Chapter 50

Judy’s POV

I woke up to the sounds of murmurs nearby; my memory of what had happened was a bit foggy and my head ached like I was hungover, but I don’t remember drinking that much. I had mainly water with a few sips of white wine at dinner, but it wasn’t enough to make me hungover. I don’t even remember falling asleep.

My fingers twitched as I came to, and I could feel the cold concrete ground beneath me. That was part of the reason why my body was aching. Then I felt the cold metal chains around my wrists and the burning that the silver invoked. Silver was a werewolf’s weakness, and I knew before I even opened my eyes that I wouldn’t be able to channel my wolf or send out a mindlink to anyone in my pack.

I also knew that I was in danger.

A slight memory came back to me, and I remember running and laughing with Irene by my side. Was Irene here with me? Did she somehow set me up? Maybe she didn’t believe me when I told her that nothing was going on between Ethan and me. Maybe this was part of her plan; to make sure the guards didn’t follow us so she could kidnap me and possibly kill me.

Another memory resurfaced and I remembered watching Irene fall to the ground after a man attacked her. He stabbed her in the neck with a syringe and she passed out immediately. My heart hammered in my chest, and I knew my breathing was unsteady. I tried to keep it steady just in case I wasn’t alone wherever I was.

I could hear the light whispers from some men nearby and I tried to channel my wolf so I could hear better, but to no prevail. However, their voices grew louder as their footsteps neared. I might not have my wolf senses, but the moment they were close enough, I could smell them. It was the same sickly scent from before.

Rogues.

“I thought we were only paid to capture one girl,” one of the rogues asked in a harsh whisper.

“So, we’ll ask for more money,” another said with a dark chuckle. “Who are they anyways?”

“I don’t fucking know. I didn’t ask questions. He gave me a price and I told him no problem,” another rogue muttered. “I’m starving; let’s get some food while we wait for them to wake up. It’ll probably be a while. We used a lot of wolfsbane.”

They sauntered off; the sounds of their shoes growing more distant and then I heard the opening and shutting of a door, along with a lock.

So far, telling from their voices, there were 3 of them. But I remembered there being more than that before I passed out.

I opened my eyes and immediately knew that I was in a dark cellar. I lifted my head, ignoring the pounding of my temple. It seemed I was in a large cage of some sort, like a caged animal. I felt myself growing more furious by the second. I looked around, trying to get my bearings, but it was hard to see without my wolf’s natural abilities guiding me. But I was able to see clearly enough to know that I wasn’t alone.

My heart sank when I saw Irene lying next to me, completely passed out. She had a gash on her head from when she fell to the ground, and she was looking so pale.

“Irene…” I croaked, crawling over to her.

I winced as the metal around my wrists burned into my flesh. I touched her cold cheek and felt a surge of panic rushing towards me. I felt around her neck for a pulse and when I found a faint one, I let out a breath of relief.

I brushed her blood-soaked hair out of her face.

“Please, wake up,” I whispered. “We have to get out of here.”

The problem was, I had no idea how we were going to leave here. I knew one thing for sure; these men thought I was still passed out and they weren’t going to do anything until we were both awake, which meant I had to act like I was asleep when I heard them returning.

I rested my back against the wall and took a deep and shaky breath, coughing slightly at the musky feel of the dusty air. I wasn’t sure how I was able to recover from the wolfsbane so quickly, but I knew Irene would probably be asleep for a while. I reached for her, slowly sliding her across the floor so her head could be rested on my lap. I slowly stroked her hair, humming softly to her. I didn’t want her to be afraid when she woke up.

I’m not sure how long we remained like that for; there were no windows and there was no clock, so I had no idea what time it was. But I know it had to have been hours at least. I was groggy and my head was bobbing up and down when I heard the shoes approaching. I quickly scooted Irene off my lap, so her head was rested on the ground again and then I rested my head beside hers, closing my eyes.

“They are still out?” One of the guys asked, peeking into the cage.

“Looks that way,” another muttered. “It’s late; we might as well just do this tomorrow.”

“He wanted it done tonight,” the other rogue muttered.

“Yeah, but he made it clear that he wanted her to be awake and to know why she was being killed. He wants it recorded so he could have it as evidence,” he reminded his buddy.

“And the other one?”

“We’ll call it a bonus,” the rogue laughed. “Let’s get some sleep and return here tomorrow.”

They walked away again. Once the door was shut, I opened my eyes and let out a shaky breath.

I looked down at Irene to see that she was still sleeping. I counted the minutes until she woke and when I felt her hand twitching by my side, I let out another breath. She was finally waking up; I won’t be alone in here and we can figure out what to do.

I pulled her head onto my lap while she woke. It was a long process and a lot of soft groaning; I’m sure she probably felt hungover as well. But eventually, her eyes fluttered open and met mine.

“Judy?” She asked in a soft whisper. “W… what happened?”

“I don’t want you to freak out,” I told her softly, but I knew my tone worried her. She lifted her head and immediately yelped when she felt the burning of the silver around her wrists.

She glanced at her wrists and then back at me, her eyes large with alarm.

“W…wh…” she started to stammer, panic clear on her face.

“I told you not to freak out,” I reminded her.

She looked around, noticing that we were in a cage and tears filled her eyes.

“What’s going on?” She asked in a terrified whisper.

“It’s going to be okay, Irene. We are going to figure this out and get out of here,” I assured her, but even I wasn’t sure how we were going to manage that. “But I think we were kidnapped…”

Her entire body trembled as she sat all the way up; tears welling up in her eyes.

“H…how?” She asked. “I don’t understand. Why??”

“I don’t have any of the answers,” I told her, pressing my knees to my chest. “But they are waiting until morning.”

“For what?” She asked, her eyes large with fear.

“I think they want to kill us…”

……

Third Person POV

Ethan had told his subordinate that he wanted some goons to kidnap Judy and hold her hostage, maybe put a little fear in her. His plan was to go there and rescue Judy. She would be so thankful that she would willingly agree to be his mistress, and he could finally get everything that he wanted.

But unbeknownst to Ethan, his subordinate had different plans.

He never liked Judy because she was a little miss-perfect at school. She always beat him when it came to grades, and she embarrassed him when he was paired with her in combat. He took a liking to Carol and the two of them had a certain type of friendship where they bonded over their hatred for Judy.

They both wanted Judy gone and now he had a way to make that happen. Ethan thinks that Judy is theoretically safe, but his subordinate has ordered rogues to kill her and make it look like an accident. He also wanted it recorded so he could use it as evidence if it were brought up. Plus, he knew Carol would love to see the footage for herself. It was the perfect plan and a way to get rid of Judy without getting his hands dirty.

Ethan thinks that his subordinate asked packmates to do this job; he has no idea that rogues were involved. By the time Ethan finds out that the rogues kidnapped Judy and goes to rescue her tomorrow evening as planned, Judy will be dead, and the rogues will be blamed.

Meanwhile, Gavin was waiting for his daughter to return but what he didn’t expect was for his guards and Leroy to return home without Irene.

“Where’s my daughter?” Gavin asked, standing to his feet and glaring at his men.

They all looked at one another.

“We assumed she took an Uber home or something,” Leroy answered uneasily. “She asked the guards to stay out of the restaurant while she and Miss Judy ate. They never came out.”

“What?!” Gavin growled, making them shake in their shoes.

“We went in after a while to see where they were, and the hostess said that they left through the back door. I think they were trying to run from us. We assumed they took an Uber home,” one of the guards stated shakily.

“Did she not return?” Leroy asked, his brows knitted together.

Gavin was seeing nothing but red.

The sounds of his growl shook the entire villa and could be heard for miles.

“WHERE THE FUCK IS MY DAUGHTER?!”