CHAPTER 5
1003 Words
NYLA
"Open the door, and we'll make this quick."
The voice was calm, almost friendly, and that scared me more than shouting would have. Blaine's hand tightened around mine, and when I looked at him, his eyes had gone hard, all the pain from a moment ago pushed somewhere deep down where he could ignore it.
"Bathroom window," he breathed, barely louder than air. "Now."
He pulled me up off the bed, and even hurt, even bleeding, he moved fast, dragging me with him into the small bathroom and easing the door shut behind us without a sound. The window above the tub was tiny, the kind meant for air, not people, but it was something.
"You first," he said, already reaching for the latch.
"Blaine, you can't fit through that, and you definitely can't climb out with broken ribs."
"Then you go and you run."
"I'm not leaving you."
"Nyla." His hands cupped my face, and for one second, everything else disappeared. The knocking, the danger, my entire ruined life. There was just his thumb brushing my cheek and his eyes, so blue they almost glowed in the dark bathroom, looking at me like I mattered. Like I was something worth protecting.
My wolf, Saela, went wild under my skin, a low hum that turned into something hotter, sharper, the second his skin touched mine. It felt like a string had been pulled tight between us, drawing taut from my chest straight to his.
"What is that," I whispered, my breath catching.
"I don't know," he said, but his voice was rough now, and his eyes had dropped to my mouth. "I felt it too."
Outside, the knocking stopped.
That was worse.
A second later, there was a soft scrape of metal against the lock, quick and practiced, like someone who had picked a hundred locks before. The bedroom door creaked open.
Blaine shoved me behind him, putting his body between me and the bathroom door, even though he could barely stand straight.
"Stay down," he mouthed.
Footsteps crossed the carpet. One set, then two more behind it. I held my breath, my back pressed against the cold tile wall, my heart pounding so loud I was sure they could hear it.
"He's not in the bed," a man's voice said, closer now, just on the other side of the bathroom door. "But the sheets are still warm."
Another voice, lower. "Check the bathroom."
Blaine's jaw tightened. There was nowhere left to go. The window was too small, the door was the only way out, and three armed men were standing two feet away from us.
The bathroom door swung open.
A man stood there, tall, dressed in black, a gun raised and steady in his hand. His eyes found Blaine first, and something like satisfaction crossed his face.
"Mr. Frost. Alpha Damon will be very happy to know you're still breathing. For now."
"Tell my brother he wasted four good men tonight," Blaine said, his voice steady despite everything. "Because they're all dead, and he's still going to lose."
The man's smile didn't move, but his gun did. It shifted past Blaine.
To me.
"And who is this?" he asked, tilting his head. Then his eyes narrowed, like he was placing a face he'd seen somewhere before. A photograph, maybe. A society page. A wedding announcement.
His smile widened, slow and cold.
"Well," he said softly. "Isn't this interesting."
"Leave her out of this," Blaine said, stepping in front of me again, but the man wasn't even looking at him anymore.
"Mrs. Lawson," the man said, and the name hit me like cold water. "Nyla Lawson. Kade Lawson's wife."
My blood went to ice.
"How do you know my name?" I whispered.
The man laughed, low and quiet, like this was the best thing that had happened to him all night. He lowered the gun an inch, just enough to look almost casual, but I knew he could raise it again faster than I could blink.
"Alpha Damon is going to want to hear about this," he said, more to himself than to either of us. "Frost's pet rescuer just happens to be married to the one Alpha in this city who owes him a very large, very overdue debt."
"What debt?" I asked, my voice shaking. "Kade doesn't owe anyone anything. He runs Lawson Industries. He's the Alpha of his own pack."
"Sweetheart," the man said, and there was something almost pitying in his voice now, "your husband signed papers eight months ago that say otherwise. Frost blood, Lawson money. Funny how the world works."
Eight months.
The same eight months Tessa said she'd been sleeping with my husband. The same eight months Kade had been "working late." My stomach turned over, sick and cold, pieces sliding into place that I didn't want to see.
Blaine went rigid beside me. "What did you just say?"
The man didn't answer him. Instead, he raised his gun again, this time pointing it directly at me, and pulled a small radio from his jacket with his free hand.
"This is Marcus," he said into it. "Tell the Alpha we found Frost. And tell him we found something even better. Kade Lawson's wife is standing right next to him."
"No," Blaine said, lunging forward despite his ribs, but Marcus was already moving, fast, grabbing my arm and yanking me away from Blaine with brutal strength.
"She comes with us," Marcus said, dragging me toward the door while his men leveled their guns at Blaine to keep him pinned. "Alive. The Alpha will want to use her himself."
"Nyla!" Blaine roared, and I felt it then, felt the bond between us snap taut and burn, hot and undeniable, exactly when I needed it most.
The last thing I saw before Marcus shoved a cloth soaked in something sharp and chemical over my mouth and nose was Blaine's face, twisted in fury and pain, lunging toward me with his eyes glowing gold.
Then everything went black.
- Writer
