Chapter 16

After he and Promise tumbled into bed at her cabin, they packed her bags and cleaned up, then headed to his place to drop things off. He’d texted Isolde, who stopped at the cabin while they were there, and took Promise to town to get her nails done, giving him the opportunity to run out for an errand of his own.

After picking out the perfect ring for her and hoping to hell it fit, he got into his truck and dialed a number he’d snagged from her phone.

“Hello?” a male answered on the third ring.

“Hi, Mr. Elliot, my name is Artem Connelley, and your daughter Promise and I are truemates.”

There was a brief pause, and then he said, “It’s nice to talk to you, Artem. Promise told us about you, and said she’d be down this weekend to visit and would bring you along.”

“That’s the plan,” he said.

“Please call me Bo. What can I do for you?”

“Bo,” Artem said, his voice cracking as nerves sang through him. Grimacing, he cleared his throat and said, “I wanted to ask for your permission to marry Promise. I want her to be my wife and not only my truemate.”

“That’s wonderful! I felt the same way about my Reika. It’s great to be truemates, but it’s even better when they also have your last name and you both belong to each other officially. Yes, you absolutely have my permission, and my mate’s as well of course.”

Relief coursed through him. It wasn’t that he thought he would say no, it just wasn’t something he’d ever done before. He wanted her parents to like him and asking them for permission seemed like a good way to get off on the right foot.

“Thank you so much.”

“When are you planning to ask her?”

“Tonight. I’ve got plans for dinner at a fancy restaurant and then a stroll through the woods at the campground, where I’ll ask her.”

“Sounds amazing. Best of luck to you tonight, and we’ll see you this weekend.”

“Thanks again, Bo.”

“You bet.”

The call ended and Artem leaned his head back against the headrest with a happy sigh.

He had the ring. He had permission. And he had a plan.

He couldn’t wait for tonight so he could ask Promise to be his wife.

Promise and Isolde walked out of the nail salon arm-in-arm. She loved Artem’s sister, she was so sweet.

Promise curled her free hand toward herself to look at her nails. “I think these are perfect.

She didn’t normally wear polish, but she never turned down a chance to get a manicure. She’d chosen a pale pink, and the nail artist had added thin swirls of glittery gold polish on each nail.

“They look awesome.” Isolde had gone with a dark peach topped with silver glitter.

“Yours do too,” Promise said. They stopped on the sidewalk. They’d been gone about three hours, between grabbing a snack at a local bakery and window shopping at the boutique stores, the day was topped off by the manicures where they shared stories of their childhoods and got to know each other better. They were sisters now, after all.

They headed toward the corner to walk the length of the building to the parking lot. As they rounded the corner, Promise swore something in the air changed, an odd electric tingling that made her skin prickle with awareness.

“Do you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Isolde asked.

An engine revved suddenly, and Promise looked over her shoulder to see a large SUV careen around the corner toward them. She pushed Isolde away, worried the SUV was going to run onto the curb.

Instead of continuing down the alley, it stopped and the back doors opened. Two males wearing dark clothes lunged at Promise and grabbed her roughly, pulling her toward the vehicle. She screamed and struggled, but the males were far stronger than her.

“Hey! Let her go! Help! Someone help!” Isolde cried out, rushing toward them.

One of the males grabbed Isolde by the throat and lifted her off the ground. “Stay out of this.”

“Leave her alone!” Promise shouted.

The other male punched Promise in the face and her vision blurred as pain coursed through her. Her wolf let out a howl of panic as she was shoved backward toward the SUV. “No! No!” Promise yelled, struggling to get away. “Isolde!”

The male holding Isolde tossed her to the sidewalk. Promise tried to get out of the SUV but she was shoved back and then bracketed on either side by the males who’d grabbed her. She tasted blood from being punched, her upper lip split and the front of her face aching.

“Hand over your phone or I’ll take it from you,” one of the males said as the SUV raced down the alley.

She was tempted to play dumb, but she was at their mercy and scared to pieces. Digging her phone from her front pocket, she handed it over. He rolled the window down and tossed it.

“Hey!” she shouted.

She looked over her shoulder as the SUV turned the corner and the alley disappeared from view. She saw Isolde getting to her feet and running after them, her phone to her ear.

She was calling Artem, Promise was sure of it. Or the police first and then Artem.

Turning slowly around, she said, “What do you want with me?”

The person in the front passenger seat turned and stared at her with an unnerving, calm gaze.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked after what felt like the longest pause on the planet.

“No.”

She could see the scenery blurring by as they left town. She remembered seeing a gas station as she entered Little Hope when she first arrived and they’d just passed it.

Where the hell were they taking her?

“My name is Nero. Perhaps your mate told you about me?”

She tried to school her features so she didn’t reveal anything, but she knew she failed when his calm gaze turned smug.

“I’m sorry you were hit, I told my men not to hurt you.” He let out a short growl and the male who’d punched her lowered his head.

Promise recognized that Nero was a wolf shifter and powerful. He was middle-aged, with the hard look that came from a male who’d been fighting for everything he’d ever had and didn’t mind taking out anyone who got in the way.

She’d known he was dangerous from what her mate had told her, but she’d been worried about Artem, not herself. It never occurred to her that she might be taken.

“So what do you want with me?” she asked, folding her arms.

“Your mate made a mistake. He thought he could walk away from the league, but no one leaves without consequences.”

“You ran him over with a car. I’d say that’s a decent consequence.”

A smile curled the corner of Nero’s lips. “Perhaps, however, he’s still valuable to me as a fighter. I make quite a bit of money anytime The Bull, fights.”

She arched a brow at the nickname. Not very clever.

“If you want me to call him, you shouldn’t have had your goon toss my phone out the window.”

“I don’t need your phone, I can contact him myself.”

“Then what am I doing here?” She had an idea of what they wanted her for, as bait to force Artem to come fight. A knot formed in her stomach, her wolf growling in worry.

“You have a gift, Promise. And yes, I know your name. I know quite a bit about you.” Nero smiled. “You and your healing abilities.”

She frowned. “You want me to heal someone for you?”

He hummed. “Perhaps. But also, you and your healing could make Artem unstoppable in the ring.” He paused again, which was beginning to get on her nerves. Then he continued, “And if he won't fight willingly... perhaps the right incentive will change his mind."

“You think Artem will do whatever you want because you kidnapped me?”

“He will if he cares about you, which I suspect he does going by that mating mark on your neck. If he doesn’t do what I want, then I will still have use of you. A healing wolf is very remarkable, my fighters would be invincible.”

The SUV came to a stop at an old warehouse. She didn’t know where they were, but she suspected it was where the fights were held.

The male on her left got out and held out his hand. She stared at it, looking past him to see if she might make a run for it.

“If you run, the punch earlier will seem like a pleasant dream,” he said, voice dark and eyes flashing amber.

“You don’t have to be an ass,” she said. She touched her face gingerly, where pain still throbbed. She could feel blood under her nose and used her shirt-sleeve to gently wipe it off. Her eyes watered as she brushed her nose with her fingers as even the lightest of touches hurt. She got out of the SUV and wobbled a little as a dizzy spell made her world turn upside down and spin like a carousel. Her head throbbed as much as her face where she’d been punched. The male’s hand shot out to steady her and she slapped it away, leaning against the open door until the dizziness passed.

They walked inside the warehouse. The air was thick with the scents of old blood and sweat. It was a large open space with a big ring in the center and metal bleachers on three sides. Above was a second story that reminded her of the boxes at sports stadiums. She remembered Artem telling her that Nero watched the fights from an enclosed room.

Nero stepped close to her. His voice was low and laced with danger that made her wolf uneasy. “Now, behave. You will keep Artem in line and fighting, and you will heal whoever I want you to heal. If Artem steps out of line…well, I don’t really need him, I just need you.”

Nero let the threat linger between them. It wasn’t Artem who was irreplaceable, it was her, which meant Artem’s life was the one in danger. Her eyes stung, but she refused to cry in front of him. He nodded and the males grabbed her by the upper arms and took her to a small room. They pushed her inside and she stumbled, catching herself on the stone wall. The door swung shut and locked quickly, and she was alone in the room with only a cot and a bare bulb swinging from the ceiling. She scanned the room and was glad she was alone.

Stark, cold fear washed over her and she sat on the cot, the legs squeaking as she settled on it. She was alone, at the mercy of a male who saw her as a tool—not just to bring Artem back to fight but also to heal on command.

The fear felt like a wave and she had a moment where she tottered on the edge of a full-blown panic attack, but then she felt her wolf let out a single, low growl in her mind.

Artem was going to come for her.

They were marked mates, and he would find her.

He had to know by now that she’d been taken and he would know that Nero was behind the abduction. Hell, he might even suspect he knew where she was right now.

She rubbed her eyes and pushed away the fear.

She was ridiculously outnumbered and out of her depths. She’d been taught by her dad to fight in her shift when she’d been old enough, and she knew how to throw a punch and protect herself if the need arose. But the reality was that she was surrounded by males who fought for a living and her mate, who was the fiercest male she’d ever met in her life, considered these males unhinged and dangerous.

Even if she could get out of the room she was locked in, what could she do if the males decided to hurt her to keep her in line?

She was better off keeping her head down and biding her time. If she could escape, she would. But either way, she knew in her heart that Artem would come for her.

He would get her free and they’d figure out how to get Nero to leave them alone for good.

But first, Artem had to find her.

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