Annoyance flashed in his eyes for the first time. “You may love him, but you haven’t mated him. I can tell you are still pure just by being near you. It’s the other reason I chose you.”
I fought back a sob. If I hadn’t pushed Chris away for so long, we would have completed the bond, and I wouldn’t be here wondering if I’d ever see him again.
Adam’s face softened. He reached for me, but I flinched away, which made him sigh. “You don’t have to fear me. I’d never hurt you.”
“You are hurting me.”
“Once you’ve fed on my power, you’ll change your mind. And then you’ll see how happy we’ll be together.”
I clutched the comforter tightly. “Incubus power doesn’t work on me. You said so yourself.”
He smiled indulgently. “You keep forgetting I’m not a normal Incubus. It will take several feedings to weaken your resistance, but you’ll come to want me as much as I want you.”
I stared at him in horror as the weight of his words hit me. “If you take away my resistance, it’s the same as drugging me and forcing yourself on me.”
Adam looked as if I’d slapped him. “I would never take a female by force or use violence against one. Females are to be cherished, and I’ve never been with one against her will.”
“Don’t you see that using your power on them is taking away their free will?” I pleaded, though I already knew there was no getting through to him. How could he not see that what he was doing was the ultimate violation?
I put my hand to my face as a wave of dizziness washed over me. My eyes suddenly felt heavy and unfocused as I stared at the glass in Adam’s hand. “You drugged me again,” I accused.
He stood and set the glass on the night table then leaned over me. “It was a mild dose, just enough to make you compliant.”
I shrank away from him as fear mingled with the lethargy stealing over me. “Compliant for what?”
His hand caressed my face lovingly. I loathed his touch, but I couldn’t raise an arm to push him away. All I could do was stare at him helplessly as he leaned over me.
“Shhh. Don’t be afraid,” he said softly. “I have no desire to make love to a drugged female. All I would take now is a kiss.”
“No,” I protested drunkenly as the room dimmed.
“Yes,” he murmured.
The last thing I felt as sleep took me was his mouth on mine.
Chris
I glanced at my phone for what seemed like the hundredth time. I’d gotten used to Beth texting me often, but I hadn’t heard from her since she’d let me know she and Mason were done shopping. That was almost two hours ago. Los Angeles traffic was bad this late in the afternoon, but she should have been home by now.
Forcing my attention back to the report on the computer screen, I managed to get through two pages before I looked at my phone again.
“She’s probably held up,” Nikolas said.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I know, but I can’t stop feeling like something’s wrong.”
“Call her. No sense worrying for nothing.”
“You’re right.”
I picked up my phone and dialed Beth’s number. It went immediately to voice mail.
A cold lump formed in my gut, and I tried her number again to no avail. This time, I left a short message for her to call me.
I hung up and called Mason next. His phone rang four times before it went to voice mail. I left a message for him, too, and met Nikolas’s questioning look.
“Neither of them is picking up. I don’t like this.”
His brows drew together thoughtfully. “Beth’s wearing a tracker?”
“Yes.”
I was out of my chair before he finished the question. Out in the control room, I went to Will, who was monitoring all the team locations.
“Can you bring up Beth’s location?” I asked him.
“Sure.”
He typed her name into the search bar on one of his screens, and the map zoomed in on a blinking blue dot in Long Beach.
Will pointed at the screen. “I know that area. It’s a bunch of little craft shops. There’s a seafood place I go to close by.”
The coldness in my stomach grew. It had been almost two and a half hours since Beth had said they were heading home.
“Something’s wrong,” I said to Nikolas, who had followed me. “If they’d decided to shop some more, Beth would have let me know. And neither of them is answering their phone.”
Grabbing a mobile receiver, I entered the device number for Beth’s tracker.
“See if anyone is close to Long Beach, and have them meet me there,” I told Will. “Tell them to call me if they find Beth and Mason.”
“On it.”
I headed for the garage, and I didn’t need to look to know Nikolas was behind me. Neither of us spoke as we straddled our bikes and donned our helmets. My mind was too full of worry to make conversation, and if anyone understood, it was Nikolas.
I alternated between calling Beth and praying she was okay during the ride to Long Beach. Traffic was terrible as always, but Nikolas and I knew how to maneuver through it and get there in half the time it would take a normal commuter.
Dusk had fallen when we reached the little row of shops. I looked at the receiver mounted on my dash. The map showed that Beth was in a parking lot behind one of the shops.
I followed a parking sign to a wide alley between two buildings. The alley opened into a small parking lot with a handful of cars and a large black SUV.
It wasn’t until I pulled up to the SUV that I saw what was beside it. Fear knifed through me when I took in the sight of Raoul and Jordan kneeling beside Mason, who lay on the ground. His Ducati stood nearby beside Beth’s Harley. Beth was nowhere to be seen.
Raoul stood when I shut off my bike, and his grim expression made it impossible to breathe for a moment. My hands shook when I removed my helmet and met his gaze.
“What happened?” I heard Nikolas ask.
Raoul’s eyes shifted to him. “Incubi. Mason said there were at least four of them. Maybe more. They jumped him and Beth as they were walking to their bikes.”
“Beth?” was all I could say.
“Took her,” Mason said weakly.
I fought to control the rage building inside me. Losing control now would not help Beth, and finding her was all I cared about. Forcing myself to stay calm, I went to Mason.
One side of Mason’s face was a massive bruise, and one of his eyes was swollen shut. Jordan had his shirt pulled up to expose the dark bruising along his ribs.
“Bastards were…waiting for us,” he said between gritted teeth. Remorse filled his eyes. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help her.”
“It’s not your fault,” I told him, sounding a lot calmer than I felt. “Did they say anything? Give you any clue to where they were taking her?”
Mason tried to sit up and fell back to the pavement.
“No.”
I looked at Beth’s bike as if it could tell me something. A glint of silver near the back wheel caught my eye, and I crouched to see what it was. My gut clenched when I saw the silver chain with the tiny dove pendant. I picked it up and tucked it into the inside pocket of my jacket.
Going to my bike, I grabbed the receiver, which showed a blinking blue dot close by. I scanned the parking lot, and my gaze landed on a blue dumpster.
My mind filled with images of Beth lying on a pile of trash. I couldn’t feel her. What if she was –?
No. I’d feel it if she were gone. The bond was still there, so she was alive.
Raoul ran to the dumpster and peered inside. Then he leaned in and grabbed something. When his hand reappeared, it was holding Beth’s brown leather jacket. I’d know it anywhere because it was her favorite, and she wore it whenever she rode her Harley.
I walked over and took the jacket from him. Reaching into the inside pocket, I found the tiny round tracking device, exactly where I’d placed it before Beth left the house. A search of the other pockets turned up the key to her bike.
“Do you see her phone in there or her Taser?” I asked Raoul.
He looked down into the dumpster and pressed his mouth together like he was reluctant to speak or like he didn’t know how to tell me what he saw.