(Tyler's POV)As I stared out the window of my dad’s office, watching the sun break over the horizon, it hit me that we had been at this for hours. The adrenaline that had fueled us through the night was wearing off, leaving behind nothing but fatigue and desperation.We had combed through the old ledger, page by page, searching for any lead, any clue that might point us in the right direction.At last, we reached the final entry without any further mentions of a 'Nathan'. At least not as a current listing.Ryder sighed with exhaustion, but he wore a pleased smile as he paged back to the spot he had marked earlier. "Then it has to be Nathan Flatly," he insisted.I looked at the entry, reading it over and over again as I tried to figure out why it didn't feel right to me. This was the only option. This was the only currently listed 'Nathan' and I wanted it to be the lead we were looking for, but it felt wrong."Hang on, let’s just take a minute to try and work this out," I said, trying
(Katelyn's POV)"Harlan—" I began, my voice trembling as I searched for the words to try and make him understand my position. But he cut me off, his tone still completely casual, but the underlying threat was more than apparent."You don't want to make this hard, do you? Either way, I'm going to get what I want, Kate. And if you make it hard, it's just going to be worse for you," he explained, the charming smile on his face at odds with the menace in his words.I stood there, my back pressed against the wall, my heart pounding in my chest as I wiped away the tears that had spilled down my cheeks.What could I say? What could I possibly do? My mind was racing, but I was frozen in place, at a loss for any realistic solutions."Now come on," Harlan continued, his tone suddenly enthusiastic, as if we were discussing something trivial, like what film we should watch at the movie theater or something. "We've got a celebration to prepare. What do you prefer? Do you want to go the more tradit
I had no clue what time it was. There was no clock in the room, but judging from how light it was outside, I'd probably guess around midday.I'd inspected every inch of the room, searching for a way out, but there was nothing.A charger plugged into the wall mocked me - a lifeline to the outside world, but without a phone to connect to it. No TV to watch, no music to listen to, nothing to occupy my racing mind. The only book in the room was "The Rational Male," filled with Red Pill garbage and misogyny that I had absolutely no interest in reading. Eventually, with nothing else to do, I lay down on the bed, trying desperately not to cry.I just wanted to go home. I missed Tyler and Ryder so much it physically hurt. Things had finally started looking up for me, and then THIS had to happen. It made me hate Harlan even more. Just when things were starting to fall into place, he decided it would be the perfect time to pluck me out of the life I'd so desperately been yearning for.A knock a
***TRIGGER WARNING - SEXUAL ASSAULT***I finished the last bite of cheesecake, disgusted with myself for eating everything on the tray. The food had been delicious, but accepting it felt like defeat and I felt a wave of disappointment wash over me. Not just because I had eaten, but because I had succumbed to this tiny act of submission and I hated myself for it.I pushed the tray away in disgust and headed back over to the bed, flopping down and staring at the ceiling.Time seemed to crawl by in this room. With no clock and nothing to do, I was left alone with my thoughts, and they weren't exactly pleasant company.I kept picturing Tyler and Ryder's faces, wondering if they were looking for me. How would they even know where I was? I clung to the hope that they would somehow find me, but it felt like I was fooling myself. I had left no clues, no hints, no trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow. I was a needle in a haystack.I was pulled from my brooding by the sound of the lock turni
The door clicked shut behind Harlan, leaving me alone once again. My throat ached, the pain a sharp reminder of what this man was capable of. The lengths he would go to to ensure my compliance.Miserably, I curled up on the bed, allowing myself to sob myself to sleep.The room was dark when I woke up. Night had fallen and I hadn't had any need to put lights on during the day, so the room had plunged into darkness, which was kind of unnerving in the unfamiliar setting.With a sigh, I sat up, searching for the lamp beside the bed and clicking it on.I'd shed my tears and acknowledged my shitty situation, but now I needed to try and figure a way out of it, because crying all afternoon hadn't magically resolved the issue.It was clear, Harlan was dangerous. More dangerous than I'd ever imagined. The fact that he seemed to want me was in my favor, but that would only go so far... He had said he didn't want to hurt me, but he would. I couldn't rule out the possibility that he might push tha
I knew there was no getting out of this. Harlan's eyes bore into me, expectant and demanding. With a resigned sigh, I nodded."Okay," I relented softly. "But I need you to understand, I can't control what I see. It might not be anything useful."Harlan nodded eagerly, scooting even closer to me on the bed. "That's fine. I just want to see how it works."I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what was to come. "I need to be touching you," I explained. "And I need to look into your eyes," I went on, already knowing that such an intimate act with Harlan was going to leave me feeling dirty for days.Without hesitation, he grabbed my hands, his touch making my skin crawl. He leaned in close, his blue eyes locking with mine. I took a deep breath, trying to focus on something trivial, hoping to find a memory that wouldn't be helpful or relevant in any way. Something boring and mundane.As I stared into his eyes, I felt the familiar sensation of being sucked backward through space and time
(Ryder's POV)The moment Dad confirmed Nathan as the new Beta of Aspenwood Pack, I was ready to go. My heart raced, with a resurgence of adrenaline. We knew where Kate was, now we just needed to get to her."Let's go," I said, picking up Tyler's car keys and heading for the door.He grabbed my arm, stopping me. "Hold on, Ryder. We can't just go."I spun around, glaring at him. "Are you kidding? We know where she is, let's go get her. Why are you making this so much more complicated than it needs to be?!""I'm not trying to make things complicated. I just want to make sure we do shit right," Tyler countered, his voice annoyingly calm. "We need our IDs to travel. We should pack some clothes, maybe grab some supplies. We don't know how long we'll be gone. We can't just run in there all guns blazing."I groaned in frustration. "Fucking hell, Tyler! Every second we waste here is another second she's at their mercy!""I know. But if we show up unprepared, we'll be no help to her at all," Ty
(Ryder's POV)It felt like time was moving so slowly it might as well be going backwards.The wait at the airport felt like torture. The flight itself was a nightmare because some Karen felt like she deserved a window seat, even though she hadn't been assigned one and she, of course, had to make a big scene about it. Then we had issues at the car hire place because insisted on something with four-wheel drive and they didn't have anything, so we had to try another dealership.Now we were finally on the highway headed toward the Medicine Bow Pack. The monotonous hum of tires on the asphalt filled me with anxiety. It felt like we were headed further away from Kate rather than toward her.I glanced over at Tyler as he yawned, blinking his eyes furiously as he tried to keep focus. He was exhausted. We both were. We hadn't slept in over 24 hours and it was starting to take its toll on us."Want me to drive?" I offered, knowing I wasn't doing much better than him, but seeing that he might ne