Chapter 231

Ella

The desert landscape stretched out in front of us, an endless expanse of sand and heat, as Jet, who I knew as Logan’s racing rival, drove the car at breakneck speeds into the darkness.

My heart pounded against my ribcage, a frenzied rhythm of fear and confusion. I was trapped in a car with a man who I barely knew, who had just kidnapped me from one life-threatening situation only to thrust me into another.

“Help!” I cried out as I continued to bang on the back window, trying the door over and over again to no avail. Somewhere out there, Logan was waiting for me. And somewhere, maybe he was walking right into a trap; a garage laced with explosives, ready to blow up as soon as he set foot inside.

I needed to warn him, I needed to save him, but it was no use. Jet just kept driving, whipping the car back and forth across the desert sand. The movements threw me across the back of the car, rendering me useless. I felt a searing pain in my shoulder as I slammed against the opposite side of the car, my breath knocking out of me for a moment.

Inside my mind, I continued to call out for my wolf.

“Ema!” I cried out as I caught my breath. “Ema, where are you!”

But there was no response. She was still fast asleep, groggy and drugged. I was useless without her, and another wave of nausea was taking over me.

“Jet,” I finally managed through the soreness in my hoarse throat, “why are you… Why are you doing this?”

Jet’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, his knuckles turning white.

“I can’t let you die, Ella,” he said, his voice oddly steady despite the situation. “I won’t let you die.”

“But to kidnap me?” I insisted. “Jet, where are you even planning on taking me?”

Jet was silent for a moment, pressing his foot down harder onto the gas pedal. Finally, he answered. His voice was still shockingly steady, but now it was laced with an emotion I couldn’t quite place. “I don’t care if Logan dies, but not you,” he muttered. “We’re going to run away together. We can start over, be safe from all of this.”

His words sent a shiver down my spine. Was that what all of this was about? Some sort of fantasy that this stranger had built up inside of his head upon one official meeting?

“Run away? With you?” I scoffed, disbelief coloring my tone. “Do you know what you sound like right now? A stalker, that’s what.”

Jet glanced at me in the rearview mirror, his face still obstructed by the bandana hiding his true identity. “I’m no stalker,” he insisted. “You know me, Ella. Better than you think.”

I furrowed my brow as I met his gaze in the rearview mirror. Something about his eyes was familiar, that much was certain… but I didn’t know this man. I had only met him once before tonight, and we had hardly exchanged more than a few words between one another.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I hissed through my bared teeth. “I don’t know you, and I don’t want to know you.”

He didn’t respond, just kept his eyes fixed on the endless road ahead. I felt a surge of anger, frustration, and fear bubble up inside of me. This man, this stranger, thought he could just whisk me away from everything I knew and loved?

My sister Daisy, Logan, my life in the city—he expected me to just abandon it all for a fantasy of starting over fresh with someone who had just kidnapped me?

But then, something shifted inside of me. I felt a stirring, a gentle awakening that spread warmth through my veins.

“Ema?” I called out in my mind, feeling a sense of hope begin to wash over me. “Ema, is that you? Are you awake?”

Her voice was groggy and thick, but it was there. “I’m here, Ella… What’s happening? Where are we?”

“We were drugged,” I said. “Look, it’s a long story, but—can you give me some of your strength? I think I can get us out of here.”

“I’ll try…”

Despite the drugs still in our system, Ema’s strength began to surge. I encouraged her in my mind, willing her to lend me just a little bit more, just enough to give me the slightest edge over Jet.

And then it finally happened. I felt her strength fill my veins. It was now or never; there was no telling how long it would last.

“Now, Ella! Hurry, before my strength fades again!”

Ema didn’t need to tell me twice. Seizing the opportunity, I lunged forward, my hands grappling for the steering wheel. Jet, caught off guard, tried to fend me off, but I used all my might to wrestle control from him.

“What are you doing? Stop!” Jet yelled, his voice filled with panic.

It was too late; I already had the wheel in my grip. I wrenched it as hard as I could. It was a crazy, last-ditch effort, but it was all I could manage. I figured that maybe, just maybe, I could make him lose control and give me enough time to escape. The car swerved wildly beneath my grip, kicking up clouds of sand as it veered off the road. I fought with every ounce of strength I had, my fingers gripping the wheel tightly no matter how hard Jet tried to wrestle it away from me.

Up ahead, a large rock formation came into view in the dim glow of the headlights. I veered toward it, my eyes wild with fear and determination.

“Stop and let me out,” I shouted over the din, “or I’ll kill both of us!”

The rocks came looming closer, speeding into view faster than I expected. I braced myself for impact, ready to die here rather than allow myself to be kidnapped by this man.

And then, with a sudden, jarring motion, Jet slammed on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt mere inches before the rocks, the abrupt stop sending a wave of nausea through me.

“Now let me go,” I hissed in his ear, using what little strength I had left to keep my grip on the wheel.

“You know me, Ella.”

I furrowed my brow. “Why do you keep saying that?” I growled. “Just let me go. I don’t know you, I never have, and I never will.”

Jet turned to me, the look in his eyes one of shock and disbelief. It was clear that he never expected me to find the strength to fight back, but it was too late now. He reached up slowly, his fingers trembling as he removed his bandana.

As the fabric fell away, my breath caught in my throat. The face that stared back at me wasn’t Jet’s—it was someone else entirely.

“See?” he said softly, his gaze meeting mine. “You do know me, Ella.”

My eyes widened, my defenses momentarily ebbing in the wake of what had just happened. In that moment, my hands loosened their grip from the steering wheel as my head reeled, and that was my second mistake.

My first mistake had been ever trusting him to begin with.

“Devon?”