CHAPTER20
Reese
Sera’s claim that something big was about to go down continued to ring in my ears as we pulled up in front of Charlotte Rowe’s house. The front light was on at the one-story house, and a silver sedan sat in the driveway. It looked as if she was home.
I sent her a quick text message to let her know I was there before looking at Sera. “I think there’s a decent hotel not too far from here. Maybe after meeting with Charlotte, we should check in there for the night instead of trying to make the drive back to New Mexico.”
Sera eyed the house over my shoulder, her eyebrows pinched. “Yeah, sure.” She agreed, but I sensed she hadn’t heard what I said.
“What is it?” I peered at the house, too, trying to see what she saw. A shadow moved past the living room window. “She’s home,” I said.
At that, my phone buzzed with a reply from Charlotte.
Charlotte Rowe: Come in.
“Let’s go,” I told Sera. After two days of driving to and from three different states, plus all I’d learned about Chael’s family and still reeling from thisgiftI supposedly had, I was a bit worn out. All I wanted was to get this meeting over with Charlotte and get some sleep. I’d have to figure everything out the next day.
Sera grabbed her bow and arrows out of the back seat. I started to tell her that probably wasn’t necessary, but I stopped myself. She appeared more comfortable with a bow in her hands and arrows on her back, so I left it alone.
Charlotte’s residential street was quiet since it was close to ten o’clock. On the way, I texted Charlotte and suggested that maybe we could meet the following day since I wouldn’t get to her place until late. But she insisted that we meet that night, saying she had something vital to reveal to me.
I lifted my hand to knock but paused as a jolt I couldn’t identify ran through me. All of a sudden, I heard screaming.
“What is that?” I asked, bent over and covering my ears.
“Hear what? What’s wrong?” Sera asked, bracing my shoulders.
A breath later, the screaming ended, but my heart pounded. I shook my head and took a step back.
“Someone screaming.” There was terror in a woman’s voice. “We should—” I couldn’t get the last word out before Charlotte’s door opened, and something went over my head, covering my ability to see or yell for help. A sharp pain pierced the back of my shoulder.
“Get—” Sera yelled, but she was cut off. There was a scuffling sound beside me.
Before I could grasp what was happening to either of us, whoever held me dragged me inside Charlotte Rowe’s house. I desperately tried to fight back, but my arms and legs felt like boulders. I could barely move them.
The last thing I heard before everything faded to black was the door slamming behind us.
* * *
“Reese.”It sounded like a whisper in my ear. But there was an urgency in the way they said my name. “Reese, wake up!” The hushed whisper came again, bringing me closer to consciousness.
“Please, wake up.”
Achingly slow, my eyelids peeled open for a second before I squeezed them shut against the bright light in the room’s far corner. I adjusted and attempted to open my eyes again.
A few blinks later, to clear my vision, I spotted Sera directly in front of me, lying on her side. I, too, was in the same position and the ache in my shoulders told me my arms were tied behind my back. I tried to kick my leg to sit up and found that my ankles were bound. Dread welled up in my stomach as I tried to recall what had happened.
“Where are we?” I asked Sera, trying to peer over her body to figure out what room we were in or if we were alone.
“I—” She stopped and gasped when a wolf's growl sounded.
I inched my body, ignoring the pain that shot through my shoulders, to find a reddish-brown wolf standing five feet from us. My heart hammered in my chest at the image of the thing growling with its teeth bared menacingly.
“Ah, you’re finally awake,” a man said, coming up behind the wolf. At first, I only saw his black loafers, but I recognized his voice right away.
“Dr. Pines?”
He came closer to stand between Sera and me. Crouching down, he glared at me with such malice behind his eyes I recoiled away from him. I remembered that harsh look. It was the same one I saw when he threw me out of Creekview.
