Chapter 21: Taken

“Have you sent word to her parents?” Stone asked as he sat sharpening his nails with an emery board.

“Don’t worry about them,” Brody growled and looked back at the door that held Natalie, blowing a curl of smoke lazily from his lips. “Once she misses her ballet rehearsal her Mom will contact the National Guard and make it breaking news worldwide.”

“Good,” he chuckled and lodged the file towards the coffee table. “Pretty soon her wolf should come looking for her too.”

“I wouldn’t worry about him either. She was going to meet him just before I grabbed her. I’m pretty sure he saw me put her in the car and drive off.”

“You what? What if he follows the scent and finds us here?”

“Don’t worry about that, I was burning sage as I was heading over.”

“And that means what? This guy won’t be able to sniff her out? Haven’t you heard what Dante said he’s capable of?”

“With training which he hasn’t had any of. Would you relax already? I’m telling ya I was careful. He’ll find her when we’re ready for him to; not before. I mean I’m proof of that. Under his nose for who knows how long and he didn’t know until the other day what I was.”

“Good. The last thing we want is to piss Dante off.”

“That’s the last thing anyone wants. The fireworks aren’t supposed to start until Blake actually gets here.”

Natalie sat quietly rocking on the edge of the bed listening to the men laughing out in the other room. The bed springs squeaked under her with every move she made. The dry, unpolished wooden floor beneath her feet was jagged and covered in splinters; a fact she learned the previous night prompting her to leave her shoes on. The dark room that contained her smelled clean as if it was recently scrubbed down with harsh abrasives. And the scent of pine graced her nose with a breeze that moved in from behind her.

Heavy footsteps drew near, causing her to stop rocking and remain still. The door creaked as a dull light pierced the darkness and the man who’d answered the door stepped into the room. “I figured I should come and talk to you before you do something stupid to piss me off, like trying to escape. Natalie, right? Or do you prefer being called Ms. Silverman?” He laughed deeply, glancing over his shoulder at his partner, her ex-bodyguard Brody with a toothy grin. 

“Just know that you’re not in Kansas anymore Toto and if you try to run, well you’d certainly get lost somewhere over the rainbow deep in these woods. You’d be little more than a fancy meal for the wolves and other things that go bump in the night. Keep that in mind and maybe you’ll keep breathing.” His voice was deep and grating reminded her of the announcements over the loud speaker at school.

“When my father finds you, the wolves in these woods would look like a merciful choice compared to what he does to you!” She growled, returning the hardened gaze he gave her.

“Careful little girl, you don’t want to say something that would hurt my feelings. Then I’m afraid I’d have to do something I wasn’t counting on doing until much, much later.”

“I’m not afraid of you!”

“No? You should be.”

“You’re a coward! Hiding behind your guns and a locked door. What’s there to be afraid of?”

“Oh, you’re a feisty one. I like that! I hope you taste just as good,” Stone laughed wickedly as he made a crude gesture with his tongue.

“What exactly do you think is going to happen here? You’re going to get some big payday off of my parents and buy yourself a fancy new car?”

“Something like that, Ms. Silverman!” He faced her with an evil grin.

“I’m gonna make it out of here!” She spoke with confidence, refusing to let him see her cry.

“Well you can certainly try if you’d like. But that would give me good enough reason to choke you within an inch of your life and watch you walk that thin line between life and death!” He leaned forward, laughing in her face. “Make no mistake about it, Natalie it’s not your money we’re after so throwing it around now won’t do you a bit of good. Now if you behave like a good little girl we might just let you out of this room. A little over 24 hours, you must be hungry and I’m sure you’d like to know what we have planned for you!” With one last evil grin thrown her way, he closed the door, locking it from the outside. 

Natalie again curled up on the bed, her back to the wall and eyes on the door. It was like being at home. She wasn’t free to anything there and certainly would face the same rules here. With only her tears to remind her of what was real, she sat still, alone in the darkness waiting for someone to find her.

Blake jumped out of the tree he’d spent most of the night crouched in waiting on Natalie to return home. All of his phone calls and text messages had gone unanswered and to say he was worried was putting it mildly. Her parents were on the phone with police an hour after she and Brody were late to return from her jog. Fearing they were in an accident once the rains started, they had every police officer they could find listening to them trying to get answers about the whereabouts of their little girl. They knew nothing, but Blake had a place to start. “Why didn’t I sense it before?” he kicked himself as he started up the hill towards Steeple Run. 

“Get back here you little Tart!” Nick shouted as he charged after Jessica who was rushing upstairs away from him. She laughed and turned to watch him stumble up behind her naked and out of breath as his manhood wriggled viciously between his legs the faster his legs pumped after her. “Oh you’re going to pay dearly once I catch you!”

“Mmm don’t you threaten ME with a good time, Nicholas DeLong!” she giggled harder and stopped just at the foot of the bed in front of the small lounger. His lips fell on hers as he tugged her against him, the chain on the cuffs she wore jiggling as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You’ve been a bad girl,” Nick whispered against her mouth. “Next time I’m checking EVERYWHERE for that damned handcuff key,” Nick laughed as he finally caught up to Jessica in his upstairs bedroom. “Now then, what should I do to punish you? Hmm, I know, get down on your knees.”

She willingly did as told and he heard the sound of the cuffs clicking together behind her back as she slid down his leg towards the floor. Her beautiful hazel-green eyes stared up at him, looking innocent and angelic behind the vixen red lipstick that stained her pouty lips. “Don’t do that…” he growled as she batted her long, dark lashes at him and gently nuzzled his thigh with her nose. “Jess.”

She stuck her tongue out through her lips and his will was broken. Lifting her from the floor, he once again undid the cuffs and Jessica lay back against the lounger as Nick knelt down in front of her. “That’s right Daddy, get to work!” she giggled and instantly her head fell back as Nick’s tongue wasted no time brushing against the center of her sex, licking her bud until it stiffened beneath his lips and she was moaning like a wanton minx.

His mouth closed over her nub, working between her lips as her moans echoed through her body, vibrating on his tongue. “Oh God that’s it. Faster.” Humbly obliging, Nick hastened his pace, working a finger inside of her body as his tongue licked frantically across her slick lips. “Yes! Right there! Yes!” Her hand closed into his hair, tighter and tighter she pulled until her muscles clenched around him and his mouth sealed shut over her clit. “Nick!” she yelled as a heat wave rushed into her nerves, creating tingles throughout her body.

Once the brunt of her orgasm was over, Jessica sat upright and Nick smiled at the flush that had taken over her face. “You know what this means right?” She asked climbing down to her knees. Nick stood and her tongue darted out, touching the tip of his rod, tasting his precum and he groaned.

Taking her place on the lounger, Nick placed one hand behind his head and waited for Jessica to get comfortable in front of him. The moment the heat of her tongue touched him again, his eyes went to the back of his head. She quickly followed up with her mouth, closing around his thickness and listened to him gasp the deeper down her throat he went. “Fuck yeah Jess, your mouth is fucking fantastic.”

“Mmm, that’s it Baby, all the way down.” His hand came down against her head and he pushed himself  deeper into her mouth, hearing her gag as he touched the back of her throat. “Mmm, yeah Jess, more.” His head bounced around the lounger as his balls tensed from the rough caressing of her hand. He was close and she was ready for it. “Cumming, cumming…” His body tightened as she slammed her mouth as far around his shaft as it would go. The first drop touched her tongue and immediately she began swallowing, lapping it up as another blast erupted from his head. He moaned deeply and rubbed her hair gently as he looked down at her. “That was great.”

“Yeah well you’re not done yet.” Her mouth closed around him again until he grew hard against her tongue. “Good boy,” she smiled up at him.

“Ah yeah Baby, come here, climb into Daddy’s lap.” Jessica closed her legs around Nick’s back and gently guided him inside of her as he held her against him. “Mmm ride me, that’s it Baby.” He pinched her behind as she swayed in his lap, moving hard and fast increasing with the rhythm of his hands as he helped guide her on top of him.

“You seem preoccupied by my ass,” Jessica giggled as Nick continued squeezing each cheek firmly in his hands.

“That’s because we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg Baby. There’s so much unexplored territory I can’t wait to try with you,” he groaned as she twisted in his lap, pushing him deeper inside of her body as she did.

“Mmm what more could there be? I’ve been tied up, hung by my ankles, water poloed, erotically asphyxiated, taken in a few public places and nearly every position and that was all in the first week we got together.”

“Baby your body is my playground and I can never get enough.” He moaned with her as he felt his lap moisten once a body clenching orgasm rocked her. Jessica’s hands tightened over his shoulders and he squeezed her tighter against his chest letting her hump him as hard as she wanted. When she came down, he kissed her eagerly; sucking on her tongue as she feverishly licked his mouth.

Gripping her waist, he pulled her off of his shaft and laid her across his lap. “I knew it!” she laughed as she felt his hand slip over her skin. He smacked her hard enough to sting and she looked back at him with a frown. “Ow! Not so hard Daddy.”

Nick lifted his hand and slammed it down across her flesh once more until his handprint appeared and he smirked. “I’m sorry, did you say something?” he asked leaning over to give the spot a tender kiss. “MY playground,” he reminded her with another slap. She giggled as he closed his hand around one cheek and wiggled hard and fast.

“Nick!”

“What? It’s beautiful!”

Finally arriving to the three-story mansion situated on the hill, Blake knocked once on the door and waited to see Nick trampling from upstairs to answer. When no one came, Blake tried the handle and to his surprise, it opened right up. He let himself in and called for his friend and still nothing. 

Laughter coming from upstairs prompted him to start up towards the sound, moving as fast as he could. Without knocking, he burst through the door of Nick’s bedroom and quickly found more than he bargained for. “Blake, Dude! Don’t you knock?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to…intrude.” His eyes locked with the blonde tossed across Nick’s lap and instant recognition hit him. “Jessica?”

She jumped up, and hurriedly tossed a robe over her shoulders but not before Blake noticed the bright red hand print bruised into her derriere. “Do I know you?” she asked pulling her hair out of the back of the terrycloth and taking a seat beside Nick on the lounger. She wasn’t sitting for long before she realized how incredibly painful the left side of her ass felt and was leaning over him in his seat instead.

“Uh, Jess, this is my friend Blake. Blake, you seem to already know Jess. I could guess Natalie told you about her?” he asked as he grabbed a pair of underwear from the floor and shimmied his hips into them.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry about that Jessica. I hope I haven’t made you uncomfortable.”

“Nonsense, Blake. We both enjoy strange men rushing through closed doors and intruding on our privacy,” Nick grinned, watching a slight blush don Blake’s face. “What’s so important it couldn’t wait until we were finished?”

“I think Natalie’s been kidnapped,” he blurted out, pacing a few feet into the room.

“What?!” Both Nick and Jessica exclaimed at the same time, stepping closer to where Blake stood beside the door.

“What do you mean kidnapped? Like there’s been a ransom and everything?” Nick continued questioning as Jessica grabbed her phone from the dresser and started dialing Natalie’s number.

“She won’t answer that. She hasn’t answered since last I saw her yesterday around three in the afternoon. She hasn’t been home since that time, her parents contacted police; no one’s heard from her.”

“Who could have taken her? I mean she has an armed guard watching her at all times. There’s no way possible someone could kidnap her.”

“Unless he’s an armed guard watching her at all times.”

“What? You’re saying Brody took Natalie?” Jessica asked growing frustrated with the constant voicemail she hit each time she punched in her best friend’s phone number. “Why would he do that?”

“Because he’s not who everyone thinks he is.” Blake looked pointedly towards Nick and he nodded his head.

“Uh, Jess can you excuse us for a moment?” he asked turning towards her with a sympathetic smile.

“Are you serious? My best friend is missing and you don’t think it’s something I should hear about? I want to know what’s going on! I need answers too Nick!”

Nick gave Blake a look that asked he explain in a way that Jessica won’t catch on realizing the blonde had no intentions of leaving the room. “Ok remember when we went to see Swan Lake and I had that feeling…that strange sense that something was off?” Nick nodded and Blake continued. “It was him. I felt it again today at the waterworks building downtown right before he drove off with her. I’m pretty sure I know what he wants. He knew I was there. He smiled in my direction before taking off with Natalie!”

“Whoa ok back up, I’m really confused.” Jessica toyed with a tendril of hair that hung in her face and stared at the two men who seemed to be having their own conversation right in front of her. “Why would Brody take her because of you? And who are you anyway? I’ve never seen you before in my life and you just show up with this huge bombshell about my best friend that…wait a second; you’re Natalie’s secret guy? The one the note was for?”

“Blake, yeah, that’s me. And look I don’t mean to sound rude or bossy but the time for introductions can come later. Right now I need your help finding Natalie before something happens to her!”

“Just tell me what I can do.”

“Brody lived with the Silverman’s, he had his own room at the estate. I need you to get inside there and take a look around. Maybe there are notes or scribblings on something that might tell us where he would have taken Natalie. You being her best friend I don’t think the Silverman’s will bat an eye at you snooping around the place.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“Anything you find that might be useful, get a shot of it but if you think it won’t be missed, grab it. Please, I’m counting on you.”

Jessica scooped up her clothes and started into the bathroom to change, finally allowing the two some degree of privacy. “So you think her bodyguard is a wolf?” Nick asked in a lowered voice as he heard the shower turn on behind the door.

“I know he is. I felt it. And like I said, he felt me there too. I think he’s known I’ve been around Natalie this whole time! What I can’t figure out is how he knew I’d even meet her, of all people.”

“Because this isn’t your first time around the Silvermans. We used to frequent their parties all the time. Maybe he just assumed there was a chance you’d reenter your life somewhere and being around that crowd in particular was as good a place as any to start. Or maybe there’s a secret underground cult of wolves that have inserted ‘average Joe’ citizens all over the city in hopes of finding the lone wolves.”

“And neither of those scenarios seems very likely Nick. Natalie is in real danger here I can’t play around with nonsense and conjecture. I have to find her. Angelo said they might come for me through the people I loved and I knew, when he said that, I knew it would be her. I should have done more to keep her safe! And after that hit on my place I should have known…dammit! They took her pictures, every last one; they KNEW what she meant to me. Fuck! If anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“We’ll find her Blake, unharmed.” The water shut off in the bathroom and a few moments later Jessica exited fully clothed and ready to go.

Within what seemed like hours that may have really only been a few minutes, the sound of footsteps returned to the door. Natalie used her shoulder to remove the tears from her cheek and chin. The door knob turned quickly as light pierced through the room and the smell of his cigarette hit her before she saw his face. Anyone but him, she thought through bitterness and anger. Without a word or even allowing his eyes to meet hers, he entered, throwing a change of clothes onto the bed beside her. “Those are for later, for now, come with me,” he finally spoke, his voice flat and lacking any kind of emotion. 

“If you want to sit there, that’s fine with me. I had breakfast and lunch. You’re the one who’s gotta be starving Natalie.” She cranked the volume up on her music and kept her eyes turned away from his. The sound of his voice was annoying and reminded her every minute of the betrayal he’d perpetrated on her family.

“Fine Natalie. But don’t expect that Ty’s coming back in here to help you. If anything, I’m the only friend you got here.” With that she turned to look at Brody as he stood in the doorway and sighed. Sliding towards the edge of the bed, Natalie turned the music off in her ears and started towards the door.

He led her back through the living room and into the kitchen, passing Stone who’s lips were frozen in that smirk he tossed her earlier. Natalie did her best to ignore him as Brody motioned for a seat at the table for her to take. “Eat.” He pointed to a bowl of cereal sitting at the back right chair. She quickly glanced up at him as he leaned against the refrigerator before picking up the spoon.

“Natalie,” he paused using the floor to avoid her eyes as he leaned against the sink, finishing the cigarette in his hand, “I deceived you and you probably think an apology is in order but you shouldn’t fool yourself. I had a job to do and I couldn’t let my feelings about you cloud what needed to be done.” 

He paused again as she continued to eat, obviously ignoring every word that crossed his lips. “Listen,” he pushed himself off the sink and took one step forward to lean over the table in front of her. Smoke curled off the butt stuck between his fingers and she found herself frowning at the smell. “You can blame yourself if you’d like but it really has nothing to do with you. Nothing personal, it’s just business. We needed you to get to him; I need you to understand that. ” 

“Why? I’m nothing but a prize to you and your buddy, right? A meal ticket?  You pretended to care about me just to lead me into the hands of some homicidal creep and now you need me to understand?”

“I didn’t pretend, Natalie.”

“Oh so what do you call it then?!” She pushed off from the table, her voiced raised to its highest point. “Tell me, Brody! Did you enjoy getting to know me, becoming my friend over the course of three years just so you could bring me here? You held a gun to my head, what’s there to understand Brody?” 

He leaned over the table so close to her she could see the mixture of gold and green in his eyes; eyes she’d never seen in the three years he worked for her family. He stared at her, never flinching and found that Natalie was not backing down either. With an angry sigh he backed away from her and started again towards the living room where Stone sat watching television. “Finish your dinner before it gets soggy.”

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