The Wolf Prince

CHAPTER 27

Darcy glared at Excoria’s back. First chance she got, she was knocking this chick’s lights out. Not that she would get that chance any time soon. The bitch had tied the ropes pretty damned tight.

And if Excoria shot her with that tranquilizer gun one more time, she’d do more than knock her lights out. She’d cram the gun down her throat—then knock her lights out.

Even in her dazed state, Darcy recognized the estate next door to her parents’ place. The Bishops were still in France. She was so close to her parents, to her home and everything she loved, yet so far away.

No, that wasn’t quite true. She wasn’t close to Surlock. She had no idea where he was. From what she could gather from El Stupido, he was being used to trade for some high-up official who was imprisoned in Surlock’s country.

When Excoria suddenly turned around, Darcy quickly lowered her gaze and became the docile captive again.

“I’m going to call them.” Excoria reached for her cell phone.

“It’s too soon,” Darcy told her. “It will take time for my parents to gather that much money without raising suspicion.” She only hoped she could stall Excoria long enough for her parents to contact the FBI and get them involved. Excoria had been a little smarter than Darcy had given her credit for and warned her parents she would kill Darcy if law enforcement of any kind was brought in.

“No, I think I should call them.” Excoria paced back and forth, plucking at her clothes as if they scratched her. She stopped to glance nervously out the window. “This was a bad idea,” she mumbled. “Nivla will be really mad if he discovers I didn’t kill you.”

Darcy had to distract the other woman so she would stop worrying about what would happen if the others found out she hadn’t carried out their orders. Excoria was clearly off her rocker. Darcy would never understand why a bunch of terrorists would even enlist this woman’s help. She kept talking about impures.

Apparently, everyone thought Darcy was an impure. They were all lunatics. Maybe they were against people who weren’t virgins and still unmarried. A weird religious cult. Wow, they were going to have their work cut out for them if they planned to destroy all the unmarried non-virgins.

Right now, fear and indecision were written all over the woman’s face. Darcy certainly didn’t want Excoria to regret not killing her.

“You know, there are a bunch of places to hide,” Darcy said. “You could go anywhere you want with the money my parents are going to give you for returning me safe and unharmed.”

Excoria was thoughtful. “Yes, I can, can’t I?”

“You won’t have to take orders from anyone.”

Excoria sighed, then plopped down on the sofa. She’d removed most of the sheets that covered the furniture. Ms. Bishop was going to be really pissed that Excoria was staining her expensive white sofa with her dirty boots. Not that Darcy would mention that to her.

“You could easily afford a house like this,” Darcy said.

Of course, by the time Excoria paid all the taxes, and bought furniture, and paid any HOA fees, there wouldn’t be much left. Besides the fact the IRS would want to know how she’d acquired so much money in the first place. No, she’d let all that be a surprise. That is, if Excoria even had a chance to spend any of the money.

Excoria looked around with a dreamy expression. “I could have all the jewels I wanted, too.”

Obviously, she’d been living in a cave and hadn’t heard the economy was in the crapper.

“Oh, well, yeah.” Darcy nodded her head. “You could drape your body in jewels. Diamonds and rubies. Emeralds as big as your thumb.” Mostly paste, of course. Two mil just didn’t go as far as it used to.

Excoria sighed. “I’ve heard that on Nerak they have jewels just lying around. Can you imagine that?”

Nerak? Darcy had never heard of the place. “Is that somewhere in Australia?”

Excoria snorted. “You still don’t have a clue, do you?”

No, and Darcy doubted she ever would. But, just to play along, she shook her head. “I don’t guess I do.”

“Nerak isn’t another country,” Excoria smugly stated. “It’s another planet.”

Great, the woman was crazier than she’d thought. What? Had they all escaped from a loony bin? Had they taken Surlock because they wanted to break out this Zerod guy? He was probably crazier than all of them put together. Maybe Surlock was a doctor who worked there or something.

A cold chill swept over her. What if Surlock was one of the crazies?

Surlock was not crazy! Just because he had humming in his ears didn’t make him crazy. She had humming in her ears that was steadily getting worse, but that didn’t mean she was crazy. …

Lord, she hoped it didn’t mean she was crazy.

She had to think, and keep Excoria talking. The woman was clearly off her rocker. But if Excoria was busy talking, maybe she wouldn’t be thinking about killing Darcy.

“So, does that mean you’re an alien?” Darcy asked as nonchalantly as she could.

Excoria chuckled, leaning forward. “I’m an alien. You’re an alien.”

“I’m an alien,” Darcy repeated. The situation was worse than she’d thought.

“Part alien, which makes you an impure.” Excoria crossed her legs at the ankles. A clump of dirt fell off one boot and landed on the sofa.

“Oh, I thought it meant I wasn’t a virgin,” Darcy mumbled.

Well, at least now they wouldn’t be going around killing off the non-virgins who weren’t married. That would save a lot of lives.

“And my parents were aliens?” Darcy asked. Uh-huh, sure.

“Only one of them. I know that much about your ancestry. They were disposed of by rogues.”

Disposed of. Hmm, she supposed that meant they were dead. “How sad. Did you kill them?” It was best to play along with the lunatic.

Excoria frowned. “No, of course not. I didn’t become a rogue until a couple of years ago.”

“Up until then you were just your run-of-the-mill alien.”

Excoria cocked an eyebrow. “A Symtarian isn’t an average alien, and New Symtaria is far more advanced than Earth. And we’re not aliens where I come from. You would be the alien.”

“And New Symtaria is a planet.” Wow, now this was getting strange. How could this chick know that she and Surlock had been searching for New Symtaria?

“Of course it’s another planet.”

“And Surlock is a prince.”

“Exactly.” Excoria smiled as if she was a teacher and her dumbest student had just figured out how to add one plus one.

Time to make her worry just a little. “Then since Surlock and I care deeply for each other, if you harm me in any way, he will probably hunt you down and squash you like a bug.”

Excoria’s mouth opened and closed, then her brow wrinkled in thought. Suddenly, she brightened. “I’ll have a lot of money, and I’ll make sure he never finds me.” She stood up. “I’m going to get some air and check the perimeter. You’d better not try to escape or I’ll squash you like a little bug.” She sashayed into the other room.

A few minutes later, Darcy heard a door open, then close. She might have ten minutes or so to make her escape. Thank goodness, Excoria had left her hands and feet tied in front.

As she tried to wiggle loose, Darcy realized Excoria was pretty good at tying knots. All she had accomplished so far was rubbing her wrists raw.

She began to gnaw at the ropes with her teeth, cringing at what her mother would think if she could see her, especially since she’d forced Darcy to wear ugly braces until she was fifteen. It had not been fun when the kids tagged her with the nickname “Metal Mouth.”

Her teeth were not strong enough to even gnaw a strand of the rope. Frustration filled her. She was only two miles from home, and the thought was killing her.

Was Surlock looking for her? Was he even alive? Her stomach clenched. His captors were as crazy as Excoria. Were they both doomed?

No, she wouldn’t think about the lunatics who’d taken him prisoner. Or the fact that terrorists usually killed their hostages. But if he was really a prince, would that make a difference?

She didn’t know what to think anymore and this infernal humming in her ears was driving her up a freakin’ wall! She couldn’t stand it. She struggled to her feet and began to hop toward the front door.

“Where are you going?” Excoria said behind her.

“Out of here.”

“I don’t think so.”

Darcy knew she was screwed when she heard the click of the tranquilizer gun. Ah, hell. It popped her right on the butt. Tears filled her eyes as she sank to the floor, thankful the carpet was plush. The Bishops had spared no expense. Still, it wasn’t the most comfortable landing.

Excoria strolled over, then rolled Darcy onto her back. “Think of it this way—you can take a nice long nap. You don’t have to worry about getting free. I loaded this one with a little something extra, so enjoy all the colors and pretty lights.” She laughed as she moved out of Darcy’s line of vision.

Excoria was right about one thing, Darcy didn’t feel the urge to run. No, she was just going to lie here and trip out. Her mom would be so pissed when Darcy told her Excoria had given her drugs. Darcy had never even experimented in college.

Wow, what an intense shade of blue. This was really cool. Her mouth was so dry, though, and she was getting the munchies. Maybe some chips and French onion dip and chocolate cake.

Yep, she was screwed. But the lights were pretty.