Enzo
“Get your filthy hands off of me!” I snarled, thrashing against the two burly servants who were attempting to strip off my clothes. More hands grabbed at me from all sides, overpowering my weakened struggles.
I roared curses until a gag was forced between my teeth, muffling my outrage.
They manhandled me into a carved stone bath, with foul-smelling oils and perfumes swirling around in the steaming water. I nearly choked on the gag they had shoved in my mouth as brushes scoured my raw skin.
How did this happen? How had I let myself be stripped of my dignity like this? I felt like I was in a dream.
When the servants were finished scrubbing me clean, l stood furious and dizzy with rage and humiliation on the bathroom floor. The servants didn’t even bother to avert their eyes from my body, clearly accustomed to ‘preparing’ others in this exact way for their queen’s twisted rituals.
As two guards lifted me by the arms to do god-knows-what with me next, I caught a glimpse of myself in a polished mirror. Angry red welts blistered my wrists, neck and torso where the silver ropes had continuously seared against my exposed flesh since last night.
My wild eyes stared back at me from a haggard, exhausted face. I was utterly helpless, at the mercy of true monsters. How would I ever get back to Nina like this?
Despair threatened to crush what little defiance I had left. Then, a familiar clicking of heels echoed into the room, and my head jerked up of its own accord.
Mila crossed over to me, completely unfazed by my body. She was dressed in a long, emerald green silk gown that rustled when she moved; a far cry from the simple clothes she wore back in the human realm.
I felt a low growl rumble in the back of my throat as I saw her. If only I had my wolf, I would have torn her to shreds; but I was helpless now with this silver still binding me, weakening my wolf.
With a smirk, she trailed one appreciative nail down my chest and I recoiled violently. Her smile remained untouched. “Almost ready for our union, my pet?” she purred.
I ripped the gag free, not caring about the consequences for doing so. “This is insane!” I shouted hoarsely. “I’m not a dragon, I’m a werewolf! Your information is wrong!”
Mila glanced at the servants, who had only averted their gazes when she entered the room and were now standing off to the side, studiously examining the floor. “Leave us,” she hissed.
Once we were alone, she turned back to me with her eyes hooded. “Believe me, Enzo, l’ve verified every detail most thoroughly about you.” Her hand ran over my damp hair, almost making me retch. “Including a complete analysis of your bloodline.”
No. She had to be lying.
Mila stepped closer, her crimson lips parted. “Did you think those physical exams were merely standard tests?
I’ve had your profile for years, my love. Just waiting for the perfect time to claim you…”
Her unsettling words made my gut twist. How long had she been cataloging me?
I shook my head in frantic denial. “But you’ve got it all wrong,” I insisted. “I’m no dragon. Look at me-l’m a werewolf. This is insane, Mila.” To access the complete chapters for free, visit J o b nib . c o m.Mila turned aside, pulling a folded up paper out of her pocket. “Fine, then,” she said, carefully unfolding it and holding it out in front of me. “See it for yourself.”
And my world crashed down around me.
There, in stark irrefutable detail, were documented blood work results. Mila’s tests had found diluted traces of ancient dragon DNA, blended within my lycan inheritance.
“Barely detectable, but just enough,” she cooed.
“You’re insane.”
“We’re a perfect match,” Mila purred, ignoring my words once again. “Once combined with my pure dragon genome, the proper rituals will ensure a guaranteed dragon shifter heir. Perhaps the first of a new robust bloodline.”
I swayed as her poisonous words chipped away at my last desperate objections. She had won, or so it seemed.
The data was right in front of me, clear as day. I didn’t want to believe it, but it was hard not to.
Unless.
“Let me speak to my wife.”I choked out urgently. “I want to at least see her, let her know I’m alive and that I love her before..” I couldn’t force out the hideous words, but I didnt need to.
“Please.” I said, softening my voice a little. “I know you’re not so cruel as to deny us closure.”
But her once beautiful features twisted with sudden bitterness. “Your wife will not be coming here,” she said. “There’s no need for her anymore. And after the ceremony, you won’t even remember she existed. Your mind will be free.”
“Free?” I hissed. “What are you saying, Mila?”
Mila smirked.
“It’s a simple ritual,” she said. “With a few spells and some potions, you’ll forget your past. Everything you’ve ever known will be right here, with me. You won’t feel any pain, because your wife will have never existed in your mind.”
My chest heaved with a sudden fury. I tried to lunge to my feet and reach for Mila, but it was too late; the silver ropes had made me weak. She didn’t even flinch.
Rough hands were on me again then, wrenching my arms behind my back to rebind my lacerated wrists with more searing silver rope. I roared in agony until a ringing blow to the head from an unknown source sent me reeling, my senses spinning sickeningly again.
“Nina…” Her name caught in my throat. Our unborn child would now grow up fatherless. I never should have come here, but then again, would it have mattered? Maybe Mila would have found me anyway.
Either way, I had failed them.
Through my wavering vision I made out silken black clothes being forced onto my battered body. The fabric was cool against my skin, but it did nothing to soothe the burning caused by the silver ropes.
Finally, once they were finished, they dragged me back to my all-too-familiar cell and threw me down half-conscious onto the icy floor. As if my aching heart wasn’t enough torment.
With my skin still smoldering beneath my shimmering new clothes, the cell door crashed deafeningly shut. I didn’t move from where they had thrown me onto the floor like a corpse. What little strength I still possessed was devoted entirely to keeping me alive..
Soon, Mila’s footsteps signaled her presence out side the silver case again. I couldn’t ever muster a glare in her direction.
“You look magnificent,” she breathed, fiery eyes drinking me in.
With a rustle of skirts she knelt down in front of the bars that were separating us. One delicate hand extended as if to caress my face. I recoiled sharply on instinct, my lips curling back in a snarl.
Her fingers paused, then retracted. Her smirk never faded. I thought I had known evil before now when I had been taken by Selena, but this… this was so much worse.
And it was the fact that, in just a few short hours, I might not even remember Nina… that hurt the most.
*Just a little more time,” Mila whispered, her slender hands gripping the silver bars of my cell. “Just imagine it-our dynasty reborn from the ashes!
Such glory awaits!*
A feeling of sick horror roiled through me. She was fanatical, unhinged, utterly convinced that her plan was righteous when, in reality, it was nothing but blood and gore-just like her kingdom.
Mila took my silence for awe rather than numbed revulsion. She leaned closer so that her face was pressed between the bars, her slitted pupils widening like a cat’s when it spotted its prey.
“I know you hate me, my love,” she cooed, “but it will all be over soon. You’ll love it here… I promise.*
With that, she stood and swept out of the room in a rustle of green skirts, leaving me there on the floor with nothing left-not even my dignity.
“Nina, forgive me.” I murmured to myself.
My ragged plea was left unanswered. Of course Nina couldn’t hear me; she was likely at home still, wondering where I was, why I never got off my plane.
And she would never know.
Nina
Luke’s eyebrows drew together at the mention of a portal.
He shook his head. “I don’t think it could be a portal,” he said, his voice low so as not to be overheard. “Portals are only able to be opened in places like Mountainview, where the veil between realms is thin.”
“What’s to say the veil isn’t thin here?* | asked. I thought back on my first visit to this city with Enzo, when I had noticed a strange woman in the crowd. Then there was that so-called fortune teller, too. ”
“There should only be thin spots within thousands and thousands of miles of one another,” Luke replied thoughtfully. “It just wouldn’t make sense for there to be one here.”
I furrowed my brow as my thoughts raced wildly. “If Enzo really was taken hostage somehow, though…* I shivered, unable to give voice to the dark possibilities that were now swirling through my mind
Luke’s fists clenched at his sides. “You’re right. We don’t fully grasp what kind of danger he could be facing yet. Let’s keep our minds open to any possibilities, but I think we should start here. Let’s try to look at that clip of Enzo again. Maybe we can pick something up that we missed before.”
I nodded. We returned to the concierge, who was now clearly getting annoyed with us. She set her notebook down with a sigh, meeting our gazes.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“I’m sorry to bother you again, but is there any way we could take another look at that CCTV footage again?” | asked. “We’d really appreciate it.”
The concierge sighed again. “Look,” she sald, “I understand your predicament, I really do. But Ive got a job to do, too. I’ve already broken the rules twice by showing you that footage and letting you into the room, so.*
Luke and I exchanged looks. “Alright,” I said, taking a step back. “Sorry for bothering you.*
“Feel free to explore the hotel, at least,” the concierge said gently. “But I’m afraid that’s all I can offer you.”
That was all the permission I needed.
Over the next hour, Luke and I scoured every inch of the hotel premises; we questioned various staff members, and even bribed a distrustful security manager into showing us the CCTV footage again, this time from a different angle.
“Here,” the security guard said with a huff as he flipped to the footage on his computer screen. “This is the angle from the west hallway.”
I crossed my arms and leaned in to get a closer look, and there he was again; Enzo, grainy and fuzzy through the screen, walking down the hall with Mila. My heart clenched at the sight. He had his arm looped around her waist, and was leaning in to say something to her. She giggled, running her finger along his chest.
I turned away then, my throat tight. I couldn’t keep watching. Tears burned behind my eyes but I refused to shed them here
But then I saw it, just as my eyes were flickering curiously back to the screen. Enzo stumbled. It was subtle, but it was there.
“Wait!” I said. “Go back.”
With a huff, the security guard did as I said. And there it was: Enzo’s foot catching beneath him, his body swaying, a glazed look in his eyes, and then something flashing in Mila’s gaze-something almost akin to desperation…
It happened so fast it was almost impossible to catch, but I saw it.
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong
“Pause here, please,” I Instructed the security guard, who did as l asked. Astill frame of Enzo, mid-stumble, popped up on the soreen. “Luke, you see this?”
Luke leaned in and studied the image: Enzo’s dull brown irises, his usually sturdy body looking.. loose. Out of sorts. Uncoordinated.
No Apha’s wolf would ever allow him to become so vulnerable and out of control, not unless something was seriously wrong.
Luke and I thanked the security guard and slipped out of the room, down the hallway where we could speak more privately.
“Mila must have done something to him,” I whispered as certainty solidified like ice in my gut. “I’m sure of it.”
Luke nodded slowly as we rounded the corner. “Yeah, something wasn’t right about that,” he said. “But it still doesn’t explain where they went.” –
I let out a low groan. Luke was right; we had a pretty good idea now that something was off about Enzo’s behavior, but we’d still hit a dead end.
Where had Mila disappeared to with my husband?
And perhaps more importantly, exactly who-or what-was she?
“Come on,” Luke said, “let’s check out his room again. Maybe there are some clues in the hallway that we missed.” I nodded, and together we made our way up the stairs to the second floor, then down the hall where Enzo’s room was.
We wandered around out there for a few minutes, our eyes fixed on the floor. It occurred to me then how crazy we probably seemed, but I didn’t care.
Something had happened to my husband, and Mila was behind it. I was sure of it.
Suddenly, just as we were about to give up on our search and just go to the police, an adjacent hotel room cracked open. An elderly couple peered out curiously, the woman’s eyes lingering on our tired faces.
“So sorry to Intrude,” she remarked kindly. “But did I hear you earlier a sking after the guest in this room next to us?”
Luke and I exchanged confused looks. “Yes we were,” I said. “Do you know anything?™
The man adjusted his glasses on his nose. his brow furrowing. “Well, not much, he said. “Was he tall, with curly brown hair? Muscular?”
I nodded. “Yes, he was. Hen. is.”
The old couple glanced at each other for a moment before the man continued. “We bumped into him and a strange lady on the elevator,” he explained.
“The lady was… rude, to say the least.”
“Very rude,” the old woman chimed in. “Nearly shoved my husband out of the way trying to getout. All we did was ask whether they’re on vacation.”
“The poor boy seemed to be strung along a bit, didn’t he, Carol?” the old man asked. “Following her like a puppy on a leash.”
The old woman scoffed. “Like a prisoner, more like,” she said. ‘It was so strange.. He had a smile on his face, but fear in his eyes.”
“And then there was the sound in the middle of the night,” the old man continued with a nod.
Such an odd noise, too.”
My pulse quickened at the old couple’s words. “What kind of odd noise exactly, sir?* Luke asked tentatively, taking a step forward.
The woman pursed her thin lips. “Hm.. Like a television on the fritz. All fuzzy and too loud, shorting on and off through the wall.” She shook her head. “It was quite bizarre, let me tell you. Woke us both up.”
The description that the old couple gave us suddenly removed all doubt from my frenzied mind. A distinctly characteristic sound that no standard human technology could replicate. But one familiar to those privy to the supernatural realm…
I whirled on Luke, my eyes wide. “A portal,” I hissed. “It has to be.”