Thea’s POV

“Wake up!”

I groaned but didn’t open my eyes. The voice sounded so distant that I thought I was dreaming.

“Thea, goddamn it, wake up!”

This time my eyes flew open. The voice sounded too real to be a dream. And why the hell would I be dreaming about her voice?

My vision was blurry as my eyes adjusted to the light. Memories of what had happened earlier came flooding back. Shit! I’d been abducted again.

My brain still felt foggy from what I guessed was chloroform. I quickly checked myself, hoping the chemical wouldn’t affect my baby. I was tied to a chair, my hands bound behind my back. Trying to move proved futile; the ropes were tight, cutting into my skin. Whoever had kidnapped me clearly didn’t want to risk me escaping.

“Are you done examining yourself?” she asked.

I thought it was my imagination, but it wasn’t. I jerked my head to the left and found Aurora also tied to a chair. She looked more alert, meaning she’d been there longer than me.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked stupidly.

I looked around. It was a large room, almost empty. Besides the chairs Aurora and I were sitting on, there was no furniture; nothing to indicate where we were or who owned the house.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’ve both been kidnapped,” she answered sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. “No shit! I know that! I meant to ask why the kidnapper would take both of us.”

I didn’t know who had taken us, but I had my suspicions. The only remaining threat was someone who thought Aurora meant more to the Sterling Pack and Sebastian than I did.

“I don’t know.”

“How long have you been here?” I tried to breathe calmly. Panicking wouldn’t help.

The more I tried, the more I was taken back to the night Kane betrayed me. Hadn’t things happened almost exactly the same way? The difference was that Iris and I had been kidnapped then, not Aurora. Fear gripped me as I recalled that day—fear that the same thing would happen again, or perhaps another trusted person would betray me.

“I’m not sure. I was just regaining consciousness when they carried you in,” Aurora’s voice pulled me from the painful memory.

“How long was I out?”

“Probably fifteen or twenty minutes.”

I fell silent, trying to calculate the time, but it didn’t help. I wasn’t sure how far they’d driven from the ice cream shop. Panic set in again when I thought about Leo. God, who would pick him up? School let out at 3:30, and it was already close to noon when I was at the ice cream shop. What if they decided to take him too?

“Calm down,” I told myself. “You know if you can’t pick him up, the school will call Sebastian. He’ll be safe.” I kept repeating this until I calmed down, my breathing no longer rapid. Leo would be fine. Now, I just needed to focus on myself.

“So it’s true, you’re pregnant,” Aurora spoke up, making me turn to her. She was staring at my belly.

I froze for a moment, then remembered she hadn’t known before; she must have seen that report. I didn’t answer and wasn’t planning to, ignoring her and turning forward. My pregnancy was none of her fucking business.

I started wrestling with the ropes, trying to loosen them. The ropes cut into my skin, but I kept trying. I wasn’t going to stay here with her any longer than necessary.

“Why are you always so rude?” she frowned at my actions. “That’s not going to solve anything.”

“Why don’t you shut your mouth and let me think?” I snapped at her.