Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
Adira
Pain zaps through me even as I feel as if I’m in the world’s hottest sauna.
Arms under me. Deep voices.
Where am I?
The bright lights burrow beneath my eye lids. I whimper, turning my face and burying it into the hard pillow that smells of cedar and… man?
Oh, it’s a chest.
I’m laying on a cloud. A cloud in hell. I’m so fucking hot.
“She’s close. What the hell was she doing this far from home close to her heat?”
That accent. Am I… in Ireland?
“It’s irresponsible at the least. If she was mine, I’d have her ass up over my knee after she was out of her haze,” a growly voice says.
“...no pack…”
“...we’ve done an emergency heat before…” This voice is deep but worried.
The other voices don’t have any accent. Maybe not magically overseas then.
As the conversation goes on, I realize I should probably wake up. Or something.
I struggle to get upright, and deep rumbles surround me. Big hands on my arms.
“Easy, pup, easy.”
“...just lay down, omega…”
“Baby girl, relax for us…”
No arguing with this dream.
I lay back and slip away.
What a crazy fucking dream, is my first thought as I wake. I blink and sit up, wincing at the soreness of my muscles.
As my eyes blearily open, my memory snaps back into place.
Where am I?
I take in the giant room. Curtains cover the huge windows, sunlight filtering through the green fabric gently.
I’m in the biggest bed I’ve ever seen. If you could call it a bed.
It’s circular, with a bolster around the edge, filled with pillows of green and purple and about a million blankets of various textures.
A very lightweight one with a floral pattern has been laid over me.
I see my shoulder bag on a table near the unlit fireplace. Several comfy chairs surround it.
The door opens unexpectedly, and I jump, clutching the blanket to me, though I’m fully dressed. My eyes dart, looking for my cane.
“Oh, perfect, we’d hope you would have a lucid phase before your heat fully hits,” the one with an open, friendly face and tight blonde curls says. His big blue eyes suck me in for a minute. He shakes himself, forcing his gaze down.
A big, broad chested guy with shaggy black hair comes in.
It hits me like a ton of bricks.
I have been kidnapped.
“Woah, hey,” I start, hand out as if I could ward them off, “I’m not sure who you think I am, but I swear, no one is paying a ransom.”
“What?” Blondie asks, cute face tilting to the side.
“I’m not rich. You’re not getting…” I trail off.
If they aren’t after money… oh fuck, that’s worse.
Fear dives into me. I am in deep shit.
“Look,” I babble, starting to really panic, “just let me go. I won’t call the police or anything.”
Another man slips into the room, this one with red waves, pale skin. “The police?”
There’s that Irish accent I swore I heard!
He continues, “Easy bird,” his green eyes study me as he eases closer to the bed. “Do you have a pack? An emergency alpha? We could call them.” His head shakes, “But police won’t do shite to help ye.”
I blink hard, trying to make sense of things. A gripping pain hits my lower belly, almost like a terrible period cramp. My hand goes to my middle as my eyebrows furrow. I see the big guy frown and step towards me.
“Stop!” I blurt. “No, I mean… I won’t report you for kidnapping me. Just let me go. Please.”
He slowly slides closer. “Adira,” he says, voice low, “My name is Maddox. This is Gael, and Elias. You’re close to a heat. When was your last one?”
I shake my head, the words finally penetrating the fog around me. “Heat? Alphas? I’m not a were. Or a shifter of any kind.”
He huffs, “Omega, this isn’t the time for joking. Do you have an emergency alpha for this kind of situation?”
I blink hard, licking my lips. “I’m not an omega. My emergency contact is my sister. Give me my phone!”
“Oh, fuck,” an unfamiliar voice says. My gaze snaps up. A tall man with pretty olive skin and gorgeous pale eyes has snuck into the room. He continues, “Is she…?”
Before any of these meatheads can say anything, I respond, “I’m a witch.”
“Shit!” The big guy, I mean, Maddox, swears.
“I am!” I say indignantly. “I’m a bloodline elemental.” I cross my arms under my breasts, insanely annoyed and disconcertingly unconcerned about the kidnapping.
But I pluck at my shirt, warm, as I feel sweat form on my forehead.
A growl emerges from Maddox, “Listen, baby girl, you’re about to faint out again, if I’m reading you right.”
“Don’t you ‘baby girl’ me, you—you kidnapper!”
To my everlasting annoyance, they all chuckle as if I’m adorable.
But before I can read them the riot act, my vision squiggles again and I feel dizzy.
“Gotcha pup,” the blondie, Eli, I recall, says as his gentle arms ease me to the bed even as my eyes close.
Back to the hell cloud, I think unhappily.
But this time, as I drift in and out, I realize I am mind-numbingly horny.
“...I told Fenrir and Ethan we needed to release this news to the public!”
It takes my fuzzy brain a minute to work out who was speaking. That was the big guy. Maddox.
I lose the thread of the conversation.
“How did she awake?”
I’m asleep though.
“...Don’t know. Any clue on what she was doing up north? Probably headed from Whitgard…”
I try to nod but get distracted by how much I want to jill off right now.
They were pretty cute. Maybe I could…
Thankfully, I drop off into oblivion again before I can embarrass myself.
When I next wake, I sit up unevenly. The redheaded guy, Gael, is sitting in an arm chair that has been drug over to be close to me. He’s reading a book which he promptly closes as he sees me.
He hurries and perches on the edge of the bed. “Hey,” he says softly, “How are you feeling?”
“Where’s my phone?” I croak.
He frowns and grabs a glass of water that sits on a table nearby. He holds it up to my lips. I’d argue that I could do it, but I’m not sure I could. I sip slowly.
“Phone’s in your bag. Eli went back to your car and grabbed more of your stuff before he swung by the IGA. He found this?” He holds up my bright green cane, decorated with stickers.
I reach for it even as I tilt my head. “Let me go,” I say bluntly.
“Oh, pup,” he frowns, a sad look on his face. He places my cane on the bed, though. I grab it and hold it to me, in case I need to hit one of them, because I definitely don’t feel steady enough to stand, let alone escape.
I bristle.
“Let me get Mads, he’d be better at explaining this,” he says as he rubs his head.
“Don’t go!” It slips out of my mouth without any intent.
Why the fuck did I say that?
“Alright, alright,” he murmurs reassuringly, hand reaching for mine even as I pull away. He freezes.
However, his voice dives directly into my panties. What the hell.
“I’ll text him instead, he’ll be up shortly.”