Lola took her time to breathe after the incidental walk-in. She knew now that someone was guarding the door and that it wouldn't be repeated, but she hated that she was constantly on high alert.
The fear she'd felt when that door opened was as though her body prepared for a fight. Not a single mistake could happen without Lola immediately thinking it was life-threatening. It felt like an internal war shadowed her reality.
Lola took a breath and then another before walking to the door. She plastered on a smile and thanked the kind woman for standing guard.
"No worries, sweetheart," she said and walked away.
"Aren't you going to use the bathroom?" Lola asked.
She turned around, her head full of flaming red little curls.
"No," she said, her lips pressing as she stopped for a moment. She smiled, her blue eyes twinkling.
"I just needed to keep you there," she spoke slowly and turned around.
With a regal poise, she walked back to the ballroom, and Lola was left in utter confusion. The woman disappeared into the ballroom, but her words lingered. The underlying tone in which she had spoken left little to the imagination, and Lola's guard was suddenly back up.
She turned around and looked at the door and her surroundings. Something caught her eye in the corner where the light didn't reach. A shadow cast over the foyer's den under the stairs.
"Hello?"
There was no answer, and Lola was sure that her mind was playing tricks on her. She turned on her heels. Her heels clicking against the tile floor was louder than anything else. The chatter from the ballroom seemed to stay within the walls, oddly enough.
Lola started walking back, all the while feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rising. She looked down and to the side to see if anyone was following her.
The sound of feet pressing against the floor behind her made her stop. Their breaths were heavy and charged.
Lola drew a shaky breath and opened her clutch. Her shivering fingers reached for her phone, and without picking it up completely, she found Jax's number and texted him.
-Help
The screen turned black, and Lola closed the clutch. She knew she had options- she either ran down into the ballroom and hoped she'd find Jax or Ash but, while doing so, brought the person to Melissa, or she could turn around and run out of the chateau. The third option was to turn and face the person behind her.
She glanced at the open doors and cursed. There was no chance she could run in these heels, and she refused to bring whoever was standing behind her into the ballroom.
Lola gripped the clutch tightly and turned around. Her eyes widened. She looked around but didn't see anybody.
She hadn't hallucinated. She had heard the breaths and the footsteps. Lola scanned every visible inch of the foyer, but nobody was there. The stairs were empty, and the dark corner didn't seem to hide anyone. Her eyes closed, and a deep breath filled her lungs.
"I'm going crazy," she said as she turned around. Nervous laughter peeled from her, and she opened her clutch to text Jax that it was a false alarm.
Lola spun around and took one step before a wall stopped her from moving further. She looked up. The man in front of her lifted his glove-covered finger to his lips.
"Shh."
His eyes shifted to a red hue and held her captive. She gazed into his irises and watched as the red swirled amongst the black.
"Be still and quiet," he said and grabbed her neck.
Lola sucked in a breath, and her chest pushed out as the scream rose in her throat. His hand came over her mouth, and the leather pressed against her lips. She felt the pressure behind her eyes as they bulged in their sockets.
The man's other hand came around the back of her head. Lola reached up and grabbed the man's wrists. She pulled and tried to snake her way out of his grip but with little luck.
Another came up behind her. She felt him pressing against her back and the light slowly faded as the men covered her.
She couldn't run or get free from his grip. She felt the heels getting caught in the train of the dress, and two hands came around her front and grabbed her wrists. They yanked her hands from the man and held them behind her back.
"Fuck, she smells so good," the man behind her groaned.
He pulled her hands tighter, pressing her back onto him. His nose came down on her neck, and he drew a deep breath.
"Let's go, man. She won't shut up," the man in front of her hissed.
Lola hadn't blinked. There was no dizziness from drugs or any form of haze, yet she hadn't noticed how they were suddenly standing somewhere else.
The second they stopped, she was thrown down on the ground. Hay and dirt lay on the ground, and Lola's hands grasped something sharp.
The brick walls were thick, and the wooden stables stood empty.
"What-" Lola breathed and looked around.
She grabbed the side of a broken chair and pulled herself up. It was eerily quiet, and the doors were closed. The windows were high up on the walls, and all she could see were the flickers of moonlight that shone through. Three lamps attached to the wall were casting a soft light. One of them flickered and was about to go out.
Lola lifted her dress and ran over to the door. She pulled at the black metal handles with all her strength- it didn't open.
She frantically looked around. Her breathing was ragged as she ran over the stone floors to the door on the other side of the barn.
"Please, open the door!" she seethed, and spit flew from her mouth as she pulled on the handle.
A harsh breeze swept in behind her, and she stopped moving. Her fingers slowly loosened their hold around the handles and her hair had loosened from its pinned-up grip and fell in front of her face as she turned around. The two men stood in the open doors.
"Nobody said how fucking gorgeous you were," he said In a thick British accent and closed the doors as he walked inside.
"Leaving the pack grounds, lousy mistake," the larger one said.
They sauntered toward her with playful gazes, like a cat playing with the mouse before the kill.
The larger one was buff with a broad face and striking blue eyes-the eyes that were earlier red and black. Lola gulped, realizing what stood in front of her.
"You're vampires," she murmured under her breath.
The big one stood back. He leaned on the rack and removed his leather gloves. The other one was wearing a black coat. His dark hair was wavy, and a curl fell on his face as he watched Lola. He was lean with a jawline sharp enough to cut through glass. His shoulders were straight, and he held his head high as he neared her.
"Don't be afraid of me. I won't hurt you." He grinned.
"I would believe you a lot more if you hadn't kidnapped me," Lola said and moved to the side.
He laughed. "That's true, but think of it this way-"
In less time than it took to blink, he was standing in front of her. Lola gasped and pressed herself back against the stable wall.
He raised his hand to cup her cheek. "-I could've done so much worse."
The man leaned in, his lips hovered over Lola's as she panted and stared in panic.