Alpha Guardians Books 1-6

Chapter 3

3

There was something very, very wrong with Kira Hudson. She was certain of it. Slumped in a metal folding chair, hunched over below the only window in the dim, dank basement, she stared at her hands. They were bound in front of her now, duct tape chafing her wrists; the new guard had told her point-blank that any attempt at escape would result in some kind of very painful punishment, and that it was futile anyway.

Kira was snatched off the street in Baton Rouge four days ago… or was it five now? At any rate, the skinny, pale meth head currently guarding her was her favorite of the men who’d held the post so far. This one was too far gone to care about much, and Kira didn’t garner more than a glance here and there as long as she stayed quiet.

Seeing as how she only wore a thin white tank top and a long emerald green skirt that had been ripped several times during her capture, she was inclined to prefer the meth head over the first guard. The first one had stared at her like a juicy hunk of meat, licking his lips and grinning half the day. Just thinking about him made her shudder.

Her jaw tensed when she considered that. That was what they wanted, of course. Stifle her, keep her quiet. Story of Kira’s frigging life. She was always too something for someone. Too brash, too impatient. Hell, too full-figured. That one she’d heard plenty back in her hometown. Union City was a small place full of small-minded people, and the guys Kira’s age had all chased the blonde cheerleaders.

Kira’s eyes drifted closed, shutting out the misery of her captivity. She reflected on her love life instead, trying to keep her sense of humor despite the terrifying situation she was in.

Baton Rouge was bigger and a little better, but Kira had soon discovered that the country boys there were not much better. They might be interested in big trucks and big t**s, but they didn’t chase girls shaped like Kira for anything longer than a one-night stand.

Kira had tried those out for a while, and found them unsatisfying. It was too bad, in Kira’s opinion. She liked her big boobs and hips and butt. She looked damned good in a tight pair of boot-cut jeans. When the country boys flirted with her, she flirted right back, trying to appreciate their shallow attention for what it was. Meanwhile, she was waiting for…

Well, that was the question, wasn’t it? Kira had waited and waited, trying to figure out what her life was missing. When it never appeared, she’d saved up money bartending and booked a one-way ticket to Singapore.

Bitterness coated her tongue at the thought, and Kira opened her eyes. She’d missed her flight by now, her chance at escape coming too late. If only she’d known she needed to escape more than her boring little life…

She stared down at her hands again, glaring at her fingers. Sure, they were perfectly still and docile now. Where had this level of inactivity been over the last couple of months, when her mind blanked for a few minutes and, when she came to, she was cradling a dead mouse or bird? Only it wasn’t dead anymore. Something poured out of Kira, a direct line from her heart through her fingertips, filling the creature’s broken body with her inner light…

Then the mouse would hop up and scurry off, or the bird would take flight, or… well, there were plenty of examples. Kira never chose to do it. In fact, the one time she’d tried to resuscitate a nest of baby possums under her back deck, her newfound power hadn’t surfaced. It came and went as it pleased, to Kira’s dismay.

Inevitably, it seemed someone had finally noticed Kira’s little… ability. She wasn’t sure who had saw her, or what she’d done to snag their attention, but one way or another Kira was in deep trouble. One trip in a windowless van, five nervous guards, and countless shitty bologna sandwiches later, Kira and her stupid hands were locked up in a creepy basement instead of exploring the sights in Singapore.

Her captor’s cell phone rang, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Kira watched as he picked up the call and slunk out of the room. He left the door open a crack and she could hear the grate of his voice as he talked to someone. When he came back, he held a dark-colored pillowcase and a roll of duct tape in his shaking hands.

“No no no,” Kira said, her voice coming out as a pathetic whimper. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll be quiet!”

The guy grunted and rolled his eyes before taping over her mouth. He put the pillowcase over her head and then ripped another piece of tape off, and Kira felt him secure the pillowcase to the bare skin on her chest, arms, and upper back. Then he hoisted her up, slinging her over his shoulder to carry her upstairs. To her shame, Kira felt resigned to the situation as she was dumped onto a cushioned seat. A metallic slam made her think she was in the same windowless van again.

She heard the engine start and then felt a lurch as the vehicle took off. Her heart pounded wildly and she felt vaguely nauseated as her mind filled with visions of all the horrible things that could happen next, worst case scenarios of her destination.

The ride seemed to last forever. Kira worked to calm herself, wanting to be alert and focused in case she had a chance to escape. She took deep breaths through her nose, trying to ignore the fact that her shoulder and arm were asleep from the awkward position she lay in. She was pretty sure that there were just two men in the car with her, conferring in harsh whispers now and then.

Eventually the vehicle stopped for a while. Kira felt two pairs of rough hands lift her from the van. Despite her attempts to stay calm, a sheen of sweat broke out over her skin, her scalp prickling with foreboding. Then her stomach dropped when the men flung her into the air, her brain throwing up images of her sinking into the sea, struggling to breathe…

Then her body landed on the ground, her head hitting the ground hard. Luckily the ground beneath her was soft. Grass, she realized. She was on grass.

She heard the slamming of the van’s doors, and the squealing of tires. For half a minute, Kira lay there, stunned and prone.

A minute passed. Another, and another. Kira rolled onto her stomach and knelt, leaning forward to pull the pillowcase from her head with her bound hands. She pulled at it, ripping a little of the tape free from her right shoulder, but she couldn’t quite get it off.

“Holy s**t!” came a woman’s voice from a bit off. “Gabriel! Gabriel, there’s a lady tied up in our front yard!”

“Cassie, get back,” came a growled response, a man’s voice with a British accent. “Go get the others, will you?”

Kira flinched when two large hands landed on her shoulders. She cried out, the sound muffled by the duct tape.

“Shh, it’s okay,” the man said. “Hold still.”

The man peeled the tape from Kira’s skin and pulled the pillowcase off her head, leaving her blinking into the bright midday sun. Spots swam in her vision for a moment, and Kira looked up to see a massive man with dark, chin-length hair leaning over her. A stunning redheaded woman stood behind him, hand pressed to her gently curved belly. The man reached out and pulled an apologetic face as he tore the duct tape from Kira’s mouth.

“Are you okay?” the woman asked, looking concerned. “I’m Cassie, and this is Gabriel. Gabriel, cut those ties off her wrists.”

“I… I think so,” Kira said. Gabriel pulled out a pocketknife and severed the tape shackling her wrists, and Kira gave a relieved sigh. She knew she should be more worried about her safety, surrounded by strangers in a place she’d never seen before. She looked up at the storied gray brick mansion that rose behind Gabriel and the woman now clinging to his hand, trying to get her bearings. “Am I in Louisiana?”

“New Orleans,” the pretty redhead said with a nod. “I hate to be blunt, but… why did you just get thrown out of a van into our yard?”

Kira opened her mouth without knowing exactly how she’d answer. As luck would have it, she was saved from the effort by the arrival of another handful of people. A big ginger guy, a woman with a wild mane of blonde hair, a dour-looking servant in a tuxedo, a short but fierce-looking Creole lady, and…

Every hair raised on Kira’s entire body the second before she laid eyes on him. Though he looked a little older and certainly rougher around the edges, there was absolutely no mistaking him. A thick tree trunk of a man, tall and broad and built of pure muscle. Dark hair, shorter than Kira remembered it, almost a buzz cut on the sides but longer on the top. He was made of nothing but hard, lean lines, and he walked toward Kira with an expression of unbearable intensity.

Kira’s gaze snapped up to meet his. In an instant, those shiningly dark eyes consumed her, devoured her, took everything she had. That much had not changed, not in fifteen years.

Asher f*****g Ellison came to a halt right in front of her. Though she’d gone through the kidnapping and being dumped from a car with a relative level of calm, every single bit of that fled out the window.

Kira scrambled to her feet and turned to flee.