Chapter 91
Renee’s POV
Eric’s father eyes widen in surprise. I blow some hair out of my face but it doesn’t do much and wet curls still stick to my sweaty forehead. I strain to listen to hear what the other person on the end of the line says.
Something tells me, Eric’s father, what was his name again? Isn’t expect anyone to pick up. Which means someone knows I’m missing. My gut tells me it’s Eric and if I could just eat his voice that would fuel me with enough strength to keep going because right now I’m not sure how much longer I can hold on.
My body is drenched with sweat, the new location I’ve been brought to is hot and stuffy. Were inside some kind of warehouse. The industrial fan sits idly above like it’s mocking me. My head throbs which makes me feel sick and above all, anxiety causes me to shake and grind my teeth.
I feel tiny flutters in my belly so I know my baby is alive, but I don’t know if it’s okay. The stress on my body is too much for me to handle, let alone a growing child inside me.
“What a pleasant surprise,” Eric’s father says. “I was expecting to only leave a voicemail if anyone ever did come to find her phone,” Eric’s father turns on his heels as though just coming to the realization, “by the way, how did you find it?” He asks.
I can’t hear anything from the other line, my ears feel clogged making everything sound distant and muffled. Mia stands nearby, her skinny legs right by my head. I think about throwing my skull against her bony ankles to send her crashing, but I’m pretty sure that would be the end of it for me.
“Well no matter, I just wanted to make it known that you have two options,” Eric’s father says and I listen to what his demands are. “You can either submit your pack to mine, or Renee dies,” he says simply like he couldn’t care less what Eric decides. “I’ll give you an hour to decide,”
You’d think the mention of my own death from the man who quite literally has my life in his hands would spike fear through me, but because I know he’s talking to Eric I don’t worry. In fact, I know he just confirmed that Eric is going to do everything in his power to save me.
So when Eric’s father hangs up before I know he even gave Eric a chance to reply, I don’t panic.
“Dan, You didn’t tell him about Niko,” Mia complains. Niko? Her son? Only a mother like Mia would bring her kid into something like this.
I think again of Debbie and can only hope she’s somewhere safe.
“You just made a mistake giving Eric that ultimatum,” I tell Dan feeling more confident now that I know Eric knows I’m in danger. Dan raises an eyebrow at me. “He’s going to come save me,” I explain. “Eric would never submit his pack to yours,”
Dan laughs like I’ve told him a joke. “Oh honey;” he says dripping with sarcastic pity. “You think I don’t know that? I want him here so after he watches what we do to you, we can serve him his payback.,” I stiffen at his words. Dan intends on Eric being here. Eric doesn’t know he may be walking into a trap.
“What kind of father would intentionally hurt his son?” I ask disgusted. Dan hands Mia the phone and he steps closer to me. I try to back up, but being chained makes it challenging to find anywhere to go. “I never said I would hurt him,” he smiles wickedly at me. “I need him alive and well to carry out my mission. You on the other hand, I have no problem hurting,”
Before I have time to register what’s going on, another blow comes barreling at me and I yell in pain. Mia laughs like a hyena. “In fact, if you just give me what I want we can skip over this whole part and I won’t make Eric suffer by watching this,”
I spit out some blood and struggle to regain my breath. My baby, my baby, my baby.
“What do you want?” I manage to ask in between gasps of air. Mia crouches down to my level.
“Money,” she says her eyes crazed with delight. That’s what they’re after?
“Mia!” Dan yells and through my daze I still piece together that Mia wasn’t supposed to admit that. “We want Eric to submit his pack to ours,” Dan tells Mia Moreno than me as though to correct her and stick to the script. Mia rolls her eyes.
“How much do you want?” I ask, if it’s money they’re after then they can have it all. This time Dan bends down next to me. He takes his finger and lifts my chin so my eyes meet him. It looks like he has two heads and I struggle to decide which one to focus on.
“We need Eric’s banking information and business passwords. That’s the money we need. Once we have that, all that he has, he’ll have no option but to submit his pack to us. If you merely just give us some cash, well I’m afraid that’s not good enough. Not when Eric still has billions in his company that will only do tune to keep making him money,”
I push back some vomit and try to process what’s being said. They want to strip Eric all of what he has so Eric can’t provide for his pack, making the only options liable to submit to Dans.
I squeeze my eyes shut, riding out a wave of pain crashing in my head. Then I feel a burning sensation slap me across the face. I shoot my eyes open and kid grabs my jaw with her fingers.
“Look at us when we’re talking to you,” I try to bite her but she tightens her grip, my teeth cut into my cheek.
“We need those passwords, if you just give them to us then we’ll stop hurting you. It’s that easy,”
If I give them the passwords then the chance of my baby surviving increases because right now I think we’re both hanging on to our life force by a thread. But if I give them the passwords, several people who benefit in Eric’s pack will be hurt. Andrew, Jasper, Emily, myself and Debbie. Just to name a few.
We would all be taken over by Dan’s pack and forced to live a life of misery, one where all the money goes to Dan and fueling Mia’s spending addiction. They’d probably still kill me and treat Debbie horribly.
Not to mention, all of society would be under his and Mia’s influence and rule. The Aloha controls all, you just wouldn’t know it with Eric since he believes in personal freedom. If Dan and Mia had this much power, there wouldn’t be one square inch of the country that wouldn’t know it.
The vision of our lives as it would be living under Dans rule stirs something in me. By the grace of God some strength comes slowly building back. Maybe it’s my maternal instincts to protect this unborn child, or maybe it’s because this child is offspring of the Alpha and born to be a fighter.
Whatever it is, adrenaline floods my veins and clarity hits me like a truck. I stare Mia down and I can sense she picks up on my shift, her eyebrows knit ever so slightly closer together. A small facial expression that tells me despite my chains, I’ve got the upper hand.
“I’ll never help you,” say through gritted teeth.
Another blunt force of pain hits me and in the sudden shock, I make a split second decision. I slump to the ground and stay there, unmoving with my eyes closed.
“She passed out,” Mia declares like it’s pathetic of me.
“We want her cognitive enough to give us the be passwords,” Dan scolds. I can’t see how Mia responds but I hear her footsteps descending.
I keep my breathing slow and shallow. I only have one chance to do this. I can’t take much more of their punches.
In my minds eye I envision Eric. I focus on my breath until it becomes automatic. I empty my mind of all other troubles and thoughts until eventually the pain across my body seems to slowly taper off, like it’s happening to someone else and I’m just observing it.
Then, like a pebble dropping into a still pond I send out my thoughts to Eric.
I’ve only ever heard that dates mages can telepathically be connected, but I’ve never actually tried. Eric and I never had that strong of a bond before. Only recently have we been falling more into rhythm and understanding each other more deeply.
But we’ve never tried to communicate this way before. Not until now.
If he can pick up on my signal, he’ll know where I am and can attack before Dan acts on whatever plan he has. I try to communicate to Eric that it’s money Dan is after.
I stay in this mediation for as long as I possibly can. My energy is being drained, it’s taking everything I got. Eric hear me. Eric find me. Eric, Eric, Eric. . .
