Ignoring me, he just kept walking deeper into the trees and farther away from Adrik.
I screamed again, as loudly as I could, trying to draw attention from someone.Anyone who might hear.
My captor halted abruptly, tossing me to the ground.
I slammed to the earth with a painful thud, my butt stinging from the fall. I glared up at him.
“Whoareyou? What do youwantme with me?”
“Right now, I want you to shut the fuck up. Or I’ll cut your tongue out and silence you for good.”
I clamped my mouth shut. It occurred to me then that he could have shot Adrik, but instead he’d just knocked him out. And he could have killed me, but instead he’d kidnapped me.
That was good. It meant Adrik had time to wake up and come after me. It meant I had time to try to figure out a way to escape.
It meant my captor had some kind of devious plan.
I didn’t want to think about why he hadn’t killed me or what he planned to do with me. Right now, I was alive, and I needed to stay that way.
So, I would cooperate. For the time being. Maybe I could get him to talk. Tell me what he wanted and why he was doing this.
“I’ll be quiet,” I whispered.
He grunted, his dark gaze sweeping over me with contempt. “You’re lucky I changed my plans, or you’d already be dead. I was originally going to gut you and hang you from a tree by your entrails for your family to find you.”
I flinched, my stomach churning at the coldness in his words.
“But then I saw the Beast,” he went on, “and everything changed. Now you’re just a pawn in this battle of wolves.” He bared his teeth at me in a snarl through the opening in the mask.
I shuddered. This guy was mentally unstable. I couldfeelhis mania. Who was he and what did he want? How did he know Adrik? Through the Bratva or somewhere else?
He bent, his fingers digging into my waist, and tossed me over his shoulder once again. Marching off, he headed into the dark forest.
This time, I remained silent, my mind whirling as I tried to figure out who he could be. My family had plenty of enemies, but I wasn’t privy to the Bratva’s associations, so I came up blank.
About fifteen or twenty minutes later, we came out of the forest.
I tensed, unable to see much while I dangled over his back, but the crunch of gravel beneath his feet told me we’d reached the road.
He opened the door to a vehicle parked on the side of the road and dumped me onto the seat. I scrambled back, watching as he fumbled with something on the floorboard. He lifted something to his mouth, then—rip!—tore it with his teeth. Before I realized what he was doing, he slapped duct tape over my mouth.
“Good thing you’re crippled,” he said, his words filled with menace. “I don’t have to worry about you running away.” He let out an evil cackle that made my skin crawl.
Grabbing my hands, he wrapped duct tape around my wrists, then shoved me away from him and slammed the door.
My heart pounding, I waited until he was walking toward the driver’s side, then fumbled for my door handle.
He slid behind the wheel and started the engine.
Casting a quick glance in the rearview mirror at me, he put the vehicle in drive.
I waited a few seconds until he was distracted by the road in front of him, then lifted my bound hands toward the door, quietly pulling at the handle.
It lifted, unlatching.
With a final glance at my captor, who was watching the road in front of him, I quietly leaned into the door. It fell open and I tumbled out of the car, bracing myself as I crashed to the ground.
I winced in pain, my shoulder taking the brunt of the fall. I lay still for several moments, breathing through my nose, watching the car’s taillights getting farther and farther away.