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Mr. Callahan grumbled. “You’ve got one minute. I’m affording you some trust.” He gripped his gun tighter. “Don’t make me regret it.”
With that ominous threat looming in the air, I took care of my business quickly and efficiently, while also scanning the small room for anything that might be of use in this situation.
The mirror could be used as a weapon if I broke it but that would be too loud. The toilet seat was heavy enough to do some damage. I wondered how hard it would be to unscrew it from the toilet.
“Where…are…you?”
I paused. There it was again! That strange voice that sounded so much like Ace. I was sure I wasn’t making it up now.
“Minute’s almost up!” Mr. Callahan shouted from the other side of the door.
What an ass.
I made my way to the sink to wash my hands, gasping when I saw my reflection in the dirty mirror.
The girl staring back at me was barely recognizable. Were it not for the scar on my forehead, I might have thought I was someone else entirely.
I was covered in dry blood, and my left eye was swollen, the other one not too far behind. My nose was a tad bit more crooked than the last time I had seen it.
Definitely broken.
I looked like I had gone through hell and back. No wonder I was in so much pain.
“Where are you?”
Okay, seriously, was I going crazy or something? Why was I hearing Ace ask me the same question over and over again?
I don’t know where I am! ?I wanted to yell back.
All I knew was that I was in a house. I wasn’t even sure if I was in Colorado anymore. Mitchell was with me, though, so maybe we were back in Massachusetts?
I hung my head and gripped the counter for stability, shoving down the need to cry.
I could not let my emotions get the better of me. Not again.
I had already revealed so much weakness to my captors; I could only hope it wasn’t too late to turn things around.
Ace isn’t here to save you this time, ?I told myself, even if my brain producing his voice was trying to convince me otherwise.
I had to make it out of this on my own. I had to be strong. Even if the events of the past several hours made it almost impossible.
I could already feel the weight of everything starting to crush me. Being kidnapped, betrayed by my birth father, finding out my boyfriend was a monster straight out of a horror movie.
It all threatened to cut off my airway and send me down a spiral of panic and devastation.
My brain refused to let me fully process the thing about Ace being a werewolf. I could have gotten caught up in all the “How the fuck did I miss it?” moments, but I simply did not have the energy.
It was too big, too much to come to terms with, and I already had a lot on my plate.
I couldn’t devote my already limited mental energy to comprehending that mind-fuck.
I needed to focus on escaping. Surviving.
Besides, if it really was true, it meant the boy I was hopelessly in love with had lied to me our whole lives. It meant he had betrayed and manipulated me. It meant I didn’t really know him.
How were we supposed to come back from that? How could I ever trust him again?
No, I couldn’t let myself go there. Not yet. Not when my physical and mental well-being depended on me remaining calm.
It might not be true. There could be a reasonable explanation for all of it.
Please don’t be true. Please ~don’t be true.~
“Where are you?”
I turned on the old and squeaky faucet and washed my hands, then cleaned the dried blood on my face. It didn’t do much without soap or towels. After I was done, I felt dirtier than when I’d started.
“Where are you?”
I slammed the faucet handle down, abruptly turning it off. The voice was getting louder. Deeper, more insistent. It was becoming impossible to ignore.
I was seriously losing my marbles. Even after learning Ace was a monster, my messed-up brain was still so desperate for him that it was producing non-existent samples of his voice.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Ugh, I could feel a headache coming on. A bad one.
Someone banged on the door, making me jump in surprise. “Time’s up!” Elias called out.
“Where are you?”
Ignoring the voice, I shook my hands to dry them and pushed the door open. Elias stood on the other side, waiting for me. His eyes traveled down my body.
He didn’t put the chains back on me but did wrap the one connected to the cuff on my ankle to a nearby pole, making it shorter so I could only move a few feet in any direction.
Elias also placed a pair of handcuffs on my wrists. The restraints weren’t ideal, but I would take them over being forced to sit in that terrible wooden chair again.
“Let me know if you need to use the bathroom again,” he said to me.
I nodded absently as I was busy watching Mr. Callahan.
He had dragged Mitchell’s unconscious body to the corner opposite the one I was in now and was using ropes to secure his hands together behind a wooden beam with a tight knot.
There was a huge welt on Mitchell’s left temple where Mr. Callahan had struck him.
It worried me that he was still unconscious. How hard did he hit him?
Once he was done, Mr. Callahan approached me. He crouched down in front of me and tugged on my handcuffs, making sure they were secure.
“You’re sure we shouldn’t put the silver back on her?” Elias asked him, hovering close by.
Mr. Callahan stood. “She’s human. Silver won’t affect her.”
“What about her mate?”
“They’re not fully mated, so we don’t have to worry about it.”
Mr. Callahan eyed me. “Elias is going to stay and watch you two. No talking. He’s armed, so don’t try anything.”
He directed his gaze to the younger man. “You can handle them on your own for a while?”
“Where are you?”
Elias glanced at my birth father, unconscious and tied up on the floor, and then at me, bruised and cowering in the corner.
“Yeah, I feel pretty confident about it.”
My former teacher walked toward the stairs.