And yet, something was off about Ryan the moment that he looked over at her.Something had changed about his demeanor.There was a glassiness to his eyes, a waxiness to his skin.He didn't look as pristine and beautiful as he had moments before.More than that, his scent was off.
“You missed a course,” Ryan said after a beat, perhaps seeming to realize that something was wrong and that El was staring at him with wide, somewhat mystified eyes.But, if he realized the truth in the reason as to why her mouth had gaped open so slightly, her eyes moving up and down as she took in his features, Ryan made no sign of acknowledging it.“They saved it for you,” he noted, gesturing down at the small, somewhat bite-sized portion of red meat that was placed on a plain white plate at El’s seat.
A portion that smelled off, from what El could tell, but that a man who was engaged in as active conversation as Ryan was at that moment likely wouldn't realize.
There was something off about it, a sort of sheen that clung to the red, bloodied meat.El stared at it, trying to understand it for a moment as Ryan began to absentmindedly hum beside her, his fingers bouncing on her leg ama and a smile playing upon his face as he seemed to lose any and all inhibitions.
It was drugged.
El realized it with a jolt as she slowly turned to the side to take in her mate once more, noticing the odd behavior of the alpha as he sat straight beside her, in a far better mood than he had begun the day.
El had left him for just a moment and…
“Ryan,” El said, Her voice softer, her hand shaking as she looked at him and began to realize the gravity of their situation.Oh God, did something happen tonight?Had they left their daughter with her father only for something to happen to both of them?More than that, what about her other mates?Where were they?
What if they were here, too?What if she knew about them, too?All of them?What if El had led her mates into a minefield—
“And how is the married life suiting you, El?”One of the men that Annabel had invited asked, looking in her direction with a blank, empty smile.It was only then that she realized that it wasn't just Ryan who was drugged.
Annabel had drugged the whole fucking table.
El grew stiff.The breath caught in her throat, and her mind went blank as she looked at everyone surrounding her, knowing how to approach the situation.At the other end of the table, Annabel was drinking and speaking casually with her sons, the three of them obviously unaffected.But beside Jonathan?
Meredith looked green.
Annabel had drugged a fucking pregnant woman—
What was this?What was she up to?What were the motives behind this meal?Was she going to kill all of them?
Oh my god.
And El, she was the only one who wasn’t—
“Be sure to eat your second course, El,” Annabel said, looking upon her daughter with hawk-like precision as she seemed to finally realize that she had returned.“Markos would be heartbroken if you didn’t,” Annabel insisted, making it very clear that there would be no third course until everyone at the table had eaten.Absolutely everyone.
El shuddered to think of what the third course would be.
Just as she shuddered to think of actually eating the course that was set in front of her, the piece of meat felt more like a ticking time bomb than anything.Even as Annabel turned back to her conversation with her son, none the wiser to the fact that her younger child had realized exactly what was going on and was on high alert.If anything, Annabel seemed all the more sure of herself.
She was a monster.El concluded as she watched her mother laugh, her head falling back as she looked between her two sons with a victorious smile.Annabel was a monster, and there was no putting it any other way.
El had to get out of there–they had to get out there.She wasn't leaving Ryan behind.
“What are you doing, baby—” Ryan cooed at her side as he realized what she was doing, his inhibitions obviously lost as he opened his mouth to say more before El smacked her hand down on his thigh, gripping it so tightly in her hand that her nails dug into the skin.“Oooh,” Ryan groaned at her touch, obviously thinking that she was trying to do some form of foreplay as El kicked the wet lump of meat down from the cloth napkin in her lap to the floor.
It truly was a shame that Annabel never had any patience for dogs, if only because that would have allowed for the perfect opportunity for El to properly dispose of the meat, but that was beside the point.
Next to her, El had a very horny and very energetic mate to deal with, one who seemed locked in a constant state of bliss as he smiled over at her, winking conspiratorially in her direction like the two of them alone were in on some private joke, rather than that El alone was in on the fact that they were currently involved in a dinner from hell.
At least, when Annabel looked her way, she seemed content with the fact that El’s plate was empty and waved to the servants to bring the next course.There was no way in hell that El was going to eat anything that was brought to her on a plate.Maybe communal bread or something if it was for sure shared with her brothers, but considering the fact that they were sitting on the other end of the table, nowhere near her?
Her stomach growled as the scent of food hit the air, and a small part of her begged for her to take a risk on a bite of food.But she was smart enough to realize that now wasn't exactly the time to get hungry.Now was the time to try and figure out a way to get out of there.
Or, at the very least, to dispose of all the food that was brought to her until dinner was finally over.
It wasn't exactly the best situation for her to find herself in, but it was the one she was currently in, and if she wanted to have a chance in hell of getting out of there with both her and Ryan alive, then she needed to be creative.Therefore, El made a point of depositing plate after plate onto her lap, gaining a raised brow from her mate as he realized what she was doing and obviously thought it to be part of some game.
Whatever it was that Ryan had been drugged with, it very obviously lowered his inhibitions, making it so that he was more relaxed and more willing to go with whatever was happening.Time and time again, he shot her a heated look, making no secret of the fact that he was positively devouring the sight of El in that dress, but El couldn’t return the look.Not if she was going to make it through another three courses.
