It’s not real! It’s not!
She strained every muscle, but still there was no movement. When the vehicle turned a corner, she rolled helplessly with it, her spine bumping against what had to be the hard rubber of a spare tire. Her cheek scraped the rough carpet.
It didn’t seem to matter that she knew intellectually that there was nothing holding her. Her body and mind were completely disconnected.
Sweat broke out across her skin. Fear and fury bubbled in her gut as the vehicle took another turn. The tether was just a wisp in her mind until, with an unnaturaltwang,it snapped.
Her connection to her mate was gone.
Fuck fuck fuck.
Atria struggled to get her breathing under control. The acidic sting of gasoline coated her throat, only making her panic worse. Even though she knew it was useless, she reached for him instinctively. Her magic lurched behind her ribs with enough force to make her wheeze.
But he was too far away.
Gods, he must be so scared.Tears burned behind her eyes.My poor guy.
She wanted to break down and cry with a potent mixture of fear and helpless outrage, but Atria knew this wasn’t the time. She wasn’t going to disappear. Neither she nor her mate would allow their enemies to separate them.
Kaz would come for her. She still had the tracker — or at least, she hoped she did. Without being able to use her hands, she wasn’t able to check that the dot was still safely tucked behind her ear.
No, it had to be there. Kaz knew what he was doing when he placed it. There was no way it would have popped off when her kidnapper threw her over his shoulder. It would work. There wasn’t a shadow of a doubt in her mind that she would be saved, but that didn’t mean they could afford for her to break down. Her mate needed her to keep calm, to find her way back to him.
Atria couldn’t tell if she was squeezing her eyes shut or not, but it felt like it. Trying to block out the scent of chemicals, she summoned Kaz in her mind’s eye, recalling how he held her that first day in the homestead.
Breathe for me,she heard him rumble in that delicious orcish baritone.
She tried to breathe normally, but the air felt too thin, too choked with chemicals. Helpless tears burned behind her eyelids. She tried again.
That’s my princess. Again. Follow my lead.
She sucked in a deep breath. Held it. Exhaled slowly through her mouth.
It shook on the way out, so she tried again and again until her heart rate slowed and the animal panic receded. She imagined he was there with her, his heart beating strong and steady under her ear. She could almost feel his emotional current in her mind. Even the phantom of his memory helped center her.
What can I do?
What would her mate do in this situation?
He would assess the threat first. She’d done that already, so they were good there. What else? He’d figure out what resources were available to him and how best to use them to his advantage.
Kaz always carried everything he needed with him — handcuffs, signal jammers, lock picks, knives, agun.Atria had none of that. She didn’t even have pockets. The billowy linen pants she’d chosen to wear required a bag, which she’d forgone in favor of having her mate carry anything she needed for the few minutes they would be out.
I’m getting a pocket knife when we get home,she decided, leaning into her crackling rage.I’m getting one of those knives that you can strap to your leg so that the next time someone fucking kidnaps me, I can just stab them.
Hopefully there wouldn’t be a next time, but at this rate she couldn’t be too careful.
A knife wouldn’t have helped her much in this situation, but it’d make her feel better to have one.
Don’t have a knife. Can’t move. What can I do?
Atria’s chest constricted painfully. It was as if the loss of the tether had hollowed her out. The cavity Kaz’s presence left slowly collapsed in on itself, leaving her disoriented and empty of something essential to life. Her magic stretched uselessly into that void, searching, searching—
Static.
She held her breath. That wasn’t Kaz. It was someone else, someone closer to her.
What can I do?
