Page 3

When her stomach calmed and the room stopped spinning, she sat on the bed.

The bed didn't make a sound as she smooshed onto it.

It took only a second, and then she sank into the foam mattress.

It cocooned every curve until she felt as though she floated weightlessly.

Her body involuntarily relaxed, and she sighed.

She allowed herself to breathe and for the mattress to hug every inch of her.

For the first time in a week, everything floated away, and she just lay in complete silence, pushing all thoughts from her mind.

No fear for her unborn baby. No sadness from missing her mates.

No calculating how she would escape. Nothing, just… nothing.

Minutes drifted by, and she found herself falling asleep until her wolf grumbled, bringing everything back to the forefront of her mind.

Thanks a lot.

Her wolf whined.

Her wolf was right, though. River couldn't afford to let her guard down. Not for a single minute.

She reluctantly sat up and prodded the mattress.

She loved it more than any bed she'd ever slept in.

Too bad it had been a gift from Titan. If she'd had scissors, she'd cut it up inch by inch and left it in a pile for him.

She'd have cut up or destroyed everything in the room if she'd had the energy.

The first moment she'd awakened in the room had completely confused her. It was a replica of her loft at her studio in New York. She'd thought everything she'd been through was a dream, but then she'd smelled him. And it had all come flooding back.

New York. Ares. Apollo. The mating ceremony. Titan shooting both of them. The rogues. So many rogues. She'd had no idea there were so many out there.

She looked at the tray of food longingly and noticed a red can peeking out from behind a glass of ice.

Soda!

River got to her feet and hurried to the table.

She snatched up the can and ripped the top open.

She poured it over the ice and chugged it.

For a moment, she wasn't sure her stomach would agree with her decision, but when nothing happened, she poured the rest of the soda in the glass and chugged it as well.

The taste was sweeter than she remembered; she hadn't gone without at least a soda a day for so long it tasted different somehow.

She tossed the can in the trash and looked over the plate.

Chips, a sandwich, fruit, and chocolate.

A variety, as usual, but the array only seemed to punch her in the gut harder.

It reminded her of the basket lunch Apollo had brought her, and of the meal she and Ares and Apollo had shared on her bed after her heat.

Those moments felt a lifetime ago, and her heart ached. Her wolf remained unusually quiet. She had been that way since River had awakened. She assumed that Titan had put her on blockers. If she figured it out how, though, she sure as hell was going to stop that.

In the almost two months she'd been off the blockers, she'd come to realize how much of a comfort her wolf was to her. Now she felt more alone than she had before she'd met her wolf.

The smell of the food soured in River's nostrils, and she turned away, but stopped and looked at the plate again… the food.

She hadn't taken a pill or been given a shot since arriving. So, the only way they could have been feeding her controlled doses of blockers was through her food.

Did that mean if she didn't eat long enough, the blockers would wear off? If so… how long could she go without eating and not harm her baby?

River threw her hands into her hair and screamed.

Stupid Titan! Why? Why was he doing this? She'd rejected him. Why was he so determined to have her? To get back at Ares and Apollo? Because he wanted the throne? Or something else? She couldn't decide.

She'd expected Titan to demand she agree to mate him the moment she'd woken up on the first night. She'd expected him to demand a lot of things, actually, but he hadn't. In truth, he'd not spent any time with her since her kidnapping.

She knew he wanted her; she'd seen it in his eyes, but there was something else there as well, something she couldn't put her finger on. An expectation of something, though she had no clue what.

River got up more easily from the bed since her body had some sugar in it.

She looked down at the clothes she'd woken up in a week prior.

Her shredded mating dress lay in a crumpled heap in the corner; she could only assume Titan had ripped it up.

But more than that, it bothered her to think he had seen her naked and had redressed her.

She looked over at the destroyed dress, and a pang of sadness flowed through her. It had been their mother's dress. She could only imagine what Ares and Apollo were going through.

She swallowed hard- if they were even still alive.

Apollo. Her beloved Apollo. The last time she'd seen him, he was only semi-conscious. So many injuries and bullets. And Ares. He'd been shot at least twice with the poison-laced bullets.

A tear leaked from her eye, and she breathed deep. No. She wasn't going there again. They were alive. Apollo was alive. She knew it. Mainly because if he weren't, she would know that so much more… wouldn't she? Wouldn't her wolf?

Apollo's gentle smile and warm eyes flooded her mind, and she whined. She couldn't lose him. She couldn't. Not her gentle protector.

The ribbons connecting her wolf to theirs were still intact. Would they be if her mates were dead? Or would they snap like the one that she'd broken with Titan? Or thought she'd broken with him…

The red ribbon from Titan wove tighter than ever.

She swiped the tears from her eyes. Why couldn't she have an extraordinary power like in books? Telepathy or something to tell them where she was?

She shook her head. She had to be strong. She couldn't let herself fall apart. Not for them. Not for her. Not for their child.

She brushed her fingers through her hair and caught a whiff of herself. Blech!

She hated to admit it, but Titan was right; she needed to shower and burn her clothes.

And then… she needed a plan.