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He’s better at his job than he looks. As I lunge, he steps to the side, grabs my wrist and squeezes hard enough to make me drop the knife. I let out a curse of pain as he wraps me up. This time it’s not a multi-person, carry her off like a captured damsel grasp. This time, he puts me in a fucking wrestling lock that is absolutely impossible to escape.
“Please don’t make me choke you out,” he murmurs in my ear, quietly enough that only I can hear him. “Henry would be very upset.”
At the mere mention of Henry’s name, I relax.
I still don’t know what the fuck is happening, but I trust that word.
“Alright,” he says when he has me under control. “Good. Now. There’s a car waiting for us at the back exit of this building. I’m going to walk you down there now. I want to let you walk, but if you act up, I’m going to put you in a fireman’s carry and take you down that way. Do you understand?”
I curse at him in response.
“Do you understand, Fiona?” He’s speaking much more calmly now, and there’s something paternal in his tone.
I want to ask if he knows Henry, but I am guessing that saying the name out loud here and now would likely cause some serious issues.
“Yeah,” I mutter.
“Good girl,” he says again. “I’m going to hold your arm and take you downstairs. You’re going to act like a human being, not a feral creature. We’re all going to get out of here nice and easy.”
He releases me a little and I guess I’ll go along with it. Maybe he’s smart enough to use Henry as a word to calm me down or maybe…
We walk downstairs together, me and my three armed escorts. I am diminutive compared to them, and very well aware that the silver around my neck means that I am still not necessarily among friends. They have me captive, and I am in danger no matter who is behind this.
“You’re doing well,” nameless guy says as we walk back through the lobby and out through the rear service entrance. I breathe a sigh of relief as I see a windowless van. I recognize it.
The side door opens and I practically jump in. If I’m wrong about this, then they’ve manipulated me expertly.
But I’m not wrong. Sitting in the middle of the back seat is Henry.
“Come here, baby,” he says.
I go to him, practically bursting into tears as the leader of the kidnappers gets in with us and the other two take the front of the cab. We are on the move within seconds, and I feel a physical sense of relief as we put distance between ourselves and the building.
He reaches out and pulls me into his lap, cradling me tight against his chest. Tears of relief start to fall almost immediately as I am so happy to be out of that building and away from the betrayal of my brother.
Rick did this to me. He wanted me to be shipped off, and he used a moment of connection to do it. Loving my brother was nothing more than leverage for him to use against me. I’m devastated.
“It’s okay,” Henry says, holding me close as he rubs my back. “I’ve got you, and you’re safe. I promise.”
I know I’m safe. I can feel it, and I can smell it. He has me and he’s not letting me go, and somehow he swept me right out from under the noses of my pack.
I settle for a bit, letting the adrenaline flow away. Then I have to ask:
“What the fuck happened to your face?”
He laughs. “Nothing. There was a little scrap with your brother.”
“And you let him do that to you?”
“Rick thinks best when he’s punching someone,” Henry says. He’s so unbothered by the bruises, I guess I can let them go. Rick has done worse than hit someone today.
“Is this van the same one we slept together in the first night we met?”
“I’m a romantic,” Henry says, taking my hand in his and dropping a kiss on the back of it. “And I’m sorry I couldn’t come up myself, but I wanted them to think they’ve won. It will be some time before they realize you’re not in Russia.”
“Won’t the guy there be like, hey, where’s my mail order wolf bride?”
“He might be,” Henry muses, his lips spreading in a wickedly conspiratorial smile. “Or he would be, if he were a real person, and not a facsimile I have been working on for several years for occasions much like this one. There are passports, documentation, email addresses, credit cards. There’s a whole Russian alpha universe that doesn’t exist, including flight logs for a plane you’ll never be on.”
