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EVERYTHING HAPPENED FAR TOO fast. One moment, he was talking with Anna, and the next, a bag or pillow case of some kind was shoved over his head. Before he could even fight, something pinched his neck, and he only got in one good punch before the whole world went black.
When he finally came to, he wasn’t sure if minutes had passed or hours. The earth beneath him moved, but Hayden was sitting still. Dragged. He was being dragged. What happened?
Someone grunted. “He’s heavy as shit.”
“Well be careful with him! If he’s who we think he is, he’s not gonna be happy we knocked him out.”
Knocked him out? There was no way. Hayden didn’t remember being punched at all, let alone punched enough to knock him out…
The pressure on his arms increased, the ground beneath him moving by even faster.
The darkness pulled him back under.
? ♥ ?
His face laid against a warm pillow. He nuzzled into it, inhaling. It smelled like nature, like sex, like crisp apples and clean sheets. Like strength and sass, a pretty mouth armed with witty comebacks. “Anna,” he groaned.
Did he lean on her hip? Her thigh? Her soft stomach? Was she awake, alert, alright?
“Anna.” Her name was torn from his lips, every bit of strength he had going into calling for her.
“Boss, he’s waking up!” The voice that spoke was young, barely on the cusp of puberty.
Memories swarmed in, reminding him of what had happened. He was walking with Anna. Talking. Laughing. She’d reached out for him, held his hand.
He’d told her the truth.
And they’d been taken. He was drugged.
“Get him up, now!” The voice that spoke this time was… familiar. Somehow. Hayden squeezed his eyes, pushing away the fog from whatever drugs they’d given him. Where did he know that voice? “He’s going to be fucking pissed.”
Damn right, he was. He pulled at his hands, but they were cuffed behind his back.
“Anna,” he called again. He waited on her answer, but it did not come.
If they’d hurt Anna, he would slaughter every single one of them. Civilian or not.
? ♥ ?
“Anna,” Hayden called for a third time. She bit her tongue, not responding, waiting for whoever it was to do something dumb so they could escape.
Whoever they were, there were a lot of them. She could hear the movement of bodies, of people, and at one point, she’d heard the voice of a child. A little girl, from the sounds of it. And she sounded happy, calling to her mommy to ask who they were.
That was reassuring, somehow.
“Sit him up. Now,” a hard voice commanded.
She felt Hayden lifted off of her body, but she couldn’t see a thing through whatever it was they’d covered her face with. Two arms pulled her up next, sitting her up on the ground. She held herself up, since they’d obviously known she was awake.
Then she sat, and waited.
Her mind replayed Hayden’s words from earlier, from right before they were taken… but she shoved them away. That was a problem for later. For now? They needed to get the hell out of here. Once they were safe, she’d give him a piece of her mind.
Light rushed in as the fabric was pulled off her head. She was in the woods. Three men sat in front of her, several more people behind them. Men, women, even two children. The sun was low in the sky. Morning, or evening? She wasn’t sure. Whatever they’d injected her with, it knocked her out, and she had no idea for how long.
She turned to see Hayden at her side, his eyes groggy despite his hard face. He swayed ever so slightly, obviously still under the influence of whatever they had injected the two of them with. They must have given him a higher dose than they’d given her. That, or he hadn’t reacted well to it.
“What’s your name?” The man in the middle spoke first. He was tall, muscled, with a surprisingly tanned face considering the time of year. His beard was long and thick, dark brown. He wore a thick flannel shirt, a deep red cap on his head.
