Chapter Eleven
There was just enough room for Adela and Becky to huddle close to each other, arms wrapped around one another. The cage wasn't tall enough to stand or long enough to stretch out. Becky wasn't sure how long they had been in there already, though judging by the cramping in her knees and back, it had been several hours. Adela whimpered softly and it might have been her tears that stopped Becky from crying. Like she had to be strong for both of them.
Their kidnappers, all bear shifters, milled about the dusty room. It looked like it had once been a squatter's den but all that was left was a nest of blankets, a few chairs and the smell. One of the bears leaned over and zipped his tin mug across the bars, spilling water.
Becky swallowed against her dry throat and tried to repress a moan. The bear laughed and slurped down the water. He wiped a hand across his mouth and grabbed a water bottle.
"Thirsty?"
She didn't reply.
"Oh, are you going to start crying again? Don't want to do that when you're already thirsty. You know what you can do to earn a drink, don't you?"
He grabbed his crotch suggestively and Becky glared at him. She didn't need to say anything, though, because at that moment Marcus had come into the room. The big bear growled. His flexing muscles made his tattoos dance.
"Keep up that behavior and that," he pointed to where the first bear was holding, "will end up ripped from your body, you hear? Nobody is going to touch my female."
"I was planning on having her do the touching."
Marcus growled and flew at the bear. One blow and the bear sprawled out on the ground. Blood spurted from a broken nose and the other bears backed away from the cage. One of them spat on the ground and glared at Marcus.
"You got a problem with me, Phil?"
Phil spat again. "Yeah. Who left you in charge? Boss didn't say nothing about leaving them unharmed. They're non-shifter. Non-shifters tore my family apart, put my daddy in jail for stuff he didn't do and turned my mom into a hooker. Why shouldn’t we do to them like what they've done to us?"
Marcus seemed to swell as he planted his feet. "Nobody touches my female."
"Your female, huh? I don't see you claiming her."
Adela made a choking noise in her throat. "I am not your female, Marcus Haught. I am nobody's female!"
Marcus turned a glare on her. "Nobody's female? You share a child with Durant. You belong to him. That's why you won't see any of these guys looking at you. But anyway, I wasn't talking about you."
Becky shrank back as his eyes lit on her. Bile rose in her throat.
"You want me to claim my female? Fine. Guess I will."
He pulled the keys to the cage from his pocket and unlocked it, then dove in and grabbed Becky's arm. She shrieked punching and kicking at him. Adela cried out, clinging to her. She was ripped away and the cage was slammed shut again. Marcus dragged her through the gathered bears. One or two chuckled. The others looked disgusted or didn't watch at all. He pushed her into another room and slammed the door shut.
"No!"
She punched him in the chest but all that did was send pain washing up her arm. The big bear grabbed at her arm, but she managed to wrench away and hit at him again. He grunted, an annoyed look coming to his face. Her chest tightened and burned and she aimed a kick between his legs. He caught her ankle and tipped her back, then caught her just before she fell.
He slammed her into the wall and slapped a hand over her mouth. Adela still shouted in the other room.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he whispered. "I convinced them that Adela is Durant's mate and they'll respect that. But you? You're just a rich non-shifter who clearly didn't do enough research while writing her shifter characters. I'm trying to protect you."
Becky froze. Her heart hammered and her stomach churned but she stopped struggling. If what he was saying was true, then they had a chance to get out of this. Was that why he had come to the house before? He wanted Adela to go with him, had he come to try to get her away before the bears attacked? Her hand throbbed.
"I'm going to let you go now."
Marcus released her. Her first inclination was to just attack him or try to escape but he was still too close to get by him and he'd already proven that her fists did nothing against him.
"What do you want?" she hissed.
"Look, we're not doing this on our own. We were… encouraged by a man named Dwayne Sawyers. Do you know who that is?"'
Bewildered, Becky shook her head.
Marcus ground his teeth for a moment. "Fine. I don't have time to explain it to you. He put us up to kidnapping you and then you and Adela both, to hold for ransom against your publisher and now Durant. But he’s got more up his sleeve, I know it."
"Why are you going along with this instead of just handing him over to the police?"
"I kind of like my body in one piece and not on fire," Marcus said dryly. "Give me Durant's number. If we're all going to get out of this alive then I need to play along for now."
Becky hesitated. Could she trust him? And if she didn't? What was her other option? Sitting around here waiting to die? Or worse. She shuddered and closed her eyes. He was their only hope right now. She gave him the number quickly as he put it in his cellphone.
"Good," he mumbled. "Now scream."
"What?"
"Scream." He pinched her.
She yelped, then screamed. Marcus, his expression grim, nodded his encouragement. She screamed again, only this time he cut her off and knocked over a small table. He tore one sleeve off, which caused her to scream again. She elbowed him in the chest, suddenly afraid that he had been lying to her after all. But he backed up, pinched her again and dialed a number on his phone with one hand.
A landline behind her rang. Marcus let it ring for a couple times before he answered. "Yeah?"
He turned off his phone and Becky heard a dial tone from the landline. He'd called it himself? Why? As an excuse for why he was stopping? She shuddered as she considered him. All she had was his word that he was on their side. Right now it was enough for her to hope, but if it turned out to be not true, what would she do?
"Right away."
He hung up and grabbed her arm. Becky whimpered as he dragged her back out to the main room. One of the bears chuckled but most of them looked angry. One of them grabbed Becky and pulled her away from Marcus before shoving her into the cage beside Adela.
"I didn't sign up for letting women get raped," he growled. "I don't care if you're claiming her or not, you do that again and I'll rip off your head."
Well, it seemed like there was honor among criminals. Becky folded herself into Adela's embrace, shaking hard. She was whimpering and couldn't stop it but at the same time hope raged through her blood. Maybe if the bears started fighting among themselves they would have a chance to escape. The cage could get broken and they could run away.
"We need to go talk to the boss. Snaps his fingers like we're dogs and expects us to do all his dirty work? I say we're entitled to a bigger cut of the pie. Don't you?"
Phil growled. "What about them? You want to leave them alone?"
Marcus cast a cold gaze on the two women. "They're locked up. What can they do?"
After a little more discussion, all the bears left. They all streamed out with Marcus being the last to leave. As soon as the door shut, Adela burst into tears. Her body shook, sobs ripping through her. Becky wrapped her arms around the other woman, trying to soothe her.
"He's Luci's father, isn't he?"
Adela nodded. "I'm so sorry. It's because of me that he…"
She toyed with Becky's ripped sleeve and dissolved in tears again. Becky shook her head urgently. "No. No, he didn't. And he wasn't going to. He just needed to get me alone. He didn't hurt me and he didn't… he didn't do that. Adela, listen. I think he might be on our side."
She snorted. "I thought that once. But he's not on anybody's side but his own. That's the way he's always been and he's never going to change."
"Listen to me. He didn't hurt me."
With a shudder, Adela wiped her eyes. "Well. I'm glad he at least has some sense of morality."
"And he got them to leave us alone." Becky moved to the door but it was locked tight. No amount of jangling the bars would loosen it. After a moment she gave up and looked around. The bars were wide enough that they could put their arms through. If they could get something that they could use to pry the lock off…
"I'd like to be one of your characters right now," Adela said. "They always get out of these scrapes."
Her characters. Of course. Becky patted her head. "Do you have any bobby pins? I learned how to pick locks once while I was writing…"
She trailed off when Adela shook her head. She continued to look around the room desperately. There had to be something in here that they could use. "Think, Rebecca. Think. There's beer bottles, water bottles… Can you make keys by melting down plastic into a lock?"
"How would we melt the plastic?"
Becky slumped back. "We can't just sit here waiting."
"If they're after ransom, Isaias will pay. Whatever it takes."
"I don't think it will be that simple." Becky shivered. "Marcus said something. They didn't get the idea to abduct us on their own. They're working with a man named Dwayne Sawyers."
Adela gasped. Her face blanched, shoulders hunching inwards. She shook her head, her whole body starting to tremble. A ball of dread dropped into Becky's stomach watching her. She maneuvered herself back next to the other woman and squeezed her hands.
"Who is he? Adela? Who is Dwayne Sawyers?"
"If he's involved, we're not getting out of this alive. None of us. Not you and me, not Isaias, not Marcus and the rest of them. He'll make sure we all burn."
"That doesn't tell me who he is." Becky shook her. "This isn't the time to fall apart! We need to get out of here and I need you to stay strong. Please. Don't fall apart on me now. Tell me who Sawyers is."
Adela turned her face away. "He's the devil."