He left the house, after checking it top to bottom. The inner gut feeling told him that Vivica was not in the house and that she was with his dad. He had no idea why they were together though and there was a bit of relief to see that they’d taken a car and he hadn’t dragged her off in the woods to shift. Shane didn’t know what to think. He knew that his father didn’t like humans, didn’t like him with a human, but surely, he wasn’t stupid enough to do something that he was going to regret, was he?
Shane knew that his dad made bad decisions all the time. He didn’t trust him to make one with the woman he was mated to, the woman carrying his grandchild. Shane shifted into his true form and waited a moment for his body to catch up. He started to smell all of the extra scents that swirled around him, and it took only a few seconds to pick up Vivica. She had been dragged into the vehicle that was no longer there and Shane could smell it like it still was. He was doing his best to figure out what to do next, but there didn’t seem to be an easy solution. All he knew to do was to focus on what he could control. He would find them and then he would take care of his dad, maybe for good. Shane didn’t like to think about that, but as he realized where his father was going with his mate, he decided that he couldn’t take anything off the table. It looked like his dad wasn’t.
***
Once Shane got back to his old clan, he started to get jittery. Something was going to happen; he could feel it in every bit of him and Shane wanted to know what it was. He was sure that it was more than just his dad taking Vivica. He’d done it for a reason, and it wasn’t because he didn’t like Vivica because she was a human. There had to be a reason, something more. Shane had thought that since he’d met Vivica. It wasn’t just coincidence. The universe didn’t deal in those very often. Shane had met her for a reason, and he was sure that it couldn’t end like that. Fate wouldn’t have brought them together, made them fall in love, made a baby, just to end it so soon, would it?
He wasn’t greeted like he had been before. Instead of waves of greetings, he got scowls and shifting faces and eyes. Shane didn’t want to be there. He would have rather been anywhere else but there, but that was where Vivica was. She had been taken and his father had brought her there. What the Montauks wanted with Vivica, he had no idea. Shane just knew that she was there, and he worried that she was going to be exchanged for blackmail or something of that nature. Shane would have said before that he wasn’t about to negotiate, but that didn’t mean that he was above it. Not when it came to Vivica. He knew before he walked into the mess, that he was willing to give pretty much anything. Getting Vivica and their child back safely was all that Shane was worried about.
Someone stopped him before he went in, and he asked to speak to who was in charge. The last time he was there he had talked to his cousin. His cousin wasn’t as happy to see him as before.
“You come here again, after leaving us the way you did last time?”
Shane knew that he was talking about the refusal to give up all of his money, just so that they could spend it all like they had his mother’s fortune. Shane gritted his teeth. He was going to have to be nice to get his way and that had never been an easy thing for him. It was especially hard when Vivica was on the line. He was going to have to shut his mouth, so that Vivica would be safe. Shane already wanted to smash the guy’s face in, so just the thought of him taking Vivica away was too much to be borne.
“You know why I am here, Scott, so let’s not pretend like you have no idea. You know what I’m doing here. I want her back. If you give her back without much of a fuss, then I won’t hold it against you.”
Scott laughed. “You seem to think that you have all the cards, Shane. You might have had the upper hand a bit before, but not anymore. You are going to give us everything that we want, which is everything, and we aren’t going to have to do anything for it. It’s a way better deal, if I do say so myself.”
Shane gritted his teeth and said that he wanted Vivica back right then. Instead of getting what he wanted though, Shane was told that Vivica and his child were somewhere safe.
“How do you know about the baby?”
Shane and Vivica hadn’t said anything about it, and Shane didn’t know what any of it had to do with why she was taken. She was taken as a bargaining chip, that much was for certain. Was there some other reason at play that he didn’t know about?
“That baby is part of our clan. You and your father were tainted, and it ruined the blood, but this one will be pure and part of us. It will do great things as a ‘special human’, and I think that such a powerful child should be with us. Vivica wants a family and protection. I can give all that to her. If you really love her, you should let her go.”
Shane didn’t want to hear that. “Let me see her, Scott, or you will see how very tainted my blood is and what I am capable of because of it.”
His eyes were set on the man coming toward him from the side. He was doing his best to keep it all together, but his mind was on Vivica.
“You’re going to make me kill more people than I want to. Let me have her and I will be on my way. I don’t care about you or the clan, or my father. You’re all dead to me.”
Shane meant it too. Scott chuckled. “Come on, Shane, we’re family. You can’t harm your own clan.”
“Like I said, you’re all dead to me and I don’t think of you as my family. You are the enemy.”
Chapter 25
Vivica
Vivica was listening to the exchange and each word of it made the dread that she felt even worse. She couldn’t believe that she had been brought there, and it was even worse when she considered why she was there. They talked about the baby in her stomach like it was already out into the world, powerful and strong enough to take down even the likes of them. Vivica didn’t want to believe it, but she was starting to think that meeting Shane was the biggest mistake of her life. She didn’t want to think that way, but everything had gotten weird, and she didn’t know how to cope with everything that was going on. Her life was changed again in an instant, this time from a book that was ancient and had predictions of her and her son, and the true leader Shane.
Her mouth was taped, her arms were tied behind her back, and there was nothing that she could do about any of it. Vivica was sure that she was being held captive somewhere close by. She just didn’t know where and the way that the men were talking, it didn’t sound like Shane would be able to easily secure her release either. He wanted to fight the laws, which would only make it more expensive. Vivica didn’t want a hefty deal for her. She just wanted out and was focused on making it happen.
Vivica listened longer, as they argued over where she was going to live and be. Scott wanted her to stay there and breed more children. Their numbers were dwindling, and it was her ‘duty’ to do that. Vivica could only hate the man more and desire to get free faster. Shane was right there. All she had to do was get to him.
She made the loudest sounds that she could. Vivica could barely move, and she was gagged, so her screams came out as whimpers that had no real volume behind them. It wasn’t enough for anyone to hear, but Vivica knew that Shane was different, well they all were. She then worried that everyone had heard her. Vivica was so out of her comfort zone. This wasn’t what she was used to, all of the chaos and drama.
The men’s voices got lower, and she could no longer hear what was going on. She craned her head, trying to hear something to give her a clue to what was going on. She wasn’t sure what Shane’s dad wanted her for, but he’d been happy to find out about the baby. It was going to be special and there was a prophecy about it, written in some book. Did they go to find the book? Vivica needed answers and she had never been so infuriated and helpless in all of her life.
Someone came through the door suddenly and Vivica hoped it was Shane. That hope was dashed though. It was another one of his cousin’s men. She’d met several when she had first tried to escape. She had fought off a couple, but they were faster, stronger, and since they couldn’t hurt her baby, Scott had promised that he would scar her face instead, making her ugly and unwanted. Vivica had balked at the idea, though she wondered inwardly if Shane would still want her. It bothered her to think that he wouldn’t.
So, she stopped fighting and when the guy came close and told her that he was moving her, she went with it. The man let his guard down, she saw it in the way that he stood, and Vivica used it as a way to get out of there. She pushed past him and started yelling Shane’s name. She didn’t get far before someone tackled her, but it was enough.
About the time she was being pulled up from the ground, Scott and Shane were staring at her. The man on top of her was slung and probably killed immediately. The look in Shane’s eyes were frightening and as Scott moved toward her, Shane threw him as well, telling him if he got up in the next few minutes, he was going to be just as dead. Vivica had never seen him like that before and it was scary. Shane was so mad, and he was staring at her in disbelief.
“Are you okay? The baby?”
