Tipping The Scales: Knox (Mate Craze)(41)

“Kidnap you.”

“Why would they want to… Knox.” At that moment, all too much became clear. They wanted Knox. Somehow they, like my Gran, knew he was to be mine or in this case not mine. Stinks. This was worse than I thought and I was thinking pretty freaking grimly. “They know.”

“They do. They knew before I even met you.” She took a deep breath. “You are a mate to a dragon and not just any dragon, the Alpha. It gives you power in their eyes.”

“I have no power. We are not even together. He dumped me.” Out of all of this, that was the part that hurt the worst. He dumped me. Which in the scheme of things really shouldn’t seem that important. I had a best friend who was a plant in an evil plan which I still had no full comprehension of, I was in an accident which was more of a kidnapping plot than a true accident, and I was trapped someplace dark with the person who hit me, yet my heart was still hung up on Knox. I was a cluster to be sure.

“That’s not possible.” She gave me a push to rise and I did before she tugged on my pant leg with what I knew was her good arm. She needed help up, and for all the regrets it might lead to later, I helped her up. It took her significantly longer than it should’ve, telling me her injuries were far worse than I guessed. I had been there when she dislocated her shoulder before. It stunk, but nothing like this. What kind of parents were they who could leave their child like that. “If he rejects you, he will go into Mate Craze.”

“Mate Craze?” I wrapped her good arm around my shoulder, knowing she was going to need it.

“That can wait, the important thing is we need to get to the clearing without my parents knowing so we can save Knox.”

“But I’m the one kidnapped.” I looked around hoping for a glimpse of light and was overwhelmed with relief to see a sliver of light to the left. I began to lead Rhi there one hobble at a time. I would know more once I got out, but from her hobble I guessed her ankle was hurt badly. Not good, especially if we needed to get someplace and fast.

“And they only needed you for your blood apparently. You living was of no consequence to them.”

And things just got worse.

“My blood?” I wasn’t really asking. I didn’t want to know. Did they already have my blood? Was that why my head pounded so or were they going to drain me later. Nope. That was not going to be a thing. I was Kallie, mate to Knox or would be mate to Knox, and I wasn’t going down without a fight. He needed me and that was more important than all things, including my homicidal roomie.

“Your blood. They used it to mask themselves. They are up at the clearing now, waiting for Knox to show. He won’t see them, he’ll see us. He will try to save you, and as he does, they will put him down.” She spoke the words so fast I could barely make them out.

“Why? Why would they do that?” I spoke more to myself than her. Their reasons were irrelevant. They were out to hurt my mate. Mine. Whether he accepted me or not made no difference in the fact he was mine and I was going to save him from the evil I brought to his door.

A few more hobbles later and we met a door which was thankfully easy to open. I reached for the wall hoping to find a light switch, which I found easily enough. The light was almost blinding and I felt my eyes clamping shut again. A few moments, which felt like hours, my eyes adjusted enough so I could look around the room, or more accurately, the hallway, which lead to a stairwell. Looking to my side, I took in Rhi. She was in worse shape than I thought. I wasn’t sure how much of it was from the accident and how much was from her parents, but she was a hot mess. She had two black eyes, her arm fell limply to her side and her right leg was covered in blood. This was not good, especially not with a staircase in front of us.

“Treasure,” she answered and it took me a moment to remember the question. Treasure. They wanted Knox for his treasure.

“It always comes down to treasure,” I mumbled as we made our way to the staircase.





17





Knox





“Just tell me what you want. Stop fucking around and tell me. You can have anything.”

I would-I would give anything to take her down from there. Turn my fingers to talons and cut her bonds. She didn’t deserve whatever in the hell this was. In the back of my head, I wished she’d never come here.

“Oh come now, Alpha. There’s only a handful of reasons that I would want your mate. Let’s play a guessing game, shall we? You guess correctly and I will refrain from slitting her throat while you watch.”

I lunged at her, but stopped myself.

“You want me dead.”

She rolled her eyes and let out a cackle that was unadulterated evil.

“Yes, I want you dead. So does your brother. His lust for your title and your power is so thick in the air, I can grasp it with my bare hands. He’s wanted it all his life. Oh? You already knew that, didn’t you? Big brother has been jealous of you since birth. You were all the things he admired about your father, all the things he wasn’t. But it’s so petty in the scheme of things. There’s so much more than your death that I want.”

I looked over to Kallie and watched her choke against the thick rope that was around her neck. She was bleeding so much I couldn’t tell which wound would need the most attention.

“Come now, another guess. I’m enjoying this.”