"Alex, over here!" Harper realized that this was it; she and Lucas were about to be saved. "Alex, can you see us from up there?" She started waving her arms.
After that, she heard another voice. It was a woman's voice.
"Alex!" Lucas shouted next to her. "Harper hurt her ankle!"
Then, from one side of the pit, a face emerged, and a laugh drifted down the shaft. "So that’s where your friends disappeared to!" The man turned his head and called out, "They fell in a hole!"
On the other side, a woman emerged almost instantly. Her laughter reverberated down the hole. "Hello there! My name is Nara and we’re here to rescue you!"
"Can’t we just leave them down there?" Harper and Lucas then heard a man pose a question from above the pit.
They couldn't hear the response, but they did hear a ruckus before Nara shouted, "Get the rope!"
"Harper," Alex reappeared above the pit, lowering the rope. "Tie this around yourself and I will pull you up."
As she watched the rope rappelling down, Harper nodded. Lucas snatched it up and gently wrapped it around her chest and under her arm.
"I’ll see you at the top." Lucas smiled before planting a kiss on her cheek.
She returned the smile. "See you." The rope drew her up. After a while, she felt a breeze against her face after a while. She took a deep breath and looked down the hole to see another rope being released.
Lucas instantly snatched up the rope and wrapped it around his waist. He double-pulled it to indicate he was ready to be dragged up. But he sensed something wasn't quite right by the time he got halfway up the shaft.
"Hey!" he called. "You might want to get another rope I think this one is going―"
As the rope holding him snapped, Lucas had no time to explain. He was completely unaware of what was going on and only felt himself plummet and fell to the bottom of the pit. It had to have been a 15-foot drop. He cried out in pain from landing on his leg.
"Hey you, down there, can you hear me?! Are you alright?!" Nara shouted from above.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Lucas lied. "The sooner I get out of here the better." The pain in his leg hurt, but he chose to ignore it.
"Lucas, can you hear me?" Harper, now secure on the surface, shouted down, causing the sound to reverberate. The walls began to sag a little.
"Harper, the walls look vulnerable and could cave in. I need another rope."
"Here. Can you grab the rope and climb up?" Alex who asked and threw down another long piece of rope.
"I don't think so, I hurt my leg when I fell, and I think it's badly sprained," Lucas replied, grabbing the rope and wrapping it around himself. "I’m ready He gradually felt himself being hoisted up. Alex reached down and pulled him over the top into the grass as soon as she reached the surface.
He snarled as the pounding ache in his leg became unbearable. Harper rushed over to him as soon as she saw he was having trouble getting up and assisted him.
“Come on, Harper. He’s fine,” Alex grumbled. His brow furrowed in displeasure with her response to Lucas' predicament.
But Harper ignored him and helped Lucas get up. Despite a bad limp, he was able to stand up on both feet.
Alex's eyes furrowed as he looked at him, and suddenly it dawned on him. "You look familiar."
*His dream.*
"So, you haven't regained your memories, as far as I can tell," Lucas said.
"No. Not that getting my memory back should be any concern of yours," Alex replied rather sourly before looking over at Harper. "Have you rejected him already?"
"Alex, stop it. This is not the time," Harper muttered.
“Oh, so you haven’t.” Expectantly, he folded his arms over his chest. “Go on then, reject him now. Repeat after me―”
"Wait…let us not get ahead of ourselves here," Nara, who was already amused by the circumstance, jumped straight in. "Am I getting it right? This woman is your mate?" she asked Lucas with a finger pointing toward Harper.
"She is," Lucas responded with a look of disgust towards Alex. "And what are you talking about?"
"Aleister told us everything. You’re a criminal and you’re sentenced to die and Harper will die with you if she doesn’t reject you," Alex blurted out.
Lucas took a few steps back, came to a halt, spun around, and punched Alex in the face. Alex staggered backwards but managed to throw a counter and punched Lucas in the face, and they were soon engaged in a wrestling bout.
"Lucas, what the hell!" Harper yelled. "Stop it! Alex!”
Alex landed hard on the grass after another punch rebounded from the right side of his jaw. Lucas was adamant and refused to stop, beating Alex until he could remember that Harper wasn’t his.
“Lucas, stop! I said stop this now!” Harper appeared beside him, attempting to pull him away from Alex. Suddenly, two men began yanking him away.
“You fucking tried to mark her!” Lucas yelled at Alex as he ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't believe it; he had never despised Alex more than he did now. He detested the way Alex had corrupted Harper’s mind. Harper was his mate, not Alex. He couldn’t understand how they became so close. All he asked Harper to do was keep an eye on Alex while he was trying to figure out how he could help Alex and Francine. And Harper herself described Alex as a philandering, pompous jackass.
Perhaps everything right now was a cruel joke being played on him. Perhaps they would crack and make jokes about how ridiculous it was for Alex and Harper to be together.
But Harper, on the other hand, kneeled beside Alex, and it was a painful sight for him to watch. "Are you okay?"
Alex's lip was bleeding and swollen, and a black eye was starting to swell up. He spat blood into the grass, and glared at Lucas. “Yes, I’m fine.” He stared into her eyes. “Don’t worry, I'm not going to fight this dickhead. I'm sure you don't want that.”
Harper knew that she shouldn't cry, so she didn’t. Regardless of how difficult things had gotten. She knew she had allowed herself to care for Alex before figuring out what was going on with her and Lucas, and it was this that had gotten them into this mess. And she had never been more confused in her entire life than she was right now. If she were entirely honest with herself, she still cared about Lucas, but she couldn't turn her back on Alex at this point.
She wished she had never let Lucas leave things between them hanging, because she could then care and like Alex without fear of repercussions. Or perhaps she shouldn’t have agreed to Lucas’ request and just started her new life at Green Life, then perhaps none of this would have happened. Her life might be a lot easier and more normal.
She hated Lucas for leaving her with Alex. But, now that she understood he merely wanted to help Alex and Francine, could she really resent him?
"Is it true what he said?" Nara asked, interrupting her thoughts.
Lucas shook his head. "It’s all bullshit. The only thing I did was save your ass and your fucking mate so both of you could be together." He pointed an angry finger at Alex.
"He has a mate, too?"
"Yes!" He glared at Alex, who was still on the ground. "You have no idea what Francine has gone through for you. For her, death would have been far more pleasant, but she chose to endure the agony and torment for you, asshole."
Alex grunted and stood up, Harper taking a couple of steps away from him. " Look, I'm not interested in anything you've said because it makes no sense to me. I don’t know who Francine is, and even if you look familiar, I have no idea who you are."
"Okay! Cut it out," Nara exclaimed. "Let’s wrap it up. We need to be on our way before those rogues pick up on our scent."
"And who the hell are you again?" Harper asked.
"Nara. The one and only licensed merchant on the land." Nara gave her a mocking curtsy and a grin.
Her brows furrowed. "I don’t even know what the hell that means."
"It means finders keepers. You three are now my slaves and you’re coming with me to The Casa." Nara turned to the bulky man to her left. "Maddox?"
Maddox approached Harper, a heavy rope in his hand. The other three men, who were taller and much more larger than Lucas and Alex, approached them with metal shackles in their hands.
"What is he doing?" Harper asked before eyeing the shackles. “Where did those come from?”
"He’s going to tie you up while those shackles will be on the ankles of these two gentlemen who are fighting over," Nara replied. "And oh, don’t worry, we’re going to pick up your mate on our way out of this fucking jungle," he assured Alex.
"You can’t do this. I thought you wanted to help," Alex replied and assumed a defensive stance.
"Of course! And didn't we deliver the end of our bargain? I helped you find your friends…or whatever these two are to you. I lend you my ropes and now they’re out of the pit. But I’m no good Samaritan, Alex. Small Fry has a profound and particularly interest in mated *subjects*," Nara explained. “His obsessions with mated shifters are strange, to say the least. However, he pays well for one.”
"I'm sure he'll agree to pay us two pouches of gold coins for two mated pairs." Maddox grinned, displaying his crooked teeth.
"I beg your pardon! We’re no subjects! And what’s a *Small Fry*?" Harper asked, raising her voice to mask her fear.
“Small Fry is a person. And don’t worry, you will have the privilege to meet him as soon as we get to The Casa. He's a likeable person, unlike his son. But don’t call him that. Never call him Small Fry in front of his face. He hates that nickname," Nara said. “Okay! Now, let’s go. Shackle them up.”
Alex pursed his lips and shook his head slowly. "We’re not going with you."
“This is getting boring and I’m getting tired. “Nara sighed and rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "Okay. Let me break this to you then, buddy! You can’t shift into your wolf form while you’re here, and you’re obviously outnumbered. Not to mention, your mate dies the minute you do anything stupid."
Suddenly, Lucas, Alex, and Harper's features drew together in a worried expression.
"That’s right. As I speak, two of my men are already waiting for us with our dear Francine. Didn't I say we'd be picking her up on our way to The Casa?"
Alex's teeth clinched and his hands squeezed into fists. "You bitch tricked me."