Page 26 of Forsaken By Fate
I fly from the office toward the exterior of the house, dawn’s gray light peeking over the dusty hillside.
“Aurora!” I hear Zane yelling in the distance, and I look down the road toward town.
In a flash, I’m shifting, my paws thundering along the road to bring me into Oak Hollow, hoping to catch her scent, but something tells me we’re already too late.
I’m at my wits’end four hours later when I return to the estate. There’s no word from either of my brothers or any of the pack members.
“It’s like she vanished into thin air,” Victor rails, pacing through the foyer.
“He flew off with her,” I maintain, my mind working overtime as I try to think of where else Lachlan could have taken Aurora, but Zane shakes his head.
“Impossible. The town is locked down. No one can leave, even by air.”
“He wasn’t fast enough,” I insist, but Zane is adamant.
“She’s here. I can smell her,” he presses. “Nearby. He circled back when he realized he couldn’t leave.”
I’m out the door again, my eyes trailing back toward the sky, head twisting right, then left.
“The stables!” the three of us choke in unison.
“Have you checked there?” Victor demands and we shake our heads, the three of us moving forward as a black SUV pulls up to the wrought-iron gate.
“Oh, come on!” I fume, recognizing the Oklahoma plates. “Turn them away, Victor. We don’t have time for this nonsense now.”
“I’ll deal with them,” Zane suggests, but I’m already heading toward the stables at full speed, ignoring the incoming Alphas.
I smell her as soon as I near the doors and slow down, whipping around, half-accusing as the Oklahoma Alphas exit the SUV, confusion flooding their faces. I point silently inside as Aurora’s raised voice reaches me.
“…get out of this, Lachlan? You reject me, and now you’re acting like a lunatic. Kidnapping me? Really?”
“If you’d just come with me in the first place, we wouldn’t be here,” Lachlan hisses. “You’re a real pain in the ass, you know that?”
My fists close, but before I can shift and lunge through the double doors of the barn, Victor puts a firm hand on my shoulder and shakes his head. The Oklahoma Alphas stand beside us, their faces twisted in confusion.
“Wait,” Victor mouths.
Neither Lachlan nor Aurora can see any of us, and Victor wants to see how this plays out.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” Aurora mewls. “I don’t feel anything for you. Can’t you see that? It’s like the mate bond was never really there!”
Her words fill me with glee, but I wonder how much of that can be true if she’s really mated to him.
“I swore a blood oath to the Apex Alphas of Texas!” Aurora continues.
“Yes, I see how fond they are of you,” Lachlan spits out from the other side of the barn wall. “There’s no accounting for some taste, I guess.”
Fury envelopes me and I again want to burst through, but my brothers forbid me, holding me back.
“If they want you back so badly, they’ll have to pay a price for you,” Lachlan continues. “Although I would have preferred to do it outside of this town.”
“What price? What are you talking about, Lachlan? You want a ransom?”
My head jerks toward the Oklahoma Alphas, who move uncomfortably in their spots, avoiding our scathing gazes. Every second we stand there, my ire mounts. It’s all I can do to keep my mouth shut, but I’m worried if I speak, it will alert Lachlan, and he’ll harm Aurora.
“In a manner of speaking,” Lachlan chuckles. “I want to rule Oklahoma.”
Every jaw outside the stables drops.