Anger rose inside Carter as he attempted to push through the curtain, imagining that he was reaching for whatever resided on the other side. But the curtain felt more like a brick wall at this point, becoming more solid the harder he pushed. He was wondering if he could figuratively slam into the curtain somehow when he heard Hadley screaming his name, begging for help. The terror that raced through him at the knowledge that Strickland had found Hadley froze his heart.
He gave up on reaching his omega, instead giving into the blind panic and rage, fighting with everything he had to break free from the prison of his own body.
Carter wasn’t sure how long he fought but at some point he realized that something was happening. No, the paralysis hadn’t worn off, nor had his omega taken over. At least not in the way he was used to. But then he noticed his fingertips and gums were itching like they did right before a shift. A moment later, he felt something running down his face and realized he was sweating.
He considered feeling anything at all was a win, but as he got warmer and warmer, Carter figured out his body must be heating up to burn off the skinwalker venom. Maybe his omega was helping him… without taking over. It shouldn’t have been possible, but it was only a minute later when he was able to move his fingers and then his legs.
“Whatever you did, thank you,” Carter whispered, rolling over onto his hands and knees, crawling toward the door of the supply closet and then down the hallway when he wasn’t strong enough to get to his feet.
Hadley’s office was dark, with only a lone fluorescent bulb over the receptionist’s desk illuminating the space. Carter gripped the doorknob, dragging himself to his feet. His legs were wobbly so he was forced to keep one hand on the wall as he stumbled through the office complex as fast as he could. He strained his ears, trying to pick up the sound of Hadley’s voice, but didn’t hear anything.
His normally less than reliable nose had no problem picking up Hadley’s scent, able to follow her as she fled through the darkened corridors. He sensed the exact moment his soul mate’s scent took on a decidedly terrified edge and knew that was when she’d been chased. From the other muddled scents, Carter was worried there was more than one of Strickland’s spawn in the building.
He started to run then—or at least tried to—stumbling after every third stride. Then he got a whiff of a muddled scent that had to be Strickland’s, moving side by side with Hadley. It wasn’t hard at that moment to remember what the monster had said about her walking out of this building with him.
Carter forced his feet to move faster, following Hadley and Strickland’s trail straight to the front entrance, praying he wasn’t too late. But the moment he shoved his way through the double doors, he realized his worst fears had already come true.
“Hadley!” he shouted when he saw her on the far side of the parking lot, Strickland quickly leading her away. His voice wasn’t as strong as it usually was, but there was no way she wouldn’t hear him.
Carter hurried toward them, his legs stronger, but nowhere near stable enough to run. Hadley twisted around, shock on her face as she recognized him. A fraction of a second later, she started fighting.
The slaps and punches were useless, of course. Strickland was too strong to be bothered by anything Hadley could throw at him. The skinwalker simply latched onto her arm and dragged her away, even as a dark SUV raced up the street and slid to a stop beside them. Carter stumbled off the sidewalk, heading that way, growling in frustration as his steps remained clumsy and out of control.
Hadley was screaming and begging for Carter’s help, but he was powerless to do anything about it. Anguish surged through him as the rear passenger door of the SUV opened and one of Strickland’s spawn stepped out to drag her into the vehicle.
Strickland started getting into the front seat but then turned to give Carter a smirk. The skinwalker’s stolen features began to slowly lose their distinction and he started to look like himself once more. Then he was sliding into the passenger seat and the big SUV was roaring straight in Carter’s direction as he stood in the middle of the parking lot.
Any other time, Carter would have charged straight at the moving vehicle, throwing himself onto the hood or even through the windshield. But with his body still trying to deal with the skinwalker venom, along with his unsteady stride, there was no chance of that. In fact, he was barely able to throw himself to the side to avoid being run over.
He tumbled to the asphalt, rolling twice in an uncoordinated tangle of arms and legs. He looked up just in time to catch sight of Hadley’s terrified expression in the rear window as the vehicle sped past.
Carter lay there, watching the SUV disappear, knowing he’d never be able to catch it, the image of Hadley ripping out his soul.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Fifteen minutes after Strickland’s spawn had locked Hadley in the dank, dirty storage room, her heart was still beating a hundred miles an hour. She tried to calm down, taking one deep breath after another, but every time she closed her eyes, all she saw were images of Carter’s face slowly changing into Strickland’s.
Just thinking about it made her tremble all over.
Turning around, Hadley went back to searching the storage room, looking for something that would help her escape—or at least protect herself. The search was hindered by the fact that the only light in the room was coming through two filthy windows located all the way up near the ceiling, but focusing on identifying shapes in the darkness gave her something to think about beyond the fact that she was totally screwed. At this point, she’d take what she could get.
Hadley coughed a few times at the acrid odor as she moved around the room. The place reeked of chlorine. Between the stench and the top of what she assumed was a skimmer net, there must be a swimming pool nearby. Or there used to be one. Unfortunately, knowing that didn’t help her at all. She was pretty sure Strickland hadn’t brought her here for swimming lessons.
She only hoped Carter and his pack mates found her soon. He’d looked a little unsteady standing in the middle of the parking lot, but since he’d been able to jump clear of the SUV when Strickland’s spawn had tried to run him over, she had no doubt that he was okay. She simply had to hold on until he tracked down where she was and came to rescue her. Unless she could escape on her own.
Taking in the piles of cardboard boxes scattered around the storage room, she wondered if she might be able to stack them up enough to reach those high windows. But a quick check confirmed that most of the boxes were in pretty bad shape. They’d never support her weight. She’d need to separate out the stronger ones first and then see if there were enough to bother.
Hadley started looking for better boxes, checking for anything else that might help at the same time. While she searched, her mind wandered, coming back frequently to the moment she’d realized the man she’d walked out of the building with hadn’t been Carter. While she accepted that Strickland was a skinwalker who could look like anyone, she was still furious that she hadn’t recognized the deception.
She should have known there was something off from the way Strickland had talked to her, his brusque behavior, how hard he’d grabbed her arm as they left the building, but she’d completely dismissed all of it because she was so relieved to see Carter.
But he was her soul mate. Shouldn’t she have known that it wasn’t him? Shouldn’t she have realized that the man who’d stepped into that bathroom wasn’t the man she’d fallen in love with?
She stopped digging through the boxes for a minute. After losing her brother, she’d pulled back from the world, buried herself first in school, and then her work, helping others because she couldn’t imagine there was any help for her. But all of that had changed when she wasn’t looking. She’d fallen in love with Carter and only realized it now, after Strickland had kidnapped her.
Hadley was still standing there in a daze thinking about what it meant to be in love when a rattling sound from outside the door made her spin around so fast she almost fell over. A moment later the door opened, the light coming through almost blinding after being in the dark storage room this long.
It was Strickland. Hadley was glad the skinwalker wasn’t wearing Carter’s face anymore. Her heart couldn’t have taken that trauma again. Not that she’d let the man know any of that. So, she stood in the middle of the cluttered room as if she owned the place.
