Hunter's Alpha (gxg) ✓

45. The Saints

We are baaaaack in Jude's perspective.

When I wake up, it is to the rocking of a boat and the scent of saltwater.

"Jesus fucking Christ," I mutter.

"Don't take the Lord's name in vain," says a rich male voice.

I look up—right at an Asian man in a black suit with red lapels. He grins at me, like a cat, silhouetted in the flickering lamplight that hangs from the wooden walls.

Belowdeck. We're belowdeck of a . . . ship?

"Where are we?" mumbles a woman's voice, somewhere close to me.

I'm trying to figure it out, too.

In the dim light, I manage to make out the woman slumped on the floor close by. She is wearing a violet corset with silvery straps, and her fishnet leggings glitter with a metallic shine. She is small and curvy, and the boy next to her—still asleep—is tall and thin.

And in the corner, I manage to see—

I have to contain my gasp. Alistair.

Anise's fiancé.

Which means the girl and the boy must be Alisa and Daniel.

Hunter was right.

Motherfucker. She was right. She was right and I was wrong.

But why me? Why me?

Alistair is important to Anise. Alisa and Daniel are important to Elijah.

I'm only important to Hunter, but she's not the Alpha—she's the second-in-command. So why am I a hostage?

"We're currently sailing across the Pacific Ocean."

I glance up again—at the man with the feline grace. He answered the woman's question. Where are we?

"Why?" I croak out.

I remember . . . what do I remember?

Blinking sunlight out of my eyes. Heat warming my face.

Hunter—I hope she's okay.

Worry—knowing that she's in the restaurant, alone with Elijah.

A shadow flits over the sun. So fast.

A hand raised in front of me.

I don't move, not immediately—I recognize her.

Pierce slams a rock into my head, and I black out.

Hunter had been right about her.

I would never, ever admit to her face, but . . . she had been right.

And now I was here. Supposedly, sailing across the Pacific Ocean.

"To go where?" I demand.

The last I know is that there were three hostages, taken by the Yakuza, and they would probably be in some abandoned warehouse. That was Hunter's plan, at least.