Chapter 73 Chapter 73
“Shit,” Suki whispered, rushing away from the window and scurrying over to her bed to find her phone. “Shit, shit, shit,” she kept whispering.
Where the hell is my phone? She thought as she continued to scramble for it.
Finally, she found it under a pillow on the floor. She yanked it and smacked the screen awake, but the battery was dead. Typical. She wanted to scream and cry and vomit, but there was no time to panic. Not now.
Where is my charger?
Of course, it was downstairs, in her suitcase, still yet to be unpacked.
Fuck.
Suki had trained her entire life to fight and protect herself, but her training had never accounted for the loss of her powers. In the state she was in – no access to her wolf, drained of blood and extremely exhausted – she was lucky she could stand right now.
She knew what her mates would say to her – stay calm and get somewhere safe.
Oh, how she wished she could call for them down their bond.
A loud crash of something smashing downstairs broke her out of her spiralling thoughts. Keeping a tight grip on her phone, she stepped quietly to her bedroom door. Luckily, it was left ajar, so she only needed to pry it open a little more to check if the hallway was clear for her to sneak downstairs.
If these men were looking for her specifically, did they know which room she was in? Were they werewolves? Could they sniff her out?
There was no time to strategise. She had to keep moving.
Staying on her toes, she quietly but quickly rushed to the other side of the hallway, towards the master bedroom – her father’s room. There was a much larger en suite, a wardrobe and a storage cupboard which actually had a secret staircase behind the shelf leading to his home office.
That was her way out, and her way to a charger for her phone. Her father always had a spare one in there.
She only needed enough battery to get her phone on and text Reynard and Brendan. One or both of them would come immediately, and she’d be safe.
It was a solid plan. She may not be able to save herself entirely, but she could get herself out of this mess. She knew it.
“She’s not in her room,” a loud whisper came from across the hall, almost making her gasp.
Suki slapped her hand over her mouth, breathing sharply through her nose to calm herself.
Another voice followed right after, “The bed has been slept in, she’s here somewhere. Find her.”
So they were after her. Why?
She refused to wait and find out. She closed the cupboard door behind her and slid past the shelves to get to the stairs. Each one she took as carefully as she could, fighting not to make a single creaking sound as she made her way down to the office.
Holding a pause, she listened against the door to ensure no one was on the other side before she opened it, disguised as part of the library wall – if anyone had been in here, they would have had no idea that there was a secret door.
Suki rushed to the desk, grabbed the charger and plugged in her phone.
“Come on,” she muttered, tapping her phone aggressively, as if it would speed up the process. “Turn on. Please.”
Another smash of something breaking came from right outside the office door. Suki knelt behind the desk, listening carefully as her breathing became shaky.
“She is still in the house, I know it. Find her,” the voice yelled.
There was something eerily familiar about that voice, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Her mind was fogged with fear, and the only thing keeping her going was the adrenaline pumping through her veins.
The office door swung open. Suki almost yelped in fear, but dropped fully under the desk. She had never been more grateful that her father had a solid mahogany desk; it was perfect to conceal her.
She looked down at her phone in her hands, realising, in her rushed movements to hide, she’d accidentally ripped her phone from the charger.
Yet, with luck, her phone screen lit up. Relieved, she frantically typed in her passcode and tapped on her contacts.
2% battery. But it was okay, that was all she needed.
She clicked Rey’s name right at the top and put the phone to her ear, waiting for the ring.
But… nothing.
She looked at her phone – no signal. Her phone was still waking up from the battery dying.
Seriously? Stupid technology.
Footsteps paced on the carpet glacially, as if this person was in no rush at all to find her. Like he knew he was going to get her.
Suki refused to believe this. She opened the group chat she’d made for herself, Rey and Brendan and typed “SOS” and sent it, praying that at least that would go through.
Seconds later, they both replied one after the other.
BRENDAN: On my way.
REY: Me too. Stay hidden.
Phew. Safe.
Now she knew she’d be safe, there was nothing to worry abou–
Her phone buzzed loudly. Panicked, she looked at the caller ID – her father. She answered rapidly to stop the buzzing, but didn’t dare speak.
“Suki? Suki, sweetheart, are you there?” Her father’s voice was laced with concern. “The alarm for my office went off. Are you all right?” He waited, but she didn’t respond; she couldn’t without revealing herself further. “Suki!”
Because it was already too late for that.
The chair concealing her was ripped away from the desk, and the man crouched down to lock eyes with Suki. She sat there speechless with her phone to her ear as the masked man watched her with a tilted head.
“Well, well.” His face was concealed, but Suki could hear in his voice that he was smiling. “Look what we have here.” He snatched the phone from her and threw it to the ground.
“Dad, help!” she cried out before her phone smashed into a million pieces.
“Tsk, tsk, naughty girl,” the masked man said. “Time to go.” He hauled her up to her feet.
She squirmed. “No, get off of me,” she cried, shoving him away with all her strength and rushing to the door.
The other men from upstairs rushed down after her. She was outnumbered. Rushing the opposite way, she hoped she could keep up enough strength until Reynard and Brendan got there. She knew this home like the back of her hand; she could out-hide a bunch of random intruders easily.
However, her mind was deceiving her. A heaviness of her blood loss throbbed in her head. She winced, stopping for a moment and leaned against the wall. She had no strength, and her adrenaline was already depleting long before this moment.
The room was spinning. She couldn’t tell what was left, right, up or down.
“No,” she groaned, trying to steady herself. “Keep moving,” she demanded herself, stepping forward, but she collided with something. Her eyes felt weighted as she looked down at her wrist. The essence of Brendan’s power sat there, and she had no physical strength to even attempt to summon the power.
The masked man who found her appeared in front of her as she tried to blink the dryness of her eyes away.
Her vision was foggy. Her body was shutting down.
“Poor girl.” The man cupped her face in one hand. She couldn’t understand why he felt so familiar to be around. “Time to sleep.” With his free hand, he placed a cloth over her nose.
Suki didn’t need werewolf senses to detect the strong stench of chloroform plunging into her nostrils. Her weak body tried to fight against it, tried to pull away, but there was no use; within seconds, her body gave in and blacked out.