Joyce
This is it.
This is how it all ends.
It’s best to go out with a bang, right? Well, no matter what happens, no one can say I didn’t have a flair for the dramatic.
As it turns out, I think this is pretty much the most dramatic thing that’s ever happened to me, and that’s saying something.
Before Logan, my life was fun and interesting and strange. I had a normal job, yeah, but when I wasn’t at work?
I was living.
I was traveling and exploring and learning.
I was doing all sorts of different things, like taking trips and classes. I was hanging out with new people and developing my friendships and growing as a person.
I was moving.
My life had passion.
And then something happened. I got sucked into this weird relationship with Logan Smith, and everything sort of just fizzled. Everything just sort of died down a little bit. Everything just sort of stopped.
I can’t pinpoint exactly when things changed with him. Maybe it was because I was obsessed with hanging out with him when he wasn’t teaching. I stopped doing extra stuff on the weekends because I was busy with Logan. Then after the breakup, I threw myself back into my former crazy routine. I thought everything would be fine, but it wasn’t.
He did something.
He took Charlene Hill, and then he took my spirit.
I shouldn’t have lost myself after she went missing. I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have been so weak that a man could have been the reason I seemed to grow uncomfortably complacent, yet I did. I gave up on doing anything for myself and instead became obsessed with finding her.
Well, I hope I’m happy with what’s happened to me because he’s got me. He’s finally captured me. He’s conquered his prize.
I’m lying on the ground and my wrists are tied behind my back. I haven’t moved because I want to figure out as much information as possible before I let Logan know I’m awake. How much space do I have to move? How big of an area am I in? I can’t tell with my eyes closed. Eventually, I’m going to have to open them.
I’m nervous that he’s here watching me. I sniff the air quietly, trying to catch a whiff of his scent, but I smell nothing. Then again, there’s a stinky gag in my mouth, so that could be affecting my sense of smell. I’m not sure.
Finally, I open my eyes and I realize I shouldn’t have worried. The room is completely pitch black. It’s dark, and even with my shifter eyesight, I can’t really tell what’s going on down here.
Where am I?
Where has he taken me?
Why did he take me now, after all of that time?
And most importantly, what is going to happen to me?
I don’t want to let him keep me.
I won’t give him the satisfaction.
Oh, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll try. He’ll do anything in his power to do exactly what he wants to do to me, but he didn’t count on something: my mate mark.
I’m mated to Wyatt Dixon now, and we have an unbreakable bond. Nothing in the damn world is going to stop my mate from finding me now. Nothing. No matter how far away Logan takes me, no matter how much he hurts me, he’ll never be able to stop Wyatt from tearing apart the whole world to find me.
All I have to do is wait and believe and be patient.
Everything is going to be just fine.
“I know you’re awake,” a deep voice says, and I try to shift. If I could just shift, I would be able to see in the darkness. “And don’t bother trying to shift,” he adds. “The drugs I gave you will make that quite difficult. All that will happen is you’ll get a terrible headache.”
Sure, now he warns me.
The searing pain that shoots through my head is unbearable, and I can’t help the groan that escapes my lips.
Logan just laughs, and he turns on a light, revealing himself.
I wonder how I could have ever dated this monster.
That’s the thing about relationships, isn’t it? We all have these ideas of what it means to be in a relationship, of what it means to be with someone. We have these preconceived notions of what our partner is like, when in reality, they could be something completely different. We want them to fit into our molds, though, so we make all of these justifications about how the relationship is totally fine.
Totally, completely fine.
But it’s not.
It’s not fine.
This isn’t fine.
Logan isn’t fine.
Logan is fucking insane, and he’s got me locked up in a…basement?
I try to look around, but the pain in my head is making it difficult. I’m on a cold floor and despite the light bulb hanging in the center of the room, I can’t really tell where we are.
“Cozy, isn’t it?” He says. “Charlie and I have had quite a bit of fun down here. Haven’t we, Charlie?” And then I see her. Charlie. She’s still alive. She’s in the corner of my eye, but I try to fight the pain and wiggle around so I can actually look at her. She’s bound like me: tied up on the floor with her hands behind her back.
Her eyes are wide.
She’s surprised to see me.
He walks to Charlie and strokes her cheek. Charlie doesn’t flinch, but her eyes are screaming at me. She’s gagged, too, which explains why she hasn’t yelled or called for help. Maybe she tried when he first took her. Maybe he made it impossible.
Where are we?
I want to scream my questions, but I can’t. Instead, I lay silently on the floor while Logan talks to Charlie for a little while, and then he comes back to me.
“I was just saying goodbye,” he says. I look over at Charlie, and there are tears streaming down her cheeks.
Goodbye?
And then I realize what he’s saying.
Of course he’s saying goodbye.
He’s got me now.
After all of this time, Logan has finally captured his prize. Charlie really was a substitute for me, and now he doesn’t need her anymore. He’s going to kill Charlie. She was alive and fine and we would have found her eventually, but I just had to go out on the back step alone. I just had to do it and now, I’ve sped up his timeline.
Great.
I close my eyes, and even though I’m fighting it, a tear slips out.
Come on, Wyatt. Find me. Save me. I love you.