Romance

  Aurora &#39;s Perspective
  Through the arm locked around his throat, I could feel his pulse jackhammering, wild and frantic. A choked, gurgling sound escaped him, his face flushing, glasses askew. The scent of fear—sharp, sour, purely human terror—poured from him, overwhelming the smells of disinfectant and dust. Good. Fear was good. Fearful people told the truth.
  &quot;Don&#39;t move! A sound, and I snap your neck!&quot; I hissed, my voice low and guttural, carrying an unconscious, predatory rasp. &quot;Talk! Where is this?! Who are you people?! Why am I here?!&quot;
  &quot;Mmph… grrh…&quot; He struggled weakly, fingers clawing at my forearm. I eased the pressure just enough for him to breathe and speak, but kept my hand clamped over his mouth.
  &quot;Talk!&quot; I tightened my grip for a split second.
  &quot;D-don&#39;t kill me!&quot; he whimpered, the words muffled. &quot;I… I

  
  Lily&#39;s Perspective
  It was hopeless. A goddamned dead end.
  Aurora and Brett might as well have vanished into thin air. Nearly forty hours had passed since the kidnappers sent that video of Aurora. Silence. No new demands, no threats, nothing. This quiet was worse than constant harassment—a dull blade slowly sawing through our nerves.
  We&#39;d thrown every resource we had at it. The Moonlight Pack&#39;s networks, both above and below board. Ethan&#39;s contacts in the police and city administration. Even tentative queries to underground information brokers. Surveillance footage was scrubbed frame by frame. Suspect vehicles were tracked and lost. The industrial district where they&#39;d last been seen was turned inside out, sewers included. Jacob roamed day and night like a caged beast, returning each time with red-rimmed eyes, smelling of dust and despair. Celena forced hers

  Aurora&#39;s Perspective
  For the next day—or what I guessed was a day; in this lightless hole, time was a goddamn joke—I sat stewing in my own anxiety, the feeling of something being deeply *off* growing stronger with every passing, unmarked hour. I was a specimen pinned in a jar, festering.
  The two masked idiots hadn&#39;t shown their faces since the call with the shitty flip phone. No food, no threats, not even a check through the door&#39;s slot to see if I was still breathing. Just dead silence, thick enough to choke on, broken only by my own ragged breathing or the angry growl of my empty stomach.
  This was wrong. So wrong. What kidnapper doesn&#39;t keep an eye on their prize? Unless… they didn’t care if I saw them. Or they had more pressing business. Or they were just that confident this place was an inescapable cage.
  Hunger and thirst became real torment. My lips were cr

Aurora &#39;s Perspective
  Through the arm locked around his throat, I could feel his pulse jackhammering, wild and frantic. A choked, gurgling sound escaped him, his face flushing, glasses askew. The scent of fear—sharp, sour, purely human terror—poured from him, overwhelming the smells of disinfectant and dust. Good. Fear was good. Fearful people told the truth.
  &quot;Don&#39;t move! A sound, and I snap your neck!&quot; I hissed, my voice low and guttural, carrying an unconscious, predatory rasp. &quot;Talk! Where is this?! Who are you people?! Why am I here?!&quot;
  &quot;Mmph… grrh…&quot; He struggled weakly, fingers clawing at my forearm. I eased the pressure just enough for him to breathe and speak, but kept my hand clamped over his mouth.
  &quot;Talk!&quot; I tightened my grip for a split second.
  &quot;D-don&#39;t kill me!&quot; he whimpered, the words muffled. &quot;I… I&#39;m just a researcher! I just work here! Please…&quot;
  A researcher? My gut twisted. Not a 

Chapter 256