear this place apart with his bare hands to get her back?”
The sound of the door opening kicked Piper’s heart into overdrive. She wanted to turn her head and face the men who’d taken her, but fear for her baby prevented her from doing just that.
“Seaborn killed two of ours,” another voice snapped back. “Were you really planning to simply let that go? I think it’s time you step down and let me take my rightful place as alpha.”
Piper couldn’t have heard the man right. She could have sworn he’d said something about taking his place as alpha.
“You won’t get that title until I’m six feet under, Eric. Now, untie the girl’s hands and take her back. She carries the child of an alpha.”
There was that word again. Alpha. Piper chanced a slight peek from beneath her lashes.
The younger man, the one Piper assumed to be Eric, sneered. “You mean, she carries your heir, Father. Isn’t that what you meant to say?”
“You watch yourself,” the older man growled, taking a threatening step toward the man who Piper assumed to be his son. “Now, go fetch the doctor.”
Eric crossed his arms over his chest, anger etched in every line on his face. “For what? I knocked her unconscious. I didn’t run a knife through her. Besides, there’s no way we’re letting her live. And if Seaborn wants to cross into our territory, all the better. I’ll take him out too.”
Fear crawled up Piper’s back. Eric was talking about killing Ethan.
The old man reached up and gripped his son by the throat. “You won’t be killing anybody today. Now, go get the doctor before I have you put in chains.”
Eric jerked free of his father’s hold and spun toward the door, stopping before leaving the room. “You’re weak where Ethan is concerned. You always have been.”
His father turned his back to Eric. “He was the only male born with a spine. Now move your ass.”
Piper eased her eyes shut as the old man ambled around the side of the bed and untied her hands.
Pain shot up into her shoulders from lying in the same position for so long.
She couldn’t stop the moan that slipped from her throat.
“Can you sit up?” The gentle tone of the elderly man’s voice belied his angry disposition.
Piper opened her eyes, wincing as she moved to sit up and lean against the wall behind her.
She brought her hands around front and rubbed at the raw skin of her wrists. “Who are you?”
“Name’s Isaac Foster. Are you hurt?”
Ethan’s paternal grandfather, Piper realized with a start. “You mean besides the obvious?”
“Eric has always been hotheaded. Once the doctor has checked you over, I’ll see to it that you’re returned safely home.”
Piper glanced at the door. “And my friend, Rhonda? Is she okay?”
Isaac shrugged. “I know nothing about your friend.”
Nausea rolled through Piper. “You have to let Rhonda go. Please. She’s never done anything to any of you.”
“There is no Rhonda here.” Isaac stood and moved over to the side of the bed.
Piper shrank back as he reached for her shirt and pulled it from her shoulder. He then in turn checked the other side. “He hasn’t marked you. That’s interesting.”
“Marked me?” Deciding the old man must be daft, Piper yanked her shirt free from his hold and bounded off the mattress.
She ran for the door, only to slide down in terror as a giant animal came racing down the hall straight toward her.
A scream trapped in her throat.
Scrambling back into the room on her ass and hands, Piper’s gaze stayed glued to the beast now snarling in her face.
“Leave her be!” Isaac snapped, instantly moving between her and Satan himself. “Go!”
With one last terrifying growl, the giant beast slinked away, disappearing back the way he’d come.
Piper jumped to her feet and rushed back to her makeshift bed on the floor. “W-what was that?”
Isaac tilted his head. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“It looked like a wolf to me,” Piper rushed out, attempting to breathe around the fear closing her throat.
The old man ignored her. “How far along are you?”
Piper couldn’t take her gaze off the doorway long enough to comprehend Foster’s words.
He repeated the question. “How far along are you?”
She pulled her focus off the door, peered up at him, and narrowed her eyes. “How would you know anything about that?”
He didn’t answer, instead asked, “Does Ethan know about the child you carry?”
“Why are you so interested in my child?”
The old man shrugged. “I have my reasons.”
“I’m not telling you anything until you show me that my friend is okay.”
Meandering toward the door, Isaac spoke without turning back. “Do not try to escape. There are a lot more wolves on the property than simply the one in the hall. And they have zero qualms about tearing you to shreds.”
The door closed behind him.