Page 5 of Curvy Hostage Mate (Gold Wolves Black Ops #4)

“What is this about?” I asked. “Money? Some sort of weird revenge? It doesn’t matter. You’ve overstepped. The best thing you can do is let me go.”

He tilted his head, looking me up and down, his brow creased in obvious confusion. “You don’t recognize me? We’ve met before.”

I shook my head, frowning and taking another step back. “I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

Something like hurt flickered across his face. “We met when your sister tried to rescue you. Kendra and I. We got caught by guards, and she had to wipe their memory.”

I sucked in a breath as that memory came back to me. It was when Kendra realized Cain had decided to make me his mate. She’d tried getting me out, and I’d told her to go. There had been others there, but I couldn’t remember their faces. That whole time was a big blur.

“You know Kendra?” I asked.

He nodded. “She’s safe and happy.”

I let out a sigh of relief, shoulders sagging. “Great. Take me to her.”

He shook his head, folding his arms. “I can’t.”

The small candlelight of hope in my chest winked out. I stared at him with undisguised suspicion.

“So what you’re saying is I have no way of actually trusting you at this point,” I said slowly, not bothering to conceal the implications.

He snorted. “You could trust me,” he said. “I did just save you from a psychopath. I would have thought that would give me some good grace.”

“You have to earn good grace,” I retorted. “Kidnapping me from one psychopath doesn’t mean you aren’t one as well.”

He might have known about Kendra trying to rescue me, and I vaguely remembered other wolves coming to help her at some point, but that whole time was still a blur.

Everything blended together. If he wanted me to trust him, he was going to have to do better than just saying I had to take his word for it.

“I want to see my sister,” I said.

I tried to move around him, to get to the still-open door. He stepped in front of me, holding out one muscular arm as he continued staring down at me.

“It’s too risky,” he said. “If Cain is coming to look for you, there’s a chance he’ll search for your sister first in hopes you’ll be there.”

My eyes narrowed. “So now you’re saying that you’ve put my sister in danger?” I snarled.

“Not directly, and not intentionally.” Chris rubbed his jaw, squinting slightly as he tried to come up with the right words. “None of this was part of the plan, exactly.”

“That’s reassuring,” I said sarcastically. “So, what, you just saw me and decided, ‘Hey, how about I kidnap this girl? That seems like a fun way to spend my Saturday afternoon.’”

Tilting his head, he raised an eyebrow. “You could be a bit more grateful. I did just save you.”

“God, are you seriously that arrogant?” I scoffed.

“So, are you saying you didn’t want to be saved?”

I took the chance to dart around him. I moved faster than I looked, and I heard him swear in surprise as I weaved around him, charging toward the exit. I could hear him behind me, but I had a head start. If I could just get far enough away, I might have a chance.

I threw open the door. Cold air slapped against my face as I took a single step outside.

Strong arms wrapped around me, hauling me back inside the cabin. I let out a scream, trying to writhe out of his grip, but he only held onto me tighter as he slammed the door shut. He didn’t let go of me until he reached up and twisted a latch out of my reach. I heard the bolt slide home.

“Let me go,” I snarled as I finally managed to worm out of his grip. He stepped back, arms folded, as he looked down at me.

“I’m doing this for your protection,” he said.

“Protection? I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s Chris,” he said. “I can’t remember if Kendra told you when we tried to break you out of the cell.”

He sounded so sincere, it was hard not to believe him. But if he couldn’t give me any evidence, I wasn’t going to fall for anything he said.

“Please,” I said. “I don’t remember you. But if you’re telling me the truth, then let me see my sister.”

My stomach sank as he shook his head. “I can’t. Not right now. I know you want to see her, but for now, I need you to stay here and sit tight, okay?”

Anger burned and boiled inside me at the words.

I glared at him. I wanted to scream at him.

I wanted to claw out his eyes before walking out the door to find my sister.

I wanted to hex him so he wouldn’t be able to shift until he took me to Kendra.

But I couldn’t do any of those things. I was useless, as always.

The fire began to dim inside me as I felt myself shrinking, drawing inwards.

Slowly, feeling just as helpless as I had when I’d been under Cain’s thumb, I nodded. Without another word, I turned on my heels. I walked into the other room, slamming the door shut behind me.

The bedroom had no windows. Of course. I took a deep breath and collapsed on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, letting myself process everything that had happened in the last handful of hours.

I was free of Cain. That was good. I hadn’t in my wildest dreams thought that would ever happen. I had always assumed I would be stuck with him forever. But I was still a prisoner, still trapped, and apparently, no closer to seeing my sister.

I didn’t care what Chris said—I didn’t trust him.

He had grabbed me and dragged me away without telling me anything.

He’d kidnapped me, even if it had been from a horrible situation.

Instead, he’d dragged me into an unknown one.

He hadn’t asked if I wanted to be rescued, hadn’t given me a say in what happened next.

He’d just dragged me to this random cabin and now refused to let me see my sister, assuming he actually knew where she was.

He was controlling me, just like Cain. I’d traded one owner for another.

That feeling, like I was property, rankled me.

You would think after several years, I would have gotten used to it by now.

But no, it still made me angry every minute of every day.

I had just learned to keep my mouth shut about it.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. When was the last time I’d had a say in my own life?

I knew the answer without thinking of it.

Years ago, the day those slavers kidnapped Kendra and me, I’d decided to take the long way home because I wanted to buy some herbs from a woman in town so I could fix a potion.

When I walked into the house my sister and I shared, I saw Kendra tied up and gagged on the couch.

I didn’t even have the chance to react when someone grabbed me from behind, the yarrow and vervain falling to the floor as the man yanked my arms behind me.

Ever since that moment, my life hadn’t been my own.

I rolled onto my side as exhaustion slammed into me. It couldn’t be that late, but all of a sudden, I could barely keep my eyes open.

I let my eyes flutter shut, promising myself that I would find a way to get out of here tomorrow.