"Stop!" Loretta screamed out hoarsely as she struggled in the painful grip of the vampire who held her so effortlessly. "She belongs to Nors Eriksson! The Ancient! He'll gut you all alive if you hurt her!" She clutched at the only thing she could think of which would protect her friend, Nors' status among his own kind.
All three vampires appeared to freeze for a second and then the one who was holding Ashleigh suddenly released her as if she was burning his hands. She collapsed to the ground, her hand going automatically to her throat where blood trickled down the side of her neck from the vampire's talons.
Loretta pulled against her own abductor and he released her to round on his companions. The Beta immediately reached for Ashleigh, pulling her close and urgently checking her neck. Her wounds were shallow thankfully but she appeared to be in a daze, almost catatonic.
"Ash," Loretta whispered urgently against her ear holding her close. "Lean on the strength of your wolf. Don't shift but let her come forward to help you. I'll tell you when it's time to shift. If our wolves think we may have a chance for freedom they'll take over and we'll only get ourselves killed. Be strong, honey. You know you have it in you. Do it for Nors."
Her Beta's urgent words sank into Ashleigh's terrified mind. She took a deep shuddering breath, amazed that she was still alive and could do so. She had to be strong, for Nors. She didn't want to let him down. She was alive and she needed to stay that way. She wanted to see her vampire again.
She took another deep breath and then called her wolf forward until she was hovering very close to the surface. She immediately felt less frightened, her eyes clearing as she met Loretta's and gave her a shaky nod.
The vampires were arguing furiously, not the least concerned that their captives were unguarded. They knew if the wolves ran they would hunt them down in an instant.
"He never said anything about fucking with the Ancients!" the blond vampire who had been holding Ashleigh was exclaiming loudly. "If the wolf belongs to Nors then I'm not touching her. One of you kill her!"
"The bitch is probably lying to save her friend," the first vampire argued. "Have any of you even scented Nors? How the fuck would any of us know if what she's claiming is the truth or not?"
The last vampire turned to look down at the two women kneeling on the ground. "I was at the Council ceremony," he said in a cold voice walking over and hauling Ashleigh unceremoniously to her feet. His foot shot out and kicked Loretta in the ribs when she tried to intervene.
Loretta gritted her teeth as the blow landed and managed not to cry out. The kick had been hard but not enough to do any significant damage. Obviously they had been instructed to bring her back alive and undamaged for the most part. She watched the vampire scent Ashleigh deeply before he dropped her back to the ground and turned back to his friends.
"She bears the Ancient's scent," he growled in irritation.
The blond one hissed loudly. "Fucking great," he muttered angrily. "What are we supposed to do now? We can't let her go. If we kill her we're going to have an Ancient on our ass. I'm not even going there!"
"We'll just have to take her with us too," the vampire who had scented Ashleigh said. "Let Roberto decide what to do with her. We can't piss about here all night, someone will come along and then we'll have to kill them to keep them quiet." He appeared bored at the thought rather than concerned that they'd need to kill someone else. The dark haired vampire at his side strolled over and pulled the two women up. "Get rid of the car," he said tersely before he hauled the wolves further up the road towards a waiting van.
He hissed loudly at them. "If you run I'll kill this bitch no matter who she belongs to," he warned Loretta in a cold voice. It was obvious the brunette was the higher ranking of the two women and the one that really needed to be watched.
Loretta tried to call to Andrei again mentally but received no response. She would never run and leave Ashleigh to her fate and there was nothing they could do to escape together so the only option left was to resist as little as possible. They had to stay alive long enough for Andrei to realise something was wrong and come looking for them. She had no doubt that he would; she just didn't know how long it would take him.
Her heart twisted in her chest as she remembered how abrupt she'd been with him when he'd called her. She had still been annoyed at their fight and not quite ready to kiss and make up. She didn't want Andrei's last memories of her to be of them fighting. She didn't want him to think that she had died being angry with him.
The vampire forced them into the back of the black van and snapped chains tightly around their ankles and wrists. Ashleigh's face was pale but determined, her eyes meeting Loretta's and only showing a little of her inner fear.
Loretta managed a reassuring smile even though she was just as frightened and worried as the younger woman. They both knew there was a very good chance they weren't coming out of this encounter alive. The vampires wanted them for something; once they had that something there would be no need to keep the wolves alive any longer.
"Ash," she whispered urgently when the vampire closed the door and disappeared briefly. "When I tell you to shift do so immediately. They want me to get to Andrei which means they'll probably try and get me to reveal secrets we don't want revealed. They're not going to be gentle about it either. The only way to ensure we don't talk is to be in wolf form so we
can'
t talk."
Ashleigh swallowed hard and nodded her understanding of what her Beta was explaining. She knew she was surplus to requirements, that the vampires would most likely use her to get to Loretta to talk. They couldn't reveal anything about the matings; they couldn't endanger Nors and Andrei.
She swallowed again and felt her wolf lend her some of her strength. She didn't want to die but, more importantly, she didn't want anyone to use her to hurt Nors. The vampires had taken everything from her already and there was no way in hell she was going to allow them to take her mate. She felt an almost serene feeling of calm suddenly overcome her.