Heart's Desire

Chapter 35 - Kit

Pain calls me slowly back to consciousness, burning in my shoulders and back, and throbbing like the beat of a hammer in my skull. My eyelids are sticky and crusted with dried tears, and I crack them open to find myself staring at a dusty wooden floor. I lie face down, my ankles bound with rope, my hands cuffed behind my back, and when I try to move, a loop of chain tightens around my throat.

Biting back a groan, and trying not to choke myself, I sit up carefully and look around. I'm in a plain room with peeling walls and bare floors. The ceiling is cracked and water-stained, and a window with a broken pane is propped open with a stick. A large bed with an iron frame occupies most of the space, and the only other furnishing is a rickety wooden chair, set in one corner.

Raising myself to my knees, I peer over the top of the bed and see three figures lying asleep on the unadorned mattress, side by side. A cry of relief escapes me at the sight of them — Julian and the little twins — and as I scramble around the side of the bed, I lose my balance and topple back to the floor in my eagerness to get to them.

Struggling upright again, I wince as the chain pulls against my throat, and cough hoarsely as I call their names. They don't respond, but someone else does, and my heart quickens with fear as footsteps approach from whatever lies beyond the single, closed door.

It opens, and Martin appears, his eyes widening as he sees me awake.

"Kit!" he exclaims, moving towards me. "Are you—"

"Get away from me!" I gasp, losing my balance and falling back against the wall with a thump.

He stops, his eyes filled with a torment of guilt.

I glare up at him. "What have you done?"

He flinches. "It's just a mild sedative. They'll be fine."

My breath whistles in my throat, restricted by the press of the chain. I lift myself a little and try to give it more slack. It's bound to the shackles at my wrists, and I can only raise them so high behind me, my shoulders protesting at the strain. I understand the purpose is to keep me from shifting to fox form; if I did so in this position, I'd break my back.

"Where are we?" I wheeze.

Martin's face twists with mixed emotions. He looks like he wants to help me, but stays where he is.

"An old abandoned ranch, outside our territory. I had no choice, Kit," he says, spreading his hands helplessly. "Elena has the kids. She said she'd take them to her brother's Pack, and I'd never see them again. She said everyone here would die unless I did what she said."

"I don't understand," I whisper, having gotten myself upright again. "How does kidnapping us help?"

"You know how powerful the Dire is," Martin says miserably. "Elena told me. Dane doesn't stand a chance. If he fights him, he'll be killed. And the rest of us would have fought, too, but we're outnumbered five to one. Elena said if we gave the Dire what he wants, he'll leave the rest of us alone."

"What he wants?"

Martin glances at Julian and the twins. "This territory, and the power that comes with it. With his mate and children hostage, Dane will surrender without a fight. It will be painful and shameful, but at least we'll all survive."

A chill goes through me. "You can't believe that. And if Elena really does, she's wrong. Martin — listen to me: if Dane surrenders, Ferrault will kill him in cold blood. He'll kill your parents, too, and anyone else he sees as a threat. You think that Monty would bow to him? Or Freya?" I shake my head as best I can. "Julian and I will be Prey for the Hunt, and the twins..."