「 𝐇𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐲 」

xviii. 🧸

chapter 18

Hadley awoke in a dark bedroom, one that definitely wasn't Pollyanna's house.  he was bound by a chain and sitting on a California King-sized bed.

he could hear voices outside the door.  where could he be?  he only hoped that Pollyanna could find him soon because the place was terrifying.

the door knob turned slowly and in came an intimidating man with sinister eyes.  as he approached with an unsettling smile, Hadley moved away as far as he could with a chain around his ankle.

"no need to be scared, little one.  this'll be your new home, and I'm your new master.  you may as well get used to it.  it'll be easier if you do."

Hadley shook his head while trembling violently.  the man dared to declare himself Hadley's "new master," and he had the stench of death following him everywhere he went.

he was quite literally frozen in fear.

"I have some work I need to finish.  when I come back, I'll play with you."  he reached out to stroke Hadley's cheek. 

suddenly, Hadley felt physically sick.

the door closed with a creak and a click as the lock mechanism snapped into place.  he really was trapped.

"Polly…"

-

Pollyanna was in for the worst surprise of her life.  once again, Hadley had been hybrid-napped.  but it was different than last time Hadley got stolen.  she couldn't smell the perpetrator at all.

and how the hell did he keep getting snatched without waking up!?

Montague and Olive were comfortably cuddled up on the couch when they were startled awake by Pollyanna's frantic banging at the door.

"Polly?  why are you knocking on my door like a maniac??"  Montague's voice was swamped with sleep.

"Hadley!  he's missing!"  she cried.

"I came in from sentry duty this morning and…  I couldn't find him.  but it was different than when you and those goons took him.  there was no sign anyone had been there."

"not even smell?"

"no!  not even.  I just smelled Hadley."

Montague thought for a moment.

"humans can't mask their scent.  and most supernaturals can't either…" he said.

"… what do we do?"  Pollyanna was an emotional wreck.

"let's just brute force it," chimed in Olive.  "if he's still somewhere in the city then we can split up and look in a lot of different places at once.  the outskirts would be likely too.  but I think we should hit the city first."

Pollyanna and Montague nodded.

"right.  thank you Olive.  okay, let's get searching.

many buildings, even the abandoned ones yielded no results.  for the first time in forever, Pollyanna had to use mind erasing to get the people to "agree" to search their homes while Montague and Olive had to use a bit more subtlety.