Page 42 of Ronen (Sweet Alps Legacy #1)

Chapter Thirty-One

Ronen

Consciousness returned slowly. My body felt heavy and lethargic. My eyelids felt weighted and didn’t want to open.

Where am I?

Giving up on trying to open my eyes for the time being, I tried to gather as much information for my surroundings as I could.

“Use all your senses, Ronen,” Papa’s training whispered through my sluggish brain. Keeping my breathing as even as I could, I stayed still, ticking off in my mind the information I could ascertain.

I was sitting on a hard chair; my hands tied tightly behind my back. Not just mine though; no, my hands were tied with someone else’s. There was another person with me. Someone else they had taken captive.

Sniffing, I scented the air.

Damp. Mildew. Dirt .

Wolf. A familiar scent.

I knew that scent.

Matty.

Matty was tied to me, our hands behind our backs, facing away from each other.

Was he conscious?

Who were the people that took us? What did they want?

Money?

We were from a wealthy family, but to be honest, none of us had ever worried about a kidnapping threat. Not with our family and especially not with my parents around.

While money seemed like the most obvious conclusion, my gut told me this–whatever this was–was something else. Something that had nothing to do with money.

The scrape of a sole across the floor had me tensing inside, while I did my best to stay limp in my chair.

“I’ve stared at this picture every day since I was eleven,” the man hissed in heavily accented English.

Forcing my eyes open to slits, just enough to barely see my surroundings in front of me, I realized he must be addressing Matty. The only things in front of me were dirty concrete walls, and a heavy steel door that was firmly shut.

“You need to get a better hobby,” Matty snarked dryly, his British accent thick.

The next sound I heard was flesh hitting flesh, and my brother’s head slammed into the back of mine hard.

I couldn’t muffle the grunt that I let out when our skulls smacked together, but neither one of them seemed to be paying me any attention. Letting my chin hit my chest, I went limp, making it seem like my cry had been involuntary while I was still unconscious .

“Bastardo!” The curse was spat in Italian.

“My parents are happily married,” Matty spat back in perfect Italian.

“You speak Italian?” The man demanded, and I just knew he was the snake. The cobra that had taken me.

I felt Matty give a nonchalant shrug. “Among other languages.”

My brother then spent the next five minutes cursing the man in no less than five of the seven languages he spoke fluently.

Matty was talking and switching dialects so quickly, even I had trouble keeping up with him. Or maybe I was still feeling the effects of the chloroform.

Show off , my honey badger sniped, and I bit back a laugh, because I also spoke every language Matty was rattling off at breakneck speed. I just didn’t usually speak the languages unless I needed to. Like on vacation, or if there was someone who didn’t speak English.

This was no time to start laughing, but really, this viper had no clue that when he had taken us, he had signed his death certificate.

“Enough!” the man bellowed, and Matty stopped his detailed description, in Mandarin, of the slow, painful death he had planned for him. Not that I believed the snake actually spoke mandarin to even understand the truly inventive way my brother planned to murder him.

“This man murdered my father!” Another hiss of clipped, angry words.

“Did he? Are you sure?” Matty asked, sounding bored, but there was a slight shortness of his breath that wasn’t normal for him .

I could feel his back against mine, his chest moving up and down rapidly, like he was having trouble breathing. “Doesn’t sound like something my dad would do.”

What had they done to him? Had they used chloroform on him too? Was he having a reaction to it?

Or had Matty put up one hell of a fight, and he had a broken rib or a punctured lung even?

All kinds of scenarios raced through my head, and I tried to gather as much information that I could remember on treating either.

Like my brother, I was a certified genius, though Matty’s I.Q.

was higher than mine. Unlike my brother, I did not have a nearly photographic memory.

While Matty retained nearly every word he read, I only retained information I cared about or interested me.

If I didn’t like a subject, or found it boring, I couldn’t be bothered with it. And neither could my brain.

While I wasn’t interested in medicine, I was interested in extreme sports, where injuries were a given. I had a working knowledge of first aid.

“I’m very sure,” Snake Eyes–that’s what I had decided to call him–inhaled sharply, then let the air in his lungs out noisily, clearly trying to keep a grip of his temper. “Imagine my good fortune when I happened to spot his doppelganger in Heathrow Airport a few weeks ago.”

Flexing my fingers, I gauged the strength of our bindings without letting it be known that I was conscious. They were snug, with barely any pull to them. Not helpful, but I might be able to eventually work one hand free. One hand was all I needed.

“They say everyone has a twin.” I didn’t have to see Matty’s face to know his lips were tilted up in a crooked smirk.

“Or a lookalike son,” Snake Eyes sneered.

“It was very easy to change my flight and board yours. I watched you the entire flight, hardly believing my good fortune. I was finally, finally going to exact my revenge. Then I watched, and waited, planning every detail. I couldn’t bring my men with me, they would have drawn too much attention.

What good fortune I had finding a den of rattlers who will do just about anything if the price is right.

They did all the dirty work for me, guaranteeing I wouldn’t be spotted.

Watching you, watching your fathers, watching your younger brother.

Learning your habits. They were quite helpful and informative. ”

“Ahhh,” Matty drug the word out and I noticed he was putting more of an American accent into his words now.

“Let me get this straight. You think I–we, because I assume the person I’m tied to is my brother–are the sons of the man who killed your father?

And you kidnapped us for what? Some kind of revenge plot?

Ransom? I mean, we are pretty rich, so that tracks.

You wouldn’t even need to add in this whole ‘You killed my father’ schtick to collect some serious cash.

” Matty shook his head, the movement jostling me.

“This isn’t The Princess Bride . Dude…you watch too much television.

Our dad owns a kink club. Has for over twenty-five years now.

He’s probably into a whole lotta things I don’t want to know about–you caught the kink club thing, right? –but he’s not a killer.”

Matty put so much skepticism in his voice, even I almost believed him, and I knew better.

“You don’t know your father very well,” the man replied, sounding more in control than he had a few moments ago. “He used to work for your government, and he murdered my father. My grandfather was locked in prison for the rest of his life because of your father. ”

“Yeah, I think you’ve got the wrong guy,” Matty laughed, sounding unconvinced.

“Let me repeat; our alpha dad owns a club, and our omega dad is a children’s book author.

Pretty boring stuff. Well, I mean the kink club isn’t, but honestly, Dad hired a manager years ago and doesn’t spend much time there.

And between you and me, I wouldn’t mind checking it out, but who wants their dad seeing them being well…

all kinky and shit. Ick. But sounds like maybe your family weren’t the best sorta people.

You really want to continue in their footsteps? ”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough exactly what kind of man your father is, won’t we.” Snake Eyes moved to the doorway, and through my barely opened eyes I saw him take a key out and use it in the lock.

“Ah,” he hissed, moving to stand in front of me, “you’re awake.”

Grabbing me by my hair, he forced my head up to stare me in the eyes.

“Such defiance this one has in his pretty eyes.” Still holding me by my hair, he traced a finger from his other hand down my cheek, almost caressing me.

“Your brother is going to die a slow, painful death. I’ll let you watch as I kill your father, and then I’m going to sell you to the highest bidder. ”

Matty rattled his chair, shaking it and pulling on my arms. “Don’t touch him!”

Snake Eyes smiled, though it was cold and menacing. “Yes, please, keep moving around like that. It will make the venom travel to your bloodstream much quicker.”

“I will kill you before that ever happens,” I spat out.

The man, unperturbed by Matty’s outburst, laughed, moving close to my ear. His free hand pushed against my softly rounded belly and I felt sick. I wanted to get away from him, from his touch on me, on my child, but I had nowhere to go.

“Hmmm, shall I sell you ripe with your pup, or should I let you carry it and then sell you both? I guess that will depend on how nice you are to me.”

“I will fucking kill you,” I repeated, looking him in the eyes, my words slow and clear.

“Don’t touch my brother!” Matty growled, shaking both our chairs with the force of his body.

“Your father tried to kill me when I was a child! A child! I watched him die and I cheered when he was put down! I’m going to do the same to you.

I will stand over your carcass and cheer. I hear snake tastes good.”

Snake Eyes laughed, this time the sound was pure evil and chilled me to my soul. “See, I knew you knew the truth of your father.”

He slammed the door behind him, the sound echoing in the room. The key scraping in the old lock sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

“Ro?” Matty whispered, his shoulders slumping and pulling at the ropes holding us. The fight he had in him just minutes ago seemed to vanish. “How about you work a little faster on getting loose, huh?”

“I’m trying!” I almost had my thumb…nope. “What the fuck kinda rope did he use?”

“Come on, you used to get out of handcuffs like fucking Houdini,” Matty groaned, lowering his head.

“Well, I’m not eleven anymore, am I?”

“You’re as skinny as you were then, so…put some effort into it. ”

Grumbling under my breath, I continued to work at the bindings a few more minutes before slumping in defeat. “I can’t get it.”

Suddenly, a horrible realization settled over me like a cloud of dread. Matty’s shortness of breath, his labored breathing, Snake Eyes saying the venom would travel faster in his bloodstream if he kept moving around.

“Matty, did he bite you?” I asked frantically.

Matty was a wolf shifter. He didn’t have my natural immunity to snake venom.

And that bastard had known that! He said he’d had people watching us.

People from Sweet Alps. If that was true, he had to know I was a honey badger.

Matty had been back from spring break–the last time he’d been to England–for over a month now.

Snake Eyes had known I was pregnant. Had the people he’d hired seen me going to my doctor appointments? Had he waited until he knew I was far enough along that I couldn’t shift and wouldn’t be a threat?

But if he had bitten Matty, he would likely already be dead.

Matty barked out a laugh, but there was no humor in the sound. “Not him. Rattlesnake. It was under my desk. That’s how they got me.”

“Okay,” I sighed, “okay. That’s good.”

Matty gave a short, high-pitched laugh. “Tell that to my leg. It fucking burns, and it’s swelling. I’m dizzy and…it’s getting really hard to breathe. I’m not like you, Ro. I’m not immune.”

“But if he had bit you, you would already be dead,” I informed him.

“Come on Mr. Smarty pants, you know this. You can’t tell me with all those random facts floating in that photographic memory of yours, you don’t know that it takes about fifteen minutes to die from a cobra bite.

Rattlesnake, you’ve got two to three days.

It’s fine. Dad will be here long before that and probably tell you to rub some dirt on it and walk it off. ”

“Fuck, don’t make me laugh,” he wheezed, “I told you it’s hard to breathe.”

“Sorry,” I whispered, working my hands against the bindings. If I could just get my…nope, dammit. Frustrated at myself, I yelled, “I still can’t get my hands free!”

“It’s okay, Ro, you tried.” Matty’s voice was shaky and sounded weak. A far cry from the snark he had been dishing out not that long ago. “Is what he said true? Are you pregnant?”

“Yeah.” My voice was quiet in the room.

“And you can’t shift, can you? It will hurt the baby.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

Matty coughed. “Don’t be sorry. You and Mason, huh? I’m happy for you.”

“Matty? Do you know who that man’s father was?”

Matty was silent for so long, I was afraid he had passed out or just wasn’t going to answer me.

“Yeah.”

“Did Dad kill his father?”

“No.” Matty sounded very sure of that fact. “He didn’t.”

“Papa killed him,” I whispered, not even making it a question.

“Mmmm,” Matty mumbled, his head lulling.

“Hey!” Matty jerked, grumbling and I ordered, “Stay awake!”

“Trying,” he slurred. “Hurts, but I’m kinda numb in places.”

Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.

I was not going to let my brother die. Not like this. Not in this place .

Where were my fucking ghosts when I needed them?

Usually they were up my ass, annoying the shit out of me, but when I needed them to do…something, they weren’t to be found. If they had made themselves solid enough to push Mason, maybe they would be able to do something about the door. Or our ropes.

As if summoned by my ire, William suddenly floated in front of me.

“About time you showed up,” I hissed. “Where are the others?”

“Not with me,” he shook his head, floating out of my sight. “What have they done to Matthew?”

“He’s been bitten by a snake,” I told him.

“The cobra?”

“No, a rattlesnake.”

Matty moaned, and I yelled his name. He needed to wake up.

He sounded confused, then he whispered, “William?”

“You can see me?” William sounded as skeptical as I was.

“William?” Matty repeated, and terror raced through me.

“No, no, no!” This couldn’t be happening.

“Go back!” William commanded, “It’s not your time, Matthew! Go back!”

Tears welled in my eyes and streamed down my face, my chest heaving as I struggled to get enough oxygen into my lungs.

And I knew what I needed to do.

“I’m so sorry little one,” I whispered, looking down my body at my just starting to round stomach. “I have to do this. If I don’t, we may not have a chance. Please, please, stay safe inside me. ”

Calling my badger forward, I shifted, my clothes falling around me.

And I was free.