Amy’s in trouble. The strippers at Howlers tied her up, and now they’re taking her somewhere.
Amy nodded, tears in her eyes, and elbowed the man carrying her in the neck as hard as she could. He cursed and shifted his grip on her, shaking her roughly as another man grabbed her hands to keep them still.
Tina’s phone buzzed as Anthony replied. Follow her and don’t get caught.
Oh, of course, she thought. Easy as pie. Just follow the kidnappers down a hallway with no cover. Don’t get caught.
Tina took a deep breath and pushed down her fear. She could do this. Sure, she might have been just a human, but all she had to do was follow along. She could manage that. She had to manage that.
She craned her neck, listening for footsteps, but could only hear the shuffling of boots as the kidnappers disappeared down the hall. When the sound of their movement faded, Tina peeked out in time to see them push their way through a door at the far end. The blond man in the back of the pack paused and spun on his heel. Heart hammering, Tina barely slipped her head back inside the Sapphire Room before his eyes could land on her.
She held her breath, waiting for the scuffle of boots in the hallway and the inevitable chuckle as he caught her. But nothing happened. Instead, the door at the end of the hall clicked shut, and everything went silent.
For several moments, Tina forced herself to wait just in case they were watching, but after ten excruciatingly long seconds of painful silence, she couldn’t take it anymore. She tentatively peeked around the doorframe to find an empty hallway. With no time to lose, she darted toward the door they had used and, doing her best not to make a sound, gently opened it.
A stairwell stretched down to the floor below, the walls lined with gray stone and frosted sconces instead of the white drywall she was expecting to find.
“You goddamn bastards!” Amy screamed, her voice echoing up the staircase.
Guess she got the gag off.
Tina stole down the steps, back pressed to the wall as she squinted into the dimly lit hallway at the bottom of the stairs. More stone. More sconces. No kidnappers.
Each step down the stairwell reminded her of walking into a castle dungeon. Though she expected a shifter or monster in every doorway, there was nothing but eerie silence.
That scared her more. After all of Amy’s struggling, it was now too quiet.
Tina peeked through the first open door to find a bland meeting area, complete with a whiteboard and a table. If it weren’t for the stone walls, it would have looked like any other bland office space.
But there was no Amy. No kidnappers.
Room after room sat empty. A few others were locked, but since no noises came through the doors, she ignored them and turned the corner. Once again, the hallway was filled with doors. Creeping forward, she peered into the first room.
A glittering pool of water sat in the middle of the vast space, with ornately carved stone pillars every six feet along the walls. Stepping stones led to a marble slab in the center of the small pond and the sight of it made a chill run down Tina’s spine.
This place made her think of sacrifices and rituals, of dark magic and blood.
“Well, nothing here …” she mumbled to herself, and as she started to take a step back, she heard voices at the far end of the hall. “Dammit!”
Dread sank clear to her toes as she glanced around the room, desperate for somewhere to hide. Her eyes settled on the three sets of double doors on the left wall.
“Well, here goes nothing,” she said, dashing toward the first set of double doors and pulling them open to find a small closet lined with shelves and brown boxes. Perfect. She hurried inside and pulled the doors nearly closed.
Through the small gap in the doors, Tina watched the three men from earlier carry Amy into the room. They now wore silver robes that revealed their hard chests through gaps in the loose fabric. Amy moaned as they placed her on the table, her hands and legs still bound. The sight made her want to punch them in their stupid furry faces.
No one hurt her best friend.
Gripping her phone, she quickly texted Anthony instructions on how to find the altar room. As she waited for his reply, her gaze shifting nervously from her phone to Amy’s body on the altar and back.
“She still smells like that human,” one of the men said with a laugh. “It’s overpowering.”
“It would have been nice to have a bit of fun with her too,” a second piped in with a sneer. “I bet she’s great in the sack.”
Tina growled despite herself, her grip tightening around her phone.
“Shut up, both of you,” the third man snapped. “We’re being paid a shitload to get this done, and the boss isn’t going to be forgiving if we screw it up. Focus.” His lips curled into a sneer. “Besides, we all know that human will come looking for her tomorrow. You can get your rocks off with her then.” He licked his lips. “After all, we’re not supposed to have witnesses …”
A sickening realization crashed over Tina. Someone had paid them to kidnap Amy and do something awful to her, but what’s more, they were talking about killing Tina, too. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Not if she could help it.
Her free hand shifted to the werewolf mace, ready to whip it out. It wouldn’t be enough to deter these massive guys for very long, but she wouldn’t let them hurt Amy. Besides, she didn’t need to stop them. She just needed to buy Anthony enough time to get here.
Gripping her mace tightly, she waited, watching the men for an opening. That’s when the door to the hallway slammed shut, and Tina stifled a gasp of surprise as two more men in suits stepped into the altar room from the hallway. With their hands clasped behind their backs, it took a second for Tina to realize what they were doing.
They were guarding the entrance, and something told her the dinky little bottle of werewolf mace wouldn’t be enough. The mace had felt inadequate before, but now … No. She couldn’t think like that. She just had to wait. Opportunity would present itself.
With a nervous glance at her phone, she debated ignoring Amy’s request not to call Mr. Saunders. A pissed off father was better than—well, Tina didn’t know what these men were going to do to her friend, but it couldn’t be good.
By the altar, the three werewolf shifters began to chant in unison, speaking in a language Tina didn’t recognize. Their deep voices reverberated off the bare walls, and as they called out, the water at their feet began to churn, causing frothy bubbles to splash onto the stone floor.
A strange humming filled the air, slowly at first, but the sensation built into an overpowering vibration that shook the very walls. The closet doors began to slowly inch open, so Tina had to let go of her mace and grab them to stay hidden.
As Tina readjusted herself so she could remain hidden, Amy began to glow. White light slowly washed over her skin causing every inch of her to shimmer.
Tina’s phone buzzed, and Anthony’s name popped up on her screen. There will be a distraction in five minutes. When it comes, grab Amy and get to the car out front.
I’m not sure we have that long, she confessed in her reply. These guys are chanting, and Amy is starting to glow.
A moment of silence. Then, her phone buzzed again. Two minutes. We’re coming.
Tina pocketed her phone and grabbed her mace, ready to jump out the moment this mysterious distraction appeared. Eyes on Amy, she itched to race out early, to stop these assholes from hurting her friend.
But she waited. She had to. Solo, she didn’t stand a chance.
The sound of gunshots filled the air as the men beside the doorway screamed. The two guards ripped open the door and charged outside, slamming it behind them as two more gunshots fired in the hall. Tina flinched at the painfully loud booms, heart skipping beats as she gripped her mace tightly. This was it ...
At the altar, the chanting slowed. Two of the shifters tilted their heads toward the exit, but the third frowned. “Keep going. We’re almost done.”