Stay Away (The Beocraftian Gambit - Book One)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: A MEETING WITH THE MAYOR

The afternoon breeze was musty and damp, sticking to Natasha's throat like thick, saccharine molasses. She was slowly losing her patience as she sat silently at the back with Kevin while Landry drove.

She groaned with impatience. "We've been on the road for about thirty minutes now and no one is saying anything," she kvetched, raising her voice and turning to either of them for answers. "Where are you guys taking me?"

"I thought I told you to trust me," Kevin said, trying to calm her. "Just hang on a bit, we will get there soon."

"How can I trust you if you aren't giving me anything?"

"Okay, okay... fine." He gave in to her request. "We are going as far away from here as possible."

Natasha shook her head. "That doesn't answer my question, Kevin. Where exactly are you guys taking me?"

"I'm taking you to stay with him," he gestured towards Landry, whom she hadn't heard utter a word since she got into the car. "—but this is only going to be temporary."

"What!?" She heard herself scream, giving Landry a quick once-over. "I don't even know him." Then she returned her gaze to Kevin. "I barely even know you."

"This is Landry," Kevin introduced. "He's my friend, and you can trust him."

"Yeah, right," she jeered. "You would rather prefer I trust your friend over those security officers back there at the hospital. If you had let me stay with them, they would've protected me and handed me safely to my dad."

"I don't know how to break this to you in a way that you'd understand, but—" He paused as if looking for the right words to use.

"But what?" she hissed, impatient to hear what he was about to say.

"Your dad, or any of those cops back there, cannot protect you from T-Murek."

Natasha let out a high, lilting laugh. "To say my dad cannot protect me is just preposterous and insulting. Heck, my dad is president of threat control unit and a security officer in this city. Hunting these shifters is his job. It's what he does for a living. If there's anyone that can protect me right now, it'd be my dad."

For a moment, Kevin was left in sheer silence, then exhaled loudly. "Over a year ago, I had a girlfriend—one whom I loved very much. Her name was Loretta. We were going to get married at the end of summer, but then—"

She could see that he was having a hard time remembering what had happened, the memories were just too painful. Could this be the reason he'd been pushing everyone away?

He went on. "She was kidnapped by a man hiding behind a mask, and was tortured by T-Murek."

"Sorry, who?"

"T-Murek—he is the vicious monster that tried to kidnap you today. He made me watch as he tortured Loretta. He tore her apart..." He stopped—the tears in his eyes now visible. "No, he did more than just torture her—he broke her soul. He literally ripped her heart right through her ribcage and let it dangle on her chest so that I could watch. He made me watch her heartbeat until she faded away."

Gasping, Natasha covered her mouth. "Oh, God, I'm really sorry," she said, sympathetically.

"He was going to do the same thing to you if Derik hadn't stepped in to rescue you."

"But, why?" She tried to cover the fear coursing through her veins. "Why would he want to hurt me? I don't even know this T-Murek guy, if that's even his actual name. I've never met him before, until today, when he tried to kidnap me and almost killed Derik.

"That's exactly what I kept asking myself that day after I got captured." Kevin got closer to her. "I spent an entire year thinking about it. Thinking about why he'd kidnapped me, why he'd tortured Loretta and kept me alive to watch her remains." He turned to look away. "But now I finally understand why he's doing all these things."