Randall shifted into his dark brown wolf and towered over his brother for a moment. It was hard for him to stop the anger that moved through him and made him want to attack, but he had to.
“I don't want to end things like this, Randall,” Ben pleaded. Randall didn't want to hear it though. His brother had caused enough trouble and he should have gone further. He should have taken him out. He should have been just as ruthlessas his opponent. He would be this time around. There was a lot that he should have done and now Ethan was alive. For some reason, more likely to torture him longer, Ethan had been okay with him being alive. Randall knew that it wasn't going to be the same for him. He failed, and he was not going to be able to let Ethan live after he took Page. Randall could not allow it.
Chapter 22
Page
“I don't know why you have taken me, but this is not going to stand.” Page tried to sound tough and said that she wasn't afraid, but she was. She was shaking inside, hopeful that the guy in front of her would see that being with her was going to be a waste of time.
“It is going to stand, Page. Your father gave you to me a while back and just because you want to pretend like that didn't happen, you don't need to change it. You were given to me, so you are mine. That’s how it has always worked.”
Page didn’t like the sound of that at all. She was in a room that she had no idea where or how she got there. Page tried to focus on anything that she could, besides the dark green eyes that were on her. He was taking in every inch of her and that was hard for Page to deal with. His hungry eyes were all over her and she was shaking inside. Page couldn’t stand the way he was looking at her or how he was acting. She wanted to cover herself and her stomach that he kept paying all of his attention to.
“God, you are hideously large and ready to pop,” Ethan commented. He didn’t seem to care how she felt about him at all. Every word out of his mouth made her like him even less.
Page didn’t answer or comment back. He was talking mainly to himself, and Page didn’t want to get involved in that line of thinking. He wasn’t happy she was pregnant, that much was clear. “All this time that I waited for you, I can’t say that I am happy to see you that way. What a waste of time you have been.”
Again, he was talking to himself, and Page didn’t have anything very meaningful to say to him. Instead, she just stood there, listened to him bitch at her and was thankful that Randall had come instead of Ethan to marry her. This man in front of her was cruel, and she hated to think about what it would have been like to be with him. She couldn’t fathom it, didn’t want to. All she could do was try to hold onto her emotions that he wouldn’t want to see. Page felt like she was never going to get away, maybe never see Randall again. She was lost in her sadness and even Ethan’s jeers and threats weren’t enough to pull her back to the present.
“We will be moving you to have them things soon. You look like you are going to pop. You better tighten back up pretty quickly so we can start birthing my children.”
Page felt like gagging. She was so worked up and couldn’t believe this was happening. He hadn’t said anything about what was going to happen to Randall’s and her children, but she didn’t have to wonder too much. It was pretty clear if she was just honest with herself. He wasn’t going to let them live. The only reason he wanted to let her live was likely just so that he could have what was rightfully his, not that he wanted her, just that he could have her. She was given to him, his property. Page felt her stomach churn with the idea of it. She wanted to know what was going to happen next but didn’t have the heart to find out. She had a couple more weeks before the babies were born, and Page had to find a way out of there. She had to figure something out.
Ethan didn't have much more to say to her. He walked off, and Page was left to wonder what that meant for her. She tried her best to focus on anything else, but there was no point. Her children were now in danger, and it was like she was carrying a ticking time bomb in her stomach. How was it all supposed to end?
***
The whole time she was being moved, Page tried desperately to find a way to get free. It was all she could focus on and even though she checked and tried and put all of her energy into it, nothing came of it. Instead, she was moved to a small house in the middle of the woods. It reminded her of the place where the witch lived, away from everything and everyone. The sort of place where she would not be heard if she was screaming. Why was that what she thought about? It was an unsettling thought, whatever the reason for Ethan bringing her out there.
After about a week in her new captivity, Ethan came to see her again, but this time he was drunk. Just being in his presence was enough to turn Page’s stomach. She didn't even really know him, but she already hated him. He was the sort of guy that anyone who had to be arranged for a marriage would dread being attached to. He didn't seem to care if she couldn't get married to him and have his children, because she was already mated to somebody else. She didn't bring it up every time, although she did once. She wanted him to know that there was no way that anything was going to happen between the two of them.
He scoffed, reminding her that their rules didn’t apply to him. Ethan didn't seem to care about the particulars. He said that she was his and that was all that mattered. He really did see her as property and it made her sick to her stomach. It wasn't like there was anything she could do about it. She had neverunderstood how in the 21st century there were still arranged marriages and rules about when and where a woman was set to be brides. It was still a man’s world for shifters and Page hated that fact then, more than ever before.
He didn't stay very long with her, just long enough to give her a bad feeling and to tell her that he would be back soon after the children were born. Page finally got the nerve up to ask what exactly he was planning to do with her children. She would have loved to assume that it was natural for her to take care of them, but Ethan made her think that wouldn’t happen. He had made it clear to her that he wanted them out of her, but then what?
“Surely you must know the answer to that, Page. I can't have another man's children in my house. You should have thought of that before you betrayed me, before we were even together. I can accept a lot of things, but I will never accept another man’s pups.”
She nodded, not saying anything. It was exactly her worst fear come to life. She was so mad at herself, mad at the witch for not telling her that this was going to happen. If she was all seeing and knowing, why hadn’t she warned her? She had said that her decisions would put her children in jeopardy, but not like this. While Page tried to be mad at the old witch, she knew it was her own fault. She had not taken heed. She had been too worried about Randall, even though he had made it clear what he wanted her to do. She was to stay away and not get caught. That was the one thing that he had told her to do and the one thing that she hadn’t listened to. Now there was no chance for her to stay away. What was coming from Ethan was on her. The witch had told her to think straight, and Page hadn’t. She had let loneliness and her love for Randall make it all the more difficult.
Page felt sorry for herself. That was the only way to describe it. She knew that as much as she wanted things to gothe right way, it didn't mean that they were going to. It was likely how Ethan wanted her to feel. Page was losing hope that anything was ever going to get better and that was exactly what he wanted.
She thought of Randall and then immediately knew that he wasn't going to be able to save her. She was going to have to save herself, even though she had no idea how that was even supposed to look. Page was going to have to do something, or they were going to take her away from her children. She could never let that happen. Instinctively she fiercely encircled her stomach. She couldn't let that happen. No one was going to touch her babies.
Page went to sleep that night, dreaming of ways to get free. She didn’t want to bring them into such a world of danger, but Page didn't have a choice. She had to get away and find Randall. Fortunately, Page was still trying to figure out the how. She woke up the next morning with slight pains in her stomach that made her nervous. She was going to have to move faster. They were coming.
Chapter 23
Randall
Randall was finally free, but that freedom came with one hell of a price. It wasn't because his brother had finally realized what an ass he was being for holding him to begin with. No, that wasn’t it. It was because his stupid ass brother had sat on his hands while the woman that was carrying his children had been taken by another man. Randall was so devastated that he couldn't even see straight. How was he ever going to look at Ben again? He always tried to make decisions for everybody, acting like he knew what was best. Randall knew for certain that he didn't know what was best. He had messed everything up and since he didn't even know where to start looking for Page, Randall was on his own. It was better that way. At that point, Randall didn't have any family. It was just himself and Page and their children. That was all that mattered.
He had to do some backtracking that was easier said than done. Randall only knew what Ben knew and that wasn't much at all. While he tried to extract more information out of the short conversation that he had about it, Randall realized that he wished he wouldn't have lost his cool so much. Then maybe he would have learned what he needed to. He had no idea where she was even picked up, so how was he supposed to backtrack? Instead of worrying about it too much, Randall went back tothe last place that he knew her to be. It was there that he saw someone unexpected. “Allie? What are you doing here?”
She had been focused on something far off in the distance, and she actually jumped when he moved close and made a sound. Randall wasn’t used to seeing her so lost in her thoughts.
“I was just out here thinking, brother.” She smiled at him and gave him a big hug. “You do not know how good it is to see you. I've been so worried about you. I can't believe what Ben did this…”
Randall didn't want to talk about their older brother and his shenanigans. The last thing that Randall wanted to do was think about Ben. He was of the feeling that Ben was no longer part of his family. How could he think of him any other way than as an enemy? It was hard to feel like his brother was his enemy, but that's exactly how he felt. He had to learn rather quickly that his brother was not the idol that he had put on a pillar for all those years. He was just a guy, who at the moment, was messing up his life.
