Chapter 81

“Grab her! Now!” The man ordered. I held up my hands, hoping to keep them away.

“No!” I pleaded, doing my best to keep them all at arm’s length. They snarled and watched me with dark eyes. They were focused, every single pupil was scanning over my body, waiting for me to make a move or get close enough to grab.

I could still hear Ethan screaming my name in the distance. He was getting closer.

A few lunged closer to me, but didn’t make any moves to actively grab me up. They laughed at my scared expression. I was shaking, visibly and noticeably shaking. Any which way I turned, I was looking down the barrel of a gun. There was no hiding my fear.

“You are in no position to tell us no,” The man scowled, using a hunting knife to pick at his fingernails. “My boss has requested you specifically, and he is not a man that you get to deny.”

My chest heaved as I tried to catch my breath. The adrenaline kept my body from shutting down, but my lungs were struggling to regulate themselves. I couldn’t say anything as I took deep, gulping breaths.

I started turning to look at each of them surrounding me. There were six gunmen, seven people all together. I was completely outnumbered.

In between the heads of the wolves staring me down, I saw Ethan barreling towards the beach. He sprinted over the dunes, screaming for me to get down, shouting threats of death at the people around me, and grunting and snarling as he moved.

Even if he made it to me before things went wrong, we would be outmatched. Especially with guns.

I hung my head and lowered my hands, worried that if I kept resisting their attack, then Ethan would just be hurt. I knew if I went with them, I had a chance of survival. They wanted me for their boss, whatever that meant.

Maybe by sacrificing myself I could spare Ethan.

“Just please don’t hurt me,” My voice was small, dejected. I hadn’t sounded so pathetic since I lived with who I thought was my father. I hated the fear that shook in my words.

“Oh trust me-” The main man started, but one of the rogues turned and shot towards the sand dunes behind them.

Ethan had caught up quickly. Much quicker than anyone thought he would. He was ducking behind a washed up log, and used the confusion to skid out of hiding and run towards the group.

With the distraction of the loud shot and Ethan’s running figure, I was able to slip away from the group, in between two fighters that shifted their guns to point away from me in the chaos.

The rogues realized that I was making a run for it quickly, their attention not taken for long. They swiveled around as I started running as fast as I could towards Ethan.

My legs pumped as hard as they could, feet sinking in the sand and having to work harder to move faster. Ethan held his arms out to me, beckoning me closer. When I caught up to him, he threw my behind him, shielding my body with his as he puffed out his chest and challenged the group of wolves tunneling us.

The main man approached Ethan, six guns were pointed at us. The adrenaline coursed through my veins, keeping me from weeping and collapsing of fear.

I stood behind Ethan, making myself as tall and intimidating as I could. So long as I didn’t speak, I seemed unafraid. I was a Luna, fearless and powerful.

On the inside, though, I was just a little girl who wanted to go home.

“Ethan Velasco,” The main man cooed, shaking his head at us as though we were unruly children. “You know that this isn’t going to end well for you, don’t you?”

Ethan snarled, “It’s not going to end well for you if you take another step closer.”

The man laughed, but he did not move further.

The werewolves lined up behind him, guns at the ready, trained on Ethan’s head. I wanted to tell him to stop being so brave. That doing so would be the death of him. Maybe I just needed to go with them.

I didn’t, though, because somehow, some part of me believed that Ethan and I could make it out of this together - unscathed. Maybe it was just blissful naivety or my faith in Ethan’s prowess as an alpha, but that small part of me kept me from completely turning myself over to the cretins in front of us.

“Stay behind me,” Ethan whispered, looking back at me as I placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort. “When I tell you to, I want you to run as far away as you can.”

I nodded at him, eyes wide and unblinking. Normally I’d want to argue and prove that I was his equal in every way, but I knew I was not equally matched in a fight. I was sorely unprepared for any form of combat.

“Give up the girl, and you live.” The man waved his arms out wide to gesture at his colleagues, “We don’t want to make things messy.”

“Go ahead and try me,” Ethan growled. He peeled his suit jacket from his body, revealing the tailored white dress shirt beneath it. It was practically see through with sweat, sticking to the contours of his arms and abdomen.

His muscles shone under the moonlight, a threat to whoever it was in front of us.

“Don’t be stupid,” He warned again, this time taking a step forward to test the waters. Ethan clenched his fists and widened his stance. He looked like a boxer that you would see on television. He looked powerful.

But not bullet-proof, I thought somberly.

“I said not another step,” Ethan squared his shoulders. “You won’t take her.”

“Is she even worth all this, Ethan?” The man asked, gesturing between me and the six gunmen. “You’re going to get shot for some she-wolf?”

Ethan bared his teeth, face darkening even further at the way the man was talking about me.

“She’s worth more than all seven of your lives combined.” His voice was raspy, dangerous.

The man tutted, gesturing for three of his colleagues to move forward towards us. Ethan pushed me back, taking a few steps away from the encroaching wolves. They were wild looking, more wild than any animal I’d ever seen. They were terrifying, the calm way they let their scopes stay focused on us.

If the man wanted, we would have been dead thirty times over by that point. Ethan would have been.

He was not collateral damage in all of this. I realized, he was needed just as much as I was. I was leverage for whatever the boss of this man wanted.

A bargaining chip.

A ransom.

Something of value to Ethan, they were trying to get to Ethan through me.

“Ethan,” I breathed, voice shaky and frightened, “Give me up and save me later. Come back with your own people.”

“No!” Ethan turned to look at me, his voice raising louder than even I expected. It startled me and apparently one of the gunmen.

When Ethan’s back was turned, a gunshot went off, then a scream.