Chapter 4 - Tannen

Lying on my couch, I couldn't figure out why my mind kept drifting to Thea and the way she had stormed out.

I wasn't sure exactly what I'd done, though maybe I shouldn't have said those things about her being an absent back when she first came to town. Granted, I hadn't really known her back then. Now, the expression on her face as she hurried out the door had burned itself into my brain.

She hadn't been wrong when she said I slept around, but that had never seemed like a big deal to me. I just liked my freedom. Nothing wrong with that. No, the real problem was what I had said about absents when she first came to town. The memory of her reminding me of what I'd said at the party made my insides squirm.

I wanted to clear the air on that bit. I couldn't explain why, but the memory made my wolf snarl and growl as if he didn't like seeing Thea that upset, especially if I had something to do with it. At the very least, I needed to talk to her. I didn't want to leave things the way they had ended.

With a frustrated sigh, I pushed myself off the couch and made my way slowly to the door to head over to Rand and Astrid's.

As I walked, I wasn't sure what to expect. I braced myself for another fight. I doubted Thea had told Astrid about what had happened—she didn't strike me as the type of person who would let her sister fight her battles for her, not that Astrid would give her much of a say in the matter if she found out. Either way, however, I wasn't expecting a tearful apology or anything along those lines.

And why the hell did I care? It didn't matter. She was my friend's sister-in-law, that's all. Why did it bother me what she thought of me? But there was something about her that made me want her to like me.

My mind continued dwelling on Thea as I meandered toward their house. She might not normally be my type, but I couldn't deny there was something appealing about her. The soft curves, large breasts, the bright sparkle in her eyes. She really was gorgeous.

I pushed those thoughts from my head. What did it matter? I was going to apologize to her, see if we could start over so we could get along, and we'd go from there. That was it. I wasn't here to court her. Just make amends, or at least figure out what the hell happened that had resulted in her storming off.

Lights twinkled in the windows as I approached, and shadows shifted as people moved inside. But even as I approached, something felt off. Thea's scent was stale, several hours old, as if she hadn't come back from wherever she'd wandered to. But that was hours ago. Surely she wasn't still out there, was she?

I knocked on the door and waited. A moment later, a blond woman, one with almost identical features to Thea, opened the door.

"Oh, hey, Tannen," Astrid said. She leaned back and called into the house, "Rand, Tannen's here!" She turned back to look at me. "I didn't know you were coming by."

"I'm not here for Rand, actually," I said.

Astrid's brow furrowed. "You're not? Did you forget something?"

"No, no." I took a deep breath. "I was hoping I could talk to Thea."

By this time, Rand's massive figure had emerged behind Astrid.

"Thea?" Astrid's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

I could practically read the suspicion on her face. It wasn't as though it was a secret I slept around a bit. I could see in the way her fingers tightened around the door and the way she scrutinized me that she was worried I had put my sights on her sister.

"I just wanted to clear something up with her," I said. "We had a bit of a misunderstanding this morning, and I wanted to clear the air."

Astrid remained unconvinced. Her jaw twitched, a gesture identical to Thea's. Rand's hand went to her shoulder, as if trying to placate his mate. She glanced back at him, her features softening, shoulders relaxing. She turned back to me.

"She's not here," Astrid said. "I haven't actually seen her since around lunch."

I tried not to wince. That meant she had probably been out in the woods this whole time, ever since she had stormed out hours earlier.

Astrid's suspicion morphed into unease and concern. "Is everything all right? What happened to her?"

"Nothing," I said hurriedly. "Nothing. I'll go look for her and bring her back, though, all right?"

Astrid exhaled but didn't question it. She nodded. "All right. Thanks."

After Astrid closed the door, I moved toward the woods where Thea had vanished earlier. Her scent, that pleasant honey and lemon that seemed to appeal to my wolf more than I would have expected, was stale. Present, but overlayed with scents of the forest.

Still, the Silver Wolves had experience following faded or difficult trails. I followed her scent, hurrying through the woods and tracing the fading smell of honey and lemon.

After a little while, I came to a small clearing. My wolf snarled as if sensing something was wrong. The longer I stood, the more I came to agree with him. Her scent was now mixed with those of unfamiliar shifters. I smelled the air again, and my sense of unease deepened when I smelled blood. Suddenly, more things in the clearing struck me as off. I could see drag marks in the dirt and scuffed patches of grass as if there had been a struggle.

Something glinted in the corner of my eye, and I froze. Walking over, I nudged a patch of dry leaves out of the way to reveal a long knife, its blade flecked with dried blood.

I stared at the knife. I recognized it. I had seen Thea playing with it on more than one occasion. Astrid had trained her to carry it everywhere, to use it to defend herself since she couldn't shift. She adored that knife.

If she had dropped it… if it had blood on it.

"Fuck."

I picked it up, running my thumb along the smooth, polished handle, then smelled the blood. It wasn't hers. Normally, that would have come as a relief. But if it wasn't her blood, that meant she hadn't been alone. And if she had left her knife here, that meant something had pulled her away from it before she could get it back.

My eyes scanned the clearing again, taking in more of the details, growing more and more certain about what had happened here. Someone—multiple someones—had ambushed her, dragging her off somewhere. She hadn't gone without a fight, though, something I admired. But looking at the tracks and following the struggle, it was clear she'd lost.

Bottom line: someone had kidnapped Thea, she was in trouble, and I was the only one who knew about it.

And if I hadn't made a mess of things earlier, none of this would have happened.

I considered calling Rand or someone else and telling them what had happened. But if Astrid found out I was responsible for Thea running off into the woods on her own, she'd kill me before I could say anything else.

Besides, this was my fault. I had to find out what had happened to her, and I didn't have the time to wait for backup. It was already late, and I had no idea how far away she could be.

The scents seemed to travel west. That was as good a place to start as any, and I didn't have any time to waste. I stripped, shoving my clothes and Thea's knife into the backpack I always carried in case I needed to shift—a trick I learned back when I was in spec ops. Then, I shifted. Without delay, I turned to follow the scents of the other shifters and Thea, unsure of what I was going to find but knowing I was going to get her back no matter what.

I ran through the night, continuing to move despite the exhaustion creeping in. I wasn't going to let anything happen to Thea. Not just because of who she was to Rand and Astrid but because it was Thea. The idea of her in danger chafed at me in a way I couldn't properly describe. I was going to get her back, no matter what.

Eventually, the scents led me to a large bunker-like building in the middle of the woods. I didn't see any sign of Thea as I scouted the area. A crowd had gathered in a small area in front of a wooden stage. A general buzz of excitement and interest seemed to hum from that area. Something about it raised my hackles, though I couldn't figure out why.

Wanting to investigate further and knowing Thea was around here somewhere, I shifted back to human, threw on my clothes, and went to join the throng of shifters, hoping it might give me some answers for what had happened to Thea. As I pushed my way into the cluster, the scents of over a dozen shifters all blending together, I finally realized what was bothering me so much about the group.

The crowd was all male.

I waited, wondering what was going on and what all these shifters were waiting around for. I was certain it couldn't be anything good.

It turned out I didn't have to wait long to figure out my answer.

A tall shifter with dark hair and a scar on his face hopped onto the stage. The crowd fell silent.

"Thank you all for coming to this special auction," the man said. "You know me. I'm Damien. We've got a real treat for you." He turned to look at the steps. "Why don't you bring up our guest, Viktor?"

Damien. That name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. That train of thought flew out the window as my attention snapped back to the stage.

A large man, chain in hand, strolled up the steps. A blond woman trailed after him, her head lowered. She was dressed all in white, her hands manacled in front of her and a collar around her neck. Viktor jerked at the leash, and she stumbled forward onto the stage. She raised her head to glare at him, and my stomach lurched as I recognized the woman in chains.

It was Thea.

Viktor tugged at her chain again. She glowered at him, her jaw set. But when he twirled his finger in unspoken command, she turned in a circle. An appreciative murmur rose through the crowd as she did so.

My jaw clenched, fingers curling into white-knuckled fists as I watched. My wolf howled in rage, thrashing, pushing at me, wanting to break out and tear every one of these assholes to shreds for doing this to Thea and ogling her. I nearly did, but I forced myself to stay calm, knowing that I couldn't give the game away or things would get a lot more complicated. Still, my wolf hated this idea. He snarled, claws flexing, his anger fueling mine as I watched the scene unfold on the stage in front of me.

Damien grinned, strutting toward her as she stopped. She kept her head low, her blond hair curtaining her face. Something told me it wasn't out of fear or despair or even resignation. Something about the set of her shoulders and the coiled tension in her body made me think it was more out of defiance than anything else, as if she was trying to make it as difficult as possible.

"Besides having an incredible body, there are a couple other things that are special about her," the dark-haired one said. He stepped forward and tilted her chin up so the men could get a look at her face. "For one, she's a virgin. Completely pure and innocent."

The words felt like a slap in the face. Thea was a virgin? I couldn't understand it. She had to have had a dozen guys hit on her since coming to Brixton alone. It seemed impossible she hadn't had sex. But the look on her face and the coloring of her cheeks told me it was true.

An interested murmur rumbled through the crowd.

Damien held up his hand. "She's also an absent, meaning she's going to be a lot more docile, and it's a lot harder for her to escape."

The shifters in the crowd chuckled, though if they thought Thea was going to be docile, they had another thing coming.

I had to get her out of this before one of the other shifters got his hands on her. I forced myself to stay calm, thinking through all my options. I could jump onto the stage, kill Damien and Viktor, and get away with Thea on my back, but I couldn't imagine this was a two-person operation. I'd have a bunch of other furious shifters on my tail the second I moved. I could wait until after the auction and ambush whoever took her, but that seemed too risky.

No, in reality, there was only one option. I knew what I had to do.

"All that in mind, she's going to cost more than some of our others. Bidding starts at ten thousand." Damien stepped back, gesturing with his hand that the bidding could commence as Viktor jerked her to the front of the stage.

"Ten thousand!" one of the shifters in the audience called.

"Twelve!" Another yelled, leering at Thea.

"Thirteen!" A third yelled.

I couldn't let someone else take her. I had to do something.

"Fifteen!" I shouted.

Thea's head whipped around to me. Her mouth opened as her eyes flashed with recognition and disbelief. I shook my head slightly, trying to tell her not to show that we knew each other while also trying to tell her I would take care of it.

"Seventeen!" a voice called. It was the second bidder. He made kissing faces at Thea, winking at her. That alone nearly made me march over and punch him.

"Eighteen!" A newcomer called.

"Twenty!" I yelled.

"Twenty-five!" the second bidder shouted. He glared at me, as if daring me to keep going.

I met his gaze, not backing down as I said, "Thirty-five."

"Thirty-six," he spat out, his face growing red. By now, it was only the two of us. I didn't care if it went out to a hundred thousand. I would get Thea out of this.

"Thirty-eight," I retorted.

"Thirty-eight five hundred."

I turned to look at the auction block. Thea's eyes were glued on me, a mixture of fear and hope on her face. The two shifters were watching the bidding with interest, focused on me, waiting to see if I would trump the latest bid.

"Fifty thousand," I said.

A hush fell over the crowd. Then the other man swore, throwing up his hands and shaking his head.

"Fifty going once… twice…" Damien's eyes swept across the crowd, waiting to see if anyone would chime in. "Sold."

All heads whipped toward me. I kept my eyes locked on Thea, whose own expression was a mix of apprehension and relief. She gave a short, almost imperceptible jerk of her head when she saw me looking, a short nod of appreciation.

I let my gaze slide from her to Damien, an intense wave of dislike washing over me as I met his gaze. He had done this to Thea. I wasn't going to let him get away with it.

"Right, then," Damien said. "Come on, sir, and claim your prize."