The sun was warm on her skin, and she closed her eyes.Not safe!She jerked upright and forced herself to full wakefulness a second before someone seized her shoulders.They pressed a smelly cloth to her nose.
Panicked, Suzie struggled, but they were too strong.She sucked in a huge breath and wished she hadn’t because someone had soaked the cloth with a drug of some type.She thrashed, jerking her arms and legs and trying to get leverage to spring to her feet while holding her breath.
The person—or was it two people—held her easily.
“Stop fighting,” a gruff voice demanded.
Suzie didn’t waste her breath on a reply, more concerned with ripping the cloth off her nose.Her lungs ached, crying for oxygen.Her vision went dark around the edges, and she broke, gasping and desperate for a proper lungful of air.The sickly, sweet scent filled her senses, and instead of helping, it made Suzie slip toward an inky blackness.
“That’s my girl,” a masculine voice crooned.“Suck it in.No one will hurt you.We need your help.”
What help?Suzie’s limbs became heavy, and she slumped forward.Firm hands halted her from face-planting on the gravel.
“Don’t feel well.”The words emerged as garbled nonsense.Suzie fell deeper into the darkness until nothing else existed.
15
Missing
Nialldidn’tstartworryinguntil it was a quarter past the hour.He searched for Angus and discovered him with two young men at the public entrance to the castle.
He glanced around expectantly and frowned.“Where’s Suzie?”
The young men turned to him, seemingly surprised.
“We thought she must be with you,” one said, his green eyes narrowed in his tanned face.
The other said, “Suzie is never late.She told us she’d meet us here.”He was taller, and a nasty scar disfigured his face.Despite this, his gaze, more blue than green, was steady.
“When did you see her last?”Niall asked.
“When she invited us to dinner.She found us at the bar, then left for fresh air.She told us she intended to stay close to the castle,” Liam said, his frown lopsided because of his scar.
“Did she tell you why?”Niall demanded.
“No.”Scott’s dark brows drew together.“Is Suzie in danger?”
Niall didn’t answer but turned to Angus.“Have you sent someone to check her room?”
“She’s not there.Scott and I stopped by her room since we’re on the same floor.I’m Liam.This is Scott.”
“Niall,” Niall said, worry threading through him as he called the private investigator.“Have you got eyes on my brothers?”He didn’t wait for the man to speak.“My girlfriend is missing.”
“I called my men off after I spoke to you.Do you want me to locate them again?”
“Please.Call if you find them.”Niall hung up.“Which part of the garden did she go to?
“She likes roses,” Scott said.
Liam nodded in agreement.“It might be possible to track her, but they had a scavenger hunt during the afternoon.The other shifters’ scents might muddy the trail.”
“Let’s go,” Niall said.
“I’ll organize a search of the castle,” Angus called after him.
“Thank you.”Niall hastened outside with Scott and Liam a few steps behind.Concern and suspicion stabbed him as he strode past the castle chapel, the gravel crunching beneath his shoes.He tried hard to push his apprehension away but didn’t succeed.Her friends were worried about her, and this made his gut churn harder.
The garden was empty in the evening as most gathering shifters readied for dinner and pre-dinner drinks.
