“The rebels?—”
“I’ve got it.” Indira stood up so fast that her chair tumbled to the ground. “I know where they are.”
CHAPTER 34
Dragonsbane and Desperate Measures
Ryker was losing track of time. Minutes felt like hours, and seconds dragged on.
He had never been this sore in his entire life.
His head throbbed like a mallet was beating against his skull. His eyes hurt. He was lightheaded, his limbs were aching and heavy, and a wrongness coursed through him.
He groaned, the sound muffled and wrong. His mouth was dry, and he was gagged.
Damn it all. Ryker should’ve been more careful.
He’d been out for a run with Marlowe when four masked men ambushed him coming out of Eleyta Park. They’d shouted something about freeing the Republic as they jumped him.
He immediately dropped the dog’s leash and commanded him to run. The moment Marlowe bolted away, Ryker pulled on his magic.
He threw powerful waves at the men, forming ice daggers in his hands at the same time. Two of them fell, but the others managed to avoid his attack. They swarmed him, and one of them stabbed a needle into the back of his neck.
Ryker didn’t stop fighting, sending out magic and throwing several ice daggers, but ultimately, he went down.
Abducted in plain fucking daylight.
If it weren’t such a dire situation, he would’ve been embarrassed. He’d gotten complacent and started taking the same route for his run several months ago. He knew better, but he honestly never thought anything would happen to him.
As a child, his mother had drilled into them the importance of always staying alert, but over the years, he had relaxed and let down his guard.
He’d fucked up. He wasn’t above admitting that.
A strange, bitter taste had been at the back of Ryker’s mouth when he woke up. Between that and the trouble he was having thinking, he was sure he’d been drugged.
Rebel bastards.
At some point after they dragged the first man away, the captors removed the bags from their heads.
The drugs were wearing off, leaving Ryker with a pulsing headache.
At least now, he could think more clearly. He was level-headed enough to know that letting your hostages see was a bad fucking sign. Their captors didn’t intend for them to leave in one piece.
Edward was gone.
Ryker wasn’t sure where he’d been taken, but he hadn’t returned. A few minutes ago, he’d heard a female voice calling out orders in the corridor, and then another man was dragged away.
Horatio.
The vampire had been kind to Ryker during the Choosing, and it was thanks to his suggestion that Ryker had installed the vampire-safe windows in his apartment.
The vampire had cried out, the gag muffling his protests as he struggled against the guards dragging him.
And the rebels? They’d fuckinglaughed, commenting amongst themselves that the silencing ward around the entire level meant no one could hear the vampire’s screams anyways.
Bastards.
Ryker was kneeling, his arms and legs having long since turned numb. Uncomfortable prohiberis cuffs were clamped around his wrists, and the rope binding his arms behind his back was making mattersworse. The temperature verged on freezing, and goosebumps peppered his flesh.