“Report!” Dimitri barked.
“Someone cut the main power line,” someone on the security team responded. “Backup generators are—”
The door to the command center exploded inward.
Wolf shifters poured through—five, six, maybe more.They moved with coordinated precision, taking out our guards before anyone could react. I reached for the gun Dimitri had given me earlier, but something slammed into me from behind, driving me to the ground.
Hands yanked me up. A cloth covered my face, sickeningly sweet-smelling.
Chloroform.
I tried to fight, tried to hold my breath, but then everything went dark.
I woke to pain.
My head throbbed. My wrists were bound behind me. My mouth was gagged. And I was moving. In a vehicle, from the sound and feel of it.
I forced my eyes open, blinking against the harsh light.
Ethan sat across from me in what looked like a van. His face was still mottled with fury, but now there was satisfaction there too.
“Welcome back,” he said pleasantly. “I was worried I’d used too much chloroform. Wouldn’t want you unconscious for what comes next.”
I tried to speak, but the gag muffled everything.
“Don’t bother. No one’s coming to save you.” He leaned forward. “By now, Dimitri will have found my message. The one telling him exactly where to find you. The one explaining that if he wants to see you alive, he needs to come alone.”
My blood ran cold. This was all a trap.
“He’ll come, of course. Because he’s predictable like that. Honorable. Noble.” Ethan’s smile was cruel. “And when he does, I’ll kill you in front of him. Let him watch the light leave your eyes. Then I’ll take my time with him.”
The van came to a stop. Then he stood, moving toward the doors.
“We’re here. Welcome to your final resting place, Isabella.”
The doors opened, revealing an abandoned warehouse. Through the broken windows, I could see the forest beyond.
It was an isolated, remote area. The perfect place for a murder.
Ethan dragged me out of the van, my legs weak from whatever drug he’d used. Other wolf shifters emerged from the shadows, his pack members or allies. There were at least twenty of them.
Rage stronger than any fear flooded through me. I fought against my bonds, against the gag, trying to scream, trying to do anything.
Ethan just laughed.
“Don’t worry. You won’t have to wait long.” He checked his watch. “Dimitri should be here any minute now. Always so punctual, that one.”
And I realized with sickening certainty that he was right.
Dimitri would come. Would walk straight into this trap to try to save me.
And we were all going to die.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Isabella’s POV
Ethan paced back and forth in front of me, his boots crunching against the gravel floor of the warehouse. He was talking to his men, giving orders, checking his watch every few minutes like he was waiting for a package to arrive.
