29
— • —
Knox
I watched, horrified, as Lucio turned to Lina.
“You’re coming with me.”
No.
NO.
Every muscle in my body tensed, every instinct screaming at me to attack, to rip this man apart, to protect my mate. But my hands were literally bound in front of me and my daughter’s life was dangling by a thread, held hostage by the claws of a psychopath.
“No,” I snarled, the word tearing out of my throat with a ferocity that made even Lucio pause. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”
I took a step forward, unable to stop myself despite knowing the danger.
Lucio made a tsking sound, slow and mocking, and moved his claws closer to Blake’s throat. My baby girl whimpered, her cries growing louder.
“Stay right where you are,” Lucio said, his voice cold and steady. “Unless you want to see what color your daughter’s blood is.”
I froze.
My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my skull, could hear it drowning out everything else. Blake was crying, soft hiccupping sobs that broke something inside me. Lina was standing beside me, her body shaking, tears streaming down her face.
And there was nothing I could do.
No. That wasn’t true. There had to be something. There had to be a way out of this.
I looked at my father, lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor. He wasn’t moving. I couldn’t tell if he was breathing. If we didn’t get help soon, he would die. If he wasn’t dead already.
Lucio had done that. Lucio had beaten my father, had drugged my mother and Sarah, had taken my baby hostage. And now he wanted to take my mate too.
Over my dead fucking body.
“Take me instead,” I said.
Lucio’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Excuse me?”
“Take me. Leave Lina here.” My mind was racing, grasping for any argument that might work, any angle that might convince this bastard. “I’m the one Mary wants. I’m the one who wronged her. If she wants revenge, she should take it out on me, not my mate.”
Lucio looked unimpressed. “Mary specifically asked for the Luna.”
“But think about it.” I was desperate now, saying anything, everything, hoping something would stick. “If Mary wants revenge, she could force me to divorce Lina. To marry her. Maybe to pretend to be Thomas’s father. Give her the life she always wanted.” The words tasted like ash in my mouth, but I kept going. “And what better way to make Lina suffer than to take her mate from her? To make her watch as I build a life with another woman?”
Lina made a sound beside me, something between a gasp and a sob, but I couldn’t look at her. I couldn’t let myself see the pain on her face or I would lose what little control I had left.
Lucio tilted his head, considering. “Interesting theory. But Mary was very clear about her instructions.”
“Fuck Mary’s instructions.” I was running out of options, running out of time. “Besides, you don’t want me on the loose, do you? If Lina gets taken, you know what I’ll do. I won’t sleep. Won’t eat. Won’t fucking shit until she’s right with me again.”
I held his gaze, letting him see the truth of my words. The absolute certainty.
“There’s no distance, place, or bars that could keep me away from my mate. Nothing will stop me. I would burn down the entire fucking earth to find her. I would tear through every pack, every territory, every person who stood in my way. You think your little group could hide from me? You think Mary and Mira could keep her safe from my wrath?”
Something flickered in Lucio’s eyes. Interest, maybe. Or concern.
