The Lynx Who Claimed the Sun by Scarlet Hyacinth Page B

museum to meet up with the mysterious caller. He’d been waiting for his stalker to arrive, looking at the time, thinking about what Garth would feel when he’d received the e-mail. After that, there was nothing at all, no memory of what had happened.
    Nicolas took a deep breath and tried to open his eyes again. This time, he succeeded, but the only thing he could see was darkness, absolute darkness. He experienced a brief moment of panic while he believed he’d gone blind, but he then caught sight of a small speckle of light close to his legs.
    In that moment, his situation truly processed. He attempted to move, but unsurprisingly, he couldn’t. Both his hands and his legs were bound. His kidnappers had also gagged him, and the realization almost made him laugh. He must have been even more out of it than he’d originally thought if he hadn’t figured out the horrid taste in his 70
    Scarlet Hyacinth
    mouth was due to the rag stuffed in it. From there, it didn’t take a genius to figure out the cramped space he currently found himself in was the trunk of a vehicle.
    Nicolas couldn’t say he was surprised. He’d known what to expect when he’d gone to the meeting at the museum. He’d have liked to know who exactly had kidnapped him, but he didn’t doubt that he’d find out soon enough.
    In a way, he was almost relieved. There would be no more unanswerable questions, no more nightmares he couldn’t decipher. At last, he would find out who he was and how he’d ended up in that lonely forest in Mexico.
    Unfortunately, his kidnappers seemed to intend to test his patience. For a little while, Nicolas just waited in silence, but the heat inside the trunk began to get stifling. Nicolas didn’t particularly have problems with high temperatures, but the small space made his breathing difficult and the tight bindings cut his circulation.
    Nicolas decided to say fuck it and allowed the change to flow over him. Human arms turned into tiny wings as he released himself from the bindings. Of course, it would have been great if he’d been able to find a hole in the trunk, but his kidnappers must have anticipated the situation and made sure he couldn’t escape even if he did shift.
    At last, Nicolas grew tired of waiting for something to happen.
    Angry and frustrated, he changed back into human form and began to kick at the metal. Finally, he drew a reaction from his kidnappers. The car slowed down and stopped, and Nicolas held his breath as he heard someone get out from the front.
    The trunk lid popped open, and Nicolas shielded his eyes as light suddenly hit him. At first, he couldn’t see the face of the person above him. The only thing he could tell was that the gender of the kidnapper in question, obviously male.
    But Nicolas didn’t wait to see much else. He melted back into his smaller form and shot outside through the now free space. He didn’t get too far before a net trapped him midflight.

    The Lynx Who Claimed the Sun
    71
    “I don’t think so, little Nico-Chi,” a woman’s voice said. “You wouldn’t want us to turn our attention to your dear friends again.”
    Images assaulted Nicolas upon hearing the voice, memories of a happier time, when his life had been his own and he hadn’t feared a thing. “Come on, Nico-Chi,” the woman said. “Turn back. We have a conversation pending.”
    Nicolas obeyed, his mind reeling from the overwhelming flashbacks. One of them provided the information he needed to know.
    “Valentina? Is that you, hermana ?”
    The words fell from his lips easily even if he hadn’t spoken Spanish in almost twenty years. God, his head hurt. What had happened? Why did his sister hate him? He recalled the two of them flying through the rainforest in shifted form, happy and carefree.
    What had changed?
    “Oh, so you remember me after all,” Valentina said. “And Alonso thought you’d forgotten all about us.”
    Nicolas turned toward the man who’d open the trunk. Alonso,