by Lola Gabriel
“Help!” she cried one more time, doing her best to continue kicking, even though her entire body was beginning to feel heavy, even her tongue. Her head lolled to one side, and her mind was growing foggy, her thoughts drifting out of focus. “Please, someone…”
Kaia had one last second of consciousness to think about the fact that she had mistaken her defense mechanism for her body’s reaction to Sebastian before she went completely limp and passed out.
---
Sebastian knew something was wrong as soon as he opened his eyes. For one, Kaia wasn’t in the room anymore, which immediately sent warning bells ringing throughout his head.
He quickly scanned his surroundings and found a note in Kaia’s penmanship.
Went to have breakfast with the girls at the cafeteria, it read. See you there.
Sebastian noticed she had signed it with a little heart next to her name, and it made him smile. He had a small flashback of the two of them as little children, one day when Kaia wanted to write a story like the ones the queen read to her at night and asked Sebastian for help. He’d looked at Kaia writing her story and been amazed at her words.
Can she do anything wrong? he’d wondered. Even her young handwriting had seemed perfect to him.
Sebastian climbed out of the bed and picked up his clothes from last night. There was an uneasiness in his chest that he couldn’t ignore, despite the fact that he had an explanation for where Kaia was. She had clearly wanted him to rest, otherwise she would’ve woken him up. He couldn’t blame her for wanting only a moment by herself, considering Sebastian had been following her around like a shadow for months. She’d said she needed time to think, right?
Her answer to his question of What happens to us now? would probably not be a negative one in any way, since she’d written, See you there. She was expecting to see him when he woke up, which meant that he was still a part of her life and would most likely continue to be—in whatever way she wanted him to be.
But that wasn’t what had Sebastian uneasy. The anxiousness festering inside him had nothing to do with what Kaia would say, but it did have everything to do with Kaia herself. Sebastian needed to get to the cafeteria and see that she was okay right now. He knew he wouldn’t stop feeling nervous until he saw her with his own eyes.
He got dressed and left Kaia’s room in a hurry. The hallway right outside didn’t make him feel any better. On the contrary, it made him even more uneasy, like he should get out of there as fast as possible. Something terrible had happened here. Despite there being no signs of any incident, he knew it had; he felt it down to his very bones.
The cafeteria. Kaia should be there with Carlie and Layla.
Sebastian strode through the hallway, hoping that his uneasiness was just paranoia and nothing more than that. He hoped it was only the fact that he had woken up after Kaia and hadn’t been with her when she left. He hoped nothing had happened to her the one morning he had slept in.
There were a few students around campus as he made his way to the cafeteria, but he didn’t really care what they were up to. This Saturday morning was no different than any other, so they were probably organizing the next fraternity party instead of studying for the final exams of the semester.
Kaia had mentioned, a few days ago, that she was going to spend the weekend with her Magic History book, which was the subject she struggled with the most. Sebastian had offered to help her, even though he had only learned some basics, since being a warrior of the Fae Royal Guard meant his only education was in the arts of fighting and self-defense. But Kaia hadn’t wanted him any closer to her than he needed to be.
How things change, he thought. He saw the cafeteria in the distance and picked up the pace, almost desperate to get there.
Sebastian pushed the door open and scanned the area, looking for Kaia’s characteristic mane of white-blonde hair, but he didn’t see her. The only people of interest he found were Carlie and Layla, sitting at a table and talking.
He rushed to them, the uneasiness in his chest growing. Carlie was the first to spot him, and she leaned back on her chair.
“Well, hello there, Mr. Personal Guard,” she said, a smile on her face. “Where’s your princess today?”
Sebastian felt his heart drop to his feet. “You haven’t seen her?”
“No, not yet,” Carlie sighed. “She texted us earlier, saying that we should get breakfast, but she hasn’t arrived yet.”
“How long ago was that?” Sebastian demanded.
“Uh, like twenty minutes ago?” Carlie said.
“No, it was closer to half an hour,” said Layla, checking her phone. “Because I was with Mrs. Torres when she texted us. I kind of just got here, and I thought Kaia would already be here, for sure.”
Sebastian ran his hand through his hair. The warning bells in his head and the uneasiness in his chest had all been signs that Kaia was in danger, that something had happened to her, and he hadn’t listened.
“Sebastian?” Layla asked. “Is…everything okay?”
“No,” he said, because it wasn’t. He hadn’t seen any sign of Kaia on his way here, and he hadn’t felt her nearby. She wasn’t on the campus anymore. “I think someone took her.”
“What?!” Carlie and Layla cried in unison. They stared at Sebastian with naked concern in their eyes.
“Are you sure?” Layla said. “Couldn’t she have gotten distracted? Maybe she’s just running late.”
“No,” he replied. “I would know if she was here, and she’s not.”
“Jesus,” Carlie cursed under her breath.
“So, what, do we tell the headmistress? Do we go to the police?” Layla added.
Sebastian considered this. Whoever had taken Kaia was most likely the same one who had sent the death threats to the king. They must’ve lain in wait for a long time before striking, carefully planning an ambush of some sort when she was alone. That was the only way they could have taken Kaia. With her years of training, she could give anyone a run for their money.
Had her kidnapper been watching Kaia at school? Would he know the king had sent Sebastian to protect her? Would he be expecting him, specifically, or the entire Royal Guard? Would he be expecting anyone at all? Or would he believe he had pulled off the perfect crime and think he’d get away with it?
“No,” Sebastian decided. “No, the less that people know about this, the better.”
“So what are we supposed to do?!” Carlie demanded, slamming her hands against the table and making both Sebastian and Layla jump. “Our best friend was kidnapped, and we’re meant to just pretend like we know nothing?! We should be looking for her!”
“She’s right,” Layla agreed. “We can help you with a search party or something!”
“I’m sure Kaia would be flattered by your worry,” Sebastian told them. “But it’s too dangerous. Whoever took her knew what he was doing, and I don’t want either of you to be at risk. I’ll find her.”
“You better,” Layla hissed, though Sebastian could hear the deep fear and concern underlying her words. “And you better let us know as soon as you do!”
Sebastian nodded at both of them and spun toward the exit. He was going to find who had dared to kidnap Kaia, and he was going to make sure he regretted it for what little remained of his life.
7
The first thing Kaia felt when she started regaining consciousness was her hands. She couldn’t open her eyes yet, but she tried to flex her fingers, which still felt kind of heavy, like they’d fallen asleep.
In an attempt to rub her eyes and see if that helped her open them, she found that her hands were tied down against something, as well as her legs. A chair, if she had to guess.
Clever, she had to admit. If her hands had been tied together, she could’ve easily broken free. As she was, her options were quite limited.
The next thing she was aware of was the rag in her mouth. So she couldn’t move or talk. Or see, for that matter, since her eyes still refused to cooperate with her
.
Great. Perfect. Absolutely fantastic.
Mustering all of her strength and concentration, Kaia forced her eyelids open, and she had to immediately close them again because of the bright light hanging over her head. Did her kidnappers want to freaking blind her on top of everything else?
She took a deep breath through her nose and slowly opened her eyes again, getting used to the light. It gave her mind the chance to catch up, lifting the lingering fogginess. Whatever drug had been used on her was a strong one. Her kidnapper was clearly not messing around. Then again, she didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious, only that she had to continue taking deep breaths in order to clear her head.
The room Kaia was in was completely empty: bare gray walls in an area of ten feet by ten feet, more or less, with a metal door in the middle of the wall right in front of her and a light overhead. Her hands were indeed tied to the arms of a chair, and when she tried to kick with her restrained legs, the chair didn’t move a single inch.
Kaia groaned to herself and threw her head back. All in all, she couldn’t see a lot of ways out, especially given her predicament, but she had to try.
The door creaked open, the metal scraping against the ground of the room, and Kaia let her head drop to look at who had entered. It was an immortal man, that much was clear. Even though immortals stopped aging when they turned twenty-eight, some of them still looked older, or gave an air of maturity and authority that reflected their age. This was a man who looked as old as he probably was, but he didn’t give off any air of importance, unlike the members of the royal families and the alphas. A shameless criminal if Kaia had ever seen one.
She tried to get a glance out the door, but his figure was blocking the entrance entirely.
“Ah!” he said, showing his perfectly straight white teeth in a cruel grin. “You’re awake! Good. For a moment, I thought Micah had overdone it with his dose. Stupid vampire needs to learn to take it easy.”
Okay, so Kaia’s kidnapper was a vampire called Micah. It might be a fake name, or this man might be lying to her, but it was all she had to go on. Whatever the case was, her kidnapper had been working for someone else all along.
“How are you feeling, dear?” the man asked, and Kaia glared at him. She couldn’t figure out what species he was. “Oh!” He laughed. “I’m terribly sorry. You can’t talk with that thing in your mouth, can you? A precaution, of course. We couldn’t have you screaming your little lungs out. Not that anyone would hear you, but it’s so annoying regardless. I’m going to remove it, but you have to be quiet, or I’ll put it back in, okay?”
He stepped forward until he was standing in front of her, and he reached out to pull the gag out of Kaia’s mouth. Kaia waited for him to grab it, and as soon as her mouth wasn’t restrained, she bit the man’s hand as hard as she could.
The man bit back a pained growl and pulled his hand back, but Kaia had bitten him so hard that she had almost torn part of his skin off. She spat out the bits that had managed to catch on her teeth, never breaking eye contact with him.
Had he thought the Fae Princess wouldn’t fight back? That she would just quiver in fear and be a quiet, obedient little prisoner? He had another goddamn thing coming.
“They weren’t lying,” he hissed through his teeth, rubbing the spot where she’d bitten him, “when they said you were a feisty one.”
“I’m more than just a feisty fae,” Kaia snarled. “I can show you if you untie me.”
The man smirked at her, his green eyes cruel and unforgiving, so unlike Sebastian’s bright, intense ones.
“You’re not getting out of this one, Princess,” he said, spitting her title like it was poison on his tongue. “We had to wait a long time for you to be without your ridiculous bodyguard.”
So the king’s paranoia hadn’t been completely unwarranted, then. Whoever these people were, they had been watching Kaia ever since her father had sent Sebastian to look after her.
“We’ll send your daddy your head as a lesson not to mess with me.” The man turned around and left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Well, then. Her kidnapper wasn’t going to kill her right away. At least, Kaia didn’t think so. Otherwise, the man would’ve just killed her now. He needed her alive for something. Was he going to film her and send the video to her father, like they did in human movies? Perhaps he had gone for something to cut her head off, and she was running out of time to escape with her life.
I’m not going to give up that easily, she thought.
Besides, something inside her made her believe that Sebastian was coming to her rescue; that he had realized her absence wasn’t planned, that she was in trouble. She knew, inherently, that he was going to find his way to her. She only hoped he wasn’t too late.
---
Kaia wasn’t making much progress. She’d been trying to reach down and gnaw at the rope around her hands, but she hadn’t succeeded all that much. All she had managed to do was hurt her neck and fill her teeth with threads of rope. She wished she could remember some spells from her witchcraft class, but even if she could, it wasn’t like she could actually cast them.
At least I would try, she sighed to herself. It’d keep my mind occupied.
In any case, she didn’t have the gag on anymore, so that was already a bonus. But there was still no way out that she could see, and she didn’t know how long she had until the graying man returned to cut off her head and send it to her father.
What was this guy’s problem, anyway? Kaia knew her father had many enemies, yet this one seemed serious about hurting her. He didn’t want money, because he wasn’t going to ask for ransom. His objective was to kill Kaia and send a message to the king, which probably meant there was a personal grudge involved.
The door to her bare room creaked open again, and Kaia’s hands clutched the ends of the chair’s arms. As an immortal being, she had never thought about dying, much less before reaching her twenty-eighth birthday, but now, it was a very likely possibility.
She didn’t want to die. She wanted to go back to last night, to that first kiss with Sebastian, to the kisses that had followed, to them making love and bonding their souls together. She wanted to go back to her mate, now that she had truly seen him at long last.
The man who walked into the room wasn’t the graying man. Instead, it was a younger man who kept glancing around like he expected someone else to be in there with Kaia. He had dark red hair and a pale complexion, so Kaia assumed he was the vampire, Micah.
Kaia sat up straight on her chair and stared directly at him. She was going into her Fae Princess mode, and Micah noticed it, because he remained at the open door, curling in on himself just slightly enough for Kaia to see it.
“You’re the one who drugged me,” she recalled from her earlier conversation with the graying man, and she was surprised when Micah stared down at the ground and tightened his hand around the edge of the door.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, which surprised Kaia even more. “I…I didn’t want to. I swear!” He looked up at her, and there was a desperation in his eyes that Kaia had not expected to see. “But I owe Joshua my life! He’ll kill me if I don’t do what he says!”
Joshua. That name wasn’t familiar to Kaia at all. She had no idea of who he could be or why he was so set on killing her just to get back at the king.
“Why does he want me dead?” she questioned.
“I don’t know,” Micah said, letting the door fall shut behind him. “Not really my business.” He reached into his back pocket and retrieved a small black case. When he opened it, he pulled out a needle from it, and Kaia felt the blood drain from her face.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said, doing her best to keep her tone from becoming pleading, desperate. This right here might be her escape ticket.
“You don’t know Joshua,” Micah muttered. “He doesn’t like traitors.”
“I can help you. My father can help you! If you’re scared of Joshua, we
can protect you!”
“No, you can’t!” Micah yelled. “Joshua has ears everywhere! He’ll find me and kill me!”
Kaia opened her mouth to try to convince him to help her get out of here, but then whatever words she had been about to say got stuck in her throat.
Sebastian was here. She could feel it, as though there was a piece of him inside her and it was resonating throughout her entire being, letting her know that her mate was close. For a moment, she thought she even heard his voice, telling her to please wait, he was coming for her, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.
All right. If Kaia could distract Micah and stall him for long enough, she still had a chance to escape. If she didn’t, Micah would drug her a second time, and she would pass out and never wake up again.
“Listen,” she began, swallowing her anxiety and fear. “You guys only got me because I was alone.”
“So what?” Micah replied, his tone full of venom.
“So,” Kaia said, “Joshua isn’t as powerful as you think he is. You had to ambush me to kidnap me, and he’s dangerous? He’s got nothing. You don’t have to do what he says!”
“Yes, I do!” Micah cried, but Kaia heard the doubt in his voice, like he wanted her to convince him. He just needed a little more, a few more pushes.
“Micah, we can help you,” she assured him. “You’ll be protected until we can deal with Joshua. If you let me go, if you come with me, I’ll plead for you to my father.”
“You…” Micah breathed. “Y-you will?”
Before Kaia could tell him that yes, she would, there was a loud clang against the other side of the door, and Micah spun around and jumped back at the sudden dent, right in the middle of the metal. Then it slung wide open, like it had come off its hinges, causing Micah to drop the needle and case he was holding.
Sebastian stood at the entrance of the room, his blond hair matted with blood, his shirt slashed in a few places, breathing heavily. The dagger in his hand had more blood dripping from it, his cheek was swollen, and his lip was busted, like he had gotten the daylights beaten out of him and had barely been able to defend himself.
