Chapter 28
Katya
Someone slammed into my back, throwing me forward. I crashed into a wall, and a framed photo landed on my head. The corner dug into my scalp. Warm blood oozed out.
“Get her!”
I picked up the heavy frame and threw it at the guy about to grab me. It sliced his cheek diagonally. I spun around and ran down the dim hall.
Voices sounded on both sides of the hallway.
I was trapped.
They would be doubly pissed that I’d gotten out of the bedroom.
I darted into the nearest room and closed the door behind me. It was pitch black. I didn’t dare turn on the light on the off chance that no one had seen me come inside.
My eyes started to adjust, but not quick enough. I felt around. My fingers found something cool and smooth. It was a dresser. I raced over to the other side and pushed, blocking the door.
It wouldn’t keep them out long, but it would buy me a couple minutes at the very least. If that.
I put my hands back out in front of me and walked toward the opposite side of the room. With any luck, there’d be a window.
Smack!
I’d walked right into a bed. It was too low, and I hadn’t felt it with my hands.
Voices on the other side of the door called out.
They’d heard me hit the bed.
The door opened, banging into the dresser. It crashed back and forth between it and the door frame.
My throat closed up. A rib popped.
Please wait until I get outside. Please.
I scrambled around the bed and felt around until I came to the wall. There had to be curtains. There just had to be. A shelf. Another one. A desk.
The door continued banging against the dresser. Yelling and swearing.
I felt fabric. Curtains and a window. I scrambled around the curtain, pulling it behind me. My palms pressed against the cool glass. I yanked on the window in the off chance it was unlocked.
It wasn’t. I felt around for the lock, unable to see from either the room or the moonlight outside. The woods were too thick on this side of the house.
More banging. Yelling.
Slide.
The dresser moved over the carpeting.
I felt around some more for the lock. It had to be close.
Bang! Bang!
“We’re going to get you. Your fiancé is going to make you pay for this insolence!”
Several of my ribs popped. My muscles tightened. If I wasn’t so determined to get away from them, I’d spin around and fight them just to prove them wrong. Nobody would ever treat me like that.
My fingers found a curved knob near the middle of the window. That had to be the lock.
Bang, bang!
Slide. Slide.
The dresser fought against the carpeting, but it was a losing battle.
I pressed against the lock. It didn’t budge. I tried twisting it. Again, nothing.
Slide…
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. I tried twisting the lock the other way.
It twisted.
“There she is!”
Rays of light shone in from the other side of the curtain.
My throat dried. I yanked on the window as hard as I could. It slid slightly open.
Bang, slide.
They were still fighting with the dresser—and probably almost had it out of the way.
I pulled against the window. It barely budged each time I pulled with all my strength.
Footsteps thundered toward me.
I yanked on the window. It budged, like it was stuck on something.
Voices yelled over each other. Hands grasped my legs and side.
I gave the window all I had. It opened another inch, but the hands on me thrust me backward. I got caught in the curtain. It twisted around my head. My arms flung out, simultaneously fighting it and the men.
The curtain rod fell to the ground just behind me, allowing the fabric to break free of my face.
Three men had a hold of me. It was three against one in a home they knew well.
I screamed at the top of my lungs.
They pulled me to the ground. I struggled, kicking and hitting. My bones continued popping. Muscles burned.
“She’s going to shift!”
“Hey, you’ve got a fighter. Sure you can handle her?”
Laughter.
I kicked one in the face. The other two tackled me. I resisted with everything in me. They had me outnumbered, but that didn’t mean I was going to make it easy on them.
Someone pinned my hands together. They wrapped a rope around my wrists—tightly.
I grimaced and continued kicking. “I’m never going to submit to your backward, archaic rules. Ever!”
“That’s what you think.” A fist struck my cheek.
“I won’t! You may as well give up now. I grew up in the real world, and I refuse to live by your ways.” I kicked and kneed at them.
“James likes a challenge.”
I yelled out, bit the nearest arm, and continued kicking and kneeing them. Someone pinned me back against the floor and jammed fabric in my mouth. I tried spitting it out, but they taped my mouth shut.
More of my bones popped. It was only a matter of time before I turned and ripped them apart, assuming they didn’t also shift.
I kicked and struggled as best I could, but someone pulled me up over his shoulder. My legs were still free, so I kicked as wide and as hard as I could. The position made it that much harder.
They took me to the bedroom I’d been in before. He threw me onto the same bed I had already escaped from.
I was back where I’d started.
“You keep an eye on her, Josh.”
One of the men pressed his hands on my arms, pinning me to the bed. “You got it.”
The other two left, grumbling and slamming the door behind them.
I fought and struggled, but it did no good considering how tightly I was bound.
“I don’t want to be here, either,” he said.
What game was he trying to play? I struggled against him all the more.
“Hey, I’m serious. I’m sick of the old ways.”
I glared at him. Why was he telling me this? Just to get me to calm down? As if I’d give him that much.
“You don’t believe me? I can’t blame you, but maybe we can try to get out together. Will you put in a good word for me with your jaguar friends out there if I can get you out?”
Was he for real? I stopped struggling—exactly what he wanted—and studied him.
His expression seemed genuine.
Not that I was going to buy into it for a second. I’d read enough books to know about the whole good cop, bad cop routine. They’d chosen the youngest guy there, thinking he’d be the most convincing. He couldn’t even have been old enough to drive.
Too bad they didn’t know who they were dealing with—me.
I may have been related to them, but that was exactly where our similarities ended.
“Hey, if you stop struggling, I’ll take that tape off your mouth.”
Was he serious?
Knock, knock!
“How’s it going in there?”
“She’s still struggling!”
Laughter. “Well, this is good practice for when you get your own fiancée. You have to teach them being feisty comes with consequences.”
More laughter. It faded as they walked away.
The kid leaned closer to me. “I’m serious. This is our chance to get out of here. I want to experience the world. You don’t want to be part of ours. Let’s work together.”
I stared at him. I’d stopped struggling.
Could I trust him? It had to be a ploy.
It just had to be.
He ripped the tape off my mouth. I started to cry out in pain, but he covered my mouth with his palm and shook his head. “Can’t let them know I’m doing this.”
Then he pulled the fabric from my mouth.
I gagged and gasped for air. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“Have I hurt you? Or helped you?”
“You’re with them.” I clenched my jaw.
“So was your dad. More and more people have been escaping since he left. Our leaders are furious. He basically started a mini-revolution.”
I narrowed my eyes. “For all the good it did him. He’s been locked away from everyone for my entire life.”
“You know about that?”
I glared at him. “I’m the one who found him.”
He studied me. “They said he was protected by an impenetrable spell. How’d you do it?”
“Because I fight until I get what I want.”
“And we both want out of here. If we hurry, we can do that.”
My pulse pounded. “If this is a trap…”
He shook his head. “It’s not. I swear.”
I struggled to sit up. “Then prove it. Untie me, then let me tie your wrists while I open that window.”
“Or.” He jutted his jaw. “I take care of the window, then untie you, and we both climb out.”
“My idea is better.” I narrowed my eyes.
His nostrils flared. “If we don’t work together, and soon, we’re going to be stuck here. You’re going to have to marry a jerk that I guarantee you’ll hate. He will force you into a life of submission. Your entire existence will be to serve him. Once married, there’s no escape.”
“So I’ve been told.”
He leaned closer to me. “Then you understand the seriousness of this. You’re going to have to trust me or not. Do you want to be the wife of a traditional jaguar shifter, or do you want to live in freedom?”
I glared at him. “This better not be a trick.”
“The only thing I want is to get away from these people.”
One of my ribs popped. “Untie me.”
“You’ll put in a good word for me?”
“If you get me out of here safely, then yes.”
He untied my wrists.