Moon Bound

Kidnapped

I dreamt of wolves chasing me through the woods. The sound of their bodies crashing through the trees as they sprinted towards me echoed in the background, creating a haunting soundtrack to my clumsy legs stumbling over rocks and fallen tree limbs.

I dreamt of screaming as their claws dug into my back, yanking me down to the damp ground. Their razor sharp teeth tore into me and pulled me apart piece by piece.

Then I awoke.

My head was pounding. I opened my eyes to find myself in a dark room and I shifted with a groan. It felt like I had been run over by a semi truck.

A high pitched scream ripped through me when a voice piped up from somewhere in the room.

"I am so sorry."

It took me a moment to recognize the voice but when I did rage erupted from deep within me and I let out a pathetic mewl that should have been a growl.

"What did you do to me?" I demanded, shooting upright, only to fall back a second later. My vision wavered and I blinked furiously, trying to adjust to the dark and the lightheadedness.

Whatever I was laying on was heavenly. It was what I imagined laying on the baby of a marshmallow and a cloud would be like.

At least Aiden was kind enough to put me somewhere comfortable.

What a sweet kidnapper.

I snarled in the direction of where the voice had come from and was met with silence.

"What did you do to me!" This time I screeched, bordering on hysterical.

He sighed. Anger consumed me, making my vision swim once again. I got knocked out and brought who knows where by a man I only had two interactions with and he was acting like I was the exasperating one.

"I needed to protect you. It was clear that you would not be coming willingly."

"Why would I? I. Don't. Know. You."

Something crashed to the right of me, sounding awfully close to my head. I whimpered and curled into what had to be the world's softest bed and pillows.

This had to be a joke. Maybe Em had set this up. She wasn't normally mean spirited, but maybe she had hopped on board with the pick-on-Lyra trend that everybody else in the pack had been reveling in for years.

I shook my head.

That was really reaching. My best friend wouldn't let some dude chloroform me. This psycho either truly believed I was his mate and that a rogue was on the hunt for lil ol' me or he was seriously committing to the story he had made up.

Emma.

I whimpered again. I had no idea how long I had been out but it was safe to assume I had been gone long enough that she- and my parents, had realized I was missing.

My heart ached as I imagined my parents and Em frantically looking for me. How they would be doing it on their own because other than the few exceptions like Finn, the rest of the pack wouldn't care enough to search.

"I'm sorry Lyra," Aiden choked from wherever he was. "I didn't mean to scare you."

I snorted, "That ship has long since sailed Aiden. By the way, kidnapping me? Not the way to convince me that I'm your mate and need to fall in love with you. What the hell were you thinking?"

Suddenly he was on me. His weight sunk my body into the bed. I groaned inwardly at his touch, leaving me scrambling to regain some dignity.

Ignore the sexy werewolf pinning you to the mattress. Think relaxing thoughts. Like sitting somewhere on a tropical beach. Without the sexy werewolf.

That just led my mind wandering into scenarios of Aiden handing me all the Pina Coladas I could drink and rubbing sunscreen into my back and shoulders while I lazed under the sun.

It was a lost cause. It was hard to think straight when you had a hulking beast of a man leaning over you in the middle of a very cozy bed.

"I am keeping you alive," a growl rumbled deep in his chest. "Whether you believe it or not, you are my mate Lyra." The tip of his nose ran along the side of my neck, making my heart pound erratically.

Then just as quickly as he was on top of me, he was gone. "I brought you food and water. And some ibuprofen. I'm sure you're not feeling well." He coughed loudly as he turned on the light.

I covered my eyes with my hands against the sudden brightness. When I slowly peeked open my jaw went slack.

Hanging above my head was a large chandelier made up of deer antlers with lights twinkling between them. The ceiling was a beautiful dark wood. My gaze traveled down to find massive portraits of various animals hung up on the wall. Dark dressers and chairs lined the room and in front of the bed was a plush looking fur rug. And the bed. The amazingly soft bed. I was laying in burgundy silk sheets that slipped smoothly through my fingers when I picked them up.

What was this? A hostage situation or a cabin vacation?

I also noticed the splintered remnants of a chair next to the nightstand. That must have been what Aiden threw during his outburst a few minutes prior. I gulped at the mess, mentally writing a note to myself to not tick the guy off, even though I knew without a doubt that I would be ticking him off again.

Aiden hustled over to lay a tray with a grilled cheese sandwich and bowl of tomato soup on it in my lap. He placed a glass of water and a bottle of ibuprofen on the nightstand with an uneasy smile in my direction.

I contemplated eating the food. He could have poisoned it. But then I decided that most likely wasn't the case. He claimed to want to keep me safe, which meant he wanted me alive. At least for the time being.

It did smell great and my grumbling stomach seemed to agree. I hesitantly dipped the corner of the sandwich into the soup and took a small bite. The small bite turned into me devouring the sandwich and slurping down the soup in a matter of minutes, not caring that Aiden was watching me intently.

I pushed the tray back towards him shyly and was given a cheesy grin. My cheeks flushed. Maybe there was something to be said about my mom always getting after me for needing to eat like a lady.

I wasn't expecting to make a scene with my meal in front of a man that was perfection personified. But the second the food hit my mouth I just couldn't resist. And now Captain Crazy Pants was silently laughing at me.

How embarrassing.

Aiden took the silver tray with a chuckle and turned to place it on top of one of the ornate dressers. It had gilded knobs and swirling designs carved into its wood.

I thought back to Aiden telling me my house reminded him of his own.

Liar.

If this was his house, it was the polar opposite of mine. People would pay good money to stay in a place like this.

"Where are we?"

He looked over at me and by the way his face was scrunched up, I could tell he was considering his answer carefully.

"I'm sorry sweetheart but I can't tell you that. Just know you are safe here."

I couldn't resist scoffing. Safe? Nothing about this felt safe. Sure I wasn't tied up, and he did feed me the best grilled cheese sandwich of my life. But he was a stranger, and wasn't above knocking me out and kidnapping me to get whatever he felt he needed from me.

Werewolves were so f*****g weird.

Everything about the last day had been weird. My life was really starting to spiral out of control and I couldn't keep up. How did things go sideways so fast?

Crashing and muffled cursing came from outside the door that was just as intricate as the room's furniture. Both our heads turned at the noise and Aiden flashed another smile at me, showing off his dimple, before exiting the room.

I picked up the ibuprofen and tossed a couple in my hand, swallowing the pills fast with a big gulp of water. My head was throbbing.

Feeling frustrated, I nestled into the sleek sheets and used my time alone to observe my surroundings and think.

I wished I knew where my phone was. Aiden definitely wasn't going to let me contact anyone but I really wanted to make sure my parents and Emma were okay.

Maybe I could use our supposed mate bond to my advantage and talk Aiden into letting me at least let them know I was alive.

I shuddered at the thought. No, absolutely not. I wasn't going to feed into his mate fantasy. It sort of felt wrong to play with his emotions, even if he was a wacko.

Still, I longed for my phone. Even if it was just to read the messages I was certain my parents and Emma and maybe even Finn had left for me. I wanted something familiar.

A sad whine came from deep inside my chest. My eyes pinched shut, feeling sore and heavy. Panic swirled in my stomach, lurching forward until I gagged.

I inhaled around the nausea, and exhaled slowly, hoping I wasn't about to lose my sandwich. My body stiffened in response and I mulled over my predicament in an attempt to calm my roiling belly.

If I was going to be held hostage, this probably wasn't the worst situation. I had a pretty room to be locked up in, good food, and a nice bed. Not to mention my captor was easy on the eyes. In the scheme of things I was lucky.

It didn't justify it though. I swung between being oddly okay and so angry I could cry. Nothing about Aiden's story added up. But I supposed that didn't matter. Regardless if he genuinely believed I was his mate and I was in trouble, or if he was just bananas and wanted to keep me here forever for the fun of it, there would be no swaying him.

I didn't understand the possessive and overprotective tendencies of male shifters but I knew enough to understand that Aiden would be hard to reason with because of it.

Unintelligible arguing drew me away from my thoughts and goosebumps raced up my arms as it got closer to the door.

Did someone break into the house and was fighting with Aiden? He had seemed too relaxed for it to have been an intruder, but maybe he just didn't want to alarm me.

"Killian, no!" Aiden shouted as the thick door swung open.

A man with long, raven colored hair and piercing blue eyes marched through the door. Like Aiden he was tall and although he wasn't quite as broad as Aiden, he was an intimidating force. The room chilled and I shivered against it.

He took one look at me and burst into laughter. I clutched the duvet, feeling a little offended when he turned his back to me while still laughing.

"This is a joke right?"

Aiden shoved past him and came to stand next to me. He frowned at the man that he called Killian.

It was like having night and day standing in the room with me. Aiden was warm and bright. The other man was dark and gave off a frightening aura.

"Of course it isn't." Aiden hissed. His hand shot out to wrap around mine and he gave it a gentle squeeze.

I looked between the two men and gave Killian a frown of my own when he started laughing again.

"She's a human, man. You drugged and kidnapped a f*****g human!"

My eyes widened. Finally someone with some sense! The wheels in my head started turning. Killian could be my ticket out of this mess.

The next few words out of his mouth made my heart drop straight to the deepest depths of my stomach.

"You're going to have to cough up a lot more money if you want me to deal with this."

Aiden shrugged and gave me another unsettling yet angelic smile.

"Sure. Anything to keep my mate safe."