“Whoa. Geezus, relax. I’m not going to do anything like that.”

  “You’re not?”

  “No.”

  “Then what…”

  Whatever drug he stuck me with kicks in. My limbs suddenly feel like they weigh a ton. My knees buckle, but his arms come around me and keep me from crumpling. His movements are sure and quick as he tosses me into the car. He leans inside, reaching for the seat belt. While he’s distracted, I manage to land a solid punch to his jaw that has him cursing and backing off a little.

  “You hit me.” He looks more stunned than angry.

  “What the fuck else do you expect, asshole?” I glare at him. “You can’t kidnap a girl and expect her to go along willingly.”

  He bites off his response, shaking his head irritably. “Fine, you want to escape, be my fucking guest, but we’re in Indigo Hills now, and if anyone else finds you out here, I can promise they won’t be as nice as me.”

  He straightens, holding the car door open wide.

  I launch myself out the open door but immediately fall to my knees as the drugs he gave me paralyze my limbs. Even climbing to my feet proves impossible, so I lie there, cussing and calling him every name I can think of. Which is a lot.

  He stands over me, staring down at where I lie on the gravel. “You have a colorful vocabulary.”

  The amusement in his voice threatens to send me over the edge.

  “You think this is funny?” I demand. “This is my fucking life you’re messing with. I will kill you for this.”

  “I’m sure you want to,” he says. “But I don’t think that’s an option for you at the moment.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Contrary to what you think, I’ll pass.”

  I respond by letting out an ear-splitting scream. It echoes against the silence of the night, but there’s no response. No one else out here to come save me.

  I know that because, instead of looking worried at the noise, the asshole groans, and a second later, he wraps an arm around my waist and picks me up off the ground, shoving me back inside the car.

  “You said I could go,” I protest, wiggling against him, which is, apparently, all I’m capable of at this point.

  “I was making a point,” he growls.

  The snarl he makes as he wrestles me into place reminds me of before when I’d watched him literally change from a wolf to a man. My stomach drops, and I stop wriggling just as he leans across me and straps the seatbelt across my body.

  “Do I have to duct tape you to the seat?”

  “What are you?” I can’t help but ask.

  “What?”

  “I saw you. You were a wolf. Then you turned into…this.” I glance at his body, which is now clothed in a pair of black pants and a matching tee that hugs his biceps in ways I wish I didn’t notice.

  “You’re incredibly observant,” he says dryly, but the way he’s watching me suggests he’s testing me somehow. I pretend not to notice our sudden closeness and remind myself he’s a kidnapper.

  “Don’t patronize me, asshole. And let me go.”

  His brow arches. “Or what?”

  “Or my boyfriend and his gang will make you wish you’d never laid eyes on me.”

  “You’re not a very good liar. You should work on that.”

  He reaches into the car along the sideboard and produces a roll of actual duct tape. I stare at him—and it—with wide eyes.

  “What the hell are you going to do with that?”

  “Look, despite what you think right now, I’m the safest person in this fucking town for you. And since your self-preservation is at a negative number tonight, I’m going to help you live through this experience.”

  He makes a show of unwrapping the duct tape and then reaches in and presses the ends of it to the leather seat—with me strapped between.

  “Oh, hell no,” I say.

  Fighting him is useless. My limbs are still unresponsive. He’s easily able to hold me down and tape me to the seat. When he’s finished, he tosses the duct tape onto the floorboard and shuts the car door.

  A second later, he slides back into the driver’s seat and puts the car into gear. We ease onto the highway, headed to whatever destination he’s decided on. And I know with startling clarity that, whatever happens next, I’m completely at his mercy now.

  6

  GREY

  Her shock over my wolf is real, I’m sure of it. Not only because her comment about a boyfriend earlier was so clearly a lie—a terrible one at that. But not even my wolf can sense a manipulation in her words, and he’s got a gift for that sort of thing, which means this girl really doesn’t know shifters exist. And the only way she can be oblivious to that is if she’s never shifted herself. It’s nearly impossible to think about, but there’s no other answer. Not impossible, I remember, thinking of the other shifters I’ve heard about recently whose wolves were blocked.

  Ash Lawson, co-alpha of the Lone Wolf pack, didn’t shift for the first time until she was almost Lexi’s age. I don’t know the details or how they muted her wolf for so long, but at least I know it’s possible. Unfortunately, Lexi clearly isn’t ready to know it too. Not while she’s convinced I’m going to force myself on her.

  I grip the wheel with white-knuckled frustration.

  This was supposed to be a simple snatch-and-grab mission, and instead, I’m all twisted up about what my prisoner thinks of me.

  Fuck.

  It shouldn’t matter.

  But it does.

  And it’s about to get a whole lot worse. For both of us.

  7

  LEXI

  Thanks to whatever drug I’ve been injected with and the duct tape strapping me to the seat, my mouth is the only thing that still functions, so, as we drive, I use it.

  “Where the hell are you taking me?” I demand, pretending fear isn’t gnawing a hole in my insides.

  No answer. Not even a flick of a glance in my direction.

  “What are you going to do with me?”

  Still nothing.

  My temper flares. “You won’t get away with this.”

  The asshole doesn’t so much as sniff in my direction, and I have to fight the urge to scream. His silence is impressive—or it would be if it weren’t infuriating.

  The longer we drive, the more nervous I become. He wasn’t wrong. All the signs we pass are for places in Indigo Hills, a town I’ve only ever heard to stay out of. According to the rumors in Lakeland, it’s run by the mafia, which I used to think was just a hilarious thing to say at parties. What kind of mafia hid out in the mountains of North Carolina? But Violet’s brother once took a loan from a guy from Indigo Hills. When he failed to pay it back, he vanished, and no one ever found him.

  That’s all I know, and it’s more than enough to keep me far away from its borders until now. A single girl with no support or protection is a prime target for assholes—as evidenced by my current predicament.

  By the time we finally reach the city, dawn has broken, sending innocent pink streaks across the softening blue sky.

  The sun is just beginning to rise behind us, though I can’t quite twist that far around to see it.

  “What’s in Indigo Hills?”

  Still nothing.

  I huff.

  “Can you at least tell me your name?”

  More silence.

  “For fuck’s sake, you already know mine. And what harm will it do when you have me duct taped to a car seat?”

  His eyes flick to mine in the rearview. “Grey.”

  The fact that he answered startles me, but I shove past it quickly, hoping for more.

  “Grey what?”

  He shakes his head and averts his dark gaze back to the road.

  The barren highway gives way to a few houses and businesses. Then, minutes later, we’re swallowed up by a huge city. I stare out the windows, taken aback by the teeming metropolis.

  “What is this place?” I ask, gaping at the urban landscape.

  “Indigo Hills.”

  “No shit. I mean, how is it so huge?”

  He snorts, and my cheeks heat at the innuendo I’ve just uttered. My mind flashes with images I shouldn’t care about. Like how huge my tall, dark, and dickhead of a kidnapper is…in places.

  Pretending I’m not picturing him naked, I stare up at the skyscrapers blotting out the early-morning sky. Around us, the city has already come to life. Or maybe it never slept. Traffic clogs the streets. Pedestrians dart between bumpers. Horns signal road rage. Instead of being the only car on the road, we’re one in a sea of hundreds, which makes me invisible in a completely different way than before.

  On the sidewalk, cart owners peddle breakfast items or newspapers and magazines. I try to catch their eye, but the tinted windows make it impossible. No one knows I’m back here, and even if they did, all they’d see is a girl sitting still in the backseat of a sedan.

  Damn this stupid duct tape.

  Damn Grey to hell.

  We drive past the taller buildings, turning right once and then left. The offices become condos and apartments. They look expensive with their perfect landscaping and concrete fountains. I try to track our route, but it’s impossible when the city is so huge and foreign to me.

  We make a left into a parking lot with valet parking attendants, and my heart leaps with hope. But he only waves at them through his closed window and rolls right past them into an underground parking garage.

  “Where the hell are we?” I ask.

  “Home sweet home.”

  I scowl. He might have spoken, but his answer tells me nothing.

  We cruise to the far end of the garage, and Grey parks the car in a spot marked Reserved. On either side of us, several other Reserved spaces are filled with cars whose retail prices are higher than I know I’ll see in my lifetime.

  He cuts the engine and climbs out. The moment he does, I glance around for some sign of another person who can help me, but we’re utterly alone. A second later, he’s pulling my door open and crouching in the opening to look at me.

  “I’m going to untape you,” he says warily. “And we’re going to go upstairs together. Okay?”

  “Go fuck yourself.”

  His eyes narrow. “I wasn’t lying earlier. I’m the friendliest option for you now. If you try to run—and if, by some miracle, you get away from me—whoever finds you will do worse things to you than I have planned.”

  I shudder, despite the bullshit he’s trying to feed me.

  “And what exactly do you have planned?” I ask.

  He flashes me a smile that’s probably meant to scare the shit out of me. “Guess you’re about to find out.”

  The duct tape hurts like hell as he rips it off my skin.

  “Son of a bitch,” I hiss and attempt to swing on him.

  Unfortunately, my arms are still useless. Not quite as limp as before but definitely not packing any punches.

  My captor gives me a wry look.

  “You’ll live,” he says simply and then pulls me from the car.

  His arm slides around my waist, and he supports me against him as we make our way to an elevator nearby. Walking on my bare feet hurts like hell, thanks to the gravel I sprinted over during my escape attempt earlier. But I’m too stubborn to tell him I can’t do it.

  Besides, up close, his scent hits me, and I feel the stirring of attraction. It’s stupid because, after chasing me through the woods, he should smell like sweat or at least stale cologne. Instead, he smells like sex on legs, and my core heats with an ache of desire.

  Refusing to give in to it, I shove my body sideways and bring my foot down on his as hard as I can.

  “Dammit,” he growls, but his grip on my waist only tightens, which is for the best because throwing myself off balance would have sent me sprawling anyway.

  We reach the elevator, and he hits the call button. My heart races as I realize I have seconds left before I’m dragged somewhere no one will ever find me. Sucking in a breath to scream for help one last time, my attempt is thwarted when the elevator door slides open.

  I’m dragged inside just as I let loose the scream. Grey covers my mouth with his hand and pushes me backward. My back hits the wall with a thud. His chest presses against mine as he looms in front of me, glaring. Our gazes locked, I watch as his frustration gives way to something else. Something that looks like our lap dance all over again.

  The doors slide shut, sealing us in silence.

  He removes his hand from my mouth, but he doesn’t back off. His other hand is propped above my head as he leans in. We’re close enough that I can practically feel his heartbeat. I wonder if he can feel mine thudding wildly against my ribs.

  His gaze flicks to my mouth, and every nerve in my body stands on end.

  Fear, desire, and need are a war inside me.

  My hands and arms tingle as the feeling in them finally returns. Slowly, I lift my palms to his chest and shove. Hard.

  He steps back, though I have a feeling it’s more by choice than my show of force.

  We ride the rest of the way in silence.

  By the time the doors open, my bladder has come back online along with the rest of me, and I have to pee so bad it hurts.

  Grey moves aside to let me pass, and I do so without hesitation this time. But one glance at our surroundings has me stopping and gawking. The doors have opened to a large penthouse that sprawls straight back, one space flowing into the other. A gray sectional sits before a glass coffee table and faces a large-screen television mounted on the wall. Behind that, sunken a couple of steps below us is a dining table that seats six.

  On the left, a bar opens toward a modern kitchen with more gleaming white than I’ve ever seen in one place. On the right, glass windows make up the entire wall, offering a view of the city with a hazy purple mountain range in the distance.

  The view is breathtaking as is the level of luxury inside this apartment.

  I turn to look at Grey. “You live here?”

  He ignores my question, sidestepping me as he leads the way past the kitchen and down a narrow hallway. “Come on. Your room is this way.”

  I follow, mostly because my bladder requires it.

  The carpet beneath my feet is soft and plush—and gray like the couch and curtains. The dude has a thing for monochrome, clearly. He’s just lucky my feet aren’t bleeding from all those rocks earlier. They hurt bad enough that I wonder about it, but a quick check at the carpet behind me reveals spotless tracks.

  Up ahead, the hallway has two doors on the left and two on the right. Grey opens the last one on the right, and I follow him inside.

  “Bathroom’s through there,” he says, and I dash past him into the shiny bathroom that’s nearly as big as the tiny-ass efficiency I’ve been living in.

  The door shuts behind me, and I lock it then hurry up and relieve my aching bladder. When I’m done, I take a second to inspect my reflection. Dark circles ring my eyes, and my hair is a tangled mess. Basically, I look like I’ve been through a shitstorm. The problem is I’m still in it. And the fear reflected in my tired eyes is proof that this nightmare has only gotten worse from the moment I woke up inside it.

  I need a way out.

  No one’s coming to save me—so I’m going to have to save myself.

  Story of my life.

  The fear squeezes my heart, but I shove it back. I’ve been saving myself for as long as I can remember, and I’m somehow still here.

  You got this, I whisper to myself.

  Then, I open the door and hold my chin high, determined to keep a promise I made to myself years ago: to survive, no matter what.

  8

  GREY

  Her question about what I plan to do with her echoes in my mind. I’m probably going to hell for fucking with her when she’s clearly already scared of me, but I can’t help it. Something about her innocence grates on me. The fact that she doesn’t even know what Indigo Hills is makes me jealous of her in ways I can’t even begin to describe. Not that she’d believe me if I told her. Hell, if she’s smart, she’ll never believe a word that comes out of my mouth again.

  We’re enemies.

  Even if the scent of her body puts me right back on that couch with her thighs draped over mine and her mouth pouting at me for a kiss. None of that matters when she’s my ticket out.

  And I don’t want anything more than I want to be free.

  To remind myself of that very fact, I close myself in my bathroom and send a text to my father.

  Made it back. She’s all yours.

  My stomach twists as I send the last three words.

  It’s true. She’s his pawn to use now.

  He won’t hurt her, not physically—not when she’s so valuable to him alive. But putting her fate in his hands makes me sick.

  Almost immediately, he texts back. Be there soon. Sending extra guards now.

  I wonder if the guards are for her or for me.

  Freedom, I remind myself. That’s what this is about.

  And I’m almost there.

  Even as I think it, my chest twinges with guilt. This city has been at the mercy of tyrants and monsters for decades. Growing up, I used to think I could change things. That I could really make a difference. Somewhere along the way, the futility of my desire hit me. Between my father and Franco and their never-ending feud, the people of Indigo Hills are nothing more than collateral damage. Every time I tried to help, I failed. At some point, I stopped fighting for them and decided, if I couldn’t save them, I could at least save myself.

  My father might have been the one to track me down and order me home, but I only came so that I could find a way to be free of him once and for all. I’m still surprised he agreed to our deal—one last favor for being allowed to leave and never return—but I want it too badly to question his reasons. Guilt tugs at me for what it will mean to see him take over the pack, but I decided long ago that Indigo Hills is a lost cause. Hell, after what I’ve just done to Lexi, maybe I am too.