F O U R

Nova Nyx 🌙

"Me?" I reared my head back in shock "They're after me? Whatever the Hell for?"

The asshole didn't answer my question, just kept pulling me along deeper into the small forest of my house.

I blinked as a we approached a weird looking Land Rover, only two rows of seats in the entire car as the rest of the room was made specifically for a thick glass looking cage.

I drug my feet and yanked on my hand from his grip.

He held on tightly, dragging me towards the back of the car and the glass cage.

"I am not going in there!"

"Yes, you are" he growled "I saved that family from perishing. You owe me for that. You made a deal with me regarding your compliance."

"You didn't read the fine print" I croaked, rubbing the base of my throat as a gnawing suffocation feeling worked its way from my chest

Being claustrophobic was a serious pain in my ass, always creeping up on me at the worst moments.

I could never go in halloween mazes or be in large crowds for fear of an attack happening and me ruining everyone's time.

I shook my head at his words "I...can't...go in there."

"Yes, you damn can" he unlocked the door and threw me inside, quickly locking it behind me "In you go."

"I'm claustrophobic" I whimpered, slamming my fists onto the glass, with no avail of trying to escape.

My kidnapper either didn't hear me or didn't care about my current dilemma, choosing to jump in the drivers seat and start up the car as he fiddled with some buttons on the dash.

A few moments later, thin white mist erupted from the air vents above me, making me cough loudly as I inhaled the bitter mist.

My eyes watered as my head began to feel fuzzy and lightheaded.

"What...did...you...do...to...me?" I wheezed, slumping against the soft carpeted floor.

Those sad blue eyes met mine in the rearview mirror, watching my every movement with vivid interest.

"You're going to take a nice refreshing nap now" he said, his voice distorted from either the drugs in my system or the crappy car speaker above me "And when you wake up, you'll finally be back home where you belong."

My last thought before I blacked out completed was that I was home...and he was currently ripping me away from the last connection I ever had to my father.

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The car was still moving as my groggy eyes blinked open.

I was still in the damned glass cage and my face was still planted on the itcy carpet.

My stomach was rolling at this point and I was about five seconds away from throwing up last nights dinner.

I was about to voice my discomfort to the douchebag driving the car when an achingly familiar voice rumbled through the car.

"How long will she be out for Nix?" the voice asked, making my eyebrows knit together as my foggy brain tried to remember whose voice I was currently hearing.

"About four more hours" My captor answered "Before we get to the airport, I'll dose her with another A2."

"Did you take into account her status?" There was the second voice that my brain knew but couldn't place "Because A2 works for shit on me. I was barely knocked out two hours max before coming too."

"Don't jinx us you idiot!" a punch sounded through the car as I guess one kidnapper hit the other's flesh "She's unpredictable right now. We really don't know what she's capable of at this point."

A scoff sounded "I don't think she's capable of much."

"What do you mean Nix?"

"She didn't even try to shift once" my Kidnapper, apparently named Nix, said "And Gods know she had plenty of opportunities to do so too, with all the fucking chaos going around us."

Two sharp intake of breaths had my already racing heart beating faster.

"She can't shift?" Someone whispered "But if she can't shift then that means..."

"That means we're going to be stuck on fucking babysitting duty for the rest of our time at the Academy" Nix snapped "She can't even fucking take care of herself. What kind of Heir can't even shift? We came out of the fucking womb shifting already."

"She's going to be like a lamb being led to slaughter in there."

"It's not her fault" A voice barked "She was fucking kidnapped and held captive from her community. Of course that's going to affect her ability to shift or do the same shit we're able to do."

"Let's be real here Atlas," Another scoff "If she can't shift now, chances are she won't be able to shift in the future. What kind of example will that set for the community? How will they respect her if they don't see her as one of them?"

"Careful there Phoenix" A growl sounded out "Your prick of a fathers true view are showing. Wouldn't want someone in this territory to overhear that and ruin that perfect image of yours."

A loud snarl sounded throughout the enclosed space just as car skidded to a screeching halt.

I grunted and started to prop myself up when an irate voice snarled.

"You really want to start this shit again right now Lobo?" Nix snarled

"Yeah, I really do."

"Uh...guys?" someone chimed in "I think she's..."

Nix ignored the person's words, choosing instead to bark back at Atlas.

"Fine then" he growled "Let's finish this right here and right now. I'm sick of this stupid shit."

"God Forbid the Mighty Fenrir Heir is sick of something" he scoffed "For what he says goes."

"Why don't you do something about it..."

The guy, Atlas, cut Nix off again with a sarcastic laugh.

"Trust me," he cooed "I would LOVE nothing more than to hand you your ass to you on a platter right now. Unfortunately, my father gave me strict orders to not engage with you or your stupid ass on this mission. He wanted minimal mistakes for a mission so important."

"And you always listen to daddy?" Nix cooed "How utterly pathetic."

"Guys..." the voice sounded more desperate.

"At least my father treats me like a human being and not like a puppet" Atlas replied cooly "I've seen strays get more love and affection from strangers than your old man gives you."

"GUYS!" The voice growled at the two bickering men in front of me "She's awake!"

Three sets of eyes snapped to mine, in different states of emotions.

Shock...Surprise...and Amazement.

My own eyes widened when I finally place the voices to faces.

Because sitting in front of my with their chest twisted in a way where they gazed at my face was the two guys from the bar including my captor, who finally removed his face mask.

Three stunningly handsome men gawked at my glaring face, looking surprised that I was up and coherent instead of being half way comatose.

"How..." Kassian muttered at the same time Phoenix swore and started pressing more buttons on the dash.

Only the dark haired giant, Atlas I presumed, didn't react.

He only tracked my movements, watching as I continuously banged on the glass divider that barely separated us by two inches.

When my gaze tangled with his, I froze.

Because unlike his unreadable and stoic face, those amber eyes of his were blazing with emotions that raged like a forest fire.

The ghost of a smile tilted up at the corner of his mouth, transforming his already stunning face into something that took my breath away.

He muttered something so low to the others that I didn't get a chance to hear it.

It must have been something snarky because Phoenix immediately scowled while Kassian shot me a contemplative look.

More white mist flowed into my cage, this time at a faster rate, and my lungs felt like there were being smothered.

Unfortunately for me, it worked five times faster than it did last time.

The last thing I remember is glaring at each and every single one of them, vowing to kill them for this.

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Atlas

"Looks like she can take care of herself" I muttered to my friends, watching as the synthetic Aconite gas worked its way into the system of the stunning woman in front of me "Not such a little lamb after all."

Nix scoffed "This hardly proves anything."

I shot him a glare.

"She was barely out for an hour" I said "No one has ever woken up that fast. We barely just got on the freeway."

"I..." he started but I quickly cut him off.

"Don't lie" I snapped "That shit knocked you out for four hours."

"How about Kass?" He glared at me "Kassian isn't effected much by it."

"You know why it doesn't work as well on Kass" I shot him a look as Kass peaked over his seat to gaze down at the Last Heir.

"How much did you dose her with this time?"

"Nearly triple the amount" Nix grunted, yanking his phone from the center console and dialing a familiar number "I used the whole fucking can."

Kass's eyes widened as I barked out "Are you planning on killing her before we get her back home?!"

"No, you stupid motherfucker" he growled at me "I just couldn't take the chance for her to wake up again so quickly. We still have to get her on the plane and fly her across the wards."

"Alpha?" my ears twitched at the voice on the phone, Nix's third Ricci patiently waiting for his Alpha's orders "Was there something you..."

"Make sure we have an abundant supply of A2 before we board" Nix barked into the phone "There's been a recent development with our newest Heir here."

A brief pause.

"Alpha, that does was made specifically for her body weight" Ricci said slowly "If you give her too much..."

Nix cuts him off "Did I ask for your fucking opinion Ricci?"

"Asshole" I muttered under my breath.

I could practically hear Ricci's wince "No Alpha."

"Then don't give me unsolicited advice Ricci" he said "Just ensure that it's there when we arrive."

With those final words, he clicked off his cell and flung it out the window.

"You really think someone's tracking us?" Kass asked.

"I know they are" he answered "How else would they know our plan for tonight?"

He looked at us through the rearview mirror "You two should get rid of your cells too."

"I don't bring mine on missions" I waved away his concern absentmindedly "And besides, I switch it out with a new one every month."

Kass sighed, leaning forward to grab his phone out of his tact gear pants.

"I just got this one too" he grumbled, ripping the sim out and throwing the phone out the window like one would throw a frisbee "Now all my Words with Shifters progress will be deleted."

I snorted at his ridiculous obsession with a word game.

"I don't think they tracked us through our phones" I redirected the conversation "They knew too many details about the mission."

"You're saying we have a mole?" Nix frowned "The only ones who knew about this mission was us and the team."

"And the Penta" Kassian added.

Nix reared his head back in shock "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying the same thing I've been saying for years" I leaned forward in my seat "Someone in the Penta is corrupt. They're not looking out for the good of our community. They're looking out for the good of themselves."

"You father's a member of the Penta."

"So?"

"So, how can you throw an accusation like that around if your father is a current member?" Nix asked "What happens if he's the one who turns out to be the mole?"

"He's not."

"And you think one of our parents are?" Kass asked, a frown marring his normal happy face "Dude...that's a bit much don't you think?"

"I don't think your parents are involved" I said, shrugging when Nix let out a humorless laugh.

"Of course you don't" he said "Just my dad right?"

"If the shoe fits..."

Nix growled at me, his surge of power making my own hackles rise as my wolf bristled in the back of my mind.

If I was a lesser man, and not an Alpha in my own right, I would have cowered away in fear.

Because as much as I hated to admit it, this man in front of me, my best friend since I was six and he was eight, was a scary motherfucker when he was angry.

He got this spine-chilling look in his eye, the same one his father got when he was pissed, right before all hell broke loose.

"You really like to keep poking the bear, don't you Lobo?"

"Don't you mean Wolf?" Kassian snickered quietly from beside me.

My lips twitched at the remark.

"They knew too much Nix" I said "And up until three hours before the extraction, the team didn't know diddly shit. I know I didn't say anything, and I know you two wouldn't either, so then that only leaves the members of the Penta."

"But that would be treason" Kassian whispered, his comically wide eyed gaze dancing from Nix to me every few seconds "Who in the Penta would want the last Lupine Heir dead?"

"The question is...who wouldn't want her dead?" I asked, my gaze glancing back at the equally beautiful and powerful woman slumbering on the carpeted car floor "With her back, she can finally take back the reins as the rightful Heir of the Shifters."