Chapter Twenty-Two

Paige followed Kelly’s every movement with her gaze, making sure she knew as much as possible about the woman on the off chance someone managed to find them.

Paige’s hope was that eventually a shifter would wander close enough to the cabin for her to reach out telepathically and inform them she was being held hostage. The more information she could give them, the better her chances were of keeping things from getting more out of hand than they already were.

In a strange twist, she wasn’t particularly afraid of Kelly Smith. The woman wasn’t working with a full deck, and she didn’t seem to have a weapon.

She was still hoping beyond hope to keep Kelly from being removed from society. When a human got wind of the existence of shifters, it was always sticky to clean up, but when things went too far, it was sometimes impossible. Eliminating someone from society was a pain in the ass.

Paige would not shift unless the situation became dire. She also would not verbally confirm anything Kelly suspected about her species. Perhaps she was being optimistic. The lengths at which Kelly had gone to track and capture Paige were extensive enough to suggest there was a chance she had far too much information and had already crossed lines the Arcadian Council would not be able to ignore.

Paige did not, however, want to exacerbate the problem.

She tried to ignore the extreme thirst parching her throat and leaving her lips dry while she watched Kelly eat a bowl of ice cream and sip a glass of water. The crazy woman was trying to goad Paige into shifting, but she had severely underestimated the willpower of a grizzly bear.

The biggest concern Paige had was worrying about Wyatt. He would be pulling his hair out by now. He would have started looking for her the moment she was taken because she’d sent him a text and then never responded to whatever he might have returned. She also hadn’t shown up at his parents’ house.

At least she had the knowledge to calm her nerves that people had been searching for her from the moment she’d been abducted. Unfortunately, she had no idea how far away from Silvertip she was. She’d been drugged during the transportation. She was amazed the mousy woman holding her had been able to carry her to the cage.

She concentrated on Wyatt and what he’d come to mean to her in order to ignore her plight. Her butt hurt from sitting on the hard surface of the cage.

Resting her eyes from the annoying view of Kelly, she allowed herself to bring Wyatt to the front of her mind. She would give anything to have the power to reach out to him and reassure him she was okay. He would be scared out of his mind by now.

He loved her. He hadn’t said the words specifically yet, but she knew he did. And the feeling was mutual. She’d been in love with him from the moment she first laid eyes on him at her parents’ home months ago.

He was kind and gentle. His patience knew no limits. His ability to understand her issues and read her body language was unbelievable. Never once had he scared her with a sudden movement or a touch. After ten years of avoiding other people in general and men and grizzlies in particular, it was startling to realize none of her fears existed in the arms of Wyatt Arthur.

Her mate.

The man she would spend her life with.

The man she should have already bound herself to. If she hadn’t been so skittish and hesitant even when faced with the undeniable truth, she wouldn’t be in this position. If she were bound to Wyatt, she would be able to simply reach out to him and communicate with him.

Clearly, Kelly had no knowledge of the bond between mates, or she would have doubted this plan of hers to kidnap a grizzly and attempt to force them to shift for her cameras. Although, the woman also couldn’t be playing with a full deck seeing as it hadn’t occurred to her the strength Paige would possess if she wanted to put a quick, painful end to Kelly’s life.

Paige glanced around at the cage again. How sturdy was it? It appeared that although the bars of the cage were strong, the base was sitting flat on the floor, not anchored. There was a chance once shifted, Paige could lift it with her body. After all, Kelly had undoubtedly constructed this cage herself. If she managed to lift the sides to put it together, surely Paige could destroy it in a few seconds in grizzly form.

Maybe she was wrong, and it weighed more than she suspected, but there was a chance. If worse came to worse. She would need to be at her best though. Not drugged. She flexed her fingers and moved her limbs around as subtly as possible. In a few hours she figured she would be at full strength again. Thirsty, but not so much so that she couldn’t do what was needed to escape.

The sun was sinking lower in the sky, but Paige vowed this would be the last day on earth she would spend not bound to Wyatt. The moment she got out of this situation, she would rectify that oversight.

She smiled inside as she closed her eyes again, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only would Wyatt never care if she overcame her sexual insecurities, but once they completed the binding, all her concerns would fly out the window. Wyatt would ensure she felt safe and loved. He would take the time and care to make everything perfect so that her past was buried and her future held only memories of what it was like to be loved by a real man.

Sitting in this uncomfortable cage in this remote cabin, located who knew where, a weight lifted from Paige. Years of pent-up stress slid away, freeing her from Antoine Tarben. His threats couldn’t hurt her anymore. He would no longer hold her prisoner. She would not allow his disgusting act of rape to control her life. She belonged to another man now, and she would see to it that her life forever intertwined with his, letting go of the past hurt and grasping onto the intense pleasure life was offering her.

A long exhale slid from her lungs, followed by a deep inhale as if she’d crossed a line that separated her previous life from her future.

As she slowly drew breath into her body, she took in more than just oxygen. The scent of shifters filled her. She jerked her eyes open as half a dozen different scents grabbed her attention. Among them was Wyatt.

Kelly was licking a mouthful of ice cream from her spoon, oblivious to the storm that was about to descend.

“Wyatt?” She reached out telepathically, knowing he was close.

“Paige.” His voice. His amazing, wonderful, seductive, perfect voice. Heaven.

“You found me.”

“Can’t take the credit. Dale did it. Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m in some sort of cabin. Are you close enough to sense me precisely?”

“Yes. I see the cabin. And your car is out front. Give me details.”

“Kelly is whacked. She slept with Antoine. He shifted in front of her. She’s made it her mission to prove our existence and profit from it.”

“Fuck.” Paige could hear the tension in his thoughts. She knew everyone would be worrying about how many other people Antoine might have revealed his identity to.

“Wait, you said slept with Antoine. Voluntarily?”

“Not sure I’d call it that, precisely. She has a rape fetish.”

“Jesus.”

Paige could feel Wyatt creeping closer to the cabin.

“Baby, I’m close. Is she armed?”

“No. I haven’t seen a weapon. Not even a knife.”

“The woman is holding you with no weapon?”

“Hey, don’t get all judgy on me. She drugged me and then drove me to this cabin and stuck me in a cage.” She did her best to sound light and almost jovial to ease the fear she could feel through their connection.

“Lord, woman. I’ve been scared out of my mind, and all the while you were just lying around in a cabin having a vacation,” he teased back as the fear fled. “I’m looking through the window now. I see you. What the hell is Kelly doing?”

“Eating ice cream.”

“Shit, she’s strange.”

“Yes. Please feel free to come inside now. I doubt she even locked the door. You might be enjoying staring at me restrained in this damn cage, but I’m getting claustrophobic.”

Even without words directed at her, she could feel his sudden startle. “I don’t think you’re the sort of woman I would ever consider restraining in this lifetime, babe, but hang tight. We’re just making sure she’s unarmed.”

“You’re no fun. What if I’ve decided I like being caged?” Where the hell she was coming up with this banter, she had no idea, but she was enjoying the sharp intakes of breath she sensed from her mate.

“You have got to be the only woman alive who could possibly turn something this serious into sexual banter that is causing me to have to adjust my cock before I can rescue you.”

“My goal is to always keep you on your toes.”

As that last thought left her mind, the front door of the cabin opened, and Wyatt rushed inside, heading directly for a startled Kelly who dropped her spoon and screamed. Right behind Wyatt were two members of the Arcadian Council, their age doing nothing to hinder them from securing Kelly by the arms before she even had enough seconds to realize her plan was over.

Gavin was the first to reach Paige, and he started fiddling with the enclosure while Wyatt pivoted away from Kelly and took two long strides toward Paige. He held up a set of keys and nudged Gavin out of the way. “I’ve got it.”

Paige shuddered as she noticed Kelly had attached the key to the cage to Paige’s own set of car keys, the same ring that held her apartment key. What a disturbed bitch.

The moment he had the door open, Gavin grabbed the keys, and Wyatt kneeled to help her crawl out. Seconds later she was in his embrace. His arms were fiercely tight around her, holding her in a way she had not permitted anyone to secure her in ten years.

Fear did not fill her. Panic did not set in. She felt nothing but safe, loved, relieved, happy. It was over. Not just her ordeal with a crazy reporter for several hours, but her old life of anxiety and dread.

Gone.

Vanquished.

Replaced with the waves of love coming from this amazing man holding her in his arms.

She lifted her arms to wrap them around his middle and hold him just as fiercely.

Too many people were crammed in the tiny cabin, all of them talking at once, but Paige tuned them out. All of her attention was on her mate, and she poured that emotional overload into him.

When he finally released her enough to lean back and look into her eyes, she saw that he understood. Without words or even silent communication, he knew her heart was with him. He closed his eyes, kissed her forehead, and inhaled long and slow. “I love you,” he whispered into her mind.

“I love you too.”