“Come on. They’re waiting for you,” he said.
“They?” I bristled. “Great. Can’t wait.”
He walked toward the door and waited for me to follow. With a heavy sigh, I followed. My footsteps felt uneasy but I wasn’t about to let on how weak I felt. Between not wanting them to have the satisfaction, I also needed to fake it for myself. If I was going to get out of here, I had to have enough strength to follow through.
We walked down a well-lit hallway lined with photos of the Grant family. Tyler and his parents, baby pictures, first day of school, fishing, camping. All the photos you’d expect to see from a happy family. It was unsettling seeing it here. I knew how dysfunctional it all was, but they sure did put on a good show.
I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Viki. She’d settled to keep herself safe. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake. I didn’t live through hell my whole life to give up now.
We reached a closed door at the end of the hall and I vaguely remembered that it was the bathroom. Faded memories of being dragged here, my arms bound, flooded into my head. So they’d brought me here a few times to pee but I hardly remembered it through the drug induced fog. At least that explained why I wasn’t wearing urine-soaked shorts.
You’d think that knowing I’d been using the restroom would bring me comfort. Instead, it made my chest tighten in fear. If the drugs they gave me had made me so out of it, I was able to walk to the restroom and not remember, what else had they done to me? I was alert enough to walk, but until we went down this hall, I forgot it even happened.
“Go ahead,” Kyle said. “I’ll wait here. There’s no windows in there.”
“What did they give me earlier?” I asked.
Kyle looked confused.
“The drug they shot me with,” I explained. I knew the answer, but I wanted confirmation. “What was it?”
“You know what it was,” he said. “Go. Before they come looking for you.”
Frustrated, I turned the doorknob and entered the bathroom. At least it was empty and I was alone. The problem was, as Kyle had mentioned, there were no windows. With Kyle blocking the exit at the door, there was no way I was going to get out unless I was ready to blow past him and take my chances.
I was still weak from my ordeal. It would be nearly impossible to get past him in my current state. Still, I knew I was going to have to try. It was my best chance.
Hoping the shower might help stimulate my aching and drowsy body, I went ahead and pulled my clothes off and stepped into the tub, pulling the curtain closed behind me.
The hot water was a balm on my aching body. I scrubbed everything, being gentle on the red marks where the bounds had cut into my wrists and ankles.
I hadn’t had a shower since the day I left Wolf Creek. Washing my hair with actual shampoo rather than just rinsing in a lake was a luxury I hadn’t realized I’d missed so much.
The water felt amazing and my body did feel stronger and more alert when I turned off the shower. I took a few deep breaths, going over the plan in my mind one more time.
I was going to dry off, put my clothes back on and then I was going to run. No stopping for anything. I had to get out of the nearest exit.
Now would be an excellent time to connect with me and shift, I told my wolf.
She didn’t respond.
Of course not.
As usual, I was on my own.
I pulled back the shower curtain and grabbed a towel from the wall. Quickly, I dried off, then hung the towel back up. Then my whole plan fell apart.
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
Where did my clothes go?
My pulse raced. They’d grabbed my clothes while I was in the shower and left me with nothing. Fuck me.
Did this mean they were intending on going right to the whole completing the bond thing? This was not my plan.
I had two choices. Run naked or run with a towel around myself.
I looked down at the mark on my hip. I’d nearly forgotten it was there, but I knew it wasn’t going to be overlooked by Tyler. Covering my mark with my palm, I recalled how Alec reacted when he saw it. Everything changed between us in that moment. Had he been planning to betray me the whole time or just after he saw the mark?