Chosen By My Mate's Father-in-law
Chapter 80: No News

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: No News

[Jasmine’s POV]

The thudding sounded a lot closer than last time. As my heart slammed against my rib cage, I leaned against the wall, allowed my head to loll to the side, and pretended to be asleep. It was difficult to even out my breathing to look like I was asleep as my panic grew.

“Damn it!” one of the men muttered.

His voice was close, so I knew that he was in the room. Nausea made my head spin as my fear spiked.

“How much wolfsbane did you give them, John?” another rogue asked frustratedly. “Why are they still sleeping?”

“I gave them the amount you said!” John—presumably—replied in a defensive tone. “Can’t we just proceed with the next step of the plan? Didn’t our instructions say that it had to be done tonight?”

“No, we can’t,” one of them answered. “Our client specifically instructed for the girl to be awake when we slit her throat. We even have to videotape it to send as evidence, or else we don’t get the other half of our money.”

I suppressed a shiver as those words chilled me to the bone.

What kind of psycho hired these rogues to kill Isabella when she was awake? Would they make me watch?

My stomach rolled when I heard what sounded like a metal key being turned in a lock.

“I want to see if they are actually sleeping,” one of them said, his voice right above me.

No!

Panic flooded through me. But I made sure to control my expression. I had to fool them into thinking I was still sleeping.

The men poked and prodded Isabella and me, checking to see if we were still unconscious.

Thankfully, I managed to deceive them, and after a couple of tense minutes, they left the room.

I waited a while until I dared to open my eyes again. When I did, a heavy feeling settled low in my stomach.

How in the hell were Isabella and I going to make it out of here alive?

After another hour of attempting to wake her up, her eyes finally fluttered open. She looked up at me with confusion.

“W-where are...” she trailed off, then loudly cried out in pain. She looked down at the silver shackles that encircled her wrists, and tears formed in her bright blue eyes.

“Isabella, you must be quiet,” I shushed her, anxiously glancing over at the door to the cellar. “We’ve been kidnapped by rogues. If they know we’re awake, they’re going to kill us.”

Isabella’s eyes widened in horror, and she sucked in a sharp breath. Her lower lip trembled, and she groaned in pain.

“Do you know where we are?” she whispered.

“No. I don’t know much,” I answered honestly. “I heard a few of them talking about being hired to capture only one of us, but they took us both because they didn’t want to leave behind a witness. They bound us with silver and injected us with wolfsbane. You have an injury on your head, but I managed to stop the bleeding.” I paused and pulled in a breath. “Can you access your wolf?”

Isabella’s brow furrowed in concentration, but after a moment, she sighed in defeat. “No, I can’t.”

Damn it.

Isabella had been my last chance to try and contact someone. I was hoping that, because she was the daughter of the Lycan King, her body would be able to fight against the wolfsbane better than mine.

“This is all my fault.” Tears streamed down her pale cheeks. “If I hadn’t been so intent on escaping from my guards, we wouldn’t have been kidnapped.”

I grabbed her ice-cold hand. “No, Isabella, this isn’t your fault. I went along with your plan, and it’s not our fault that those assholes kidnapped us. Whoever hired them seemed determined to capture one of us, and they would have eventually found an opportunity whether you gave your guards the slip or not.”

She nodded, but continued to cry and even put a hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs. I placed my hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

“We’re going to be alright,” I assured her with conviction in my voice, even though I didn’t truly believe that. “Your father is the Lycan King. He has endless amounts of resources, and he would do anything to save you. I bet he’s searching for you right this very minute, and soon he and his guards will come bursting through the door.”

My words seemed to calm her a little. I awkwardly put my arm around her thanks to the cuffs that encircled my hands.

I prayed to the Moon Goddess that what I just said was true. Because if someone didn’t come to save us soon, both of us would die.

Gareth Laken was our last hope.

***

Gareth was in one of the living rooms in his house with Michelle. A report from work was in his hands, but he couldn’t concentrate on it. It wasn’t even because of Michelle, who was flipping through channels on the TV, switching from a romantic comedy to a game show, then a serious documentary about the life of a famous rogue criminal.

There was a sense of unease he couldn’t shake about Isabella and Jasmine. A sixth sense was alerting him that something wasn’t right. He comforted himself with the knowledge that they would be back soon. And if something was wrong, Beta Kevin or his guards would have contacted him.

No news was good news.

After another ten minutes had passed, Gareth took out his phone to call his Beta, when the man himself walked through the door.

“Where are Isabella and Jasmine?” Gareth immediately asked, standing up from the couch.

Beta Kevin’s eyes went wide with shock.

“They aren’t here?”

Isabella’s guards filed into the house, glancing around.

Gareth froze, and his jaw clenched. “What do you mean? I told you to stay with them. How can they not be with you?”

“Isabella and Jasmine gave us the slip after they ate at a restaurant,” Beta Kevin explained quickly, his voice rising in panic. “We assumed they must have hopped into a cab that drove them home. We thought it was a...a prank.”

A loud growl ripped out of Gareth’s mouth, and his hands clenched into tight fists.

“A prank?” he yelled, his voice full of anger. “My daughter goes missing, and you idiots think it’s a prank?!”

Beta Kevin and the guards looked down in shame and embarrassment.

“We thought—” one of the guards started, but Gareth cut him off with a threatening glare.

He didn’t have time for their excuses. Worry clutched his heart in a vise-like grip. Isabella was missing.

And so was Jasmine.

He turned around, disgusted by the very sight of his incompetent team. First, he needed to find out if the girls had actually hopped in a cab and were joyriding around the city. If they were, they’d get an earful from him.

As pain pulsed between his temples from anger and fear, he ripped his cell phone out of his pocket and called Isabella.

The call immediately went to voicemail. His daughter would never let her phone die.

Gareth stabbed Jasmine’s name in his contacts with his finger.

It also went to voicemail.

Trying not to lose his grip on his growing anxiety, Gareth called Axel, hoping that he had met up with the girls.

“Have you seen Isabella or Jasmine? Are you with either one of them now?” Gareth growled as soon as his nephew picked up the phone.

“No, I’ve been at the museum all day,” Axel answered, bemused. “Why?”

“They’re missing. Come to the mansion to help look for them,” Gareth barked out before hanging up abruptly.

As a last resort, he dialed Elliot’s number. He highly doubted Jasmine would willingly spend time with him, but perhaps Isabella had dragged her along.

“Are you with Isabella or Jasmine?” he demanded without a greeting.

“No,” Elliot replied, confused. “Why? Is everything alright?”

Gareth felt like he had been pushed out of a plane without a parachute. Elliot had been his last hope.

“They’re missing,” he managed to say.

Elliot sucked in a sharp, surprised breath. “I see. I will use every single one of my resources to find them. I promise.”

Gareth hung up.

He had confirmed the worst. Isabella and Jasmine were missing.

His vision turned red from rage. He picked up a purple vase from the entryway and slammed it against the wall. The piece shattered into a hundred different pieces onto the shiny floor.

Huffing with anger, he turned to his team, who allowed his daughter and Jasmine to go missing.

They were all lined up, shaking with terror.

“Find them,” he demanded, his blood boiling with rage. “Now!”

His warriors nodded and rushed out the front door.