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No one spoke, so Katee decided it was best to keep quiet as well.
She did not recognize where they were, or the town theydrove through, though she made notes of the route they took. They drove up and over and around on a curvy road at a fast enough speed that Katee was worried about crashing. But the driver seemed to know where he was going, despite not having any streetlights to show the way.
Her fear and nervousness grew when the driver pulled off the road at what seemed to be the top of the world. The first SUV had pulled in and parked, and their driver parked beside the first one. The others parked on their other side.
There were no lights, except for a few scattered lights along the mountain, and a group of them lighting what appeared to be a town or village in the distance.
The front passenger climbed out, and as if choreographed, she saw men climb out of the other vehicles and then fade into the darkness that surrounded them.
“So, what now?” she finally dared to ask after counting to five hundred.
“We wait until Toren arrives,” Keller said, pulling out his phone and doing something on it.
Katee frowned but did not ask anything else. She got the distinct impression that he didn’t care about her, one way or another, but she was a means to get a face-to-face meeting with Toren.
Minutes later, a single SUV pulled into the area and stopped across the clearing. Katee had a strong feeling that Toren was in the vehicle, and she really, really wanted to go to him and feel his arms around her again.
“Come on,” Keller said as he opened his door and climbed out. The driver opened his door as well.
When Katee tried to open hers, it would not open. She would have to slide across the seat and exit via his door.
Releasing her seatbelt, she looked around, trying to find a weapon of some kind, but there was nothing in sight. She slowlyslid across the seat and climbed out. She shivered in disgust when the driver wrapped a big, meaty hand around her arm just above her elbow.
“Keep her back until I call for her,” Keller ordered before walking away.
Katee watched as Toren and Duck climbed out of the SUV and stalked forward. She could feel Toren’s anger from here, and she had a feeling Keller would be a dead man once Toren learned the story of her abduction.
Of course, she was probably in deep shit herself for leaving like she had. Suddenly, guilt washed through her, and she wondered if Toren would welcome her back or kick her to the curb.
“Where is she, Keller?” She heard Toren’s voice rumble. He did not sound happy. At all.
“Bring her out,” Keller called, his voice grating on her nerves.
The driver’s grip tightened when she tried to pull away, and she had a feeling she would have a bruise from his hold. She forced herself not to cry again as he slowly walked her forward until they were clear of the lineup of SUVs.
“You okay, Katee?” Toren asked. The fact that he used her name for the first time in days was not a good sign.
“I’m hungry, but I’m okay.”
She held back the fact that she had been drugged and felt like she’d been run over by a trash truck and then a train. That information could wait until after what this little powwow was that Keller had forced.
Toren gave a low growl but did not respond otherwise. Instead, he returned his attention to the man who stood between them.
“What do you want, Keller?” The growl was more distinct now. “Other than to die for laying a hand on my mate?”
Keller sounded smug even as he shifted. “I want the same thing I’ve wanted since I first contacted you. I want to join our packs.”
“No.”
Toren’s response was immediate and definite. At the same time, animal noises filled the woods around them. Snarls and growls and yips and howls of pain. Katee wasn’t sure what was happening until wolves began to emerge from the woods and gather around Toren and Duck. A couple were limping, but all seemed to be relatively healthy. She counted nine. There was one missing.
The vet tech in Katee wanted to go into the woods and find the injured one, and then check the others over to make sure they were all right, but the hard hand around her arm stopped her from moving. But then a low growl sounded behind her.
A moment later, she was knocked to the ground, and her guard was busy trying to fight off the large wolf that had knocked them both to the ground. Knowing not to get involved in the fight, she rolled until she was well away from the fight before scrambling to her feet.
It only took a few minutes before the wolf defeated the man, leaving him dying from a neck wound he would not recover from. Once he was certain the man was no longer a threat, the wolf turned to face her.
“Thank you,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t attack her next.
