Mind Scrambler

Chapter 2

Chapter 2Elijah Long sat curled up in a corner in a cold, dark room. He wasn’t sure room was the right word for it—prison cell was more suitable. He believed he was in a stable or some kind of industrial building. The concrete floor was cold, and the wind found its way in through the walls.

His tongue was sandpaper-dry and his head floaty. He suspected he’d been drugged, but he wasn’t sure. Had he been overwhelmed and blocked everything out? He didn’t think so. And even if he had, he would’ve come to as soon as he’d stopped blocking.

When he changed position, a chain rattled. The cuff around his wrist didn’t hurt, but waking up in a strange place with one of his hands cuffed to a wall wasn’t his idea of a good time.

Biting the inside of his cheek, he tried to remember. His heart was banging hard in his chest, and he didn’t know if it was panic or a side effect of the drugs—if he’d been drugged. Probably panic.

Why was he here? How had he gotten here? Who had brought him here? Where was here?

Elora would find him.

He patted his pockets and cursed when he realized his phone was gone. Of course it was gone. Who’d kidnap someone but leave them their phone?

Emotions swamped him—excitement and anger were the most prominent ones. Fear sluggishly crawled over his skin. He’d been drugged. His fear would’ve kicked in a lot faster otherwise.

What if it was Varg?

Panic sliced through his calm; sharp claws piercing his mind, and he whimpered. Making himself as small as he could, he did his best to protect his head with his arms and pushing his knees to his chest to protect his abdomen. Varg always liked tearing the skin on his belly, while talking about how easy it would be to rip his guts out.

The metallic taste coating his tongue told him he bit it through—it wasn’t the first time.

The door opened and heavy footsteps stomped across the room. “Here.” Something hit the floor. “Eat, but if you need to s**t, you’re cleaning it up yourself.” It was too dark to see, but as the footsteps moved away, Eli gazed in the man’s direction. He’d recognize Varg’s voice anywhere, and it wasn’t him.

The door opened and daylight lit up the dark for a second. The man was huge, and Eli bit his lip not to make a sound as he took in the broad shoulders and strong arms—like Varg. The anger in the man was thick and suffocating. It fueled Eli’s fear, and soon his pulse was the only thing he heard.

The door closed, and a lock sounded. He hadn’t heard the lock when the man had approached, but he could’ve been too freaked out to notice.

Daylight. Eli’s last memory was of him going around his house, turning off the lights, and getting ready for bed. Had he been here overnight or longer? He had some fuzzy memories of waking, but he couldn’t remember where he’d been when he had.

Since no daylight fell through any windows, he didn’t think he was in a stable. He suspected he was in some kind of stall, but maybe he wasn’t. Blindly fumbling around in the dark, his fingers touched the edge of a tray. Carefully, he slid his fingers along the edge, trying to determine what was on it. He brushed upon a glass and grabbed it as thirst rose in him. He downed the water, then regretted it as his stomach cramped.

Was he sick?

He took the sandwich the man had put on the tray and bit into it. His tongue wasn’t cooperating as it should, and he had to chew carefully not to bite himself. His belly hurt, but he ate anyway. He didn’t know how long it had been since he’d eaten or when he would get food again.

Elora would find him.

She had to know something had happened when he hadn’t called. He hoped she remembered the old sock trick they’d used when they were kids. She would. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. There was nothing in this world Elora couldn’t do…or so he liked to think.

She was the one who’d made sure they were okay when their parents had died. He might have been the one who fixed it so they had a roof over their heads and food on the table, but she was the one who kept them sane. She was the one who’d gotten him away from Varg, she was the one who’d found a house suitable for him. She’d do whatever she could to protect him from Varg and from the rest of the world.

But if it wasn’t Varg who was here to get him back, then who had taken him, and why?

* * * *

The trip to Ashork took a little less than two hours, so quicker than predicted. The November wind tore at Kol’s hair as he walked along the beach by the lake.

“There is no boat here.” He sniffed the air, and he could scent humans and two or more wolf shifters, but nothing recent. But if Elijah had been gone for two days, the scents wouldn’t be fresh.

“No.” Elora frowned as she gazed across the lake to the island in the middle.

“So we’ll go pick up the canoe?” Elora had contacted someone she knew in the village who had a canoe.

She nodded. “I’ll go, you…sniff around.” She was quiet for a few seconds, then she looked him in the eyes. “People come here in the summer, having a picnic, swimming, but it’s not a populated beach. This time of year, I’d say a few dog-walkers would pass here, but few others.”

“There have been people here. Humans and shifters.”

A sour scent filled the air, and Kol looked around. What was scaring her? She didn’t show any fear, but scents didn’t lie. “What in that statement scared you?”

She regarded him for a few seconds longer. “Nothing.”

Kol raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t lie to me, Elora.” He tried not to be too overbearing around Thaddeus and Elora, accepted a lot more of their bullshit than he did from shifters, but he was the dominant in the group.

“I wasn’t lying.”

“You said nothing, and yet I scent fear.”

She frowned. “It’s not lying, it’s avoiding the question.”

“I’m your—” He was about to say alpha, but she wouldn’t understand the concept, and frankly, he didn’t either. He was a solitary animal, an alpha ran a pack, or a pride, his people only cared if you were more dominant or not. He liked packs much better. “—boss.” It didn’t have the same ring to it. Nothing in the word boss indicated he’d care for her, make sure she was safe, or her being loyal to him and doing as he asked.

She sighed. “Bullying is usually Ric’s gig, not yours.”

The statement made him pause. Both Elora and Thaddeus disliked Ric, feared him even—especially Elora. They had no reason to, Ric would die to protect them, but he was a mid-ranking wolf, he had to protect his place, and Thaddeus didn’t follow any shifter rules which always caused conflict with Ric. Kol suspected it all would change now when Thad was mated to Ric’s brother.

“I’ll go get the canoe.”

Not until she was several steps away, did he realize what she’d done. “I will get to you, Elora.” When she stumbled and turned, fear was stark on her face, but as she took in his waving fingers and his grin, she relaxed and shook her head before heading for the car.

What had scared her? Shifters? Had her brother pissed off some shifter? It wasn’t good if he had, but why would a wolf go after a psychic, and empath of all things? What could they gain from an empath? What the hell did an empath do?

Before long, Elora was back with a canoe strapped to the roof of the car.

“That was fast.” He grinned at her as she hopped out of the car.

“Yeah, old man Frank lives up the road.” She gestured at the woods. Kol nodded, inhaled, and stiffened.

“And he’s a leopard?” He didn’t want to get into any fights while they were here looking for Elijah, but he couldn’t come unannounced into a leopard’s territory and expect to be welcomed.

“What? No. Frank is an old man.”

Kol studied her for a few seconds. “Shifters grow old too.”

“Yes, but…He’s Frank.”

Kol nodded. “Yes.”

“He would never harm Eli.” Her dark brown eyes pleaded with him.

“I never said he would, I said he’s a shifter.” Kol frowned. “I’d never harm you, but I’m still a shifter.”

“Yes, but…” She looked across the lake. “We need to get going.” She went to unstrap the canoe, and Kol helped her get it into the water.

“Does Elijah have any medical conditions?”

“Other than being an empath, no.”

Kol stared at her. “What? It’s a medical condition?” How could it be a medical condition?

“No more than turning into a giant cat is.”

He nodded. She could have answered with a no.

“Except, he can’t be around too many people.”

Too many? How many was too many? “Will he attack us when we arrive?” Kol scanned the island as best he could from this distance. There were several places where a sniper could hide.

“Attack?” Elora gave a reluctant chuckle and shook her head. “He’s an empath.”

“I know, but he lives on an island. He could have put land mines all around it, have snipers in good places.” He gestured at some trees growing larger by each oar stroke.

Elora turned to stare at him. “He’s an empath! What about that don’t you understand?”

“He’d still want to defend his home, wouldn’t he?” Any sane person would want to defend his or her home. Kol relied a lot on his senses, but lately he’d been thinking about putting some things in place for his cabin. Nothing too crazy, only a few…things.

“He moved to an island.”

“And all you need is a canoe to get there.”

Elora steered them toward a small jetty with a tiny motorboat tied to it. “He’s here.”

Kol sniffed the air, scenting wolves, but it was faint which told him it had been a couple of days since they’d been there. “Does Elijah have wolf friends?”

Elora froze. “No.”

“Are you sure? You didn’t know Frank was a leopard.”

“Eli doesn’t have friends.” She climbed out of the canoe and more or less jogged up the slope toward the small house. “Be calm.”

Kol gave her a blank look. “I’m always calm.”

“I meant emotionally, not what you portray. I know you have a calm facade, but be calm.” She patted her chest.

Kol stared at her. What the hell did she mean?

The door was unlocked, which had Kol frowning. Perhaps it was normal to leave the door unlocked if you were at home, but not if you couldn’t defend yourself.

“Eli? Are you here?” Elora walked into the house, and Kol followed. The scents of the wolves were here too, but no one had been in the house for two days at least.

“There’s no one here.”

Elora looked at him. “You’re sure?” She swallowed audibly. “And no one…dead?”

Kol took a deep breath, scenting the air. “I can’t scent anyone from here, no.”

Elora stared at him, her eyes so wide Kol wanted to hug her.

She took a deep breath. “We’ll go through the house, see if anything is out of place. We’ll find him.”

A simple enough plan and Kol nodded his reply.

The house was clean, everything in order, but when Kol walked into the laundry room a sense of unease crept up his spine. He couldn’t say it was the scent, there was none, but it was…something. There had been a wolf shifter in the laundry room, but it wasn’t what had him pausing. “Elora?” He raised his voice to make sure she heard him while she was in the bedroom at the other end of the house.

Fast steps approached. “Yes?”

“Is Elijah on any drugs?”

“He doesn’t do drugs.” She glared at him.

“I meant medicine.”

She shook her head. “No, nothing.

“I think he was drugged. There is no distinct scent, but there is…something. And a wolf has been in here.”

“Fuck.” Elora slumped against the door frame. “We need to check his sock drawer.” She turned and walked back toward the bedroom.

“What?”

“Eli and I, when we were kids, we always wore mismatching socks.”

“Why?” Kol only bought black socks, so they’d always match.

“So one was left behind.”

So one could be found. Kol nodded. “You want to do it in the bedroom?”

“I never thought you’d ask.” She snorted, and he could tell she was scared.

He took her hand in his. “I’ll keep you safe.”