##WARNING This story will contain. Strong sexual content, strong language, dark scenes about human trafficking. ##
Fear instantly overcame my senses. I had been trafficked. They’re selling me to shifters. Shifters paid irresistible money to own human girls as sex slaves. 
**
Everything was shaking all around me as if I was in the back of a moving car. An unpleasant smell that could have woken me from even my darkest dreams filled the air and convinced me that I was wide awake.  Fear instantly overcame my senses.
 Where was I? 
What was I doing here? 
Who took me? 
“Help…” I tried to shout. My torn throat wouldn’t allow it. 
In my mind, images flashed of barbaric shifters standing outside that door. Big, tall and rough creatures that knew no manners and only wanted to claim things. I’d heard stories since I was old enough to understand that they favored pretty human girls and plucked them off the roads as if they were all free for the taking.  
**

Patara tried to move back away from the handsome young man, but he held her firm. Squeezing her chin a little harder to keep her in place. His blue-grey, beautiful eyes looked over her every feature as if he wanted to burn the image in his mind. 
“Would you like me to take you away?” He asked in a husky voice. His words made her skin litter in goosebumps. She couldn’t speak, only nod desperately.          
“And what do you offer me in exchange for your rescue? Would you like to follow me?” 
Slowly, she nodded her head and put her hand in his. 
“Remember your promises,” he said against her ear.  She held her breath. “The last person who betrayed me got to see what his insides looked like before I slit his throat.” 

Captured By The Dragon

I landed and shifted back into my human form. There was no scent of ash or burning wood, but I knew in my heart that something was wrong. I hurried into the house and found Erik unconscious and bleeding on the ground. He was pale but not dead. 


I pulled out my phone and called for aid when a soft growling almost weeping sound caught my attention. My heart lurched and I raced towards the sound, up the stairs, and around the corner. Was Ethan hurt? Where was Patara? Her scent had faded. There were other scents mingled in the air, but I couldn’t stop to parse through them to get an idea of who had attacked my home. 


“Ethan?” I called, opening the door. 


The sound was coming from beneath the bed. 


I kneeled and lifted the blanket. Patara’s scent was the strongest in this room. She had been fearful and nervous, but it hadn’t been the last place she’d been. Ethan looked up at me, tears spilling down his cheeks and trembling. 


Chapter 76