determine the size of the room I was being kept in. I guessed it was pretty big, given the sound of the echo I made. And then I realized that my shoes were taped together, which made no sense at all. Was my kidnapper aware that my shoes were not a permanent part of my foot?
I was suddenly very ashamed I’d been waylaid by someone who was such a bad abductor.
What could I do to get out of this? I could wait to see if help arrived, but no one really knew I was in danger. Alex wasn’t expecting to see me tonight, so unless he called and became alarmed when I didn’t pick up, no help there. Dick and Jane knew I planned on spending the evening unpacking and weren’t expecting me at the shop. Sammy might notice my door standing open when he got home, but he wouldn’t be back from work for hours. If I was still living on packlands, my parents definitely would have noticed I was gone after a few hours, but that was a moot point. There was no backup coming for me, no rescue. I was going to have to find a way out on my own.
The cannister of silver spray was in my purse, but who knew where that was. I couldn’t feel my phone in my back pocket. I thought about shifting to four feet, but while I was unnaturally strong in either form, I didn’t know if the shift alone would be enough to rip the tape. And then I would be bound in my wolf form on the cement, which didn’t seem like an improvement. Also, getting duct tape out of wolf fur would really hurt.
“You can stop pretending, you know. You’re awake. I heard your heart speed up a few minutes ago.”
Annoyed, I let my eyes open, glaring at him.
“Congratulations to you,” I muttered as I squirmed to a sitting position. “So the whole ‘dopey guy who doesn’t know how to talk to girls’ thing was a ruse? You were just trying to get to Alex?”
I glanced around the basement storeroom where he was holding me. I wasn’t sure where we were, but he’d taken the time to board over the windows. Did he spend a lot of time down here? My phone was on the floor next to him. And he appeared to be listening to my classical music with his earbuds. Apparently, he’d stolen a bunch of instruments from the music school before he burnt it down, because they were piled in the corner, next to a pile of cell phones still in their manufacturers’ boxes and flat screen TVs. And UK sweatshirts. And food dehydrators? Was he planning to sell them? Was that how this creep made his creepy money?
He’d taken instruments from Alex’s students to make money off of them, before he burned their damn school down. He was the worst.
“So you did all that stuff to Alex’s school,” I sighed. “Oh, man, I owe my family an apology.”
So what did my Aunt Braylene mean by all that stuff about lying to my family and seeing boys that they didn’t approve of? I also owed her an apology. I probably wouldn’t give it to her, even if I lived long enough to see her.
“Wait, go back.” Greg looked honestly insulted. “What do you mean, doesn’t know how to talk to girls?’”
“Oh, please,” I scoffed. “I went on a date with a guy who openly admitted he was in love with someone else and he had more game than you.”
When it became obvious that I wouldn’t elaborate on his poor people skills, he shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t just Alex, I was targeting Nik and Cal, too. We’ve known each other for a long time. Hasn’t he ever mentioned me?”
“I’m afraid not,” I said, smirking. “Cal and Nik did, though. They said you were a twerp. Is that your vampire power? Annoying people on an advanced level?”
“Well, that’s insulting, isn’t it?” He scooted closer to me. “And no, that’s not my special vampire power.”
I scoffed, a hysterical laugh bubbling up my throat because, well, this was my first kidnapping. “Don’t tell me, it’s not having a scent. That’s how you managed to get sneak around the vampires’ houses and businesses without being detected—not to mention sneaking up on me,” I muttered. When his eyes narrowed at me, I gasped. “Oh good grief, is that it?”
He sniffed. “I prefer to think of it as having the power