My Two Alphas, page 6
part #1 of Alphas Series
“So what now? If you’ve let me sit up a bit, then we obviously are away from people, you don’t seem worried that anyone can see me. Could you untie me now, or at least take my blindfold off? This is really uncomfortable. You still haven’t told me why you kidnapped me out of my house in the middle of the night yet. What’s going on?”
The man sighed. From my position leaning back against him, I could feel his chest expand and contract with the deep breath.
“You have to be blindfolded so you don’t know where we’re taking you. We don’t plan to harm you, so we don’t want you to be able to tell anyone where we held you after you’re released. I’m not untying you yet, because I’m not risking you trying to run. It’s still dark, and you might get hurt if you fall”.
I took a moment to digest those statements. These were certainly strange kidnappers, although I didn’t have any previous experience of being kidnapped. They really didn’t seem to want to hurt me, which was a big relief to me, but I wasn’t going to succumb to Stockholm Syndrome quite so easily. They had still broken into my home, and taken me from my bed in the dead of night. Suddenly, something that had been nagging at me clicked into place and I struggled to sit up so that I could demand some answers.
“How do you know me? I saw you at the station yesterday, in the morning and the afternoon, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you there before, and yet you knew my name and where I lived. You didn’t follow me home from the station, I’m sure of that, so how did you know?”
“Remember when you bumped into me and spilt the contents of your bag everywhere? When I helped you pick everything up, I helped myself to your driver’s licence. I didn’t need to follow you home, I had all the information I needed”.
“Wait, you stole my licence? How? I didn’t see that, and my purse was in my bag, how did you get it out of my purse without me seeing you?”
I heard a soft snicker come from the front seat. The man who must be driving then spoke.
“Yeah, he’s a real cat burglar”. He then burst into laughter.
“Shut up, idiot”, said the man who then must have turned his head from facing forward to facing me, as I heard the pitch of his voice change.
“You know, it wasn’t really smart of you to admit that you saw me yesterday. That means you can identify my face, did you think that one through before you spoke?”
I gulped as I realised the implications of this. Would he kill me? He had seemed gentle enough so far, but now he knew I could identify him, that could change. I cast around for something to say, but then heard him chuckle again.
“Never fear, Diane Fleming. I don’t plan to kill you. Things will become clear later on. Make yourself comfortable, we’re not there yet”.
The strange thing was, even though I was huddled against someone who had kidnapped me, I was able to relax. I didn’t feel any immediate threat, so ended up relaxing so much that I dozed. Consequently, I couldn’t judge how much further we travelled until I felt the car slow to a stop again. This time, the back door opened, and I felt the man get out, then he reached in and put his hands under my arms and gently dragged me from the car. Then I was again outraged as he tossed me over his shoulder like luggage again, and started walking. I tried kicking my legs, but he shocked me by slapping my bottom hard, and then he laughed as he bounded up a few steps. I couldn’t help but note how strong he was, it didn’t seem as if my weight was bothering him at all. I heard the sound of his footsteps on boards, then a door opened and he walked through, a few more steps then he took a flight of stairs, again without seeming to be troubled by my weight. He opened another door, then took a few more steps, then pitched forward, shifting me so that I fell backwards, but he supported me so that instead of falling heavily, I landed with only a small thud on a bed. I felt hands at the cloth around my eyes, then blinked in the dim dawn light filtering in through the window. So it was almost morning, I thought to myself, but then realised that meant nothing to me as I didn’t know what time in the night I had been kidnapped. I had no idea how long we had travelled for. It could have just been an hour, or several hours. I squinted up to see two men standing over me. One I knew by face, the other I didn’t know, but I assumed he had been the other man in my room, and the driver of the car. I swallowed as I wondered what would happen now.
The second man turned to the first.
“Should we check her for a mark? We’ll have to take the bindings off to get her clothes off though”.
I recoiled in horror, and flicked my gaze between the two, finally focussing on the first man, who was frowning, and who started to shake his head.
“No, not yet. I’m sure there’s one there. I don’t think I could have been wrong about that. No, we’ll leave her for Cole. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees her”.
The two men then left the room, leaving me lying on the bed, with bindings on my hands, my knees and my ankles. I waited until I heard them walk down the stairs, then gently rotated my ankles, and tested the bindings. They were tight, and tied well, I thought, but not tied by people who had a lot of experience with kidnapping. I wasn’t planning to stick around for them to change their minds and come back to undress me, and I didn’t like the sound of them deciding to “leave me for Cole” whatever that meant. Maybe that was why they had been so gentle, and hadn’t molested me, maybe this was some weird sex game where they snatched women for this unknown man. I sat up, silently thanking them for being foolish enough to tie my hands at my front instead of my back. Luckily for me, I was relatively flexible, and had done enough sit ups that I managed it quickly. I bent forward, twisting the rope on my knees around so that I could see the knots and started working on them. It was difficult and slow, as I only had limited flexibility in my fingers as both hands were bound together, and I kept stopping to listen for footsteps on the stairs. Finally, I loosened the knots on the first set of bindings, then bent my knees to bring my ankles closer, and worked on them. This was a little more difficult, but as the light grew stronger outside, I finally prevailed. As I worked the knots on my wrists around to where I could work on them, I rotated my feet to bring sensation back to them, as they had gone a bit numb. Unable to get the knots on my wrists loose, I groaned in frustration, then slowly and quietly slid off the bed, heading to a door set in the wall. Success! It was a bathroom. I quietly rummaged through the cupboards, mentally cataloguing the items I found as I searched for something sharp. I didn’t find anything feminine, the bathroom was obviously occupied by a man, I rationalised as I found men’s deodorant and safety razors. I discarded those as possibilities to get the ropes off, even if I broke the plastic open, the blade was too small and I wouldn’t be able to hold it in the right position to get the ropes cut. I grimaced as I found a box of condoms. Unopened? I hoped they hadn’t stocked up the bathroom on my account. Finally, I found a small pair of nail scissors. Knowing that it would take a while to make any headway in the ropes with these, I started working.
About an hour, and several scratches on my wrists later, I got enough strands undone that the rope loosened enough for me to get a knot into a position where I could work it loose, using the point of the scissors. I massaged my wrists, then put the scissors in the breast pocket of my pyjama top. Up to now I had always marvelled at the uselessness of such a thing – after all, who needs a pocket on their pjs? But now, I was a convert. Sometimes you really did need to carry something. I slowly crept back into the bedroom, sending up silent thanks that I hadn’t found any creaking floorboards, and that the carpet in the bedroom was thick. I had bare feet still, so didn’t make any sound. I slowly eased the door open, having already discarded the idea of jumping out the window, and crept down the stairs. I could probably have made a little more noise, I realised, as there was a new voice in the house, and the argument that was ensuing was covering up any tiny noise I might have made. The voices were coming from the back of the house, and I could see the front door. I looked at the hall table, but was disappointed to not see any car keys there. My head spun towards the noise as I heard some of the argument.
“I don’t care whether you thought it would be a good idea or not, you can’t go around stealing people, and then bringing them here, which made a bad decision worse! What are we supposed to do with her?” Shouted the new voice, one which seemed to reverberate through me. I hesitated, wanting to listen to the voice more, but wanting to take the chance to get away as well.
“I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity. You know she’s the leverage we need to get the upper hand – “ it was the voice of my kidnapper.
“She’s not leverage, she’s a person! How am I going to fix this? If I let her go, she’s bound to go to the police, and do you really want them sniffing around? I’m trying to make peace here, not start a war!”
Shocked at his vehemence, I crept forward, thinking to peer through the door which was slightly ajar. When I got to the door, I had to put my hand over my mouth to smother a gasp. Whatever they put in the water around here should be bottled and sold, I reasoned. If I had thought the man from the train was handsome, this man left him for dead. I could see that he was tall, he stood head and shoulders over the first man, who I could only see from the back. He had jet black hair, which was overlong and the hair at the sides of his head was pulled back in two braids, with the rest of his hair hanging loose down his back. His skin was a rich olive colour, and yet instead of brown, his eyes were green, I could see them glinting from where I stood. He wasn’t as broad shouldered as Bram was, being more of a slender build, but I didn’t doubt that he was just as strong. In the relaxed fit t-shirt and jeans he wore, I could see his arms bulging, and his chest filled out the shirt nicely. I must have taken a subconscious step forward, and made a little sound, as his head whipped around and he fixed me with that brilliant green gaze. I froze for a moment, then turned and headed for the front door at full tilt. As I wrenched the door open, I head my kidnapper shouting in a panicked voice:
“Don’t run, he’ll bring you down if you make him chase you!”
I didn’t know what he was yelling about, but I had to try. I bolted down the front steps, then across the driveway, suppressing the urge to scream as my bare feet scraped on the gravel. I headed for a grassed area, then looked for somewhere to go. The landscape was bare, but there was a slight hill up ahead. I headed for that, not knowing what was over it, but hoping to find a road. As I ran I heard something heavy chasing me, then thought I heard a snarl. I chanced a look over my shoulder as I ran, fearing that a dog had been set loose, but instead was horrified to see what looked like a panther chasing me. I couldn’t even waste the breath screaming, as I needed to run. I tried a zig zag pattern, trying to confuse the predator, but knowing it was hopeless. I wasn’t all that unfit, but wasn’t in great condition, and knew I didn’t have a hope of outrunning such a creature. I heard it closing in on me, and tried for another burst of speed, but then I heard a moment of silence as its feet left the ground, then felt a heavy weight hit my back and hot breath at the back of my neck. I hit the ground heavily and must have hit my head too as everything went black.
Six
“Oh, God, what was that?” I groaned as I regained consciousness.
I jumped as someone answered me.
“You shouldn’t have run. Blair tried to warn you”.
I filed that away. My kidnapper’s name was Blair. I opened my eyes, then realised that there was a cloth over them again. At first seething that I had been blindfolded again, I quickly realised that it wasn’t a blindfold, but a dampened washcloth. I slowly pulled it from my eyes to see him standing over me, looking down. Him. The gorgeous one. I blushed as I realised that I was reacting to him when only a couple of days ago I had been romping in a hotel room with Bram. What was happening to me lately? I jumped as the man moved to my side and sat on the mattress. He picked up my hand, and looked at the scratches. I smothered a gasp as I felt that jolt of electricity pass between us. There must be something wrong with me lately, this was the second man I had reacted to, in just a few days.
“How did these happen? Did they do this to you when they grabbed you?”
I was surprised, he looked angry. Shaking my head, I responded.
“No, I scratched myself when I got the rope off”.
He scowled even more when he turned my hands and saw the red marks from the ropes.
“I’ll have their hides for this. I don’t know what they were thinking. I can’t apologise enough for everything that’s happened”.
“How did you get that big cat off me? Did he bite me?” I asked, snatching my hands from him and feeling around the back of my neck. His touch was altogether too disturbing. I saw his eyes glint as I spoke, and didn’t know what I had said to affect him, but I knew that somehow I had.
“No, he didn’t bite you, I can guarantee that. He just saw you running, and didn’t want you to leave. He would never have hurt you”.
His voice had quietened, and I had to lean forward a little to hear him properly. I sat back suddenly, not feeling very comfortable with the way I was reacting to him. Just because he was showing kindness didn’t mean he wasn’t holding me captive.
“Why was I kidnapped and when are you going to let me go?”
His eyes focussed on my lips as I spoke, and nervously, I licked them, drawing in a breath when I saw him watch the action of my tongue. He seemed to pull himself together and raise his eyes to mine, seeming to refocus them.
“You were kidnapped by a pair of young fools and I will let you go as soon as I’m sure it’s safe”.
“What do you mean safe, for who?”
“For all of us. Those fools have brought more trouble on us than they know. But that’s not your problem. I’d like you to be comfortable while you’re our guest. In the meantime, do you have any other injuries? Were your hands the only place they tied you?”
I indicated my knees and ankles, and he turned to inspect my ankles. I closed my eyes as I felt his warm fingers brush my ankles, checking for injury. Once he was satisfied, he looked to me for permission before pushing the legs of my summer cotton pyjamas up to my knees, and inspecting my knees. It took all of my self control to not react to the feeling of his fingers on my legs, but he glanced at me once or twice, so I don’t know how successful I was. Once he was satisfied that I wasn’t injured, he patted my knee and stood up.
“You’ll probably want to shower after ending up in the dirt like you did. You obviously know the bathroom is through there, I’ll try to scare up some clothes from someone smaller. They’ll probably still be big though, but I can’t help that. I’ll just leave them on the bed if that’s ok. Once you’re done, come downstairs and we’ll see about breakfast”.
He stood up and walked away, not looking back. I sat on the bed a little longer, then realised that I really did want a shower. It had been a long morning.
When I finally turned off the water, and ventured out of the bathroom, there was a t-shirt and a pair of shorts with a cord belt on the bed. I slipped into them, pulling the cord as tight as possible, but they still hung a little loose on my hips. I dithered for a moment about what to do with my pyjamas, and in the end folded them and left them on the end of the bed. After my shower I felt a lot better, I had even found a new toothbrush in the bathroom, and even though I had used masculine smelling bath gel and deodorant, so my smell was unfamiliar to me, at least I was clean again, I hung the towel back up in the bathroom after towelling my hair dry roughly. It was a warm enough day that I didn’t want to use the blow dryer I had found, my hair would dry quickly enough. I stepped down the stairs, noting that the house was now very quiet, and followed my nose to the kitchen. I pushed open the door, pausing to enjoy the view of a broad back and tight buttocks as the man moved from side to side, frying food in a pan. He must have heard me, as he turned and smiled.
“Well, don’t you look cute in those clothes”, he laughed, “they were the smallest I could find, I’m afraid”.
His eyes lingered on my braless breasts, and I blushed. I cleared my throat and he looked up at me, then smiled as he realised he had been caught looking, and turned back to his cooking. I took a seat at the table, and shortly found myself looking at a mammoth portion of toast, eggs and bacon, with orange juice and coffee on the side.
“I can’t eat all of this”, I protested. “Surely you can’t eat all this every day and stay the size you are”.
He smiled at me as he chewed, then swallowed and responded.
“Fast metabolism. Do you like what you see?”
I sat back in wonder. Did he mean the food, or him? I decided to play it safe.
“Well, it’s more than I would normally eat, but it looks good”.
My ‘safe statement’ was thrown back in my face, when with a smirk, the man made it clear that he wasn’t talking about the food.
“Well, aren’t you just the flatterer? So you normally get a lot less to eat do you? I’ll try to be gentle with you then. But food first, I think we should both keep our strength up, don’t you?”
I gasped at his bold assumption, remembering where I was, and that I was with someone who associated with kidnappers. My eyes narrowed as I remembered that I still didn’t know his name.
“Who are you, anyway? You haven’t told me your name, but it seems that your associates know mine”.
He shocked me by leaning forward, over the table, extending his hand as if to shake mine.
“Cole Easton. Pleased to meet you, Diane Fleming”.
He held his hand extended, his eyes daring me not to take it, but I wasn’t about to show fear, so I took it. Instantly I snatched it away, feeling that zing when our hands made contact, and not knowing how to react to it. I rubbed my hand and stared at him, confused.
