Page 116 of Wanted

Chance doesn’t notice because his attention is on me, while he still holds my father in a headlock.

Chance!I yell out, but it’s too late. She shoots him in the arm, not once but twice.

“Bastard!” my mother yells.

Right before my eyes, Chance’s hold on my father loosens, and both men drop to their knees. My father sputters and coughs as he clutches his throat. Chance’s body sways, his eyelids shutting seconds before his entire body collapses to the floor.

I howl out in pain. My wolf and I can barely contain the pain of seeing him so lifeless like this. I attempt to go to him, but a shadow falls over me.

I look up to see my mother glaring down at me.

I bare my teeth and prepare my body to launch at her, but she aims first.

“Take that, you beast!” she says before shooting me in the shoulder.

Instantly, I become woozy. Though I try to fight it, I quickly lose control over my body.

Within seconds everything turns black.

CHAPTER 32

Emery

The shaking my body undergoes worsens the nausea that emanates from my stomach. It takes a couple of tries to peel my eyelids open. Though my vision is blurry, I make out the metal bars in front of me.

I almost yelp out when the car I’m traveling in goes over a particularly rough patch, making the car bounce.

Inhale and look around a bit more. I’m in the back of Chance’s truck. I attempt to rise to my feet but my body feels like lead. My paw scratches against another metal bar. That’s when I realize I’m still in my wolf form.

And I’m locked inside of some sort of cage.

Despite the heaviness and nausea, I fight to lift my head to look around. A whine spills from my mouth when I see a second cage over my shoulder. Chance is inside. He’s unconscious and in his human form.

The memory of him falling to the floor with a hard thud comes rushing back to me.

Chance!I call to him through our connection. But my tone sounds weak. He doesn’t respond or even stir as if he heard me.

Chance! Please help me!

Again, nothing.

“I hear something,” a male voice says.

My father.

I turn my head to look toward the front of the truck. The window of the truck bed is open. Immediately, I lay my head back down and close my eyes. Someone hits the cage with some sort of rod.

“Hey!” Another male voice. “Are you awake?”

I keep as still as possible.

“Nothing. They’re out cold.”

My heart tightens when I recognize the second male voice. It’s Dr. Lee. The family physician who my parents took me and Ashley to our entire lives. The same one who prescribed us those fake iron pills for years.

No. No. No!

I repeat it over and over. It can’t be. If Dr. Lee is with them, then that means…