Page 31 of Stolen By the Alpha Hunter (Moonbound Mates #3)

JAVI

M y head feels like it’s in a vice, my whole body aching when I come to. Wherever I am, it’s dark, and I can tell I’m concussed by the fact that it takes me a second to adjust to the lack of light. My senses aren’t quite as sharp, little points of neon flashing everyone I look.

Metal creaks around me and the soft sound of waves breaks through. I’m still on the Rig, which is good—they haven’t taken me away on the Heavenly Host ship. Water drips somewhere nearby, and I’m cold, my clothes damp.

I wiggle my fingers and toes and try to sit up, but I find that I’m chained to the wall by my neck, and to the floor by my wrists and ankles.

I’ve broken out of chains like this before, but it’ll be difficult with this setup.

I can barely even get leverage to move from lying down, jerking desperately, and I’m weak from whatever the Angels did to me.

My head is foggy, numb, dizzy, and I realize with a start that they must have drugged me.

That’s not good. With the way my kraken addiction was years ago, anything in my system could cause permanent damage.

A door clangs down the hall and I jerk my head toward it, light filtering between the bars of my rudimentary cell. Footsteps come toward me, but I can’t make out a scent, having to use my sight to identify the newcomer.

Gideon.

He’s flanked by Abel, who stands with his hands in his pockets. He’s got something in one of those pockets—a weapon, maybe. I don’t know if they mean to beat me or kill me, but I figure they wouldn’t have me tied up if they were going to kill me.

I’d already be bait if I was due for execution…and I’m useful.

Even tied up, I’m useful, because I’ll do anything for Peaches.

“Let me go,” I say, my voice hoarse. The collar presses on my windpipe, making it hard to talk or even to breathe. “I’ll do whatever you say.”

“Now, why would I believe that when I’ve just learned you betrayed me?” Gideon says. “And I came straight from talking to your female; she doesn’t seem remotely interested in working with us.”

I snarl and tug on the chains. “Don’t hurt her,” I warn.

“You’re in no position to make demands,” Gideon says.

He squats next to me, close enough that I should be able to slash at his throat. I can’t move from the floor though, completely immobilized by the chains and the drugs.

“What did you give me?” I ask.

“Mild sedative,” Abel says from behind him. “We didn’t want you kicking up a ruckus when you woke.”

“I’m a recovering addict,” I say. “If you give me anything, it could kill me—then I can’t keep making babies for your army.”

“Well, look at that,” Gideon says. “He’s catchin’ on!”

He reaches out to pat me on the cheek, but I react too slow to snap at him before he backs off. Gideon laughs at how sluggish I am, how desperate to get back to Peaches.

He loves toying with people…loves hurting us.

I have to get my mate and our child out of here.

I get frantic for a moment, scrambling against the chains and letting out an inhuman roar. Gideon and Abel laugh together.

“Don’t worry your little head about it,” Abel says. “I’ll raise your kid right.”

Gideon walks back over to Abel and takes whatever he’s been holding. I can’t figure out what it is until he turns back around, unzipping a black case and revealing shiny glass inside.

It’s a kit—syringe, vial, dropper.

I freeze.

“Figured that, as a junkie, you would like getting a little something in your system,” Gideon says, coming back toward me at a slow, leisurely pace. “Take the edge off, ya know?”

I shift away in vain, my eyes widening. “Hey…don’t,” I say. “I was serious. It could kill me.”

“Why would I give a damn?” Gideon says. “Fact is, I just made a deal that’s going to bring more people to our little paradise—alphas, omegas, betas. Why would I waste time and resources on you when I could get my heir ten times over with whoever will fuck my disobedient daughter?”

I pull at the chains, my muscles spasming. I can’t handle this; I’ll break out of the brig, burn this whole place until it’s nothing more than cinders on the sea, coast across the waves with Peaches and leave it all behind. And I’ll kill Gideon and Abel slowly and painfully, making sure they…

My right wrist burns, goes taut.

The chain snaps.

I swipe at Gideon and catch him across the jaw, red blood splashing on the floor. He snarls and lunges forward to pin me to the ground, Abel grabbing my free arm and wrestling me down. I realize there’s someone else in the room only when a third man holds my legs, immobilizing me completely.

Gideon keeps his knee on my shoulder as he puts the syringe into the vial, drawing out a shimmering fluid. I snarl and plead for him not to, torn between fighting them off and begging for my life.

Because I know exactly what that is.

I’ve seen it a million times in the fighting pits in Miami, flowing freely across the city.

I’ve watched people overdose and not given a damn because I was high myself.

I’ve gotten the shakes from withdrawal, done anything to score a hit, found myself taken in by predatory people because all I wanted was my next dose…

Kraken.

The glittering opiate the Angels brought with them, ready to be injected straight into my veins.

“Don’t!” I gasp out, but Gideon is already flicking my inner elbow, getting the veins to pop. The needle plunges into my skin a second later, the initial burn hitting me like wildfire in every nerve.

My body sings with it. My heart screams.

No—no, please. Not again.

I can’t go back. I can’t be this man again.

But the pleasure is already blooming, burning everything else away.

I writhe.

Lights erupt in my brain, waking up places that have been asleep for a long, long time. The dose they gave me is big—too big, maybe—but I don’t care because this is like a full-body orgasm, wracking me with pleasure and joy. I grunt and pull on the chains, then go limp.

Abel and Gideon back off. The other man disappears again.

A smile breaks over my face and I let out a laugh, though I’m not sure why. Something is just…very, very funny about all of this. The dripping water, the situation, the men pinning me down.

I can’t even get up, and I’m supposed to be a fucking dad.

How funny is that?

I laugh and laugh as Gideon and Abel watch, the kit discarded next to me. Through the roar of laughter, I feel Abel come closer, then unchain my limbs—but I don’t even move, I just roll over and keep laughing. I laugh until my lungs are sore, my chest aching, my sense of humor exhausted.

“Now, Javier? I think it’s time you got back to Esther,” Gideon’s voice says, twisting and warping in my head. “Ain’t that right, Abel?”

“Yeah,” Abel says. “I think that’s a great idea.”

And I…

…well.

Javi’s gone.

The wolf is the only one here now.