Page 137 of Dubious Match

“I think this is a bad life choice,” I say as I continue walking backward.

“You changed your hair, Nova,” one of them says before rushing me.

The name feels like cold water flooding over me, and it reaffirms everything Lars and Caleb told me. My eyes narrow at these men, and I shake my head.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, using the bags in my hand to hit him repeatedly. I release them when he grabs me, allowing the bags to fall to the ground as I begin stabbing him with my knife.

“Fuck! The bitch has a knife,” the man yells.

The rest of the men move toward me, being more careful than to crowd me as my knife is visible in my hand.

“Told you this was a bad life choice,” I say, turning and running.

I’m not sticking around if I don’t have to, and I need to tell Nova that someone is here for her. Opening the bonds, I begin screaming through them for help. I tell them the cross street that I’m at, knowing full well I’m not going to make it to my car.

A fistful of my hair is grabbed and pulled back, and I scream out loud. I don’t know if it will help bring attention to me, but the streets are pretty deserted right now. I swear there were more people out when I first started my day.

It’s shitty luck, really.

I kick, stab, and scream as the men pick me up and begin to carry me back to the van.

“You’re so much more dramatic than last time,” a man mutters, covering my face with a rag.

All I can think of isstab, stab, stab.He grunts in pain but refuses to let go as my body bows and bucks. I hold my breath, refusing to make this any easier for them, because the only thing that could be drenching that rag is chloroform.

The worst thing that could happen is passing out, because it’ll mean that they’ll stick me in that van. However, my lungs are screaming, and I can hear the guys in my head panicking through the bond. There’s nothing I can say to help, because I’m literally fighting for my life.

For the ability to make it back to them. It’s what I promised them, and I’m about to fuck it all up.

A single gasp for breath pulls the drug into my body, and I’m dragged into the van, the door slamming shut as the knife is pulled from my hand and confiscated.

“Goddamn, you’re not picking up my calls, and making all my men bleed,” a voice says from the front seat.

I can’t see him from where I’m continuing to fight on the floor, but his voice is dark and angry.

“I know I said you were too old for me, girl, but I have debts and a buyer. You’re my out,” he says as my vision begins to fade.

“Argh!” I scream against the rag, but the bastard that I stabbed simply shoves the rag into my mouth.

There’s no escape from the darkness, and all I can do is say,I love you, through the bond.

It’s the last thing I may ever say to them at this point, and I saved Nova from this disgusting man.