1. Kirsten

Tick-tick-tick.

The sound pulled at me, hauling me into consciousness like a wet towel dragged up from the bottom of a pool. The ticking continued after I awoke, but I kept my eyes closed. A hundred thoughts fluttered through my mind. Most were confusing and disjointed. The car wreck. The sounds of breaking glass, snapping plastic, and twisting metal. Panic surged through me as I recalled Eren pulling my limp body from the car.

With a hope and a prayer that it had all been a bad dream, I allowed my eyelids to slide open. On the wall opposite me, a clock marked the passage of time, the second hand tapping out that annoying rhythm. Clicking away my life as though it meant nothing. Cold, heartless, and condescending.

Gritting my teeth, I sat up and swung my legs around to the ground. A wave of dizziness rocked the world, and I had to close my eyes until it steadied. Finally opening them again, I found a nondescript, unfurnished gray and white room. It held only the cot I'd woken up on, a single chair, and a small table. Two doors stood closed on either side of the room.

After checking one and finding it locked, I tried the other. The door opened to a small bathroom, though "bathroom" was an exaggeration. All it had was a toilet and a small sink.

I was caught. A mouse stuck in a trap. As badly as I wanted to lose my mind to panic, I did all I could to stay calm. Sitting on the cot, I focused on how to get myself out of this.

Eren must have brought me to some safe house or something inside Scottsdale. That much had to be true. He wouldn't want me too far from his base of power. His pack would serve as a de facto army if Jace tried to come rescue me. A faint hope of seeing Jace ride in like a white knight was quickly quashed by my own pragmatism. No. I couldn't wait for Jace. I had to help myself.

Jace did know I was in trouble, though. That last phone call would have been enough for him to know. I could still recall how terrified and angry he'd sounded when he'd realized Eren was trying to kidnap me. Regardless of whether or not he'd be successful, Jace would come for me. That alone sent a pang of fear through my chest. Jace had no clue where I was being held. If he tried to rush in here, guns blazing, he might get hurt or even killed. I had to find a way to get out before the worst happened.

The stone on my neck, still there even after the wreck and kidnapping, hummed against my skin. A low and ominous pulse. A moment later, the deadbolt on the locked door clicked, and the door swung inward. Eren appeared, a smarmy, shit-eating grin on his lips.

"Well, well, well," he said. "Looks like you've finished your little nap."

"Fuck you, prick," I hissed.

Eren leveled a finger at me. "You see, I like that. Shows fire and grit. Something I want passed on to my heir."

Despite my best efforts, an image flashed across my mind. Eren, sweaty and grunting, thrusting into me, trying to impregnate me with his spawn. It was all I could do not to gag and puke right there at the mere thought of it.

Swallowing the bile back down, I said, "What do you plan on doing with me?"

"I can see you're afraid," Eren said, stepping closer. "Don't be. I'm not going to hurt you. I wouldn't want anything happening to my future mate."

I glared at him as he reached forward and ran a finger gently down my cheek. Rather than flinching away, an unconscious and vicious surge of magic burst forth, running up from my chest to my face. An arc of something like electricity burst out, crackling like lightning and snapping at his finger.

Eren jerked his hand back with a wince, then chuckled as he shook his hand. "Oh, temper, temper, young lady." His eyes traveled lasciviously down to my crotch. "Can you do that with all your body parts? Might be fun."

"You're disgusting," I spat. "Touch me again, and you'll see exactly what I can do."

Eren took a step back and spoke as though I hadn't said anything. "You will be my pack witch. Once we're mated, you will be my personal witch. You will use your powers to protect me and my pack from outside influence, and you will provide me with an heir." He cocked an eyebrow. "More than one if you're as fun in bed as I think you'll be."

I couldn't help what happened next. I burst out laughing. A long, heavy belly laugh. Tears sprang to my eyes from the force of the laughter. He had to be delusional. There was no way I would ever agree to that, and he had to know it. Along with the strangely morbid and terrifying hilarity I felt at the situation, I also felt a twinge of bitterness. I'd helped this asshole with his fertility issues. Had I known his true plan, I'd have told him to go straight to hell.

Eren, looking less than pleased with my outburst, glared at me until I got myself under control.

"I'm sorry," I said, wiping tears from my eyes. "You are out of your mind if you think that little fantasy is going to happen."

His lips pulled back in a snarl as he bared his teeth. "You, Kirsten, appear to have misjudged the situation here. I have you. Jace doesn't. I"—he jammed a thumb into his chest—"am the only one who knows where you are. For all intents and purposes, you belong to me. The sooner you realize and accept that, the sooner things get easier for you."

Rather than breaking me, his words only served to piss me off more. I had the urge to tell him that I could use my magic to fry his ass at any time, but I held off. Maybe if he thought I was coming around, he'd give me some information. As revolting as the idea sounded, I decided to try to catch flies with honey rather than vinegar.

Letting my shoulders slump in defeat, I shook my head. "Okay, I get it. I'm yours. I was wrong to think that Jace cared for me." I did my best to lace resignation into every word.

Eren's glare slowly morphed into a grin. "Really? That easy? I thought you'd put up more of a fight. Seems you're not as loyal to the Crestwood prick as I thought you were."

"What's the use?" I shrugged. "You stole me fair and square. That alone shows how much stronger an alpha you are compared to Jace. Why would I want to align myself with a man who can't even protect his woman?" Forcing down the vomit that rose in my throat from saying that, I continued. "A witch should be with the strongest possible mate."

Eren's body relaxed. For a single instant, I thought about jumping up, ramming my shoulder into him, and trying to flee. That thought was quickly drowned out by my realization that I had no idea what awaited outside the doors. His massive beta Poli might be ready to tackle me if I ran. Hell, there could be dozens of shifters from Eren's pack in this building to stop me. And although I had learned some of my powers, I was far from an expert yet. Most of what I'd done had been by accident, with help, or unconsciously.

The alpha came closer and sat beside me, the cot creaking under our combined weight.

"I knew you were smart, but I didn't realize you were this quick on the uptake," he said, putting his hand on my thigh.

Suppressing a shudder of revulsion, I nodded. "It's nature. Survival of the fittest." Don't puke, don't puke, I warned myself before speaking again. "Nature says that a female should mate with the strongest male, and it looks like you are it."

Eren leaned close, his warm breath cascading across my neck, his hand sliding up my thigh. It was all I could do not to scream.

"Mmmm," he moaned. "I like that. You know, I bet that mouth can do more than just say sweet words, can't it?"

I forced a girlish giggle from my mouth, hoping he didn't hear any of the disgust I felt. "Maybe. If you're lucky, you might find out."

"I've never had a witch before," Eren said as he nuzzled my neck. "I can't wait to hear you scream my name."

I suppressed a shudder. "So where is this place, anyway? If you really want me as your mate, you'll need to let me out, right? Show me around?"

Eren's body tensed, his hand stopping just below my breast. He let out a long sigh of frustration before leaning away from me. When he caught my eye, I could see that I'd pushed too far, too fast. Stupid. I should have drawn it out more. But I'd gotten the feeling he was about to try something, and there was no amount of acting in the world that would have allowed me to go any further than I already had. I'd overplayed my hand and fucked up in the process.

"That's disappointing," Eren said as he stood. He grabbed his crotch, adjusting his erection. I looked away in revulsion. "You almost had me believing you. It looks like you need a bit more time alone to come to your senses. A few days or weeks here will have you ready to cooperate."

Without another word, he strode out the door, slamming it behind him. I heard the snick of the lock and let out a shuddering moan. Was I happy to still be locked up? No. But was I happy to not be staring at Eren's quivering little penis? Dear God, yes. There were probably women who could have gone the whole way with the act. Who would have done whatever they needed to do and whomever they needed to do to get free. But that wasn't me. Not in a million years. I'd have to find another way to free myself.

After an hour of boredom, I began pacing the room. There were no windows, and the clock that tick-tick-ticked was broken. The hour hand was slightly bent and stuck on the number six. The second and minute hands continued to spin, but there was no way I could figure out the time of day with that. For all I knew, it could be one in the afternoon or three in the morning. The tiny bathroom held no semblance of a window, either.

Maybe Eren's plan was to keep me in this weird solitary confinement until my mind broke. He might be hoping I'd lose it little by little and eventually succumb to Stockholm syndrome. If that was his plan, he was in for a rude awakening.

The door was solid, not the cheap hollow core you typically found in houses. This one appeared to be solid wood. Not easy to break down, and neither was the doorknob. Without any windows, there was zero chance I was making it out of here with my physical strength alone. I'd break my shoulder before I'd break down that door.

The walls themselves were not concrete or brick. Just simple drywall. If I pressed my ear to them, I could hear the muffled murmur of voices. Nothing distinct, but it told me this room wasn't reinforced. Not that it helped me much. I could no sooner beat down the walls than I could the door.

I had no way of knowing where I was, how big the building was, how many people were here, and I had no weapon or means of escape. The only thing I did have was magic.

"Great," I muttered.

Magic was fantastic—if and when I could control it. That wasn't a guarantee, though. The little shock I gave Eren earlier had surprised me almost as much as it had him. It had been a reflex. If, somehow, I could create a stronger and more powerful spell, I could easily overpower Eren and his henchmen. Recalling the soil tendrils I'd summoned to fight off being kidnapped reminded me how powerful I could truly be. Problem was, I still had a long way to go to master those skills.

With nothing left, I sat on the cot and grasped the stone around my neck. I closed my eyes and did my best to meditate or zone out. Unsure how to go about it, I dug deep, trying to access whatever mechanism in my mind or soul that controlled the magic. I needed to be able to control it. If not? Then I might actually end up as a captive of Eren.

"Please," I muttered to the empty room, eyes still closed, "I need help. Show me the way. Nana, if you're there, I need you. Help me control this."

Sitting like that, I slipped into a weird state, almost hypnagogic, teetering between wakefulness and sleep. Shapes and forms pulsed across the back of my eyelids, and I continued speaking my mantra in my mind, asking for help and guidance. Being that I was a witch, there had to be something within me that could control the power inside me.

It went on like that for a long time, until time itself sort of slipped away. Had I not been so terrified of what Eren was doing, I probably would have been scared out of my mind as I slid deeper into my meditative state. Was this something witches did? Maybe. Or, perhaps, my terror at being abducted and held hostage was making me go mad.

Regardless of whether I was going crazy or not, I noticed a tickle at the back of my mind. So small, it was almost imperceptible. Before I could understand it, the deadbolt unlocked, snapping me from my reverie.

When the door opened, I had no way of knowing if I'd been there for ten minutes or ten hours. Time had come to mean less than nothing while I sat trying to gain control of my powers. Eren stepped in, and since he was wearing the same clothes, I assumed it had only been a couple hours.

Seeing him, that goddamned cocky smile back on his lips, I quickly formulated a plan. It was now or never. Regardless of what he said, I couldn't assume he wouldn't eventually force the issue. Maybe he'd try to force me to mate with him. I had to play along, to gain his trust. Though, this time, I'd try to do it without the fake flirting and seduction.

"Have a good afternoon?" Eren asked. "Did I give you enough time to reconsider your position?"

I nodded slowly, doing my level best to look contrite. "I think so."

He tilted his head and grabbed the chair, turning it around. He sat down, resting his arms on the back of the chair. I got the impression he must have thought this way of sitting made him look like a badass.

"We got off on the wrong foot earlier," he said. "I'm not here to threaten you or scare you."

Good luck with that,I thought, but kept my mouth shut.

"Jace is dangerous," Eren said. "He is not a suitable alpha. He's spent decades trying to push me and the local packs around. Just because he has the biggest pack around doesn't mean he gets to tell us what we can and can't do. I'm sure you've seen it, too. That is why I need an heir. A powerful heir, so I'd finally have the strength to take him down. You can understand that, can't you?" Eren leaned closer, his eyes locking on mine. "Be honest. Can you really say that Jace is a good person?"

This guy was well and truly out of his mind if he thought Jace was the bad guy rather than himself. There was only so much lying I could do and still sound convincing. Instead of answering that question directly, I decided to say something that, while no longer explicitly true, had been the truth a few weeks ago.

"Jace does hate witches," I said. "He's made that very clear."

Eren's lisp curled into a smile. "See? Even his own mate is a witch, and he still can't get over himself. He's all tied up and pissed off all the time. Fuck, my parents are dead, too, but I'm not some sulky prick. Kirsten, with you by my side, bearing my heir and helping to guide my pack, we'll be unstoppable. We'll bring order to the area. Hell, maybe we can even bring more packs under our control. With that kind of power, the only outcome will be peace."

I'm sure every psychotic dictator in history thought the same thing. I'm only hurting you so I can protect you. This guy was such a pompous, self-important asshole.

Despite my irritation, I gave him a weak smile and nodded. "Maybe you are right." I swallowed and cast my eyes down, biting my lower lip. "What if… uh… what if we go slow? To break the ice, you know?"

When I looked back up at him, the look of dark hunger in his eyes made my skin crawl.

"Are you being serious this time? Really?" Eren asked slowly as he stood, pushing the chair aside.

Shrugging, I dug down deep, grasping at the power I'd only briefly managed to touch while I was alone. "Yeah. I don't think I can go through fully, if you get my drift, but maybe something smaller? Easier?"

Eren grinned and unzipped his jeans. "Oh, I think I know what you mean. But I have to warn you, it isn't small, and it won't be that easy."

Good God, this guy was so full of himself. A rising tingle of what felt like static electricity tickled up my spine, and I had to bite my cheek to keep from smiling. The power was there. I just had to wait for the right time to use it.

Eren stepped even closer as he unbuckled his belt. "If you can show me that mouth is good for something other than disrespecting me, we can start fresh. Once I'm done with you, you won't even remember what Jace's cock tastes like."

He had his hand down his waistband, ready to pull out whatever silly thing he called a penis when I looked up at him. He must have seen something in my eyes that gave me away because he froze. For an instant, we were locked in time, our eyes on each other, him knowing he was in trouble but not truly understanding why.

Finally, I raised an eyebrow and flashed him a coquettish smile. "Fuck you, Eren."

He opened his mouth to shout, but he never got the chance. I raised my palms toward him, and a blast of what looked like purple lighting burst from my fingers. At the back of my throat, I tasted something metallic, like I'd licked a battery. The bolts slammed into Eren, sending him flying backward into the wall. The wall burst from the impact, drywall dust billowing out. Eren bounced off the wall and fell forward, his face crashing into the floor. Blood erupted from his nose as it broke against the hardwood.

As a shifter, he was too strong for the blast to kill him, but I'd managed to knock him unconscious. His back rose and fell as he snored wetly, bubbles of blood swelling and popping from his ruined nose.

There was no time to think. Rushing forward, I yanked Eren's cell phone from his pocket and shoved it into mine. After securing the phone, I leaped up and ran to the door. Before I could reach forward and grab the knob, it swung inward, a heavy-browed, broad-shouldered shadow rushing in.

Poli.

"Boss? Are you good? What was that—"

His eyes went wide with shock when he saw Eren lying motionless on the floor, and he turned his gaze to me.

My lip curled in disgust as I raised my hands again. "You know what? Fuck you, too," I hissed.

Another bolt of colored lightning burst from my hands, crashing into Poli and sending the hulking man backward. He hit the wall and fell to the floor. The blast didn't knock him out, but he lay there, moaning and rolling around. I had to hurry.

Leaping over him, I rushed down the hallway, panic drowning out the pride I felt at taking two shifters down on my own. The hallway branched off at a T—one corridor going left, the other right. Two men were running toward me from the left, and Poli's shout for help behind me had them running faster.

"Shit," I muttered, then sprinted down the right hallway.

At no point in my life had I ever felt like prey being stalked by a predator. Not even when Eren and his men had accosted and kidnapped me. That had all been so frantic and confusing. At the back of my mind, I'd assumed he would give up, or that Jace would somehow swoop in to rescue me. Now? This must have been what a mouse experienced when an owl was diving down, talons outstretched and ready to pounce.

Footsteps thumped on the floor. There was no way I could outrun shifters. Not in a million years. I had seconds before they were on me.

Ahead, I spotted another door. Knowing I had no choice, I ducked through it. I slammed it shut behind me, pressing my hand to the locking mechanism. A short, sharp pop sounded, and a wisp of smoke curled up beneath my hand. I gaped. The doorknob had melted. More unconscious magic. An instant later, the door shuddered in its frame as the two shifters tried to barge through it.

Turning, I saw I was in a stairwell. Did I go up or down? Behind me, the door shuddered again as the shifters did their best to tear it down. I'd bought myself precious seconds and didn't want to waste them. If I went up, I might end up stuck on the roof with nowhere to run. If I went down, there might be a bottom floor or some less dangerous avenue for escape. I went down.

Heedless of my safety, and with the fear of being caught again at the back of my mind, I took the steps two, even three at a time. Just as I reached the bottom, a crashing sound came from above me. Shit, the shifters had gotten through the door. More fear surged through me, forcing me to run through the next door I found.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

I skidded to a halt in what looked like a small kitchen or break room of some sort. A man stood there, frowning, holding a pot of coffee in one hand and a mug in the other. Before I could think, I raised my left hand in a sweeping motion. A wave of pressure, something akin to a shockwave, coursed from my palm. The coffee in the pot roiled and expanded like a living creature. It gurgled out of the top and splashed into the man's face. He dropped the mug, the porcelain exploding as it hit the ground. The man screamed in agony and fell to his knees, clutching his already-blistering cheeks.

The door to the outside world lay ahead. I lowered my shoulder and rammed into it as I turned the knob. Hot, humid air greeted me. It smelled of freedom, and all I wanted was to kneel down and take a breath, but more shouts echoed from within the building. The men, Eren possibly with them, were gaining on me again. They'd be outside in a second to chase me down. Where could I go?

I glanced around quickly and spotted what looked like a huge barn fifty yards from the house. My feet kicked up dirt as I moved faster than I'd ever run before. No one would have ever called me an athlete. The most I'd ever done was jog a bit on the treadmill at the local gym back home. But if anyone had seen me right then, they would have had a hard time not thinking I'd been a track star in high school. My arms pumped, sweat dotting my forehead, my thighs screaming as I pushed my body as fast as I could.

Reaching the barn door, I opened it just as shouts echoed from the house.

"She's there! The barn. Fucking stop her, goddamn it!" Poli bellowed.

Time had lost all meaning. It seemed to have both sped up and slowed down. My body moved as though it was stuck in a vat of cold honey. I glanced back and saw the men rushing toward me, Eren behind them, his face streaked with blood and murder in his eyes. They were so fucking fast, it was like they were going at hyper speed.

I slammed the door behind me and tried the same lock-melting trick as before. Nothing happened. It had been subconscious, pulled from somewhere deep inside, and now I had no clue how to pull that particular spell out of my hat. Instead of trying again, I turned and found a fleet of cars lined up in rows. Everything from pickup trucks and SUVs to a few sports cars. A classic Corvette and what looked to be a Porsche convertible were the most notable. A peg board on the wall beside the door had keys and fobs dangling from small hooks. I snatched the first fob and hit the button. A black Chevy SUV chirped at me, and I ran for it.

As I unlocked the door and jumped in, the garage door burst open, nearly tearing off its hinges as Poli crashed through it. The force of the impact sent him sprawling to his hands and knees, and the others behind him took a moment to step over his huge body.

That was all the time I needed. Jamming my foot on the brake, I pushed the start button, and the engine roared to life.

As I slipped the gear shift into drive, I hit the lock button. Half a second later, one of the men slammed into the door. A startled and terrified yelp left me. His face was mere inches from mine, shouting curses at me. Eren stalked forward, his eyes gleaming with anger and malice. I could not let him take me again. I shuddered to think what he'd do to punish me.

Heedless of the danger, I pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The SUV rocketed forward and slammed into the rear of the Corvette, sending it spinning out of the way. I rammed into the flimsy sheet metal wall of the garage, the SUV's large frame barely fitting between two metal support posts. The windshield cracked from the impact, but the airbag didn't deploy. The wall tore apart like aluminum foil. I turned right onto the long driveway that would take me to the highway. Given my panic and adrenaline, it would have been best to keep both hands on the wheel, but I dug into my pocket for the phone I'd taken from Eren.

As I barreled toward the guard shack, I spared a glance in the rearview mirror. Horror churned in my gut as two trucks emerged from the hole I'd put in the garage.

As fast as I could, I scrolled through Eren's contacts and found Jace's number. It rang several times, and I almost started crying in frustration when I finally heard his voice, like a light in the darkness.

"You son of a bitch," Jace hissed. "If you hurt one hair on Kirsten's head, I will kill you, do you understand? Touch her, and you die."

It took me a moment to realize he must have seen Eren's name pop up on his caller ID. He thought Eren was calling to gloat. I nearly sobbed with relief at the sound of his voice, the deep rumble of his words like a calming hand touching my shoulder. It was nearly as good as feeling his arms wrapped protectively around me. The moment his voice touched my ears, a soothing balm washed over me.

"Jace, it's me. I need you."