8

A distressed scream slipped from the Alpha's mouth. "Help! Ohhh, let me go. Please don't hurt me!" she squirmed against the arms that held her, trying with all her might to sound helpless instead of swivelling on her heels and socking her attacker good. Having realised she was in a city filled with humans, she figured it was in her best interest to hide her wolf identity. If humans were as bad as Phoenix said they were...

"Shh, stop screaming! I'm not going to hurt you," a smooth and silky voice said in her ear, at the same time the cold edge of a knife pressed against her neck.

"Yeah, right. Just put the knife away and let's talk about this," she replied through gritted teeth, staring up at the stars as she was dragged back further into the dark alley.

"Oh, you're a funny one. No talking needed, sweetheart, unless you want to say your prayers before you go night-night." And with that, he slammed the hilt of the knife to the side of her head, and Savannah slumped in her best efforts to look passed out. She was roughly picked up, chucked in the back of a vehicle, and left to roll around as they sped down the street.

"This had better be worth it," she muttered to herself as the driver and passenger laughed up front. "Maybe I'll learn something for Phoenix."

It didn't take long to reach their destination, and then Savannah was again man-handled awkwardly into a building that reeked of stale air and greasy motor oil. It looked like a garage, with car hoists and jacks littering the floor space, oil drums, jugs and tools lining the walls.

She was tied roughly to a chair, and Savannah vowed to herself never to sit again in her life. These traumatic experiences involving chairs were going to affect her tremendously, she just knew it.

When a hard slap jarred her face and neck, she opened her eyes fully and winced. "What was that for?" she scowled, doing her best to look hurt. "You nasty thugs!"

The two men standing in front of her just laughed. "Don't be such a princess. We know who you are, so cut the crocodile tears."

"Crocodile tears?" she blinked up at them, inconspicuously noting the scuffs on their leather jackets and ripped jeans, the silver chains they wore at their pockets, the military boots covered in mud, the flickering lightbulbs on the high ceiling, the two exits on either side of the room, and the crowbars a few metres to her left. Whoever these guys were, they lacked weapons and common sense, besides the knife still in their hand. "You know who I am?" she put a waver in her voice, which wasn't hard considering her heartbeat had spiked. Did they know she was a wolf?

"Yeah, part of the Gonzales Gang. Tell us, how much did you get from Commbank earlier tonight? Ten mil? Twenty? Banks don't normally have much cold cash on hand, so what was Cruz really after? Hmm?" One of the men leaned in her face, prying for information with more than his words.

She smelt minty breath, aftershave, and Thai noodles with ginger sauce. "You have me completely mistaken for someone else, I'm afraid. But even if I did have cash from a bank robbery, there's no way I'd be sharing it with you, anyway."

The man growled, as much as a human could, and glared angrily. Savannah nearly laughed at the pitiful level of ferociousness on his face.

"You want me to have a crack, man?" the other man asked, stepping forward and smiling wickedly at Savannah.

"Soon. I want to see how far she'll go to protect her man. Danny said she was very loyal, and wouldn't even sell out her second-cousin once removed, but I have my doubts," he toyed with the blonde locks of her hair, twirling a knife in his other hand.

Savannah knew it wouldn't make her bleed, but she was afraid of what they'd do once they realised it wouldn't. "I don't know Danny or Cruz. You have to believe me. I wasn't at any bank robbery—" Just a failed weapons trade, but you don't need to know that— "and I don't have any cousins. So please, just let me go before someone gets hurt. I'm not who you think I am."

One of the men looked at her, doubtfully rubbing his chin. "Come on Darek, maybe she's right? Have you ever seen Persia yourself? Just because this girl has blond hair—"

"It's her!" the man called Darek spun around and waved the knife at his accomplice. "She has the same boots as that slimy snake of a woman."

"Drats!" Savannah cursed. "I just knew that amazing deal on eBay would come back to bite me." She looked at her one of a kind leather boots with glittering studs on the heel, then pushed her feet further under the chair. "Okay, so just because I bought some chick's shoes when she was obviously trying to get rid of such an incriminating form of identification, doesn't mean I know her or what she's caught up in."

Both men rolled their eyes and ignored her, silently communicating about what next to try on her. They eyed the crow bars on the workbench.

"But if you want help tracking her, I may have a solution."

They spun and faced her in unison. Darek raised an eyebrow in question. "Go on," he permitted her to speak freely, brushing his russet fringe back with long fingers. He was the younger of the two, and infinitely more handsome in a grungy way.

"I contacted the seller on eBay to arrange the time and place for pick up. Obviously we didn't use our real names, but I have her number. Maybe we can trace it."

Darek wiggled his fingers. "Hand it over."

"I don't have my phone on me," she stated flatly, never losing eye contact with her kidnapper.

"What idiot doesn't walk around with their phone?" the other guy shook his head incredulously.

"Shut up, Aaron!" Darek glared at his buddy. "Now tell me, Persia-who's-not-Persia," he stepped forward and peered in her face closely. "How do you propose we get her number and trace it?"

"You let me go."

Both men threw their heads back and roared with laughter.

"Oh, you're good. I like you. I like you a lot," Darek continued to chuckle and shook his head, causing her to laugh along with him. Then he instantly sobered, dropping the smile and frowning at her seriously.

Savannah choked on her laughter.

"I will ask you one more time, or it's bye bye to this deliciously soft skin of yours," he trailed the edge of the knife along her neck.

He was good looking despite the slightly crazed light in his brown eyes. One might almost consider them golden, and coupled with the smattering of freckles on his cheeks and his sharp jaw, they would probably swoon over him--assuming he didn't happen to have a knife to their neck.

"I'll tell you what," Savannah tilted her head and gave him her best negotiation smile. "You let me go, I'll fetch my phone, and we can work together to find this Persia girl you're so desperate for—"

"I'm not desperate!" he sputtered.

"I'm not done yet!" Savannah frowned at his rude interruption. "I'm sure we can cut a deal. You seem like decent men. I'll help you, and you can help me in return."

"What makes you think we'll help you?" Aaron spat and rolled his eyes, as if he found the situation preposterous.

Savannah wished she could just drop the act, tear apart the ropes around her wrists, and tie these goons up by their toes. That would show them who was boss. "I clearly know something you want, or else you wouldn't still have me tied up. So either I keep my lips sealed, or I talk. For a price."

Darek narrowed his eyes at her, clearly beginning to take her more seriously. "What could you possibly want besides freedom?"

"I'm after a man who killed an innocent child."

Aaron threw his head back and laughed. "This city's full of them, darling."

Huffing, she felt her hopes nose-dive and muttered under her breath, "No wonder Phoenix is having such a hard time—"

"Phoenix?" Darek whirled on her, his eyes flashing. "So you're with Zion's gang! Ah ha! Why didn't you tell us that sooner? You're more valuable than we thought!" he smiled devilishly, brandishing the knife awfully close to her face again.

"Gang? Is that what they call it? Listen, I only just met the guy yesterday," Savannah explained in a hurry and leaned as far back in the chair as she could to get away from the knife. "I honestly know nothing about him."

"That's true, she doesn't."

The deep voice that rang out through the garage sent Savannah's hopes soaring again and her eyes lighting up. "Zion!" She couldn't help the squeal of excitement. It wasn't everyday she found herself strapped to a chair, negotiating her way out of a slit throat, then had the man of her dreams walk through the door and come to her rescue.

Wait, was he the kinda guy she dreamed about for a mate? Tilting her head, she studied him carefully as he strode into the garage, leather jacket hugging his broad figure, hair swept back into messy perfection, rugged face serious as cold concrete with eyes set like granite. He sure was fine, and enough to fill her dreams for weeks to come. His rugged dominance instantly took command of the atmosphere in the room, and had her wolf whining to run to him.

"Game's up, Darek. Hand over what you stole from me." Zion marched up to the man with the knife, stood toe to toe with him, and crossed his arms in his most intimidating pose.

Savannah watched the way Darek swallowed nervously, and smiled. She loved the way her mate was so strong and commanding.

"I don't have it, you know that. You're a fool to come here."

"And you're a terrible liar," Zion raised an eyebrow.

Darek fidgeted. "Aaron already sold it. I told him to hold up on the deal—wait!" Darek yelped when Zion marched up to Aaron and gripped the back of his neck, lifting him off his feet slightly.

"Maybe we can come to an agreement," Darek tried again, but sputtered to a stop when Zion kept staring at him coldly.

"Savannah," Zion addressed her, causing her to sit up straighter in her chair.

"Yes, Zion?"

"Remember that person I wanted you to interrogate for me?" he asked, keeping his eyes on Darek.

"Ah, I believe the word you used was torture," she coughed nervously.

Zion chuckled, "Well, clearly you're a little too tied up to do that. So new plan. Ask Darek where my stuff is, or Aaron suffers."

She turned her attention to Darek who had hedged closer to her, the knife once more pointed to her throat. "Darek, did you take something of Zion's?" The type of question made her feel like she was reprimanding her young siblings again. Hunter was always making off with something of Isaiah's, causing both boys to get into a fight and need an older sister to break them apart.

"Define 'take'," Darek shifted on his feet uneasily.

"Stole, swiped, grabbed, seized, abducted—"

"Okay, I get it! The answer is no—"

"Wrong," Zion interrupted boredly, sighing deeply before flicking his wrist. Aaron grimaced, then dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

"What did you do?!" Darek rushed forward, but stopped in his tracks when Zion glared at him.

"I stuck to my word, unlike someone else around here," he replied pointedly. "Now hand it over, or you're next."

Darek suddenly stood taller, and walked behind Savannah. Then his hand snaked around her throat and she just knew the knife was pressed tightly against her skin. "Not if you care about your new girlfriend. Found her wandering the streets. At night. Alone. During a storm." He tsked. "Not the wisest thing to do if she valued her life. Fortunately, she might be of some use to me, so I'd hate to hurt her. So you can just exit the way you came in, and no one will get hurt."

Savannah felt the tremble in Darek's hand, and almost willed herself to bleed against the knife's edge. Maybe then the cold mask would drop from her mate's face, and he'd show some emotion towards her. He was very good at ignoring the pitiful state she was in. Trying to get his attention, she wiggled her eyebrows and pulled faces until he looked at her. With a brief shake of his head, he refused her plea to go wolf and rip herself out of this mess. Sighing, she leaned back and tapped her foot impatiently.

"I have an idea," she began bravely, hating the way Zion refused to meet her gaze again. "I help you find Persia, and you give Zion what he wants. It's a win win."

Darek chuckled, "I want more than that. I think I'll keep you around for a while. I like you, remember?" he spoke to Savannah, but his eyes were on Zion in a silent challenge.

Zion gave a small shrug in response. "That's okay, you can keep her. She can be rather irritating at times. We'll make a new deal. Perhaps I have something else you might like."

Savannah's eyes widened at the dismissal from Zion. Did he really just give her over to this thug?

Darek narrowed his eyes, watching Zion warily. "I'm listening."

Zion reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small piece of electronics. It was only a couple square inches across, silver and shiny on one side, and green metallic on the other. She could only guess he'd ripped it out of a computer.

"What is that?" she squeaked. Justin would know, and a sudden longing for her best friend overwhelmed her. If he was here, he'd crack some joke about her being a lazy lump sitting around all day while the men worked hard. She'd smirk and give him five jobs to accomplish before sunset or else he'd miss out on a piece of her freshly baked pie. And he would instantly if begrudgingly hop to it, because as well as being beholden to her to obey her commands as every Beta is to their Alpha, he would do anything for a piece of her real and famous apple pies.

"A CPU?" Darek asked, his hand slipping away as his attention drifted.

"How many cores did you want for your new system?" Zion asked as he held the chip just out of Darek's reach.

"As many as possible."

"Is a dual quad core enough for you?"

She could see the greedy gleam in Darek's eyes, and her own narrowed in irritation and anger. Her mate was trading a newfangled piece of computer equipment in her place?

Zion smirked. "I'll take that as a yes. It's all yours if you—"

"Alright, alright!" Darek hurried to the workbench and slid open a drawer, rifling around until he produced a wrapped object. He studied Zion for a moment before handing it over, at the same time as grabbing his precious chip.

The trade done, Zion turned around and began to leave.

"Hey, wait!" she yelled after him. "You can't just leave me here!"

When she got no reply, not even a laugh, she turned angrily to Darek. "The deal's off the table." And with that, she stood, the chair still tied to her arms behind her back, and swung until she knocked a startled Darek off his feet. Slamming the chair back down, she felt the legs break and back crunch, loosening the ropes around her wrists. When she was free, she gave Darek a smug grin before running after Zion.

"Zion, wait up!" she sprinted down the dark street. Catching up, she flung herself at him. "How dare you leave me all alone back there!"

He threw his head back and laughed, catching her easily and slinging an arm around her shoulders. "I love when you chase after me," he teased.

"Well, I hate when you're such a jerk!" She pulled her arm back and punched him in the nose.