Page 60 of Broken By Her Mate
“Who does Laila remind you of?” Tolliver asked carefully.
Jonas dangled the necklace from his fingers and stared at it. “My mother… That wretched, soulless woman.”
After months of wondering, Tolliver finally got clarity. Jonas Mercer was obsessed with Laila because she resembled his mother. It was safe to say he targeted the other women because they had the same aesthetic as his mother, who Tolliver learned had simply disappeared. He couldn’t believe that so many lives had been affected and endangered because Jonas had mommy issues.Pathetic!
Gritting his teeth, he fought to hide his annoyance. Since he was chained up with nowhere to go, he might as well get the entire story. “What happened to your mother, Jonas?”
“Hey, who’s the captive here?” Jonas barked. “You or me? I ask the questions.”
“I’m just curious.”
“You mean your team hasn’t gotten a full dossier on me? I know about the Black Ops. Everyone like me, trying to do business in the shifter community, knows about you. You self-righteous bunch are like thorns in our sides.
Tolliver felt a sliver of satisfaction for that. If all else failed, at least they accomplished making the bad guys’ lives harder. “I just know that your mother disappeared,” Tolliver said evenly, hoping his steady tone would calm Jonas. The man seemed like he was about to go off the deep end over a mere conversation.
“The bitch abandoned me. I loved her more than anything, and one day, she was just gone. My father told me to forget about her because she was only good for one thing—bedding and breeding.”
Tolliver stared at Jonas. If his father had been anything like his son, he wouldn’t blame the poor woman for running away… That was if Jonas’ father hadn’t done something unthinkable to her. He’d have to look more into Jonas’ parents to learn more.
“So that’s how you justify selling women to the highest bidder?” Tolliver asked. “You think they’re only good for breeding?”
Jonas shrugged. “All I do is ensure shifter women like my mother do the only thing they were made for. If you ask me, I’m doing the community a huge favor.”
“I didn’t ask you,” Tolliver muttered.
Jonas swung the necklace, threw it into the air, and caught it. “This was my mother’s. I was hoping to give it to Laila. She’s the one who got away… just like Mom. She’s so much more than the others. I wanted to make her my personal pet—maybe use her to live out my fantasy of making my mother pay for leaving me with my asshole of a father.”
Tolliver couldn’t keep his cool any longer. “I’ll see you dead first,” he snarled.
“That’s big talk coming from my prisoner,” Jonas taunted. “You know what? I change my mind. Now I want you to suffer Tolliver Sterling, just for making my life difficult. Before I kill you, I’m going to make you watch your sweet Laila get tortured and prepped to be sold off.”
Tolliver’s wolf growled. Although still weakened from the wolfsbane, the animal clawed to the surface, itching to get to Jonas, but it was no use. Getting out of the chains at half-strength was impossible.
Jonas chuckled, much like the villain getting his way, and it irked Tolliver to the core. The sound of chaos outside interrupted Jonas’s gloating. Shouts and snarls echoed, followed by the unmistakable crunch of bone and ripping flesh. Tolliver’s ears perked, hope flaring in his chest.
Jonas turned toward the door, his smug grin faltering. “What the hell is that?”
A moment later, the cargo car’s door burst open with a deafening clang. A massive wolf charged in. Its glowing ambereyes locked on Jonas with lethal intent. The sheer size of it made the container shudder under its weight. Tolliver recognized the wolf as Zach and felt a surge of relief. He was sure Ryder wasn’t far behind. That was confirmed when another wolf leaped into the car.
Jonas didn’t stick around to take on the two wolves. He opened the other side of the car and dashed out. Before either Zach or Ryder could go after him, Jonas’s men intercepted them. Pandemonium exploded in the cargo unit, and Tolliver struggled to free himself. He couldn’t let Jonas get away. A flash of red caught his eye, and he looked up to see Elena hurrying toward him.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked. It became clear why neither he nor Jonas had detected Zach's or Ryder’s presence. They had a witch masking their scent.
“You shouldn’t be here, Elena.”
“Now is hardly the time for a lecture,” she said as she hacked his chains open with some kind of enchanted blade. Sparks gashed as the tool cut through the metal. Besides, I had no choice but to come to watch Laila’s back.”
Tolliver’s heart ceased to beat for a moment as the chains fell from his hands and clattered to the floor. Laila had walked right into Jonas’s hands. “Shit,” he groaned. “You shouldn’t have left her alone.”
“It’s okay. I told her to stay hidden.”
“It’s not okay, Elena. Jonas might find her. Get yourself to safety now.”
Elena glanced at her mate, who had his jaw clamped around another wolf’s neck. Her eyes widened. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
Tolliver heard her mutter something about wolves being unreasonably violent before he took off. He knew Jonas would sniff Laila out from a mile away, and his obsession with her would likely make him forget about escaping to target her instead. For the first time since he got captured, he felt real terror. He ran as fast as his weakened limbs could carry him.
The scent of Laila lingered in the air, and he locked onto it. Everything around him blurred as he sprinted down the train tracks. The adrenaline coursing through his veins dulled the lingering effects of the wolfsbane. The faint sound of a struggle reached his ears—footsteps scuffing the gravel, a muffled shout, a vicious snarl. Then he saw them. Jonas was hauling Laila into the shadows. He had one arm locked around her waist as she twisted and kicked.