Page 72 of Bubblegum Pop

I didn’t want it to be like this. I wanted her to invite me in, to open her space to me because she loved me. It was a complete violation of her trust to enter her nest without her permission, but she could be hiding after whatever happened in her main rooms.

Even if I couldn’t sense her aura, I had to check, just in case she had been hit by a dart like Odin and Zeus. Maybe she dragged herself in here before she passed out, or maybe she’d managed to run away and hide after all.

Slipping inside, I shut the door behind me. No one else could find out about it.

“Candy? Are you here?” I called softly, keeping my gaze on the floor even though my instincts were telling me to rub myself over every surface so she knew I was hers.

Another layer of pain added to my already burning heart. I couldn’t smell her. She was in heat, and there was no way her scent wouldn’t be coating the room, but I had to check.

I bit my lip as I looked up. And blinked.

Once. Twice. My breath was instantly stolen by the simplicity of it.

Of everything I knew about her, I didn’t expect a single bare mattress and thousands of sparkling fairy lights scattered across the ceiling like flecks of paint. White sheets, bare floors, and a pile of clothes next to the four pillows on top of the mattress I recognised straight away.

All the clothes we had ever given her over the years, spread out with an indent in the centre where she slept. If she chose to bring us here in the future, I wanted to curl up there with her and tell her we’d always protect her. So, we needed to get her back.

“Sweetheart, it’s me. Are you in here?”

But there was nothing. Not even a whimper.

I scanned the floor, trying not to fixate on the four cups, four pillows, four empty picture frames, four coat hooks. It was obvious. It was so clear, and it made the agony of her loss that much harsher.

The wonder of her collection was drowned out by the pounding fear that had been eating away at the last traces of my sanity.

I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t smell her, see her, taste her.

All I knew was that she was gone.

Candy

Igroaned as I came to. I didn’t know where I was, what was happening, but a blindfold pressed hard on my eyes, and my wrists were bound behind me, legs stretched out, my ankles fastened together, too. There was another strip of cloth across my mouth, and cable ties cut into my wrists and ankles.

We were moving, my back firm against rumbling cold metal. It was some kind of car or van, with a hard plastic floor bumping under me. It was cold, but not freezing, and there was a sheet covering my body, so at least I wasn’t completely exposed.

I tried to take in my surroundings. It had been years since I’d been attacked. The guys who came after me never went this far. It was usually them throwing themselves on top of me and forcing me as I screamed. It only ended if I escaped or they got what they wanted, and I hadn’t seen anything this sophisticated before.

I pressed my arms back, trying to push myself away from the wall, find a way to get myself loose or talk through the material digging into my cheeks.

“Don’t bother. We’ll shoot you if you try.”

A bolt of fear pierced me at the low voice. It came from my right, and I looked in that direction, though there wasn’t a chance I could see him. I didn’t recognise the voice, though he sounded confident enough that I believed him. There was a click from his direction that could be a gun or just a sound from the van.

“Shit though. Did you see the big fucker go down?” Another voice came from in front of me.

My heart picked up as I twisted my wrists, testing to see if there was any slack.

“Took two fucking shots to get him. I mean, I knew they were huge, but fucking hell.”

My heart froze, swallowing my whine as I realised what they were saying.

The last thing I remembered was falling asleep in Odin’s arms. I didn’t know how they’d managed to grab me from the room. What had they done to them?

“Hey.” The one in front kicked at me, catching my ankle, and I flinched away, only to thump against the cold metal. “How the fuck did you manage to take a cock that big?”

“She’s a fucking whore, Jerry. What did you expect?” I couldn’t tell if there were more of them. There had to be someone driving, at least. I’d escaped from two alphas before, but not in this kind of situation.

“Shut up, idiot. No names.”