I’ve lost sight of Quin, which sends me into a panic.
What do I do? What do I do?
Unbuckling myself causes me to fall onto the ceiling. Someone smashes out the driver’s side window, grabs my ponytail, and yanks me out of the vehicle, hard. I scream in pain, thrashing around in an effort to dislodge myself from the man’s grip. Blood trickles down the side of my face from the head wound, but the pain begins to subside.
The wound is beginning to close.
“Look at what we have here, boys,” the man who is holding me says, in a low, husky voice, his body smelling sour.
Three other men approach our location, two of which I recognize from the other night at the Refuge. However, the man holding me and his companion are new.
“She’s sweet looking, Tank. She’ll sell for a nice price,” one of the men says.
My eyes begin to focus so I’m able to see my captors.
The three in front of me range in height from six foot to six foot four. One has a gut like Terrance’s, while the other two are fit and muscular. I wriggle around to see what the fourth man looks like, noticing he is a twin to the one with the large gut.
“Hi, sweetheart, want to have some fun?” he asks, eyes examining me from head to toe.
“No,” I spit back at him.
My knee nails him in the crotch, causing him to crumble. Two of the men charge as I reach for the knife in my boot and fling it at one of the brunettes, hitting him in the shoulder. I reach for the Beta gun, but it’s not there. When the truck flipped it must have fallen out of my waistband. I dive back into the truck to locate the weapon. Someone grabs my feet, pulling me back outside, scraping my stomach against several pieces of shattered glass left in the window frame. I come out with the weapon drawn, pull the trigger, and hit the overweight ass in his thigh.
I try to fire again but off-balance, I miss, so I flip myself around and catch one of the men in the face with the heel of my boot. Three of the four are injured, but they’re all still coming at me. I notice Quin coming up behind the last man standing, his blade in hand, charging through the two battering ram vehicles used to knock me off the road. I smile, as the man doesn’t know he is about to die.
Quin raises his blade, but a blue flash from behind stops him dead in his tracks. He falls hard to the ground and doesn’t move.
“Quin,” I scream, as my stomach drops and I begin to convulse.
I know what hit him…I’ve seen that flash.
What have I done? I should’ve followed Quin’s plan.
The driver of the delivery truck walks up from the same direction Quin had just come from holding the Levin gun in his hand, which he has covered in a thick black glove. He steps over Quin’s body, past the blond who still hasn’t moved, and over to me. He pulls me up by the front of my top so we are face to face.
“Should’ve listened to your friend,” he says.
I shake him loose and run over to Quin.
His back is covered in blood and there are bits of flesh missing in spots around a hole that has penetrated through his ribcage and out the front of his torso. I bend down and begin to look for the metal container of Quarum I’d given him. I shove him onto his side and find it in his front pocket, but as soon as I have it in my hands I’m yanked hard from behind, causing me to drop it onto the ground. I scream as I’m being dragged away from him, trying to fight to free myself, but the blond who didn’t fight has me secured tightly in his massive grip. Tears rolling down my face, I shriek Quin’s name. As I’m being lifted into one of their trucks, I brace myself against the door frame, preventing my body from bending into the car. I feel metal being pressed against my neck and a current runs through my body as I go limp, and darkness takes over.
Chapter 7
Distant voices weave in and out of my consciousness.
At times I think I’m back at my house, with Devlan giving me instructions on training, then moments later I’m shifted to the Refuge where I watch Terrance die as I sit by helplessly, his tormentors ripping apart his flesh. I want to scream, but my mouth will not open. Eventually the nightmares fade and my head clears. I feel rough straw against my face, concrete under my feet, and smell foul air around me. A breeze blows in from somewhere behind me, warm and gentle. Words are spoken quietly at first, then louder as my hearing returns.
“What do you think Artemis will do with her?”
“Not sure.”
“Do you think he’ll sell her to one of the hatcheries? You know they like to take them young.”
“Are you kidding me? Didn’t you see how she fought out there, nailing James in the thigh without really aiming? She’ll be too valuable to be sold to the hatcheries. If he’s smart, he’ll sell her as a fighter.”
“I wonder if he’ll let us have a go with this one.”
“Are you stupid?” I hear one say, followed by a slap. “Now stop being an ass and wake her up.”
Water is poured on me, soaking me from head to toe. I shake my head, trying to get my matted hair out of my face. My hands are bound behind my back, my feet chained to the floor. I roll onto my side and watch
