Poison Ivy Ch. 06

Maverick-dude chuckled softly. "You know," he said, in what she had come to recognize as his trademark, lazy drawl, "you might want to start reeling in your attitude toward me, little poison."

Ivy flinched at his use of Hunter's moniker for her. It sounded dirty coming from his lips. "Oh yeah? And why is that, big asshole?"

Maverick crouched in front of her. His hand struck out, quicker than she could react with her reflexes dampened and dulled, and closed around her throat. Her head was forced back against the frame of the bed. Her heart hammered frantically in her chest as her hands came up to grip his wrist, although she had no chance of tearing his hand away. He smirked, and as his grip tightened, closing her airway, it took everything in her to focus on keeping her panic at bay and her narrowed eyes on his.

He leaned in closer, the rough stubble of his jaw rubbing against her cheek. His breath was hot on her ear. "Your dead Alpha may not have disciplined you," he dropped his voice to a whisper. "But you're mine now. And I will."

Her blood ran cold, the contents of her stomach threatening to reintroduce themselves. She tried to focus. Hysteria was steadily clawing its way in. She couldn't breathe; she couldn't think. Hunter wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead. She would know! Wouldn't she be able to feel it? Wouldn't she know? She tried to feel for the pair-bond but could do little more than thrash and bite at the Alpha still gripping her by the throat. Sweat dampened her forehead. Fuck! This couldn't be happening.

Dark spots swam in her vision, and her arms slowly dropped to her side. The moment she stopped fighting and went limp, Maverick released his grip and she fell to her side, sucking in deep lungful's of air. She could feel him watching her. She wanted to scratch his eyes out, to scream and cry and kick him in his fucking face until he was unrecognizable. Instead, when she had caught her breath, she painstakingly sat back up and met his glare with a fierce one of her own.

"Hunter's not dead," she said softly, pleased at the flash of fury she saw in his shit-brown eyes. "He'll come for me." She didn't realize how true her words were until she said them out loud. Hope flared up like an impossibly bright flame, spreading warmth through her chest. He really was alive, she knew it. And he would come for her.

Not that she would wait for him to get the party started.

"If he doesn't kill you," she smirked, "then I will."

She braced herself for the blow she knew was coming. Predictably, his arm shot out as he backhanded her, and her head cracked against the wooden frame of the bed. She turned back to him, smiling as she licked the blood from where her lip had been split. She could see his eyes darkening with anger as he barked an order to an invisible someone on the other side of the sleek white door. The thing behind that anger, though, was what made her smile widen.

Fear.

They both looked up as the door opened and a Beta stepped inside. It took a few seconds before her blurry vision and clouded mind cleared enough to realize who it was. Maverick smirked knowingly and stood up, leaving her alone with her old pal with an ominous click of the shutting door.

Kentucky walked forward and got to his knees in front of her, dropping a small medic bag to the floor next to him. His amber eyes searched her face, taking in her split, swollen lip and what would undoubtedly become an ugly bruise across her cheek bone.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

The question made her laugh. "Am I okay? Seriously? Fuck you, Kentucky." She hissed as the back of his fingers came up to graze over the raised mark on her cheek. He didn't fight her when she shoved his hand away, although the effort made her dizzy. Instead, he reached into the bag and took out a bottle of water and unscrewed the cap, handing it to her. He was silent as she drank half of it without pausing, watching her closely. Instead of giving it back to him when she was done, she held it tightly to her chest, as if he would try to take it away from her.

She glanced up, noticing for the first time the constant whirring noise that seemed to vibrate up through the floors. A small window she hadn't seen before showcased a bright blue sky and picturesque fluffy clouds. Clouds that were rushing past them.

Plane. We're on a plane.

"Yes, we're heading back to Lostra." Startled, she looked up at Kentucky, who was still watching her with those clear, amber eyes, his expression unreadable. She must have said that out loud.

"Just do whatever it is you're going to do, Brad." She tried to hold on to her anger, but she was so tired. Kentucky working for Maverick-dude didn't exactly surprise her, for some reason, but her mind was too unfocused to figure it all out. If he was going to give her more drugs to knock her out, she wished he would just do it, so she didn't have to look at him anymore.

Confirming her suspicions, Kentucky reached into the bag to pull out a small, pre-filled syringe and uncapped it. She stared at the single drop of clear liquid at the very tip of the needle.

I'm coming for you.

She startled and looked up, her eyes darting around the room. Was she going crazy? She looked hard at Kentucky, her eyes narrowed.

"What?" he asked, looking around the room just as she had done. "What is it?"

I'm coming for you.

She heard the voice again, and this time, there was no doubt. It was Hunter, and it was as clear as if he stood in the room with her. She looked around again, half-expecting to see him standing there. The low, barely-there rumble of the jet engine changed into something else, and she could have sworn it was his purr she was hearing. A deep sense of calm seeped into her.

"I'm sorry," Kentucky said, bringing her attention back to the Beta traitor and the needle he held out in front of her. He took her hand, pulling her arm out between them, and cleaned off the inside of her elbow with an alcohol wipe. Finding a thick vein with a glove-covered finger, he sank the syringe into her arm. The viscous fluid burned as it pushed into her bloodstream, but she didn't flinch.

"No, you're not," she said, her head already lolling to the side from the effects of the second dose of whatever the hell it was they were giving her. She sighed and closed her eyes. "But you will be."