The Wolf Prince

CHAPTER 29

Darcy was definitely going to kill Excoria. After the pretty swirling lights had gone away, she was left with a headache the size of Texas, and a damned humming in her ears that could have vibrated the walls.

Where the hell was Surlock? He should have saved her by now. She sniffed. If he was still alive, that is. Oh, Lord, he had to be alive. She loved him.

What if he didn’t love her?

She didn’t care. Well, she did, but it would be enough to know he was alive.

“I hate tears,” Excoria snarled. “You’re not going to start crying, are you?”

“No, I’m not going to cry.” Darcy sniffed. She’d be damned if she’d let the bitch see one tear slip from her eyes.

“Good.” She flipped open her cell phone and punched in a number. Then waited. “Have you got the money?” she asked the person on the other end. Excoria gripped the phone tighter, her mouth turning down. “Your daughter might not have a few more hours.”

Darcy’s heart skipped a beat. Excoria was talking to her dad. At least, she hoped Excoria was talking to her father and not her mother. She groaned. Her mother would probably know what was going on, though. She would be hysterical. No, she would be beyond that by now. Her mom would have taken to her bed, trying to escape her worst nightmare. Maybe the doctor had given her a shot to knock her out.

Great, her mother would never let Darcy become a P.I. now. That is, if Darcy lived through all this, because she wasn’t quite so sure Excoria would keep her end of the bargain. She might take the ransom money and still kill Darcy. That way, her crazy cohorts wouldn’t come after her. Excoria could truthfully tell the terrorists she had done away with the impure. Sheesh, it sounded like something out of one of her dad’s James Bond movies.

Excoria suddenly turned to Darcy. She’d had the decency to help her back into the chair. Only after Darcy had whined a lot, though.

“He wants to speak to you.” Excoria held the phone up to Darcy’s ear.

“Dad?”

“Oh, God, you’re alive. I was so afraid.”

Her heart began to break. “I’m fine, Dad. I—”

Excoria moved the phone. “There, are you satisfied?” She paused. “She’ll only be fine for one more hour. If I don’t have the money by then, she won’t be fine.” She snapped the phone closed.

“I hate you,” Darcy said.

“So what else is new?”

“You’re going to regret ever taking me captive when Surlock finds me.”

Excoria’s hands trembled. That was the only sign she was paying attention. “But he won’t find you,” she finally said.

“Are you so sure about that?”

Excoria straightened. “By the time he discovers your body, it will be too late for him to do anything. I’ll be long gone and I’ll make sure he never finds me.”

The room began to spin around Darcy and she could barely breathe. “You never planned to let me go.”

Excoria shrugged. “Sorry. I can’t take that chance.”

Oh, God, her parents would be devastated when Excoria didn’t deliver their daughter. They would never stop looking for her. Not until they discovered her lifeless body.

Surlock would be furious. She knew him well enough to know that he would find Excoria, and God help her when he did. No, Darcy didn’t want God or anyone else helping the bitch. She wanted her to rot in hell.

Excoria seemed quite unconcerned she was about to end someone’s life. What kind of a monster was she? Darcy was glad when the other woman left the room. If she had to be around her much longer, Darcy was afraid she might say something to anger her even more. There was no guarantee that Excoria might not go ahead and kill her at any time.

Damn it, Darcy wasn’t ready to die. She hadn’t lived her dream. Hell, she hadn’t lived. She’d always been too afraid to take a chance. Her mother had only been an excuse. She could have talked her mom into letting her get a job if she’d tried hard enough. No, Darcy had been too afraid of failing to push the issue.

She finally saw how really dumb that was. She might have succeeded as a P.I., too. Not that she had done such a great job discovering Surlock’s identity. He might be a prince or he might not be. Although right now she was pretty much leaning toward believing he was a prince. Why else would terrorists take him prisoner so they could trade him for their leader?

Excoria, of course, had already lost her mind. The terrorists probably dealt in illegal drugs, and she had inhaled more than she should have. Her brain was already fried. She was not an alien. But that still didn’t change the fact she was evil and planned to kill Darcy.

She wiggled her wrists—again. The ropes were too damned tight. She’d only managed to rub her wrists bloody.

She looked around the room for a weapon. The lamp was too heavy to lift. There was a candy dish of sorts on the coffee table. Could she hop over to it, and get back without falling down? Maybe her ballet lessons would finally pay off. It was worth a try. But when she tried to stand, nothing happened. She frowned. Her legs were still numb from the tranquilizer.

She tried rocking her body to a standing position, but she had no strength. Now what was she going to do?

Excoria strolled back into the room. “Good news!”

“You’re going to let me go?”

She frowned. “No, your father has the money. I told him where to take it. I said that as soon as I had it, I’d call and tell him where you are.”

Hope rose inside her. “You’re going to let me go after all?”

Excoria shook her head. “No, I just told him that.”

“And that’s your good news?”

“Well, yeah.” Confusion wrinkled her brow.

God, could she be that stupid? “You can’t just kill me!”

“Yes, I can.” She held up the small gun. “I’ll just load up the gun with enough of the drug to kill you. It won’t hurt. I’m not that cruel. Just think of it like this, you’ll be going to sleep … forever.”

She went to a black box that was sitting beside the sofa and began going through the pellets.

“Please don’t kill me,” Darcy begged. She hated begging, but it was her last hope.

“You know what I look like. You’d tell everyone. I’ve watched enough of your television and that’s what they do. The victim tells the captor she won’t say anything, but the minute the captor lets her go, bam, she runs to anyone who will listen. Then the poor captor is locked away when all the kidnapper was trying to do was make a decent living.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?” Darcy said, staring at her.

“No, I’m not. I saw it on television.” She stood and raised the gun, pointing it at Darcy.

“Yes, but did you see the CSI episode where they capture the kidnapper?”

“CSI?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s the show to watch. You’ve got to be careful of the evidence you leave behind. Pfftt, they could have you in custody within a few minutes after getting the ransom money. You wouldn’t want that to happen.”

Excoria glared at her.

“You’ll tell me everything you know about this evidence,” Excoria said.

“Or what? You’ll kill me?”

“I can remove the sleep agent and exchange it for something that will make you scream in pain for hours before you finally die.”

“You can do that?”

“I can do many things.”

“I’ll tell you everything I know,” Darcy said and wondered how many investigative procedures she could come up with before Excoria felt she knew enough, and then killed her anyway. It didn’t matter. Darcy would suck up every last second she could get.

Ten minutes later, Darcy knew she was quickly running out of time. Excoria’s eyes were glazing over. Hell, Darcy’s brain was glazing over.

“You’ll need to get some booties to wear on your feet,” Darcy said. Yes, she was inventing stuff now. “That way they won’t be able to trace the tread of your shoes. And a surgical mask.”

“Why would I need a mask?”

Mask? Why would she need a mask? Think! She drew in a deep breath. “So they won’t pick up your scent.” Okay, that was really lame.

Excoria nodded. “You’re right.”

“I am?” She cleared her throat. “I mean, of course, I am. I told you I could get you through this.”

“I have plenty of information.” Excoria looked sad. “Now I must say good-bye.”

She looked sad? Ha, she wasn’t the one about to sleep forever.

“You don’t have to kill me. Just leave me tied up. At least give me that much. We’re practically friends now. I swear I won’t tell a soul.”

Excoria shook her head and Darcy knew this was it. Her mother and father might never know what had happened to her.

“I’m truly sorry.”

“At least let my parents know I’m”—she cleared her throat—“dead. Give me that at least.”

Excoria nodded, tears filling her eyes. “I will send them a letter.”

Darcy sighed with relief, then closed her eyes and braced herself.

Something crashed through the window in the other room.

Darcy’s eyes flew open. “I’m saved!”

Excoria jumped and screamed. The gun went off, the pellet thudding into Darcy’s chest.

Well, hell!

She glanced down at her chest. “Great, someone crashes through the window to save me and it’s too damned late.” She blinked, wondering if it was the drug that was making her see a wolf. It was crouched in attack mode, teeth bared, hair standing up on its back.

Darcy’s gaze transferred to Excoria. She looked scared shitless, which served Excoria right for killing her. She sniffed. Now no one would ever know what had happened to her. The wolf could dine on them for a solid week. Her bones would be buried all over the neighbors’ estate.

Eww.

“No, don’t hurt me,” Excoria screamed.

A hawk suddenly flew into the room, circled, then landed on the coffee table. Next came a jaguar, then a unicorn.

Wow, she was really tripping. If this was what drugs were all about, she wanted no part of them. Although the unicorn was pretty. Still, she’d much rather live in the real world. Except that would never happen.

A tear slipped from the corner of her eye as a heavy fog rolled across the room. This must be the end. Everything was getting foggy. Good-bye, Mom and Dad. Good-bye, Surlock. Oh, God, they could’ve been so good together.

The fog began to clear.

Maybe this wasn’t the end just yet. She blinked, but her eyes were still filled with tears so it was hard to tell what exactly she was looking at.

Had she died and gone to heaven? There were three naked men and a naked woman in the room and the animals were gone. She blinked again.

One of the men was Surlock. What a nice fantasy to have before she checked out. Damn, she was so sleepy, she couldn’t … she couldn’t …

She closed her eyes on a sigh.