Chapter Eighteen

Glass

I woke up to the sound of chaos inside and outside my head, with my stomach working its own counterpoint.

What Great Rhu was this? Had the pride house gone to rhubarb in a handbasket?

Yelling and mooing and roaring and more yelling I didn't recognize. What was going on? My head ached with all the noise, so I continued to keep my eyes shut while I took some deep breaths to calm my stomach.

Why didn't everyone shut up so I could go back to sleep?

I went to roll over and wrap my arm around my beautiful mate, so I could snuggle and ignore the chaos, because I felt like I could sleep forever with Apollo in my arms. My brain was sluggish enough, it took a second to realize I couldn't move.

What the hell is this?

I yanked at my hands, only they were going nowhere. My heavy-lidded eyes opened at the feel of metal rubbing against my wrists, only all I saw was blackness. I tugged on my wrists, pulse hammering in my ears. I was the one in handcuffs! Oh Great Rhu, no! I never wore handcuffs or a damn hood.

Apollo had the wrong end of the stalk if he thought I was going to submit to him. Had the butt plug been a kink too far? I thought Apollo had loved it as much as me, but was I wrong?

"What the hell's going on?" an unfamiliar voice snarled.

My question precisely. Only I had a dozen more as I lay on a surface that was definitely not a bed. What the hell was going on? Where was I? Who was that? Was Apollo safe? All my fuzzy hairs started fritzing at the thought of my mate being hurt and the reality something was very wrong.

"It sounds like the fucking farm out there," a gruff voice growled.

Another unknown voice. These assholes were not from the pride or the town. Where was I?

I focused my throbbing head, trying to remember what had happened, but everything was kinda fuzzy around the edges and not in a good stalk way. But it didn't take a genius to realize someone had kidnapped me. Why else would they handcuff me and blindfold me?

"It's that abomination of a pride. I told you." Yet another voice spoke. "Just ignore them."

Good luck with that one. With the racket Burke was making, I couldn't think. My heart swelled at the thought of my new pride coming to rescue me. Was Apollo with them? He must have been the one to alert everyone.

Stay safe, lion of my heart.

Nothing. Our mate link was still there, I could feel it, but I couldn't hear him so I fretted he couldn't hear me either. Was that him roaring? The distress made my heart ache.

Breathing hard, I attempted to reach Crimson, my brothers, anyone who I had the longest connection with. At the lack of response, a stab of real fear hit me dead center in the chest. Was it the drugs they'd injected into me stopping my connection?

"You said this would be easy, Amell. Kidnap the rhubarb and put them in the pan and they'd blame Maximus. Instead, we've got half of Old MacDonald's farm mooing out there and the fucking lions roaring. They know us. You don't think by now the whole town might work out it's not Maximus?"

"It doesn't matter." Presumably that had to be Amell with the growly voice. "We kill the rhubarb and get the hell out of Dodge. They won't want the monsters to stay now that they've brought danger to the town."

I couldn't hold back a snort. These monsters were real stupid. Like stupidly stupid. Did they miss the sirens, too? Someone must have called the sheriff. But they didn't call his deputy.

Now I was going stalk crazy, singing that in my head. I laughed like a crazed rhubarb at thoughts of turning into Twirlie if I wasn't careful.

"Shit, it's awake," Voice #1 said. "I gave it enough sedative to fell that fucking bull."

"It doesn't matter," Amell said. "Ramp up the heat under the pan now."

"He's a human, he ain't gonna fit into a pan this size. We need something bigger."

"Lion Gods, do I have to explain this again? I told you I'll give him this other drug. It'll make him wilt and shift. Then we'll throw him in the pan. It takes a minute, if that."

Shit!

Shit!

Shit!

I was in real trouble now. I'd be c-r-u-m-b-l-e-d before the pride got through the door.

Apollo? I tried one more time to get through to my mate. Can you hear me, baby?

Nothing. I slumped in my cuffs. I hoped he didn't see me in the pan. That was the last thing I wanted him to witness.

I wish we'd had more time together. I have so many toys we could have played with.

TMI Glass, Great Rhu, TMI, Tim said in my head.

Did it have to be my brother who heard my last thoughts about my mate?

"Gonna inject him now!"

I waited for the needle scratch that would end my life.

"Go! Go! Go!" That was Apollo!

Then chaos erupted once more, the sound of wood splintering, and people shouting, lions roaring, Burke's mooing intensified, and I couldn't see a damn thing as I wriggled on the wooden surface, desperate to do something, anything, to stop feeling so helpless.

"Get down on the ground now!" Sheriff Butch yelled.

"Drop that syringe or I'll tear your throat out." That was Maximus. "One muscle twitch and you're done, Amell."

But the most important voice was the one by my ear as the hood came off and my eyes watered at the sudden brightness. "My alpha, oh my alpha."

My omega held me so tight I could barely breathe. That was fine with me now I could see he was unharmed… and naked.

"It's okay, it's all right, my baby," I crooned, trying to soothe him. "It's all right," I choked out. Maybe I was trying to calm myself as much as Apollo.

"I thought you were in the pan." Apollo's tears dripped all over my face. "I couldn't hear you."

"The drugs they gave me stopped me talking to you. I still can't hear much."

Except me, Tim said gleefully, in my head.

I was gonna feed my brother to the pan, one stringy piece at a time.

Nah, you love me. Give Apollo lots of love. He's the one who saved you.

My mate was still holding me tight, sobbing all over me.

"Baby, I want to hold you. Could you take off the cuffs?"

"Oh… yeah."

Apollo moved back, and I stared into his beautiful eyes, brimming with tears. I leaned forward and kissed each eye, then the tip of his nose, then his mouth.

"The cuffs?" I coaxed.

I needed to hold my mate in my arms more than taking my next breath.

Chaos ruled and my frustration grew when none of the kidnappers, who were face down in the dirt, admitted to having the key.

Maximus snarled, stomped over, and wrenched the cuffs apart. He nearly took my wrists too, but I didn't care because I had my arms round Apollo and that was all that mattered.