Chapter 23

Charlie heard Sarah shout for her to wait but she ignored her. She needed to get out of the house and clear her head, or at least think about what she was going to do. Slamming the front door harder than she meant to, she speed-walked down the street and turned the first corner. Walking as fast as she could, crossing roads, turning corners, Charlie looked for a large open space where she could sit and think for a while.

Since her teenage years, Charlie had used open spaces to help work through her problems. She would spend hours at the beach, watching the ocean waves roll over the pebbles, or sitting on West Hill Cliff, overlooking the town below. At that moment she wished she was back in Hastings, watching the world go by as she had done many times before, but she wasn’t. Instead, she was in the middle of a strange town, with a friendly faery and a half-faery, half-wolf that was a mob hitman, who she happened to be falling in love with while being hunted by people who wanted to kill her because her mafia dad told them too.

“And now I’m lost. Brilliant,” Charlie said to herself.

She hadn’t been paying attention to where she was going and had somehow ended up completely missing the park that she had been planning to go to. Standing outside a closed factory building, Charlie sighed and wondered which way to go.

“Can I help?”

Turning, Charlie saw a blonde-haired middle-aged woman smiling at her.

“Yes, please. I'm not from around here and was looking for the park but I’ve somehow lost my bearings and ended up in the middle of god knows where,” Charlie said, flashing a smile of her own.

“Oh, the park? Yeah, that’s a fair way back that way, love. You want to be heading back down this road, then take the first left, second right, go up two streets and hit another right.”

“So, back down here,” Charlie said, “Then first left, second right, up two streets and right again?”

The woman shook her head. “No, love. Back down here, first right, up two streets…”

Charlie felt strong hands grabbing at her from behind, wrapping themselves around her like snakes. Her eyes widened as she was lifted off the floor like a flower being plucked from a garden and as she tried to scream, something was stuffed into her mouth, muffling the sound as soon as it had started. Her arms were crushed to her sides as something dark was flung over her head and secured around her, cutting off most of her vision.

She kicked back and heard a grunt as her foot connected with whoever was holding her but the tension on her arms didn’t lighten up at all. Her heart raced in her ears as panic threatened to drown her, consuming every bit of anger that she had held towards Aiden.

“I knew you were a feisty one. Where’s that hybrid of yours then? He knew we were coming for you and the prick still let you wander around town on your own? I told him you needed something better, I did, but don't you worry. I have something that can fill that mouth of yours just as much as he can and I'm sure you'll enjoy putting those lips of yours around it, just as much as I will.”

The stench of his breath filtered through the covering over her head, as he whispered in her ear, bringing forth a rolling boil of nausea. Desperate to free herself and for someone to hear, Charlie tried to shout through whatever was blocking her mouth, while she kicked around frantically.

“Ain’t nobody around to hear you scream, precious, but I like the sound of it. Maybe I’ll make you scream for me later,” he whispered.

"You lads do as you're told, now. I'll let him know we have her," Charlie heard the woman say.

“Get her in the bloody van, Thunder, before those feet of hers land on something small and soft,” said another male.

“Fuck you, knob jockey. Have you heard yourself? Fucking small. If the bitch does, I’ll make her kiss it better three times over.”

Charlie’s stomach sank when she heard the name the other man had said. She knew Thunder was the shifter Aiden had been fighting with and Thunder himself had said that Aiden knew they were coming for her. Realising that Aiden must have been fighting to protect her, Charlie felt a stab of guilt at how harsh she had been. She put all her pain, guilt and anger at her own stupidity, into a scream that was just as muffled as her first, before succumbing to the sobs as she was hastily picked up and unceremoniously shoved onto a seat. An engine rumbled to life, a door slid shut and Charlie felt the vehicle move off as tears soaked into the mouldy smelling fabric over her face.

“Go to my place. She can keep me company for a while," Thunder said.

Charlie could hear the smirk in his voice and somehow, she knew that being taken to his place would be a fate worse than meeting her father.

“No chance. She’s going to the cabin. Alpha's orders.”

“Fuck sake. A detour, at least? Quick stopover? Half an hour won’t make any difference, Bill.”

“Half an hour? Sonia told me it was more like two minutes and I'm being optimistic there. Two pumps and a squirt, she said you were. What the bloody hell do you think you need half an hour for?”

Charlie heard a roar of laughter, along with a torrent of promises being directed to whoever Sonia was. Her skin crawled with what felt like hundreds of unseen insects as Thunder and Bill discussed what they would do to her if the Alpha hadn't been so intent on getting her straight to their cabin.

It was all Charlie could do to keep control of her stomach contents as she was bounced around in the van while Thunder's hand worked it's way up her inner thigh.