Sophie Oak - Siren Unleashed

It had taken the love of those men to prove it. She wouldn’t fight. She wouldn’t scream and rebel. Oh, she would kill him if she could, but she wouldn’t rage against him, inviting the possibility of death. She would wait.

Because they would come for her and they would love her no matter what Tate managed to do.

And if she managed to survive, she would take their collar and join them because this was her life and her choice and no amount of torture would take that from her again.

“Here.”

Gretchen grabbed the phone, frowning. “He’s going to break you. Or he’ll kill you. Either way, it’s what you deserve.”

He wouldn’t. Hawk might have been able to, but Nat had Kitten to buoy her. She could see it now. Kitten had given her a reason to fight. Now she had more reason than ever. She had Ben and Chase. They would never stop looking. They would look until they found her, and she intended to be waiting. She could be old and gray and broken, but the moment she saw them again, she could begin her life anew.

And she would protect Georgia. Silly, bratty Georgia.

Gretchen scrambled back up the ladder and the world went dark again.

“Sweetie, are you okay?” She groped in the darkness, looking for Georgia.

Georgia hissed. “Hurts like hell. I don’t like being shot, Nat.”

“Is the bullet still in your arm?” The last thing she needed was a Georgia who might be easier to kill than to move. She couldn’t stomach the thought of Chase and Ben’s sister being murdered because Tate thought it was easier than taking her along.

“I don’t think so.” Georgia’s breath hitched. “I think I’m bleeding from both sides. It didn’t hit the bone. I’m glad I’m a little chunky, I guess. God, it hurts, but I can still move it. When they come for us, I’ll get my ass up. I won’t give them a reason to shoot me again. I can be charming from time to time.”

Thank god . “I’m so sorry I got you into this.”

There was a long silence. “I didn’t want to give up the phone because it belonged to him. I’m so stupid, Nat.”

Nat found her hair. She couldn’t see the blonde, but she felt the silk of her tresses, and pulled her close. They were sisters now. “You’re not stupid. You just fell for a boy.”

She heard Georgia sniffle. “He doesn’t like me. I don’t think he’ll come for me, but my brothers will. I annoy the hell out of them, but they’ll come for me because you’re here and they love you.”

She held Georgia close. “Logan will come. I promise. And your brothers would come even if I wasn’t here. You’re their sister. They wouldn’t leave you behind. And I won’t either. We’re going to survive.”

The room went quiet. Nat began a silent prayer. To survive.

The light flooded in again and Nat blinked up. Booted feet made their way down the rungs of the ladder, but she could see the ropes that hung beside it. Tate had always been good with a rope. It was how he’d gotten her sleeping form down the rabbit hole.

“Hello, Natalie. We meet at last.”

Nat held Georgia’s good hand and faced her nightmare.

Chase helped the young woman out of the cage she’d been held in. Her hands were shaking, but no more than the sheriff’s voice quaked.

“You were right. About the girls. Damn, that’s Michelle Nelson.” The sheriff took a long breath, taking off his hat as the paramedics swooped in on the young, thin girl.

Jack Barnes looked down at her as she was placed on the gurney. “Hey. Your uncle has been looking everywhere for you. You’re going to be all right now, Michelle.”

“Did you find Hannah?” The other girl was all Michelle had been able to talk about. Being placed in slavery together formed strong bonds it seemed. Like the ones between Natalie and Kitten. Like the one Gretchen had utterly broken.

“She’s already on her way to the hospital. You’re going, too. Do you think you can talk to the sheriff then?” Barnes seemed to be using his gentlest voice, but he obviously wanted her to talk.

So did Chase, because despite the fact that they had found the two missing girls, they still had no Natalie. Just a third fucking cage. Empty. Waiting. The motherfucker had engraved her name on the cage like it was a gift. Natalie .

He wanted to feel that man’s throat when he crushed it.

“I can talk. I can describe him and all the men who hurt me. Starting with that jerk Cooder Jones. He’s the one who drugged me.” Michelle Nelson wasn’t broken. Oh, she would need years of therapy, but she was still defiant. Like his Natalie.

Chase tried to sound as gentle as Jack. “Are you talking about Bill Jones? The man who runs Wispers?”

The gurney came up, snapping into place. “Yes. I was looking for a job. He brought me an iced tea and the next thing I knew, I was in that cage and the blond man was…he was horrible. He kept calling me by another name.”

“Natalie.” Ben didn’t make it a question. His jaw tightened as he looked at Chase.

Hollow eyes stared back up. “Yeah. That was the name. He beat me until I answered to it.” She teared up as she looked back at Barnes. “My uncle really looked for me?”

Jack nodded. “I already called him. He’s going to be waiting for you. And I’ll take care of the rest of it.”

The sheriff frowned as both victims were taken to the hospital. “Now, Jack, you can’t just run around like a damn vigilante. I got one of my deputies watching that Tate fellow. I’m going to head on over to Wispers and see if I can have a talk with Cooder. He’s an asshole. I might need to call in the state troopers. He won’t be interested in talking to me, but maybe I can scare him a little.”

“I’m going with you.” Chase didn’t have a choice. This was the last of the places he’d found.

He’d been wrong. He was never wrong. Until the one moment it mattered most.

Now he was utterly incompetent. Useless. Natalie was counting on him. His sister was counting on him, and he had nothing.

“Calm down,” Ben said. “You were on the right track. You found the missing girls. You’ll find our girl, too.”

Before Tate raped her? Before he inevitably killed Georgia? Because his baby sister wouldn’t last long. Natalie would try to save her, but she would fail and that would kill her soul in a way Hawk hadn’t been able to.

“Georgia won’t break. I know that sounds dumb,” Ben said, his face a stark mask.

“No. She’s smarter than she lets on, and she’s stubborn as the day is long. She won’t bend. She’ll push them until they kill her. She might seem flighty and superficial, but she’s a Dawson down deep.” His brothers would kill him. How could he tell Win and Mark and Drew that he’d gotten their baby sister brutally killed?

“I’m going to that damn club.” Logan Green had a shotgun in his hand. “Someone is going to tell me where she is.”

Chase got the feeling Logan wasn’t talking about Natalie. He’d been tense, on edge, for the last several hours as they’d searched.

The sheriff returned from his squad car. “Now, fellows, I have some bad news and I have some good news. That Tate person is gone. My deputy lost track of him.”

Motherfucker . He should never have listened to any of these men. He’d called the feds in, but they were taking their time. Time was the one thing he didn’t have. And now Tate was in the wind. Leaning on the guys at the strip club seemed like their only option.

“What is the good news?” Ben asked between clenched teeth.

The sheriff rubbed a hand across his face. “Does anyone here know a man called Nathan Wright?”

Who the fuck was Nathan Wright?

Logan turned, his whole body shifting to someone more confident. “Nate Wright is the sheriff of Bliss.”