Never Let Me Go (Derek Hale Fanfiction Book #3)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Stand By Me

             When I came to, my hands were strung up to something cold and hard that was pressing painfully against my spine, my wrists swollen and aching. I felt groggy, and my vision was so blurry I almost couldn’t take in my surroundings. My head was fuzzy, my mouth dry, and every inch of my skin was covered in goosebumps from the perpetual chill. As I blinked away some of the murkiness, I slowly began to recognize a few of the people chained up in the room with me. Brooke was slumped over a drainpipe in the corner, blood trickling out of a gash on her forehead. Across the room, Hunter was in much worse shape, as though he’d fought back and had to be restrained by the captors. Dried, hardened blood coated the left side of his face, and steadily dripped out of one of his nostrils. I detected a shadow in his left eye, and his head was hanging at an old angle from where he sat, hands fastened way above his head and legs splayed out at an awkward angle.

             Moving my gaze around the spacious but dark room, I also caught sight of Drake, Quinn, Axel, and Jagger before a sliver of light spread across the floor and I hastily shut my eyes, feigning unconsciousness. My heart was hammering in my chest as the gears in my mind quickly came to one single, heart-stopping revelation. We had been kidnapped by hunters. The chains around our wrists must have been coating in wolfsbane because it was digging into my skin and burning like hell. And the way they’d cleverly disguised themselves at the bar at Stiles’ party...I should have been more careful! The pack told me about hunters stalking parties for werewolves and I didn’t listen. Why didn’t I listen? A small, terrified, vulnerable part of me was begging for Derek to come bursting through the doors and save all of us. He always knew what to do. But Derek’s not here. Nobody knows where Derek is, and nobody’s heard from him in two weeks. He’s not coming to save us. The last shred of hope that I’d had that maybe Derek had been kidnapped too, and that was why he had been completely MIA, died inside of me. 

            “Pensé que dijiste que tenías todos ellos,” a deep voice spat angrily in Spanish. I thought you said that you got all of them. Hope flared up inside of me like a Fourth of July sparkler, as I realized they had underestimated us. They don’t think any of us can understand them when they speak in Spanish. That’s my advantage. I strained my ears, desperately wishing I had my old werewolf hearing back, to try and catch some sign or hint of what they were going to do with us.

“¡Y te lo dije, la fiesta terminó antes de que pudiera!” And I told you, the party ended before I could!

“Pues bien, ahora tres de ellos aún se encuentran en ejecución por ahí, creo que el alfa no volver y escuchar lo que le sucedió a ellos, ¿no?” Now three of them are somethingsomethingsomething, do you think the alpha won’t come back and hear what happened from them?

“Él nos perseguirá - y es bueno, confía en mí,” another voice said, and a third man stepped into the room to join the other two. I recognized one of them as the bartender from the party, the one with the pretty blue eyes and the charming grin. He’ll hunt us down - and he’s good, believe me.

“Sobre todo porque tenemos su esposa embarazada.” Especially since we have his pregnant wife. As soon as I realized what they had said, my blood went cold and the urge to open my eyes grew nearly irresistible. They know who I am. They know who Derek is. They probably know who we all are. This isn’t random, I realized with icy, sinking, dread. 

“Pero creí que habíamos acordado que dejarla ir.” But I thought we agreed to let her go.

“Sí, ella no es ni siquiera un hombre lobo.” She’s not a werewolf. Their words faded out as the room grew dark again, and for one thudding moment, I thought they’d left. They’re going to let me go? I wondered in confusion, but then I felt rough hands on my wrists, unchaining me and shoving a cloth in my mouth. The wolfsbane seared my senses once more, and darkness swallowed up my consciousness.