The Lupine Necklace

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

          I groaned as I slowly came back to consciousness.  There was a throbbing pain in the back of my head and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what had happened. 

          I was laying on my back on a hard surface that felt nothing like my bed, so I opened my eyes and looked around.  I groaned and closed my eyes again.  This could not be happening.  I was in a concrete jail cell.  A very familiar and not very exciting concrete jail cell.

          “Layla?” I heard Xena’s voice and my eyes snapped open.  “Are you awake?”

          She sounded scared and I sat up, wincing at the pain in my head from moving so quickly.  I saw her sitting in the back corner of my cell and sighed, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers.

          “I’m so sorry, Xena,” I told her.  “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

          She crawled over to me and hugged me tightly.  “This isn’t your fault, Layla.  Derek is a maniac and they will find us.”

          “I never wanted you to be taken,” I told her, hugging her back as tightly as she was hugging me.  “Do you know what happened?”

          She nodded.  “I was awake for the whole thing.  They only knocked you out so you wouldn’t be able to contact Ian and get help.  They came up behind you and hit you with a shovel that Mr. Markson had for the targets.  I tried fighting them and took out one guy, but the other two managed to pin me down and tie me up.  They brought us here and threw us down here.  I haven’t seen them in probably four hours since they dropped us here.”

          I groaned.  “Great.  We have no information to give them this time.  They’re not going to be able to just come and get us.  Without the information I was able to give you last time, they’re going to need a plan and a good one.  I bet that Derek is a lot more prepared this time than last time.”

          “We don’t know anything yet, but you should tell Ian that we’re more or less okay and we’ll give them information as we get it,” she said.

          I nodded.  Ian? I asked.

          I felt relief flood our connection.  Layla!  Thank god you’re okay!  It’s Derek isn’t it?

          I don’t think he was actually there, but yes.  They knocked me out so I couldn’t alert you to what was happening.  They got me and Xena.

          I could feel Ian running through the pack house, heading for Jason’s office where he and Jeremy were holed up trying to make plans.  He ran in and told them that I was conscious and they started bombarding him with questions.

          Eventually, Ian asked me, Same place as last time?