Trapped in a Tangled Web

Jason nodded off about an hour after my inquisition. Trial by fire, I guess you could say. Once Bry started rambling about risking my life like that, Gage jumped right in to the conversation. That led to his brother agreeing.

Three on one.

Sounds like fun, I thought before quickly scolding myself. Get your mind off their peckers. It's the moon. Nothing more, I rationalized.

"I really missed you, girl," Brian whispered sadly. "You have no idea how many nights I sat up and just stared out the window, waiting for you to show up outside like you always did. After a few weeks of not showing up, I just...ugh!" he said, trailing off mid-sentence.

A small sigh escaped past mt lips as I saw a slight tear trail out from the corner of his eye. "Bry boy, don't cry over me," I whispered back. "I'm not worth that much."

He looked at me suddenly, a look of protest on his face before a more devious smirk appeared. "Yeah, your right about that," he answered back with a wink.

I gasped in mock hurt, putting my hand over my heart as if I would feint. "Oh dear, you wound me with your words."

Gage snarled, wrapping his arms around me and baring fangs at Brian. "Stop tormenting her already."

Brian's eyes went wide as all laughter left his face. "Dude, we're just joking around. I didn't really mean anything by what I sa-"

I jumped in, smacking Gage as hard as I could on the arm draped over my shoulder. "Let's get one thing straight, Gage. I'm not a piece of meat," I snarled. "I am not your property, nor your girlfriend or mate. Not one single one of you can say what I do, say, think, or feel. I can stand up for myself in speaking, joking, torture, and fighting. If any of you have a problem with that, I'll be happy to beat it right out of you," I ended slowly.

Gage seemed to deflate, hugging me more so now than just trying to protect me. "I'm sorry," he whispered against my hair. "Normally I have better control than this."

"The moon," Kyrian said as a statement. "It's normal."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down from hitting one of them. It was getting irritating how every single one of them would make a comment, then the others would jump in to defend me. Didn't they ever hear of a joke?

An odd smell hit my nose as I breathed, my nose flaring to catch it again.

"Do any of you smell something weird?" I asked slowly, almost perplexed. I knew that damn smell, but for some reason, I couldn't place it properly.

Brian shook his head, as did Kyrian after a few seconds. I turned slightly to see Gage's reaction as he also shook his head no.

"Maybe it's just how our house smells," he remarked. "You know how every place has a different scent."

"Yeah," I agreed, letting myself relax once again. Sniffing the air once more, I didn't smell anything but Gage's cologne. And damn if it didn't drive me nuts.

"Oh!" I remarked suddenly, my mind going back to the night previous. "Whatever happened to your group? Didn't you all say something about being taken from a group while on vacation?"

Brian shook his head with a smile. "We all worked for the same person, but doing different jobs. We had a month vacation, but that asshole had a trap set for us. No one at our jobs would have realized something happened to us until we didn't show up for work once our vacation was over."

I felt my face close down when a few of his words clicked into place. "All of you worked different jobs, but for the same person? Who?"

Gage went ridged beside me as Brian gulped. Kyrian was the only one who didn't make any noticeable changes in his stature.

"Marcus," he answered once Brian didn't say anything. "He set us up. We worked there for almost a year before he gave the four of us vacation. Didn't realize he was looking for shifters until it was too late to escape."

I tried as hard as I could to nod and act like I accepted that. Tried to relax my body back against Gage like I was previously. But no matter what I did, I still felt like I wanted to bolt out of the house at any second.

"So how did you end up being a bartender?" Brian asked. "Last I saw you, you were in school for criminal justice."

I shrugged, more so to loosen my shoulder muscles than to answer his question. "I couldn't afford the tuition so I got a part time job as a bartender to make the money. Fell in love with the job and the customers there and ended up using the money to rent a bigger apartment instead of going back to college."

It was a few more minutes before I realize that Gage fell asleep sitting beside me, his arm still wrapped protectively around my shoulder. Brian yawned widely, causing Kyrian to yawn right after him.

"Damn man, I'm never this tired so early," Brian remarked. "Jason passed right out earlier, and he's usually the last to go to bed."

Kyrian shrugged, reaching behind himself and pulling a throw blanket off the back of his chair. Once he had it wrapped around himself, he closed his eyes. "We might as well just crash down here. I'm not carrying their asses upstairs."

Brian gave a small shrug, standing up from his computer chair and walking over beside the couch where I was. He leaned over the back and pulled out two more blankets, handing one to me before laying down on the floor and stealing one of three pillows under Jason.

"Sweet dreams, girl," he mumbled. "I'm glad your back."

"Me too," I whispered back, noticing that Kyrian was already asleep. A few minutes later I heard Brian's breathing even out.

They're all asleep, I thought sluggishly. Should I stay here and sleep, or make a quick getaway while they're knocked out?

I yawned, taking in a huge lungful of air. That scent was back, along with a slight rustic taste in the back of my throat.

My heart pounded quickly as it finally clicked into place. That faint smell I had before. The guys passing out before they usually did. My sluggishness.

Nitrous oxide.

That weird shit that dentists and doctors use on you called laughing gas. Most humans can't smell it, but to a shifter, it smells like rusting metal.

I tried to turn around and shake Gage awake, but all I managed to do was flail my arm back slowly and hit his shoulder. He stirred for a brief moment, his eyes opening lazily before he smiled down at me.

""Oxide," I whispered, my eyes drooping. "We need to get out. That smell before, it's Nitrous oxi-"