Hired to Protect Page 8

  Groaning she added, “That I never sorted.”

  Rubbing a hand down her face, she finished her coffee and headed towards the living room. Grimacing at the pile of bags all over her couch and floor, she let out a sigh.

  “Well, we want to change my schedule up a bit so I guess I can do this first so it’s ready for this afternoon. Once it’s all sorted, we can go pick up the other things I need to get today before doing deliveries.”

  Ethan leaned down and began to pick up bags, clearing a spot on the couch and gesturing for her to come take a seat.

  “You sit, keep your foot up, and tell me what to do.”

  Raising her eyebrow, Penny shrugged and sat down, opening the first bag.

  Directing him to make different piles for what she needed to take to clients and what she had gotten for show, it didn’t take nearly as long as she had expected it to. Leaning back, she surveyed the organized chaos. There were clothes thrown over the table, chair, and both the arm and back of the couch beside her. Ethan was standing in the middle of it with scarfs around his neck, three purses slung over one arm and two pairs of heels dangling from his hand.

  Chuckling, Penny reached out for the shoes and purses.

  “There are garment bags hanging in the hall closet. I need four of them, please and the green box off the shelf.”

  Giving her an aggrieved look, he turned and walked down the hallway. In a few seconds he was back with the garment bags and the box in his hands. Handing her the box, he lifted the stack of clothes from the table. Laying the bags down, Penny helped him get the clothes he held into the first one. Moving those aside, they quickly had everything sorted and put away.

  “Finally,” Ethan mumbled, glaring at the bags. “I never thought clothes could be so much trouble.”

  “Says the man who wears a three-piece suit every day,” Penny remarked.

  Ethan’s suit jacket was lying beside her on the couch, bathing her in his scent every time she moved, and he had his sleeves rolled up, exposing his muscled forearms. She had never seen a man make a plain white button-down look as good as he did, and she had to look away before he scented how much she liked it, but she still caught his smirk.

  “I wear a suit every day because I am representing someone else. I do own jeans and t-shirts.”

  Snorting, Penny stood and tried to imagine Ethan in anything but a suit. She shook her head after a moment, giving up.

  “Okay, if we hurry, we can get to all four stores and be back before lunch,” she told him, grabbing her purse off of the table beside the door.

  Shooting a longing look at the stairwell, she waited for the elevator, telling Ethan which direction they needed to go as they rode it to the bottom floor.

  Waiting in the lobby once again, Penny watched Ethan walk outside and check the immediate area. Waving to her to come out, they made their way in the opposite direction than they had gone the day before.

  Neither one of them noticed the black van pull out of the spot across from her building and follow them down the street. When Ethan and Penny turned, the van continued straight, not catching any attention. Before they had made it more than a couple of blocks it was coming down the street behind them again.

  Penny had been going to these shops for so long, she knew all of the back ways, and even though walking this way meant walking through an older area with a lot of empty, closed stores, it cut fifteen minutes off of her walk.

  It also meant that when the van pulled up next to them, there was no one around to see the four men jump out of it and attack Ethan. Taken by surprise, a blow to the head brought him to his knees. He struggled to get back up as two men grabbed his arms and another jumped on his back, stabbing a needle into his neck.

  Penny watched in horror as he collapsed under the weight of the three men holding him. When her eyes darted to the fourth, she couldn’t even force herself to turn and try to run. Adrian walked right up to her, ugly smile on his face as he looked her in the eyes and pushed a needle into her arm.

  Vision fading, she felt arms catch her, but they weren’t big enough to be Ethan’s, and the scent that assaulted her nose was the reek of her ex, not the fresh, musky scent of the Alpha that had just been attacked because of her.

  Her last thoughts as she heard the doors of the van slam shut was that Ethan wouldn’t have gotten hurt if she had just accepted her fate and let Adrian have his way with her. She hoped he would be okay when he woke up and that he’d be able to get back to The Haven without any trouble.

  21. Ethan

  Head throbbing, Ethan groaned. Trying to raise his hand, he felt something pull tight around his wrist. Awareness flooding through him, he bit back another groan and forced his body to remain limp.

  Moving as little as possible, he tested his bonds. He was sitting in a chair, the metal smooth and cool beneath his fingers as they explored it. Each hand was tied to the sides of the back while his ankles were bound to the front legs of the chair. What he could feel of the rope holding him seemed thin and rough, but it held when he flexed and tried to pull his hands free.

  Cracking open an eye, Ethan checked what he could see of the room in front of him. Not seeing or scenting anyone nearby, he cautiously lifted his head and looked around. He appeared to be in an empty bedroom of a house that had seen better days. The carpet was a dirty brown with unknown stains, and the faded wallpaper was peeling. Besides the chair he sat in, the only thing in the room was a five-gallon bucket, what he assumed was the rest of the rope they had used to tie him, and a small, black plastic box. Glancing behind him in the direction of the weak light flooding the room, he could see the only window was covered in newspaper, so he wasn’t able to tell what was outside.

  Testing the rope binding his wrists again, it didn’t give no matter which way he twisted and pulled at it. The rough fibers chafed at his skin and Ethan decided to give up on it for the time being. His torso wasn’t tied to the chair, so he could lean forward, but for now that was all the movement he had.

  Closing his eyes and taking deep breaths, he tested the scents surrounding him. The overall musty smell of the house couldn’t cover the scent of male betas, but he couldn’t determine how many had been in the room, only that he scented at least three.

  Admitting some of it could be coming from his own clothes due to the men that had attacked him, it didn’t really help him, so Ethan focused on what sounds he could pick up from outside the room. The city had a constant hum of cars and activity that was missing here, so he could only assume they had been taken away from the downtown area at the least. There were dogs barking somewhere, but not close enough for him to think they were in the yard of the house he was in, and he could pick up the cough and sputter of an old window AC unit in another room.

  He couldn’t hear any voices, though Ethan thought he could hear footsteps pacing somewhere in the house. The steady thump, thump stayed the same volume, so they weren’t getting closer yet.

  There was no screaming or crying that he could hear, and for that, he was thankful. Hopefully it meant they hadn’t done anything to Penelope yet and not that she was gagged. Being larger than her, it was likely that whatever they had injected him with had worn off faster than it would for her if they had used the same dose for them both.

  He tried not to think about the fact that she may not even be in the same house with him. If she wasn’t here, Ethan had no way of finding her, and there would be nothing that he could do except report it to the Force and hope they did something before it was too late.

  Deciding to save that problem for after he was free, he began to work at the rope. If the coil he could see in the corner was the same that they had used on him, then it wasn’t very thick and looked just as old and worn as the house. With luck, he would be able to fray the fibers enough for them to give out.

  Bending his hands into an awkward position so he could grip one coil of the rope between two fingers, Ethan began to scrape at the rope with his thumbnail. The chair was too smooth t
o try and rub the rope on it, and since he couldn’t reach one hand with the other, this was the best option he could think of. He didn’t have anything on him that would help.

  It wasn’t long before the footsteps that he had heard stopped and Ethan picked up the sound of voices. Both low and obviously masculine, he couldn’t understand what was being said, but could tell there were only two speaking at least.

  After a couple of minutes, the voices and footsteps moved closer. The bang of what he assumed was a door closing caused him to jump, and the footsteps became louder. Debating on pretending to still be unconscious, Ethan decided it was pointless and simply waited for the men to enter.

  He heard the footsteps stop before another door opened and closed. There was some muttering and he caught the word ‘damaged’ before the footsteps began again, growing closer. Finally, the door of the room he was in opened, and he stared into the dull brown eyes of Adrian.

  “You really are a big fucker. I’m not surprised you’re awake already,” he said as he entered, followed by one of the men who had attacked him.

  He hadn’t been able to get a good look at the men when they jumped out of the van, but the scent confirmed they were two of the four.

  “Only one lackey this time? Are you sure you don’t need the other two?” Ethan taunted, raising an eyebrow.

  He was trying to find out if the others were in the house somewhere or if it was just Adrian and the one man with him.

  Adrian smirked.

  “No. See, now you’re tied to a chair and I don’t have to worry about lifting your heavy ass. That’s all they were there for.”

  Snorting, Ethan continued to focus on Adrian as he began to pace in front of him. The other beta stood just inside the door looking bored.

  “I’m sorry you betas are so weak it took four of you to lift me. Plenty of Alphas have done it on their own.”

  Eyes narrowing, Ethan was caught by surprise when Adrian’s fist connected with his jaw. Head snapping to the side, he still caught the grunt of pain from Adrian and the grimace as he shook his hand before dropping it to his side.

  Grinning, Ethan looked back at him and said, “I bet that hurt like a bitch. Everyone knows punching someone in the jaw really isn’t the best idea. You can end up breaking your own knuckles.”

  Scowling, this time Adrian punched him in the stomach, causing the air to leave him in a whoosh. Clenching his stomach tight, Ethan took the next three hits without a sound, relaxing and taking a deep breath when Adrian stepped back.

  “Well at least you learn from your mistakes. Except with women apparently. You’re hopeless there.”

  The punch to the nose caused Ethan’s head to rock back as he saw stars for a moment, though the lack of a rush of blood down his face let him know it wasn’t broken, even if it did hurt. If he could keep Adrian focused on him then he knew they weren’t hurting Penelope.

  “You Alphas think you’re so tough, yet you’re nothing but slaves. Locked away as soon as you show what you are, your only hope that some omega chooses to use you for your dick when she’s in heat.”

  Putting his hands on Ethan’s thighs, Adrian leaned into his face.

  “I know you haven’t fucked Penny yet. She has such a nice, tight pussy. And her mouth…” Adrian groaned, “she can do amazing things with that mouth when she isn’t running it.”

  Slamming his head forward with a growl, the rush of blood down Adrian’s face made Ethan smile even though his head throbbed from the impact. The other beta moved around him, wrapping an arm around his neck as Adrian howled, holding his face. With a snarl, Adrian lunged at him, pounding his fists into Ethan’s stomach and chest as Ethan laughed.

  22. Penelope

  Penny woke to yelling. Startling upright, she pressed her hands to her aching skull as her eyes darted around the room she was in. She was sitting on a thin mattress, once white with blue stripes, but now stained so much it looked yellow. Ugly, mud-brown carpet and peeling floral wallpaper met her eyes as she tried to focus on the sound that had jerked her awake.

  The snarling and choked laughter faded away and left her wondering if it had been a dream. Straining her ears, the sound of a door slamming made Penny jump and she pressed her back to the farthest wall from the opening to her room, watching it as she heard footsteps growing louder outside.

  Her eyes widened as the door swung inward and Adrian stepped inside, blood smearing his mouth and shirt while dark rings circled his eyes. Another man peeked in behind him, but Adrian snarled, slamming the door in the man’s face. Penny could hear grumbling followed by footsteps moving away again outside the door.

  “Penny, Penny, Penny… Look what you’ve forced me to do.”

  Coming closer, Adrian squatted next to the end of the mattress as Penny scooted as far into the corner as she could get. She knew she was still within reach, but there was nowhere else for her to go.

  “I wasn’t surprised by you going to the Force, but I didn’t expect you to shack up with an Alpha. At least you were smart enough to make him sleep in another room. You would have been ruined if you’d let him stretch your pussy out of shape,” he tsked.

  Trying not to panic or show how near tears she was, Penny’s brows drew together, and she glared at him, forcing herself to take slow, even breaths.

  “Adrian, just let me leave now and I won’t say anything to the Force. We can forget this happened and go on with our lives.”

  “I don’t think your friend will forget what we’ve done to him any time soon. Once he wakes up again that is.”

  Mouth dropping open, she felt her eyes widen in horror.

  “Ethan? He’s here?” she said with a gasp, covering her mouth as she shrank back against the wall.

  “If you mean that little Alpha guard dog you had with you the past couple of days, then yeah, he’s in the other room,” Adrian said with a grin, the blood on his face making him look psychotic. “I couldn’t just leave him on the sidewalk, people might have asked questions. We brought him along for a little fun.”

  Anger rising in her chest, Penny balled her fists and launched herself at Adrian. In his crouched position, she knocked him to his ass but ended up bent over his shoulder, pounding her fists into his back as she kicked her feet, trying to do as much damage as possible. She heard him grunt when her boot connected with his shin.

  “What did you do to him?” she screeched. “Let him go, he has nothing to do with us.”

  Adrian pushed himself up, diving forward and slamming Penny’s back to the mattress. Unfazed, she continued to lash out, catching him across the face with her nails before he caught her hands in his, pinning them down. Knees straddling her thighs, she was reduced to wiggling and hissing at him as she tried to work her way loose.

  Adrian yelled, footsteps running down the hall before the door slammed open and the other beta came inside.

  “Hold her legs,” Adrian ordered, the other male moving to pin down her ankles as Adrian slid up her body. It was pathetically easy for him with the boot on her leg.

  Moving her arms until he was kneeling on her wrists, Penny cried out in pain as he wrapped a hand around her jaw, fingers digging into her cheeks and forcing her mouth to stay open. He reached back with his other hand, doing something she couldn’t see before bringing up to her mouth with a white pill clenched between his fingers.

  “You’re finally going to go into heat like a proper omega, and I’m going to be here to enjoy every second of it. I’m going to take care of you, and you’ll see how good I am. You’ll claim me, and then everything will go back to the way it was. I’ll even bite you in return, so everyone knows you’re mine.”

  Penny’s eyes went wide just before his fingers were crammed into her mouth. Gagging, he seemed to crush the pill inside her mouth with his fingers, dry powder hitting the back of her throat and making her cough at the bitter burn.

  Removing his fingers, he covered her mouth with his palm. Penny desperately tried to push whatever it was out of her mout
h, but the powder coated her tongue and throat, refusing to budge. When he removed his hand, she could see a splattering of white powder on his palm from her coughing, but the majority had remained in her mouth.

  Forced to swallow to quell the burn and be able to take a breath, tears sprung to Penny’s eyes. She could still feel the grit coating her tongue and throat, but her mouth was too dry to be able to attempt spitting it out.

  “Soon! Soon everything will be better. Be a good little girl and I’ll let you have some water. Will you be good?”

  Nodding her head, Penny whimpered. Scooting down her body again, Adrian knelt over her hips, his erection digging into her lower belly as he ground it against her, giving a poor imitation of a growl.

  “Go get some water,” he barked to the beta still holding her legs.

  She saw him shoot Adrian a glare as he stood and left the room. Coughs still wracking her frame, Penny tried to ignore Adrian as she waited, doing her best not to swallow any more of the powder than had already made it down her throat. The other beta was back quickly, passing the glass he carried to Adrian before stepping back from the mattress they were on.

  Rolling her wrists to try and lessen the pain from Adrian’s knees, Penny reached eagerly for the glass, but Adrian lifted it out of her reach.

  “Ah, ah! Open your mouth and show me you’ve swallowed the pill like a good girl.”

  Rolling her tongue around, Penny tried to make it look like there wasn’t much left in her mouth. As soon as she had the glass, she would be able to spit it out, hoping she didn’t get enough of a dose to counteract her suppressants.

  Eyes darting to the light coming in the paper-covered window, she prayed it wasn’t too late. She couldn’t tell if the dim light was caused by the yellowed newspapers or if it was already evening, but she had a better chance of her suppressants working if it was still early in the day.

  Opening her mouth, she pressed her tongue down, trying to hide the powder under it.