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I check the office once more on the camera and I gasp when I notice the deep red mark on Gabe’s face.
After grabbing the key card for the panic room, I take a few calming breaths and slide the card over the scanner. A green light appears.
I open the door and slip out of the room. Closing the door with a quiet click before I tiptoe down the hallway while listening for the sounds coming from the office.
I smell ash, and my heart drops into my stomach.
My feet falter as my brain urges me back to the panic room, but my heart tells me I need to help my alpha.
The burned smell gets stronger with each step toward the office.
An icy chill runs down my spine as I take another step, and I gasp when a large hand slaps over my mouth. Hot, ashy breath against my ear. “You should’ve stayed hidden, omega.”
My heart pounds in my chest as I struggle against the iron grip holding me in place.
The man stays behind me and walks … no, pushes me toward the office, his heavy footsteps echoing ominously in the empty space.
The closer we get, unfamiliar scents coat my lungs. But it’s the smoke and burned wood that fills my nostrils, making my stomach churn and my head swim with dread.
As we reach the entrance, the man shoves me inside with a cruel laugh. I stumble and fall to my knees.
I glance back frantically, catching a glimpse of familiar dark eyes, and then catch the gun glinting menacingly in his hand.
“And there she is,” the man holding a gun against Gabe’s head gloats. “She couldn’t stay away. She could probably smell your fear.”
I look at Gabe. On the opposite side of the office, he sits in a chair. Tears coat my eyes when he mouths, “Why my sweet?”
“Pick her up. Let me see her,” Gabe’s captor says.
I scream as my hair is yanked, pulling me onto my feet and turning my face to Gabe’s captor. His head is fully covered by a black mask.
“Do you know this alpha killed for you?”
I shake my head. My eyes round as I stare at Gabe.
His voice is menacing as he says, “And I can’t decide if I want you to see him die first, or not,” Gabe’s captor says as he lowers his mouth to Gabe’s ear, taking the gun off him and pointing it at me.. “But it’s hard because I want you to suffer more than I want her to.”
My legs wobble.
“Kill me!” Gabe hisses. “Please let her go.”
Chapter 29
Walker
I drove straight past the house when I saw the black windows of a truck parked near to my house. Intuition? I don’t quite know what it was but something made me reconsider opening the gates to my home.
Jake called only seconds later, telling me what Ella had seen when she was in the panic room. I asked him to meet me at the same beach access he’d dropped Ella off, but first to go home and bring a gun.
Luckily, Jake arrived minutes later with loaded gun, too.
And now the two of us are making our way back to the house on foot via the beach.
“Why did you call me? I thought you were leaving with Ella,” I ask Jake. Telling him what Gabe and I perceived he would do once the money I paid Ella was in her bank account.
He shakes his head. “I couldn’t.”
I tilt my chin as I glance at him. “Couldn’t?” A single word, yet it posed a question.
