Page 24

It was the pounding in my head that woke me. A headache so powerful it could yank me out of unconsciousness. My mouth was dry and had a gross tang to it. Like alcoholic puke or, oh fuck, right. Like gasoline.

No! I tried to scream it, but there was something over my mouth. Sticky and tough. Tape.

What the fuck? I thought I might vomit, but where would it go? I’d choke and die on my own bile. Swallowing several times, I tried to calm my frantically beating heart.

I thrashed, but my wrists were tied firmly behind my back and so were my ankles. Maybe even hogtied to one another. And I was squished into something that was sturdy canvas. Whoever had taken me must have stuffed me into a bag of some sort. Not a suitcase because this had flexibility, and it also had a long thick zipper.

All I could imagine was a body bag. I was wiggling like a zombie trying to get free. Stuff like that in horror movies was scary, but being inside the bag in real life, it was terrifying.

Be smart, Kienna. Don’t be the stupid girl. I had to figure out where I was and give myself some options. There were always options.

Forcing open my crusty eyes, it was dark. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear and feel.

It was cold and everything around me rumbled. A big motor. A truck!

Was I stashed in my stalker’s trunk? This couldn’t be Ewan. No way would he be able to get away without anyone else noticing. Plus he didn’t own a truck. The pack all rode together in Tiergan’s SUV, which ran a lot smoother.

Okay, so I was tied up and stuck in a bag in a running truck. I couldn’t feel any of the sides of the trunk—because I assumed I was in the back with how cold and loud it was—but my movement was limited. There was other traffic too. So we weren’t in the middle of nowhere.

But I couldn’t scream. Fuck, I wanted to screech to the high heavens.

Tied, trapped, and being transported to God knows where. And then what? This psycho could torture me for days or sell me off to a vicious Alpha. I’ve read horror stories about what happened to Omegas around the world. To a lot of people, we were just breeders meant to be owned.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. Yet my Alphas—and Beta—weren’t like that. I’d gotten so lucky with the pack in that they not only respected me, they practically worshiped me. They made me feel like the most important person in the world. With my father and now with my friends finding their own packs, I felt forgotten. Something that was always there since my mother passed away, but had grown more suffocating over the years.

As good as the pack was for me, was I any good for them? Sure, they were fighting for me to stay with them, but that didn’t make me good for them. I did distract them from hockey, and if they weren’t on top of their game, the whole team suffered.

But as I was being taken from them, I didn’t want to leave. Not just because I was scared, but because they were the only thing holding me together. Casimir called me his slayer, and they all said I was brave and strong. I needed to be that warrior. I wanted to not only live, but I wanted to have a life with them.

Ah fuck. Why did my heart decide now it wanted to be with the pack?

The truck shuddered to a stop and the engine shut off. I remained absolutely still, listening to everything around me. My heart thundered in my ears. Someone got out of the vehicle and walked away. I could hear city noise. We hadn’t driven long enough to be out of Winnipeg.

I couldn’t scream or break out of the bag. To do any of that, I needed my hands free. The nylon rope around my wrists wasn’t the softest, but it had a little give.

Holding my forearms together, I tried to make my hands as little as possible. I gave them little tugs and attempted to stretch the rope. If I could work the knot the right way…

The crunch of footsteps had me sucking in a breath. The truck beeped and there was a whoosh as the trunk opened. Despite being inside of a bag, I could feel the cold bite at me.

Someone slid me along the floor and lifted me out of the truck to lay me gently on the ground. No, not the ground. It wasn’t cold.

The trunk was slammed shut and then I was being pushed forward. A cart! My kidnapper had planned on transporting me and had the cart ready. Wait. Did that mean he did this regularly? Fuck. That probably meant he did have experience and this was part of the Omega black market.

No way was I going to be a sex slave and breeder for anyone! I let out as loud of a muffled cry as I could and threw myself back and forth. I had to get away.

“Be calm now, sweet girl.” The man’s soft voice made me want to retch. “No one can see or hear you. Everyone in town is still at the arena and will be for a while.”

The cart rolled from the concrete outside over a bump to enter a building. It was immediately warmer but not at all comforting.

I didn’t know how long it had been since I passed out. It could have been a few minutes or an hour. There still had been two periods left and then the team had to change and deal with the media. So even if it had been an hour, there would still be at least another hour before any of the pack realized I was missing.

Pressing my cheek to my shoulder, I tried to pinch or twitch the mark Kane had left on my neck. Kane! Kane, save me. The stalker took me somewhere in the city. Help!

There was no proof of psychic connections in marks. Hell, there wasn’t any way to prove that anything paranormal was real, but I was desperate.

The cart rolled to a stop and there was a ding followed by a swoosh. An elevator? There was a jolt and I was given a definite yes to that question.

Where was this psycho taking me that had an elevator?

We went up only a floor or two and then I was being wheeled down a carpeted hall. Nothing about what the bastard was doing was rushed. He even hummed a soft, slow song. Were we in a warehouse? An empty office building? Or it could be an apartment complex. He did mention everyone had gone to the game.

A door clicked open and I was pushed inside. There was tile and then more carpet. Straight and then around a corner. We didn’t go too far until he came to a stop.

“We’re here, sweet girl. You’re very lucky to have such luxury. Though we both know that money doesn’t buy happiness. If that were the case, you wouldn’t be so sad.”

Luxury? Sad? What the hell was he talking about?

I was lifted up and set on something cushioned. A bed. It was too wide and soft to be a couch.

The zipper was drawn back and dim light had me blinking as the scent of flowers filled my nose. The man tenderly rolled me out onto the bed. He wasn’t wearing a mask or was in any way trying to hide his identity. He looked like an average middle aged man who was balding and wore gloves and glasses. Even with his winter coat on, I could tell he had a wiry frame.

A memory tapped at the back of my mind. I’d seen him before, but I couldn’t remember where. He had a kind face, but was otherwise utterly unremarkable.

What was a shock was the fact we were in my hotel room. My bedroom at Fort Garry. It had recently been cleaned and the room was full of lilies. Not just a dozen, but several dozen.

Like the ones that had been in the suite before. And the ones delivered to the pack house.

These were the flowers that the victims of the Manitoba Hangman had in their homes.

Oh fuck.

I fought against my restraints and forced my voice box to make a squeal as loudly as I could.

As I flopped close to the edge of the bed, the killer eased me back to the center. “Please calm down. There’s no need to worry. All your suffering will be over soon. I’m here to help you end your misery and find eternal peace.”

The absolute sincerity in his voice was frightening. He thought he was helping me? I shook my head vigorously. No one would ever describe me as a sad person. I was the life of the party.

I tried to speak. Maybe he’d take off the tape and I could convince him to let me go. I wanted to say I wasn’t sad, but the tape muffled the words and it sounded more like ‘I’m not dead.’

Yet.

I started to push at the tape with my tongue. If I could make it wet enough, I could rip through and scream. Some people had to be here at the hotel, and I could be very loud when I wanted to be.

The faster I got free the better. I was starting to have trouble breathing. My nose was getting stuffy from all the flower pollen and dry thickness in my throat.

The psycho gave me a pitying look. “My dear Kienna. I wish life could be different for you. You’re clever and pretty. I’m sure if your circumstances were different, you would be happy with Shaw and his pack. Yet all they’ve caused you is suffering.” He sighed and wandered over to caress the petals of one of the flowers. “On top of the sadness of being forgotten by your father, it is more than you can bear. Every time I’ve seen you, you’ve had tears in your eyes.”

Every time? Shit, that means he had been watching me. But I didn’t cry that much. Well, maybe more lately, but things had been a mess. And how did he know how my dad made me feel? Was he listening in to my private conversations too?

“Your misery has been heartbreaking. I’m hurting with you, sweet girl. I feel your pain.”

You are a fucking serial killer! You have no emotions .

The wetness worked and the tape fell away from my upper lip. “I’m not sad. I’m happy. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I found my mates. I’ve been claimed.”

I didn’t know if he knew that, but he might think twice about hurting me if he knew my Alphas would hunt him down and avenge me. He seemed to know who the pack was and my relationship with them.

“You’re not happy.” The killer sighed and shook his head as he came around the bed to the discarded hockey bag. He reached in to pull out a roll of tape.

I wiggled away from him. Frantic and starting to gasp for air, and fuck, I winced as pain from my heat flared. Why the hell was it firing up now? “No, I am happy. Really, I am. Please let me go.”

“Sweet girl,” he said so softly. He pulled off a long length of tape and ripped it off the spool. “The first time I saw you, you were crying in your car at the gas station. You ended up stranded on the edge of the highway, but those good boys came along to help you. Then later at the arena, you were in tears again. It was the same way you fled from them at the restaurant. You only want to get away from the pack. You want to leave Winnipeg.”

The gas station. It hit me so hard, I froze. He was there that first night I tried to run for the border. The killer was the man who told me my gas cap was off.

He’d been stalking me for almost a week.

“But how do you know…?” Everything. I squeaked out the question. It wasn’t as if I went around spouting off my problems to everyone.

“Like all young people today, you’re a busy girl on your phone. I really don’t think it’s good for your mental health.” He stepped up beside my head. “Now stay sti—”

I screamed. I filled my lungs as far as they could go and let it rattle the walls.

The bastard used his palm and slammed my chin up, making me bite my tongue. Then he fastened the tape over my mouth. Tears bloomed in my eyes and I fought against my bindings. He swiftly tore off a second strip of tape and slapped it on to secure the first one.

“We can’t have you self-sabotaging your own release.” What the fuck? This man was insane. “We’re almost ready.”

I inched my way up the bed and away from him. He wasn’t concerned with me at the moment. He took the chair from the desk and moved it underneath the chandelier. Then he retrieved a length of rope from under the bed.

Not just rope, but a noose.

The Manitoba Hangman.

Fuck!

I had to get my hands out of the restraints. Even if I dislocated my thumbs, I needed to get free. Time was running out. No one was going to come save me.

The fibers of the nylon poked into my flesh. It was already red and rough, but I felt blood smear as I struggled. My heat made every sensation ten times bigger. My abdomen clenched as my body demanded to be knotted.

Stupid Omega body. I was going to die and she wanted to fuck!

“The Fort Garry is an old and expertly built hotel. I worked here in my youth, and my sister works here now. I’ve spent a lot of time in these halls. Delicate as this chandelier looks,” he smiled at it and brushed his fingers over the sparkling glass. “It’s attached to a huge timber beam in the ceiling. A whole zoo of monkeys could swing from it and it wouldn’t fall.”

The killer stretched to tie the end of the rope around the base of the light. He stood on his toes, tongue poking out between his lips with concentration.

I didn’t want to die. I had to get away.

Whimpering, I pulled harder on my hands. If I slid all the skin off, I wouldn’t care. Nothing scared me more than that noose right now. I hit the headboard and maneuvered my wrists to the bottom corner to use it to help get my bindings off.

Faster. He was almost done.

“There we go.” The Hangman smiled as he released the noose and it swung slowly. He hopped down from the chair and took a few seconds to admire his work.

The blood on my wrists was helping. I almost had one hand free. Just a little more.

He turned to me and smiled. If this were any other situation, I’d say it was a soft fatherly type of smile. The fucking lunatic truly believed he was helping me be free of my sadness.

‘This is wrong!’ I tried to shout. ‘Please don’t do this!’

“It’ll hurt for just a minute, sweet girl, but then it will all be over.” The Hangman grabbed me under the arms and hefted me up. It didn’t matter that I struggled. He was surprisingly strong with the power of crazy.

I screamed against my tape gag. This couldn’t be happening.

All I wanted was to be curled up in Tiergan’s arms and let his purr calm me. To have Kane kiss my head, dominate my every breath, and tell me it will all be okay. To be snuggled between Casimir and Alderic, knowing I was cherished and wanted. To let Maddox smash the Hangman into little bits and let him carry me away, safe in his arms.

The noose slowly spun as the bastard lifted me up.