Chapter 14
Callie had been brought straight down to what she could only
describe as an underground prison, where Colt had chained her to a wall with
her arms above her head. She didn’t know why, but she got the feeling it was
hard for him to do it. He wouldn’t look her in the eye, or answer any of her
questions as to why Marcus wanted her. She knew he had killed her parents, but
she was too young at the time to familiarise herself with his scent or features.
Her eyes were sore from crying and her arms hurt from being
pulled up by the chains. The position made it impossible for her to change into
her wolf as she would risk breaking a leg and, if she was hurt, she feared she
would never get out of this place. Logan would come for her, she kept telling
herself. Even though he didn’t want her as a mate, the others would convince
him to fight. That’s what happens in a pack, right?
‘Yes,
’ spoke her
wolf,
‘
he will come for you. Don’t worry. He is stubborn, but his
love will show through.’
Her wolf had been trying to reassure her that help was on its
way, but even to her own mind she heard doubt underneath her wolf’s words. The
place smelt of stale blood and bleach and she almost wished someone would come
get her before she was sick from the stench. This room was used for one thing
only and it made her stomach turn. Torture and death. She felt the tears
stinging her eyes again, but before she could dwell on anything the door
clinked open and in walked the man she hadn’t ever wanted to see again. Marcus.
‘Well, my little one, are you not a difficult girl to get
hold of?’ Marcus sneered at her. ‘For your size, though, you are not easily
missed.’ She knew she shouldn’t let his words hurt her, but she couldn’t help
her own insecurities rising to the surface. Colt had followed his father into
the room and sat on a large, stone bed, looking so casual that Callie had to
wonder about his part in all this. She was beginning to think she was wrong and
that he had, in fact, wanted her here as much as Marcus did.
‘What to do with you first?’ continued Marcus, walking
slowly around her. ‘It’s hard to believe you’ve escaped me for so long. Did you
really think that mating yourself to a Penn wolf would make you safe? Then
again, Colt told me the mate wasn’t complete. Logan didn’t want a nasty fat
whore like you!’
‘Fuck you,’ Callie snarled at him without thought. Marcus
smashed her face with the back of his hand so hard that she swore she would
have passed out. Had she been human, it would have broken her neck.
‘Just because it took so long to get you, don’t think I
won’t kill you for disrespecting me, you
silly
girl!’ He sniffed along
her jaw, rubbing his face against hers. ‘Your smell of fear is making my wolf
pace with excitement,’ he continued, in a low, menacing voice. ‘The things I
could do to make your fear stronger... Perhaps a little pain will ease my angry
wolf before I have my fun with you. Although you’re not for me, my pack has
certainly a need for a new chew toy to play with.’ Callie couldn’t help but
inhale his thick breath. Waves of nausea swept over her and she was trying hard
not to pass out. The last thing she needed was to be unconscious while in the
hands of this sicko.
‘Why me?’ she gasped. ‘I’ve never seen you before you
attacked us that night.’ Callie’s voice was rough from crying and her fear
spiked as she watched him think for an explanation. Did she really need to know
why he killed her parents?
‘Never seen me before?’ he replied. ‘Well, I suppose you
might not remember, as you were so young. That night, when I saw you with your
friend out dancing, I knew. And then, in your apartment, the scent of your fear
confirmed it for me. Your mother had the same smell before I disembowelled her.
Of course, your father tried to save her, but he was no match for me.’ Marcus
had walked to a bench lined with sharp blades and selected a small scalpel. Callie’s
shaking legs were barely holding her up. ‘I wonder if you scream like her as
well?’ Before Callie could answer, he drew a line with the scalpel down across
the top of her breast. She winced, but didn’t scream as he wanted. She wouldn’t
rise to him.
‘You’re sick,’ she said. ‘Why did you kill my parents?’ She
closed her eyes as he came at her with the scalpel again. She felt the red hot
pain across her other breast as her warm blood trickled beneath her T-shirt.
‘Sweet Callie. They may have been your parents, but they
were never your mother and father, truly. You see, the woman who was your true birth
mother thought to hide you away from me. I soon taught her that she couldn’t
get away with that. I have what’s mine and you, my dear, are mine. Blood,
through and through.’
Callie couldn’t think. Her whole world was spinning. Her
mother and father had not been her true parents? What was he talking about? He
hit her again across the same cheek and she felt the crunch of bone. This time,
her legs gave way as her arms pulled against the chains.
‘Pay attention, you stupid bitch. If you pass out before I’m
done with you I promise you won’t like what you wake up to.’ Marcus pulled her
head up so she could stand, while she managed to brace her legs and keep her
eyes open.
‘Logan, please, if you can hear me. I love you, please come for
me,’
she begged in her mind. She would walk away from him, let him live his
life as he wanted and mate who he wanted, as long as he came for. She didn’t
want to die alone here with this man.
‘You see,’ went on Marcus, ‘my whore of a wife couldn’t keep
me from you. Oh, she tried by hiding you with another family, but I soon found
you and she paid for what she did. I couldn’t have some strangers raising what
should have been mine. When I found you living with them I knew, in that moment
when I saw your eyes flash blue, that you belonged to me. It’s a unique trait
amongst our family spanning back generations, you see. Blue eyes instead of
amber – did you never question why you were different? I have to say, though,
I’m disappointed by how you turned out. A breeding bitch like you should have
taken better care of herself.’
Marcus cut up the length of her shirt to revel her bra. In
that moment, it all clicked. He wanted to use her to breed with other members
of the pack to keep his race going. Her eyes met those of Colt’s before she
passed out into blackness.
Chapter 15
Colt stared in disbelief at his father. The woman hanging
from the chains was his sister, and he had brought her straight to hell in the
form of Marcus, their father.
‘What did you do?’ Colt roared. ‘You can’t be serious as to
think she’s yours.’ He still couldn’t get his head around the fact his mother
had had another baby, but hidden her from his father.
‘We are strong wolves by nature,’ replied Marcus. ‘Generations
of strong, vicious wolves. But, thanks to your mother’s whoring ways, she
forced my hand and now we need new wolves to raise. You refuse to fuck anything
I bring you, so my next alternative is to use her for a breeding bitch. This
pack will become strong once again, once I teach them the way forward.’ He was
just about to cut through Callie’s bra as she hung limply from the wall. Colt
felt his wolf rise to the surface as he bit down the bile in his throat. His
sister, at the hands of his father.
‘You can’t be serious?’ said Colt, watching his father’s
every move.
‘I may have to force a few of the wolves to fuck her,’
continued Marcus, ignoring Colt, ‘as she is not quite the beauty your mother
was. Maybe a few weeks without food will trim her down before I let them have
her. Hand me the large knife and I’ll cut her jeans off. A naked bitch will
have more appeal than one they have to undress. We’ll lay her out, that way
anyone who wants her can take her.’
‘Are you out of your fucking mind?’ shouted Colt. ‘She’s
your daughter and you’re just going to hand her over to the pack?’ Then it hit
him with full force. ‘That’s why Mum hid her from you. She knew you would want
to breed her with the pack.’ Colt’s head was spinning. ‘Jesus fucking Christ,
you’re sick.’ Marcus slapped him so hard he flew across the room, slamming into
the wall. Marcus watched him for a moment before reaching to undo the locks on Callie's
chains and heaved her on the stone table.
He turned to look at Colt again. ‘Don’t you
ever
speak to me like that again. I am your father and, as your alpha, you will
respect me. Your mother was a whoring bitch. She served her purpose and
produced two heirs. She didn’t deserve to be in my bloodline, and after her
betrayal she tried to leave me. I taught her what would happen if she ever left
me. No one ever leaves me. She did try, though, after she knew I had found the
daughter. She promised if I didn’t search for her anymore she would stay.’
He started ripping Callie’s jeans from her lifeless form as
Colt searched for his own weapon. He had to get her out of there. His father
would never let her go.
‘I slit her throat like the waste of space she was,’ said
Marcus angrily. ‘Told you she had run away and left you, whilst you snivelled
your life away. I tried to bring you gifts to perk you up, but you refused
every fucking one of them. You disappointed me. I had hoped you would one day
lead this pack, but you’re too weak to lead – to emotional, like your mother.’ His
eyes never left Callies’ exposed breasts. ‘The others she will breed will more
than make up for how useless you are.’
Colt stopped in his tracks when he heard what Marcus had
done to his mother. He knew his father was sick, but didn’t until this point
realise how unhinged he had become. He hoped his father’s insanity didn’t run
through his own blood. How
could
he have killed his mother? His head was
spinning, but he knew he had to get Callie to safety, but how or where he
didn’t know.
Penn Lake was too obvious, as Marcus would stop at nothing
to find her and he knew Logan didn’t want her for a mate. He could hide her
away somewhere else until he knew he could beat his father in a challenge. Right
now, however, he felt sick and his world was spinning out of control. He didn’t
have the strength to think, let alone beat his father as alpha.
He searched the room and saw the thick chains from the stone
bed hanging loose. If he could wrap them around Marcus long enough he could get
Callie safely from the room. He had to work quickly before Marcus took to his
wolf form, as he would be almost unstoppable then. With him carrying Callie, he
wouldn’t make it far.
Colt collected his wits and wrapped the chains around his
hands, which clenched tightly into fists. Marcus was too pre-occupied with
Callie to notice the noise of the metal. Before he could think further, Colt
swung his fists hard against Marcus’s temple before jumping behind him and
securing the chains around his body. He pulled as tight as he could; he heard
bone crunching and guessed it to be his father’s ribs breaking. Marcus roared
in fury and struggled against the chains. However, Colt’s only thought was to get
out alive.
He snapped the lock into place and kicked Marcus across the
room to the furthest point he could go. Then, spinning around, he picked Callie
up in his arms and he ran, making sure he shut and locked the door behind him. He
could hear the angry snarls of Marcus’s wolf struggling to break free from the
chains. His heart beat fast in his chest and, for the first time in his life,
he was running scared with a precious cargo in his hands.
He made it to the gardens before he heard the piercing howl of
his father’s wolf, but he could tell he was still locked in the dungeon underground
as the sound was faint. Colt kept running through the gardens towards the main
gate; however, as he turned the corner, he came face to face with one huge, very
pissed-off Logan Penn.
‘She got hurt and she passed out,’ he said quickly. ‘We need
to get her to safety before my father gets out.’ Logan snatched Callie into his
arms and snarled at Colt.
‘You fucking touch her again and I’ll rip your hand off,’ he
barked. ‘Run, before I kill you!’ His eyes were amber, but he never took his
eyes off Callie.
‘I mean it, Logan,’ said Colt, panicking. ‘Run, before he
gets out. RUN!’ Colt had not envisaged running into any of the brothers. As far
as he was concerned, however, Logan was too pissed off to fight right now and
his rescue mission was complete. He would run and lay low in order to work
through a plan.
Chapter 16
Logan had run the length of the driveway, with Seth and Cal
right behind him. The others were fighting Marcus’s pack at the main gate. He
had just turned the corner when he nearly slammed into Colt carrying one bloody
and naked Callie. He was just about to rip him limb from limb when he
registered what Colt was telling him. She was hurt but he had somehow got her away
from Marcus and warned him to run. His rage was too much for him to control now
that his wolf was surfacing. He couldn’t remember what he had said to Colt, but
all he wanted was to get Callie to safety.
‘Hold on, baby, we’ll get you home and safe.’ He kissed her
head as he spun round and ran towards the main gates. Seth and Cal were right
in front of him when they saw he had Callie in his arms.
‘Well, that was the quickest rescue mission I’ve ever been
on,’ Cal laughed. By now, Marcus’s wolves had had enough and had made their
escape.
However, Logan ran straight past them. ‘She’s hurt,’ he
called out urgently. ‘Colt just handed her over to me. Told me to run and I
didn’t need telling twice.’
Seth and Cal caught up with him. He just needed to get her safely
in the vehicle so he could look at her wounds and see what the sick prick had
done to her. Her scent let him know she hadn’t been raped, which had calmed his
wolf. He knew he wouldn’t have kept it together if she had been taken by force.
‘It could be a trap, Logan,’ warned Seth. ‘I don’t like how
easy that was.’ He had voiced his concern, but they pressed on towards the gate.
Logan had not thought of it being a set-up, but he didn’t care. His mate was
hurt and she needed him.
Once they reached the gate they saw James, one of the
younger wolves, waiting for them in the truck. Another wolf, Jake, was in the
truck bed holding a cloth to his bleeding neck. He couldn’t see any of the
others and he hoped they had made it safely away. James saw them coming and
opened the back doors ready for Logan to jump in with Callie. There was no way
he would release her from his arms now. After they were all in, James turned
the truck around and sped out towards the main road and home.
After a long while, Seth finally spoke to Logan
‘How is she doing?’ Logan hadn’t known how much time had
passed; he just kept Callie tucked tightly in her arms, watching her chest move
up and down as she breathed. He had at some point covered her with his T-shirt,
but his rage-induced haze had passed and he was starting to think more clearly.
‘She has two cuts on her chest that look like knife cuts,’
he replied, ‘and a huge bruise forming on her cheek. I think her cheek bone is
broken, but won’t know till she sees the healer.’ He gently placed a kiss on
her forehead. ‘Jesus, Seth, I don’t even remember what happened. I saw Colt
running away from the house with her and I just saw red. She was naked and in
his arms and I could smell her blood. I don’t even remember if I beat him or
not. All I remember is running towards the car needing to get her out of there.’
He had never been so scared. ‘Wake up Callie, baby.’
‘It doesn’t make any sense why he would take her, then hand
her back,’ replied Seth. ‘Something’s not right. We’ll just have to wait till
she wakes up and then find out what went on in that house.’
‘Leave her alone,’ Logan snarled at his brother. ‘She’ll
talk to me when she is ready. Don’t hound her.’ Seth flashed his amber eyes at
Logan, who felt the alpha power swirling around his brother.
‘Whoa guys,’ laughed James. ‘I’m trying to drive here and I
want to make it home in one piece.’
‘Sorry, James,’ replied Seth. ‘But emotions are running high.
Just get us back to the ferry. Have you heard from the others?’
‘Not yet. Jake was the worst injured as far as I saw, but
he’ll live. The others were standing guard in the forest in case they ran. They
would have seen me drive past, so they are probably on their way home now.’
‘Thanks James, for all you did.’
‘Callie’s a pack member now, Seth,’ replied James. ‘We look
after our own. I’d like to think you would come after me if ever I was taken by
a psycho!’
‘Of course we would.’ Seth put his hand on the young wolf’s
shoulder and squeezed. He was proud of his pack today and he would make sure they
all knew it. ‘Let’s get her home and assess the damage. She’ll be okay. I think
she’s just in shock. But we do need to find out what happened, Logan. I’m know you’re
not happy about it, but we need to know what happened and why Colt just passed
her over. Something’s not right and if it’s a trap I don’t want to put anyone
in danger. I want to know their next move before it happens. Shit,’ he said
angrily, as the thought came to him, ‘they always seem to know our every move.’
Logan knew Seth was right, but he didn’t want to let Callie
out of his sight. It was dark now and a lot had happened over the last twenty-four
hours.
‘I’m sorry we fucked up with your flowers, Seth.’ Seth
laughed at his comment
‘No worries, man. I’m just glad we have her back, and I’m
pretty sure your balls will be safe from Sarah once she realises Callie’s okay.
The flowers can wait. We are already married by wolf laws, so a piece of paper
won’t make any difference.’ Seth chuckled as they headed home.
Once back on the island, they took her straight to Logan's
home, which Logan had insisted on, even though Sarah had made it clear she
wanted Callie home with her. Logan, however, wouldn’t let her out of his sight
and his home was the one place he could keep her safe.
Sarah had washed her wounds and dressed her in another one
of Logan’s shirts. The healer had confirmed she was fine, but to let her rest
and to call her back once Callie had woken. Logan desperately wanted her to
wake up so he could tell her he loved her. He knew for sure the moment he had
seen Colt carrying her out. He would never again doubt it, but he knew he had a
long way to go to prove it to her.
She was sleeping on his bed and he was curled next to her. He
had sent the others home to get some rest, as all of them had been awake for over
twenty-four hours and they were all shattered. He kissed her lips and pulled
her gently against his body to feel her warmth, before he shut his eyes and
felt sleep drag him under.