I pressed harder. “But what would Lina do if I got taken? She’s just a human. She’s powerless. Not like wolves. She can’t track me. Can’t fight her way through enemy territory. Can’t shift and run for hours without rest.”
My voice dropped, becoming almost conversational despite the rage burning in my chest.
“That will frustrate her. Make her suffer. She’ll be stuck here, helpless, knowing her mate is out there somewhere and she can’t do a damn thing about it. Isn’t that what Mary wants? To see Lina broken? To see her suffer?”
Lucio’s eyes lit up.
I had him.
“Fine,” Lucio said after a long moment. “You can tell Mary all your reasons and bear her fucking anger yourself.”
Relief and terror crashed through me simultaneously. Relief that Lina would be safe. Terror at what awaited me.
Lucio started walking toward us, Blake still clutched in his arms, those deadly claws still pressed against her throat. He stopped in front of Lina.
“You. Stay here.”
And then he was walking past her, past me, heading for the door. Expecting me to follow.
Lina’s legs gave out.
She collapsed to the floor, her bound hands unable to catch herself, landing hard on her knees. The sound that came out of her was something I never wanted to hear again. Raw. Broken. Desperate.
“No, no. Please, no. Lucio, please!” She was crying, sobbing, her whole body shaking with the force of her grief. “Don’t take him. Please. Take me instead. Take me. PLEASE!”
Every word was a knife in my heart. Every sob shattered another piece of my soul.
But I couldn’t let myself break. Not now. Not when Blake was still in danger. Not when Lina needed me to be strong.
I walked toward the door, forcing my legs to move, forcing myself to leave my mate crying on the floor of my parents’ bedroom while my father bled out beside her.
“Knox!” Lina screamed. “BLAKE!”
I didn’t look back.
If I looked back, I would break. I would try to fight. I would get Blake killed.
So I kept walking.
We went down the stairs. Past Serena and Sarah, still unconscious on the floor. Through the front door and out into the sunlight that felt obscenely bright after the horror of what we’d left behind.
The guards were waiting outside. A dozen of them, maybe more, weapons drawn, faces grim. Three more joined the ones we’d brought, and I saw them bleeding and limping. I recognized them. They were the other guards assigned to Sarah and Serena, and it seemed that Lucio had kicked their asses and left them unconscious. They saw Lucio with Blake and their expressions shifted to fury.
They all looked ready to attack. Ready to tear Lucio apart and rescue their alpha’s daughter.
“Stand down,” I ordered, my voice carrying the full weight of my authority. “Don’t follow us.”
The guards looked at me with horror and confusion. Some of them opened their mouths to protest, to argue, to offer alternatives.
“That’s an order,” I said. “Stand. Down.”
They obeyed. They had no choice. I was their alpha, and my word was law.
But I could see the agony in their eyes. The helplessness. The desperate desire to do something, anything, to stop this.
I knew exactly how they felt.
Lucio guided me around the side of the house to the back entrance where a black SUV was parked. Nondescript. Forgettable. The perfect vehicle for a kidnapping.
