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Chapter Eight
As soon as Tido walked inside his house, he knew something was off. There was just a foreboding feeling in the air. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
He looked toward Kenji, and his mate glanced around as if he felt it too. “Stay close to me.” Kenji backed toward the door, and Tido was right next to him. He wasn’t sure what the heck was going on, but if it was something preternatural, Tido would need Kenji to protect him.
One second he was right next to his mate, and in the next, Tido was yanked backward. He screamed, but the room shimmered around him, becoming a blur, and he felt nauseous, like he would throw up any second.
Then his vision cleared. He stood in a room he didn’t recognize. The white, empty walls were a stark contrast to the dark furniture surrounding him. There were rugs scattered around and an unlit fireplace in the middle of one wall. The room felt so damn sterile that Tido wanted to throw pictures on the wall to make it cozier.
The guy behind him, a tall man with flowing brown hair and pointy ears shimmered like heat on pavement then was gone. Just poof. No longer standing there.
“I can’t believe how hard Kenji is making me work,” someone said. “Unfortunately, that damned wood elf grabbed the wrong person.”
Tido spun to find a muscular guy with short, black hair and cold, flat eyes staring at him from the entrance of another room. “He was supposed to bring me Kenji.”
Tido didn’t say a word. He had no idea who this was, but he wouldn’t be able to fight this guy off. Not when he had a good foot on Tido and probably outweighed him by sixty or seventy pounds of pure muscle.
He was also freaking out that someone could transport him from one place to another like that. It was as if Tido had stepped into a Star Trek transporter and been beamed there. How was that even possible?
The only thing Tido was sure of was that he wanted his mate. His body ached for Kenji, to be held in the man’s arms and to feel safe. This place wasn’t safe. Tido could practically feel the malice bleeding from the walls.
“Who are you?” The guy drew closer, looking Tido over like he was some sideshow freak to be gawked at. “You have to have been with Kenji if Morrison grabbed you by mistake, though I don’t see how that idiot confused you for Kenji.” He sighed. “Good help is so hard to find these days.”
Tido glanced toward the front door, wondering if he could run fast enough to get out of there before the stranger tackled him.
“Go ahead. Try.” The stranger smirked. “You won’t get far. Even if you managed to get outside, my pack will hunt you down in seconds.”
“Kramer?” Tido guessed this was the guy looking for Kenji, though he didn’t look spoiled and pampered. The man in front of him looked hardened from battle. There was even a scar that ran across his right eye, from eyebrow to cheek. The guy could still see out of it, from what Tido could tell, but that scar made him ten times more menacing.
“Luther.” He moved like he had all the time in the world, but Tido realized Luther was easing toward the door. He was going to stop Tido if Tido decided to run. “Now tell me who you are.”
“A neighbor.” It wasn’t a lie. He was Kenji’s neighbor. “I was bringing him a casserole when I was snatched right out of the room.”
Luther’s nostrils flared as he stormed toward Tido and backhanded him so hard that Tido’s head should have snapped clean off. The room exploded in bright colors as pain radiated through his skull. His face hurt so badly that he wouldn’t be surprised if Luther had broken his cheekbone.
“I know a fucking lie when I hear one. Tell me the truth or the next blow will be fatal.”
Tido was still trying to focus. That hit had made him loopy and his ear was ringing. He’d never been struck like that before, and he never wanted to feel that level of pain again. “We’re friends!” Tido cried as he held his face where he’d been struck. “He lives across the street from me. I was just hanging out with him.”
It gutted Tido to lie about his connection to Kenji, but if he told the truth, Luther might use him against his mate. He already knew what he was going to be. Bait. If Luther thought Kenji cared about him, he would come running to rescue Tido.
“Another lie,” Luther sneered. “I can smell him all over you. Fuck buddies or are you more to him? Mate? Maybe, but you two are more than just friends.”
Tido looked toward the floor, too terrified to say anything else. He was surprised, but grateful that Luther hadn’t struck him again for lying. Tido didn’t think he would survive another blow.
When he glanced up, Luther’s eyes were filled with a mix of anger and disgust. He walked closer to Tido, every step a reminder of the danger he was in.
“I know what I see, boy. You’ve been spending a lot of time with Kenji, more than you let on. It doesn’t matter who you are. If you’ve been around Kenji that much, he’s going to come for you. Either way, I’ll finally get my hands on him.”
Tido could only nod, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. He could feel Luther's presence lingering over him, like a dark shadow ready to pounce. He knew that his life depended on his ability to hold back the truth, no matter how hard it was to bear the weight of his lies.
“Fuck buddies. That’s what I thought. It surprises me, though, since he and Maceson are dating.”
Tido wanted to snarl. He wanted to shout that Kenji and Maceson weren’t dating, that Maceson was a clingy little bitch that didn’t know how to let go. Maceson was also vindictive since he’d been a part of the plot to get Kenji to come back to his pack.
But he held his tongue, knowing that now was not the time to unleash his frustrations. Instead, he took a deep breath and tried to play dumb, feigning ignorance about the relationship between Kenji and Maceson.
As Luther continued to close in on him, Tido could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His heart raced in his chest, and he could barely keep his thoughts afloat. He knew that every word he spoke could mean the difference between life and death.
