Page 68 of Nico

The plunger depressed. Ice spread beneath my skin, and my stomach dropped. This bastard was pumping something inside me. My wolf snarled in outrage.

The stranger yanked the syringe free. My limbs suddenly felt impossibly heavy. No, no, no. I forced myself onto one elbow.

The world rolled violently. Trees bent sideways, and the sky darkened around the edges. I couldn't focus, let alone think. The man crouched beside me, and his face blurred.

His voice drifted toward me through thick cotton. “I can’t believe that worked. I wasn’t sure I used the right dosage.”

I couldn't make out the rest. My vision narrowed further, then something caught the morning sun. A flash of gold around the guy’s neck, a thick gaudy chain. Recognition hit like lightning.

I tried to speak, but nothing came out beyond a strangled groan. The stranger smiled, and it was a sinister smile.

“Your glorious and savage majesty. We’re going to have such a good time,” he said.

Blackness pressed in from every side. The last thought that crossed my mind wasn't about the pain or the attack. It was Nico.

Then the darkness swallowed everything.

15

NICO

I put my bagged lunch down on the table a little harder than necessary before sliding onto one of the picnic benches outside the packhouse.

It was bright and sunny, with a warm breeze stirring the leaves overhead. A cloud drifted across the sky that looked like a sleeping cat.

I hated it here.

I wanted to be back at home, sitting at my workstation in front of my thousand-dollar computer setup with access to all my servers and files. Instead, I was stuck out here for the next six hours.

It had started about a year ago, when Cooper found out that Tony and I sometimes went weeks without stepping outside the house.

Apparently, spending all our time working wasn't considered a valid excuse, even when most of that work consisted of things Cooper himself had assigned us. He'd ordered us not to go more than three days without getting some sunlight.

It was a stupid rule, but since our alpha had ordered it, we had to follow it.

Tony had found a loophole almost immediately. He did most of his work in the living room, where a large window overlooked the backyard. According to him, that counted as getting enough sunlight.

Naturally, being more senior meant Tony had dibs on the living room.

I set up my laptops and connected to the pack's server, hoping to get some work done while I waited. I hadn't even gotten very far when my phone chimed.

It was an alert I'd set up myself. I'd configured a geofence around the areas Isaac normally traveled, so I'd know if his truck crossed the boundary. Now it had just been triggered.

For a moment, I could only stare at the notification.

I'd already been worrying that I'd crossed a line by putting the tracker under Isaac's truck without his knowledge.

I'd considered removing it when I'd gone to the cabin that morning, but I'd wanted to warn him first. Somehow, that had seemed more important at the time.

It was still tracking him.

My stomach tightened as I watched the marker move away from the areas I'd marked. Isaac's truck was heading away from the packlands and farther from town.

"No."

I grabbed my phone and called him. My pulse climbing with every ring, before it finally went to voicemail.

I tried again, then sent him a quick text. There was no response. I called a third time and there was still nothing.