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Because the van smells like fear and fury barely leashed. There are at least three other bodies in here with me, all male.

I can hear them talking up front, low murmurs with that too slick, too smug confidence that makes bile rise in my throat.

Every now and then, one of them laughs.

“Hurry the fuck up, Tim!” Someone shouts.

“The moon is full and we need to perform the binding ceremony before midnight,” another says.

“I’ve got the pedal to the fucking metal already. This thing can’t fly, you know.”

“He’s gonna come for her. We have to do this fast.”

I know whatever they want from me, it’s not good.

I shift, inching just enough to see the back of the van.

Metal walls.

No windows.

No light.

Just shadows and menace.

Tears prick my eyes, but I force them back.

I will not fall apart.

Not now.

Not when I’ve got someone who’ll be looking for me.

Because Kian will come.

He’ll feel it.

He’ll know.

And gods help whatever monsters thought they could take me from him.

Because my Kian is going to rage like hellfire when he finds out I’m gone.

And when he does, they better run.

But honestly, there’s a vengeful voice in my head, hoping they don’t.

Because when he does get here, my mate is going to end them.

Chapter Twenty-Seven-Kian

I started out on foot after her.

Didn’t even think. Just ran, fueled by instinct and pure, white-hot panic.

But Zeke pulled up barely three minutes in, his truck skidding into the alley like a dragon-breathed missile, and I leapt in without hesitation.

Now we’re barreling down back country roads, the engine howling beneath us like it’s just as pissed off as I am.