Hooked

Chapter Thirty-One: Giving Up

"Now, Sophie," Will began, walking back to me. "You've found yourself a very persistent man who doesn't seem to understand that you are no longer his possession. We're about to remedy that, but I will need your cooperation."

He stared directly in my eyes and flatted his palm against my neck. "And you will cooperate, Sophie. If you don't, he's as good as dead, and so is his pack. Several of my vampires think they're covert enough to help your 'mate' without my knowledge. I only need to say the word, and they have no choice but to kill him."

"Don't you dare," I gritted out, forcing myself to stay still as he tightened a strap across my waist to hold me down. 

"That's where you come in. I'm aware that phone calls are traceable, and yes, I know Adrian will follow the call to this building, but it won't matter. You'll be too far into your transformation by then for him to have any hope of bringing you back, so that problem is solved. The only thing you, princess, have to do is sit still. If you try to delay this process in any way, your friend is dead before he gets here. Understood?"

Unable to speak, I nodded.

"Good. Then let's begin."

The loud sound of a dial-tone startled me. The projector came to life and reflected Adrian's cell-phone number onto the screen as several more vampires entered the room to stand guard at Will's disposal. 

I couldn't see any of them. All I could think about was hearing Adrian's voice one more time, in case my escape didn't go as planned. I felt myself beginning to shift back; my legs began to separate on their own, and I tried to focus to speed up the process. 

The dial-tone stopped, along with my heart. 

"Hello?"

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Adrian

No one replied. Ethan was already tracing the call, as he always did with unknown numbers, but I felt any hope I had left disappearing. The sick feeling that had progressively gotten worse over the past month intensified again. 

When the reply came, it was so soft that it could have been imagined, but there was no chance in hell that I would have missed it.

"Adrian?"

It was her. Gods be damned, it was her. Sophie was on the other end of this call, and I didn't even have to look at Ethan for him to know that. He was already moving faster, doing anything he could to find her. Kor floored the pedal as soon as Ethan passed him the laptop. 

I wasn't even sure I could speak. Hearing her, knowing she was saying my name, needing me, I almost couldn't process anything. 

"Sophie," I breathed, and I heard something akin to her whimper come through the phone. It made my blood boil, and my mind cleared as fury built up in me. 

"Let her go, you bastard," I said, knowing he was listening. 

I heard his unfamiliar voice and wanted to break something. "Oh, I will. In a few hours, she won't want to go."

Kor pressed heavier on the pedal, and the SUV surged forward. Ten minutes, Ethan mouthed to me, and I swallowed. I had to keep him busy for ten minutes. Ten minutes, and I'd be able to hold my girl again. 

"I highly doubt that," I gritted out. 

"Doubt all you want," the smug bastard replied, "but you'll hear it yourself. You, Adrian, have the honor of listening to her transition."

Transition. He was going to try to make her like him, to replace my Mark with his own. Fury unlike anything I'd ever felt built up inside me. 

Vienna grabbed my arm tightly, digging her nails into my flesh, and forced me to look at her. "You need to calm down, wolf."

As much as I couldn't trust the zamphyr until her maker was dead, she and her friends had proven themselves to be invaluable. She removed her hand and settled back, and Ethan stared at her until she looked back at him and nodded.

"How noble of you. Forcing her to be with you by erasing her entire life." Even as I said it, I felt the sting the idea brought with it. 

"She's already given in," he replied, and my mate said something I couldn't hear. "And in five minutes, she'll get her first bite. I'll even let you choose where you want it to be, wolf, since you've spent so much energy looking for her. Wouldn't want all of that time going to waste, now, would we?" He paused, laughing to himself, and I wanted nothing more than to end his life right then. "Now, Adrian, where should I bite first?"

Despair was beginning to settle into my thoughts. Ethan looked at me and held up two fingers. 

I forced myself to keep talking. "You think I'm going to let you turn my mate into one of you?"

He laughed again, but this time, I could hear the impatience. "You don't have much of a choice. Either you take my offer and give me a starting point, or I'll go ahead and choose my own. And mine will be much more satisfying."

The building came into view, and without waiting a second, I shoved the phone into Vienna's hand and launched myself out of the speeding car, shifting in midair. I ran faster than I ever had, covering more ground than I would have thought possible. If something happened to her, I'd never forgive myself. If I failed her now, I would work the rest of my life to give her everything she could ever want, no matter what she was. No matter what she wanted from me. 

I heard the sound of other wolves following me, but I didn't stop to talk. I hoped Vienna knew what she was doing, because my time was running out. Fast.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Sophie was so close I could smell her. I raced through the halls, smashing through doors and walls rather than slowing to find out where they led. She was close, and that was all that mattered.

"Adrian!" 

The sound of her screams made my vision haze over, and before I knew it, I was sprinting right in the direction of her voice. I wanted to call out to her, instead focusing the energy on pushing myself faster until I crashed through the only wall that divided us. 

A dozen heads turned to me as the door ricocheted against the opposite wall, but only one face had my attention. 

Sophie.

My beautiful mate's head had fallen back, leaning off the side of a narrow table as she stared directly at me. The most breathtaking smile spread across her face, her blue eyes lighting up at the sight of me. I felt immense pride in her, coupled with intense fury, as she fought through the obvious pain of the restraints and the still-bleeding wounds that covered her body. 

While every instinct compelled me to go to her, there was still one man standing in my way. William looked at me in the ugly way a rat would: seedy, black eyes centered in a pale face that was so scrunched and sullen from lack of sunlight that he didn't even appear human in figure. 

Without taking his eyes off mine, he grinned, flashing his white teeth. "Hold him back, boys," he said triumphantly. "It seems like we're going to have a live show instead."