CHAPTER SEVEN
Randy woke up on the shop floor. He looked around, trying to remember what happened. The shop was a mess, and the door to the back room was off its hinges.
He tried to stand, and every part of his body hurt, and his head was swimming. Then it came back in a blind rush. They took him, and Myles was gone. He needed to call someone, but he couldn’t call the police.
He dragged himself over to the counter and found the card that the man had given him when he bought the wallet. The man was with Myles’ date, Flint Marsh. Flint would help him. Flint would save him.
It was ringing, and then someone answered. “Is this the man who bought the wallet at Classic Threads?”
"Yes, it is. Who is this?"
"Randy, I need to contact Flint Marsh; it's a matter of life and death."
“He’s right here." The man said, and in the next moment, he was speaking with Flint.
“Hello.”
"They took him, Flint. They attacked us, and they took Myles."
"Put him in the back room, the one with the rats." The man laughed. He was the same man who had hit him, the man who had been assaulting Randy. Myles was roughly taken to a room in the back of this broken-down warehouse, and he was chained to a pipe.
"Stay still and quiet and you might live, but I doubt it." The man laughed and walked out of the room but did not close the door. He stood with the other one, who was seated on the corner of an old, worn metal desk. He was on the phone talking to someone, and he did not look happy.
Myles closed his eyes and tried to calm down.
The man closed his call and then started talking to his friend, but Myles could not hear.
They didn’t tell him why they took him or what they wanted.
They just knocked Randy out and physically dragged Myles from the shop.
His thoughts immediately went to Flint and how he wished that Flint were with him.
It was unlikely that anyone would know he was missing for quite some time, and it was unlikely that these men would just let him go. They wanted something, and whether they got it or not, Myles didn't see himself walking away from this.
He saw both their faces, and they didn’t blindfold him when they brought him to the warehouse. He knew too much, and they didn't care that he knew, and that only meant one thing.
Flint was rushing from the bar and out onto the street with Lazlo right behind him. They didn't have to say anything; the call said everything. Myles was in danger. They reached the car in seconds, and Lazlo tore away from the curb.
“Warehouses on High Street by the water.” Flint had that information from the wolf he’d interrogated.
He saw in the man’s mind that the pack hung out in the warehouse on High Street.
He tried Myles' number several times, but it kept going to voicemail.
His heart was thudding in his chest, and every part of his body was on high alert.
“We’ll get there.” Lazlo felt his fury, "And they will pay."
"And they will pay." Flint reached out with his heart and mind to his beloved. He was alive, he knew that much for sure, but he had no idea what he was going through. The idea that a bunch of low-life bastard wolves and their wannabe alpha took the most precious thing in Flint’s life was turning him inside out with a boiling rage.
He needed to get there and he needed to get there fast.
They slammed the breaks at the entrance to the back section of the row of abandoned buildings and jumped from the car. They were met by two wolves who tried to stop them. Lazlo stood back as Flint tore them to pieces.
"He's here," Flint stated and started running toward the warehouse with Lazlo by his side. He could feel Myles' fear and panic, and it was tearing him apart. They were hurting him; his sweet, innocent beloved was trapped in that warehouse at the mercy of these monsters.
Myles sat stiffly, trying to understand what they were saying. He’d been in that warehouse for well over an hour or more, it felt like forever, and then suddenly voices raised and he caught a few words when the leader, the man who had punched him in the face, started shouting.
"They refused to pay." He punched the wall, putting his fist completely through it, and then pulled back and did it again. He seemed unhinged. The man glanced back over his shoulder at Myles and caught his gaze before Myles could look away. His expression was dark.
Then he smiled and ran at Myles, lunging toward him from the doorway of the small room. Myles tried to cover his head, but it was impossible with his hands bound and chained. The impact was felt, and the pain shot through his body.
“You’re fucking worthless.” The man shouted in his ear and backhanded him as he stood, looking down at him.
This was not going to be good, hopelessness began to take him, until suddenly a light flashed in his mind.
A sense of peace, love, and security enveloped his awareness, and the hopelessness disappeared.
He smiled at the man, and the man took a step back. "What are you smiling at?" He barked.
“He's here, and it's over for you," Myles said the words with a confidence that was rock solid. He was satisfied by the look of unease that crossed the man’s face as he took another step back. There was a disturbance outside screams could be heard.
Another man rushed in, looked at Myles, then knelt, sniffing him strangely, and the mood in the room shifted to panic.
He pulled the neck of Myles' shirt to bare his shoulder, and then their panic turned to terror.
"He's a beloved, you fucking idiot." The man stood and moved away while looking at them, and then the outer room, and then off to the left. He was gauging his chances of escape.
"He's nobody; his parents wouldn't even cough up ten thousand for his life. No one cares about him."
"You're a dead man, Rand. The vampires are here.” He looked around again and then added.
"If we run fast enough and hard enough, we might live another day or two, and that is our best hope.
" With that, he disappeared, and the man in the room with Myles looked at him, disbelieving at first, and then reality began to set in.
“You’re the beloved of a vampire?” His tone was riddled with fear.
“I belong to Flint Marsh Security specialist for Master Nikolas Hadden of the Hadden Coven," Myles said it with pride and conviction, and watched as this man began to crumble before him, no longer the violent bully. “He’s going to kill you.”
The man turned to run, much too late, because Flint was standing at the door looking across the room to Myles.
His eyes were fierce and wild, and touched Myles so deeply he shivered.
"Flint." He said his voice was barely there.
He then turned to the man standing there, and in a flash, they were both gone.
Myles sat there listening to the shouts, the growls and the gasps. The man called Rand was not doing well.
Flint was aghast at the nerve of these shifter pieces of shit.
He saw his beloved chained and injured, and that wolf standing over him, and the rage exploded.
He wouldn't kill him in front of Myles. His poor beloved had witnessed enough violence, but he would kill that fucking monster, so he threw him to the outer room and tossed him hard against the wall.
For an alpha, the guy was not quick or skilled; he was a brute and nothing else. He shifted and tried to attack, but he was off balance, and his anger worked against him instead of feeding his focus like Flint’s.
He let him take several runs at him before grabbing him and pinning him in his wolf form to the floor. Such a thing would be impossible if the man were truly an alpha. This was nothing but a poser, a fake, a bully who used intimidation and others to make him feel tough.
Flink locked eyes with him. “You dare touch what is mine.” He said and drove his fist through his chest and pulled out his heart.
He continued to stare until life faded from his eyes.
He then took him and threw him through the wall of the warehouse.
He wanted him far away from his innocent beloved.
Quickly wiping his hands on his jacket, he ran to his beloved.
Lazlo was there, breaking the chains and helping Myles to his feet.
He left the room with a knowing nod when Flint appeared.
“Flint, you came.” The tears were starting, and Myles ran to him, wrapping himself around Flint, holding him tight.
"I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry I said so many stupid things.
I wanted to go back, but I didn't think I could.
I thought I had to wait because I had made the rules.
" He was rambling, but Flint understood most of it.
He let him ramble, and Flint held him drinking in the sweet hyacinth and the security of having his beloved safe in his arms. "I love you, Flint. Please don't ever leave me."
"I will never leave you, sweetheart. You are my life." Lazlo came to stand behind him.
"Michael and a team of soldiers are taking care of those that are left and doing a complete sweep. There won’t be any wolves from the Rand Pack left alive by nightfall.
It's a good example for other factions and shifters who might think to try and test Master Nikolas Hadden.
" Lazlo then moved away and rejoined the crew, who were sweeping the area.
“Let's go home, my love." Flint picked Myles up in his arms and carried him to the car. He could feel the pain and panic draining away as their connection gave him everything he needed.
He carried him, never letting him down, until they stood in the living room of the apartment. He let him slide down his body until his feet were on the floor, but Flint held him tightly to his body, wrapped in his arms and tucked beneath his chin. "You're home, baby."
“Is this my home, Flint?”