Flight (22 page)

“
I’m only trying to be a good host.”

“
Host? You mean kidnapper.”

“
It’s all in the terminology,” Trevor said as he untied my wrists. “So why did he pick you? Other than the obvious, of course.” He gestured up and down my body.

“
Why did who pick me?”

“
Don’t play stupid.”

“
Then spell it out for me.”

“
You’re wearing the ring of the Pteron ruling family. Why did the prince pick you?”

Prince? Hailey had said he was the future leader, but a prince? “Listen. This is all a big misunderstanding. Levi never even told me what the ring meant. Had I known, I wouldn’t have accepted it. I’m just a girl from New York who wants to get home.” I realized after the words left my mouth, that I was probably giving too much information.

“
Wait, are you trying to tell me you were duped into accepting the ring? You had no idea when you jumped into bed with the prince that you’d leave it his princess?” Trevor’s laughter was deep and primal.

“
That’s exactly what I’m saying. So would you please just let me go?”

“
Why would that change anything?”

“
What do you want from me? What can you possibly gain by holding me here?”

“
You really don’t realize how much you’re worth, do you?”

Something told me I didn’t want to know.

Chapter
Seventeen

“
You didn’t find a tracker on her?” Trevor asked while I still processed his comment about my worth.

“
No. But we never thought to check her,” Riley admitted.

“
Are you idiots? You think he didn’t leave something on her?” A small smile spread on his lips. “I guess I’ll have to do it myself.”

“
Hell no. Whatever you are thinking, keep your hands to yourself. Besides, he didn’t put a tracker on me. He only gave me the ring last night.”

“
Wow, and you ran out on him that quickly? Oh wait, you did it when you found out the truth, huh?”

“
I don’t want to talk about it.” I was hanging on by a thread; discussing Levi anymore threatened to push me over the edge.

“
We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he sneered.

“
Do what?”

“
Take off your dress,” he ordered.

“
Excuse me? Do you really think I’m that stupid? No way!”

“
Like I said, we can do this the easy way or hard way. Either you take it off or I do, and I really don’t mind.”

There were at least ten men in the room by this point. “You honestly expect me to take off my clothes in a room full of men?” I wondered where all these guys were coming from.

“
Yes, of course, I do,” he said without hesitation.

“
First, tell me, who are you?” I needed to stall him.

“
I’m Trevor, I thought that was clear.”

“
Not your name. Okay, I guess I mean
what
are you?” They knew about Levi so I assumed they were more than they seemed.

Trevor smiled. “Don’t you know?”

“
If I knew why would I be asking?”

“
Didn’t you notice anything outside?”

“
No way… Are you guys tigers or something?”

“
Did you see stripes? No, we’re not tigers, we’re cougars, or mountain lions, or panthers, or pumas. Whatever colloquial term you like.”

“
Oh.”

“‘
Oh’ is right.”

“
So you really can change into a cougar?”

Trevor smiled. “If I didn’t know you were sleeping with a Pteron, I’d think you had never seen a shifter before.”

“
I’m still new to all of this, and besides Pterons don’t actually shift into birds.” I decided not to mention that I’d seen wolves shift.

“
No more stalling.”

“
Stalling?”

Trevor smiled again. “Yes. You think I don’t know what you’re doing?”

Damn. “Listen, I don’t have a tracking device on me. I’ve already been tricked and kidnapped enough for one day. Can’t you let me keep my dignity?” Real and intense fear engulfed me.

“
Either take off your dress or I’ll do it for you.”

“
No.” There was no way I was taking off my clothes.

“
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He reached for my dress, ripping the fabric easily. With one more swift motion, I was left standing in only a bra and panties. All eyes were on me and I wanted to sink into the floor. I shuddered, noticing the hungry looks of the men surrounding me as I attempted to cover myself with my hands.

“
Hot pink, huh? Maybe I’ll have to organize some alone time for us before we turn you over.” Leering, Trevor reached out a hand to touch me. I slapped it away.

“
Oh, you want to play that way?” He reached out and grabbed my wrists. Another man handed him the rope so he could rebind my hands. “I told you to be good.”

“
Please, just let me go,” I whimpered. I was ready to do anything to avoid any further undressing.

Trevor studied me for a moment. “Okay, I’ll compromise.”

“
Compromise?”

“
Riley, take her into one of the back rooms and finish the search.” Trevor smiled.

“
What! You call that a compromise!?”

“
Would you prefer to have it done in front of everyone? Better yet, is it that you’re disappointed it won’t be me?” Trevor taunted.

“
It’s okay, baby. I won’t hurt you,” Riley said as he took my arm. As much as I wanted to fight, I figured one guy’s grubby hands were better than a room full of guys watching, or worse, participating.

Catcalls followed as Riley led me out of the room. So far I was wearing as much as I would have on at the beach, but I knew it was about to get worse.

Riley led me into a bedroom with several bunk beds lining the walls. I shivered from fear and not the cold.

“
Shh, it’s okay.” Riley tried to comfort me. He looked torn.

I couldn’t help it and started to cry. I just couldn’t take anymore, especially not that kind of violation.

“
I’m sorry about this.” With my hands still bound, I could do nothing to cover myself as he prepared to unclasp my bra. The sense of violation burned and the tears fell hot and fast. Fear of what might come next kept me as still as a statue.

“
You don’t have anything on you, do you?” Riley asked as he brushed tears off my face. His actions were much gentler than I expected. “I don’t want to make this any worse for you.”

“
I don’t have a tracker. I swear.”

“
Okay, I’ll take your word for it.”

“
What?” Relief flooded me but I was looking for a catch.

“
But there are a few conditions.”

“
Conditions?” I bristled; afraid his conditions would be worse than a more thorough pat down.

“
Yes. Some conditions,” he repeated.

“
What are they?”

“
You let everyone think I finished the search. I’d be up a creek if Trevor found out, and you would just have to deal him doing it himself.”

“
Okay, I’ll agree to that, but what else?” I asked nervously. I didn’t want to know the other conditions.

“
Tell me your name.”

“
You want to know my name?”

“
Yeah. I want to put a name to your face.”

Stunned with disbelief I answered. “Allie. My name is Allie.”

“
Allie? I like that. Allie. A pretty name for a pretty girl. It’s nice to meet you, Allie.” He held out his hand to shake mine and then dropped it down after realizing my hands were still tied. “Sorry.”

I nodded, terrified of making him back out of the deal. “Is that it?”

“
Oh, I might call in a favor later.” He ran a finger down the side of my face, and I tensed wondering what the favor would be. “Come on, we need to get back. Remember what I told you.” Riley took my arm pulling me back out to the open area.

Another round of catcalls awaited us. “Are you sure we have to give her to the Blackwells?” someone yelled.

“
Yes, and in the same condition we got her.” I couldn’t ignore the heated look Trevor gave me.

“
Did she feel as good as she looks?” Harriston said with a harsh smile.

“
Of course she did,” Riley said with a much more confident voice than he used with me. “And she enjoyed it. Said she’d stay with me if she could.”

“
Did she now?” Trevor asked, coming closer to us. I flinched as he brought his arm towards me but relaxed as he wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. I let out a sigh of relief; maybe the worst was over.

“
Yes, she did.” Riley avoided my eye. I understood he wanted to be convincing but this was ridiculous.

“
Is that right?”

I tried to muster a confident voice. “You know, I’ve always been a cat person…” I shrugged awkwardly, careful not to lose the blanket.

The room erupted into laughter.

“
Nice to know you have a sense of humor.”

“
Yeah, I have a really great personality usually, that is when I’m not being held captive.” I couldn’t believe I was acting so calm, but breaking down would only make escape less likely.

“
Trevor, I’ve got the Blackwells on the line,” one guy called, holding up a cell phone. I was surprised they even had service out there.

“
You might as well sit down, this might take a while.” Trevor pushed me down onto a couch. Readjusting the blanket around me, Riley sat down next to me almost protectively before anyone else could.

I shot him a dirty look for his earlier performance and he winked. I decided to let it go and let the guy feed his ego. Maybe he’d forget about the favor.

Struggling to hear Trevor’s conversation from across the room, I wanted to yell at the rest of the men to shut up, but I didn’t want to draw any more attention to myself. Thankfully, Trevor took care of the noise himself. “Enough!” he bellowed.

“
Sorry about that. As I was saying, I have someone of extreme value in my possession right now.” He paused, likely listening to the caller on the other end of the line. “Before I give any details, let me emphasize that as far as anyone is concerned our hands are clean, she came willingly.”

What the hell? I wanted to scream but before I could argue, Riley had his hand over my mouth. Arrg, for the second time today I had a dirty hand on my mouth.

“
What would the mate of Levi Laurent be worth to you?”

“
Trust me. It’s his mate. The reason you haven’t heard is that it just happened last night.” Trevor glanced at me. “There is no question it’s the ring.”

“
Not so fast. What will you give me?”

“
Bull. She’s worth a hell of a lot more than that to you. I want 1.5.”

“
Don’t insult me, 750 Gs for a chance to run the show? I’ll take a cool mil, that’s my final offer or I call the Dalys.”

“
Fine. But I want the money first.”

Trevor hung up the phone and strolled over to me. Riley removed his hand. “Thanks sweetheart, you just made me a lot of money.”

“
Don’t call me sweetheart!” I’d had enough of the fake endearments.

“
Wow, down girl,” he said as he mimed cracking a whip. A few men laughed.

“
So they really agreed to a million, Trevor?” Harriston asked, licking his lips.

“
I could have pushed him harder but I didn’t want him to call my bluff. I don’t want to mess with the Dalys.”

“
You can’t be serious? Why would anyone pay that kind of money for me?” The only person in the world
that
interested in me was my father, and I knew he wasn’t on the other end of the phone.

“
You are the prince’s mate. He can’t take another. Without you, there is no heir and the Laurent line dies out. The other high ranking Pterons would pay a lot to get control of you.”

“
You mean kill me.”