Chased (The Graysen Pack Series) (17 page)

I peeked into the hall at exactly 7:29. There was no one. The girl was a freaking genius. She had somehow ma
naged to get rid of Lucas. I didn’t know how, and I really did not care. I wish I had called on her services a week ago.

I checked both directions of the hall, and then made a break for it. Flyin
g down the hall as fast as I could, and I was barreling down the stairs, taking two at a time. I burst out the side door. Good thing no one was on the other side. Someone could have been seriously injured.

Amazing!
She was there. She sat in the driver seat of a very attractive black Honda Civic. It was serious,
Pimp my Ride,
style. It looked like she just drove it off the set of
The Fast and the Furious
. It felt like it too. I had barely gotten my door shut when she squealed tires out of the parking lot. We left nothing behind except some black tracks and smoke. My adrenaline was pumping at full speed.

“I can’t believe you pulled this off. That was impressive. Thank you so much.” I never kne
w this girl had such a wild crazy side. “I still can’t believe it. How did you get rid of Lucas?”

“She didn’t.” Lucas popped his head up fr
om the backseat.

“Shit
, Lucas.” I jumped back quickly holding my chest. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.” He smiled, and something black came quickly towards my head. The world went dark.

The screaming in my h
ead woke me up.

Ava, please answer me. Where are you?

Zee

O’ Baby, where are you? Are you okay?

I don’t know where I am.
I opened my eyes slowly. My head was throbbing. I knew that Lucas had hit me with something. My left eye barely opened. When I touched it, I could feel the dried blood along the side of my face and ear.
My head hurts but I am okay. No one is in this room with me, but my legs and arms are tied up. Zee, it was Lucas that hit me.

He growled in anger.
I swear on everything that when I find him he will die.

I didn’t doubt him for a minute. He said he would kill him and he meant it.

Zee, someone is coming. I hear their voices. I’m scared please hurry.

I am going to find you
, Baby. I promise. What do you see?

The floor is concrete, and it’s cold. It smells like wet towels or mildew. There are no windows. It’s small and there isn’t anything in here except a desk th
at I can see. It looks like a basement. I know that when we left the parking lot at the school, we took a right. Then I was hit in the head. That is all I remember. Well, besides Nicole was driving the car. She was my friend. Wait the door is opening.

“How
is your head? Sleep well?” He laughed. “I had always heard that when you hit someone with the back of a gun, it hurts like hell.

Zee
, he has a gun somewhere. He said that he hit me with a gun.

Does he have it in his hand right now?

Not that I can see.
I didn’t want to say hurry again. I knew that he was trying hard to get to me.

Lucas walked across the room slowly. He kneeled down in front of me. My breathing picked up, and my heart raced fast. I could barely make out an audible beating sound. He scared m
e and he knew it. Of all the places he could be at this moment, close enough for me to feel his breath was not where I preferred. He wore a wicked grin on his face. The sides of his smile curved up reminding me of The Joker.
You are disgusting.

“Why are yo
u doing this, Lucas?”

“Aren’t you cute?” I flinched when he touched my cheek with his hand. “Paige,” he yelled. “She is awake. Get in here.”

Zee…

I’m here.

He’s working with Paige.

Why is he doing this?
He questioned me like I had some kind of clue.

Ho
w should I know? They are your pack. You tell me.
By this point I was losing all sanity left inside me, and I could have smacked him over the head had he been close enough.

I’m sorry. I am trying to figure this out. I don’t know why he would be helping her.
Ugggghhhh… I am sorry. I know I am not helping matters.

Just get here.

I wanted to cry when she walked into the room. All of the blood felt like it drained from my face. Nicole was Paige. Paige was Nicole.

“You feel pretty stupid right now. Don’t you?”

I was fighting back the tears. I didn’t want them to fall. That would have been the satisfaction cherry on the top of her ice cream sundae. How could I have not known? I did feel really stupid.

Paige is Nicole. I thought Nicole was my friend from class. But
this entire time she was Paige. I am such a fool.

Zee’s breathing became erratic.
You didn’t know. It is my fault. She has you because of me. I am going to find you. I swear Ava. I will find you.

“I have had so much fun with you these last few weeks. The
chase has been a blast, but catching you was better. In fact it was the easiest part. You hopped right into the car with the enemy.” She laughed. I was defeated in every way. She knew it. I knew it. The crow was hard to chew.

“What now? Are you going to
kill me? Is that your master plan?” I let the sarcasm linger.

“Of course I am, but first I am going to torture you. The way you have tortured me these few weeks parading around with him, all up in my face. He belongs with me. I’m the one that has known him
his entire life. Me… Not you! I know everything about him. I love him,” she screamed just before striking my face with her fist.

The pain was barely tolerable for a minute. It was burning to the bone.
Ouch, shit, that hurt.

I am sorry
, Baby.
He screamed in my mind. He was in pain too. I knew he was trying hard to find me.

“Lucas, strip her down to nothing and turn the air conditioner down to thirty degrees. We are going to play freeze the little bitch today.”

“It sounds fun to me.” He raised his eyebrows at me. His facial expression looked like he couldn’t wait to get his hands on me. My stomach bunched up in knots. I felt the vomit rising in my throat. “Please don’t do this Lucas.” I pleaded. “Please, please, please. How can you do this to Zee?”

“With him
and Zander out of the picture I will become Alpha. I am next in line. They’ll be out of the picture and I will rule. And did I mention that I can’t stand them?” he said it with such anger. His dark brown eyes were searing holes into mine. They were so dark they looked black. I couldn’t fight him. He was much bigger, and I was confined with a rope.

“You don’t want to do this Lucas.” I was trying to persuade him. “If he and Paige get together, he will still be Alpha.

“He won’t be with her. It is your thoughts he hears. Once you are dead, it won’t be long and he will die too. That’s how mating works. Poor thing will have such a broken heart that he’ll die. Quickly…”

“What? You can’t. Please
, Lucas.” I pleaded. The tears were falling now. I didn’t want Zee to suffer too. Mating was what they lived for as a wolf. It completed their souls.

“It is all happening just like I planned.” He raised his eyebrows at me several times.

“You’re sick.”

“You’re hot! Too bad I can’t keep you for myself.” He kissed me with for
ce. It hurt me. I wanted to spit in his face, but knew he would only hurt me worse. He was quick. Thank goodness.

I closed my eyes up tight. I didn’t want to breathe
, just die. He tore the clothes from my skin. No man had ever seen me this way. I kept my eyes closed the entire time, only letting out a few loud breaths when the clothes left my skin. The warm tears rolled down my cheeks. My bare skin was never touched by his hands and I was grateful. I lied there naked and vulnerable. He made a few sly remarks before walking out the door.

I could feel the cold air flowing freely out of the vents above my head. This was going to end badly.

I continued to cry; curled up in a ball. My brain was telling me I was freezing quickly. It wasn’t reality. It would take time, I thought. I was just working myself up, but couldn’t help it.

Zee was trying to speak to me in my mi
nd, but I was too upset to talk, embarrassed that I lay there bare skinned, stripped of my clothing and my pride.

It became colder and colder. Zee
had grown fine with me not speaking, but I had to tell him. I didn’t know how long I could lay there in the cold. My toes and fingers had gone numb and were aching. My throat was sore from the dryness and my belly was growling with hunger. My head kept falling as I would drift hazily in and out of sleep.

Zee

Baby, are you okay?

How long does it take for someone to f…Fr…freeze?

What’s going on, Ava? Tell me what’s happening?
There was urgency in his voice.

They took my…
I could barely speak, because my teeth were chattering uncontrollably.

What did they take?

They took all my clothes... She was planning on freezing me to death. It… It’s… work…working. Mmmmyyyy… toes hurt.

I swear to you, I will make her pay. Can you please hold on? Think abo
ut the sunlight and warmth on your face, anything to make it tolerable. We are following a lead. I had a trace put on Lucas’s cell phone. We will be there soon. Just hold on for me.

I will try. How long… How long have I been here now?

  It’s been nearly six hours. We are doing everything we can. My father and yours have packs set up everywhere searching. We will get to you. We are close now.

I hear someone coming again.

“Are you still breathing?” Paige closed the distance between us. Her brown eyes were glaring.

“Unfortunately
.”

She laughed. Her laugh was small for such an evil witch. There was fierceness in the way she looked at me now. I never saw it before.  Somewhere behind those evil brown eyes was a sweet girl. I had seen it before. We hit it off in class right from the sta
rt. She was amusing and so much fun. Her personality was the exact match to me. It was uncanny. Now I wouldn’t even guess this was the same girl. It was a case of multiple personalities, or she was going crazy from not mating.

“You still have your sense of
humor. Wonderful.” She smiled.

“You won’t get away with this.” I whispered slowly. “Killing me won’t make him love you. Ouch…”

A hand full of my hair was being pulled from the top of my head. I bit her. Not a smart move, but the only logical one at the time. It was stupid. The look on her face was not amusement, and it was followed by some very hard blows to my face. She was kicking me with full force. The pain was excruciating and my screams were loud. At least they were loud in my head. The world went dark again.

***

I must be hallucinating. A voice was speaking in my head.

I feel her close to me. I know she is near. I must get to her. Please give me strength. She has brought me happiness and ignited the fire in my soul. I’d give my whole heart for the
love I don’t deserve. I promise to love her, for she is remarkable and I cannot continue without her.

My love, I am here. I feel your heart beating with mine. I will take away your pain. Keep breathing. I am almost there. My wolf has claimed his love for
you and so have I. I love you my princess. Please can you hear me?

Gage,
A single tear fell from the corner of my eye. They were the most beautiful words anyone has ever spoken to me.

You can hear me?

Yes, unless I am going crazy, and I could be. Serious
ly, I may be losing it. How exactly am I hearing you right now?

I wanted to tell you before. I was waiting for the right time. I suppose now is good.
He had a nervous laugh in the prolonged moment.
I have always heard you. I kept my mind closed off to you because I was afraid that you wouldn’t hear me too.

I’m confused. What are you saying?

Listen to me my love, I would love to settle this right now, but it will have to wait. I am outside and I coming in to get you.

Be careful Gage.

I will.

My eyes would not open unless they were forced. They were swollen shut. Every part of my body ached. Death felt closer to me than life. Ice cold glaciers were sounding warm to me. My
brain was starting to shut down, only to find that it could race a million miles a minute thinking of the words Gage had spoken. Was this real? Did he actually say that he loves me? Nothing was making since. Zenick was my mate. Wasn’t he?

I heard breaking glass and a serious commotion breaking out close by. Loud gnarls and g
rowls were piercing, like nails on a chalkboard. Or as Sam would say, the sounds that make you wanna slap yo’ momma. Her words, not mine.