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useful.
    Okay, touch. I was lying on my left side, facing the front of the vehicle. I wasn’t cramped or squished, so I didn’t think I was in a trunk. The surface below me was cushioned, and there was another right behind my hands. Okay, I was on a seat, and it was long enough that I wasn’t hitting the end with my head, though I was with my feet. Either a luxury sedan, or a big SUV. Given the road quality, I guessed SUV.
    The drug, whatever it was, hadn’t disappeared from my system. I tried to stay conscious, to listen in and gather what I could from the men’s conversation. But sleep tugged at me, and soon I’d drifted back into the darkness.

    * * * *

    The next time I woke I was on a much harder surface, except for my head, which was pillowed on…a thigh? My hands and feet were free, too, and I blinked, groaning a little as the harsh sunlight struck my retinas.
    “ Carys ?” Will’s voice was a harsh whisper. “You awake, sweetheart?”
    “Will?” My eyes adjusted to the sunlight and I looked up at him as he bent over me. The sunlight streaming through a window high on the adobe wall cast a halo around his striking face. “Where are we?”
    “I’m not sure. Somewhere in La Rosa’s compound, I’m guessing.” His eyebrows scrunched together as he studied my face. “How do you feel?”
    “Groggy,” I admitted. “Whatever they gave us packs a real punch.” With Will’s help, I slowly managed to sit. “How about you? All in one piece?”
    “Nothing that couldn’t be fixed by shooting the assholes who grabbed us.” I’d never once heard Will this pissed off, and if I hadn’t loved him, even I might have been intimidated by the venom in his icy tone. “What about you? Anything hurt?” His gaze flickered down to rest on my stomach, which lurched as I realised that whatever drug they’d given me could have done irreparable damage to the baby.
    Now I was furious myself. I paused a moment to take an inventory of my body parts and to examine our tiny prison. The room was about eight foot by ten foot, of crumbling adobe, with a hard packed dirt floor. A wooden cot with a dubious-looking canvas top was pushed against one wall, and a bucket—the sanitary facilities?—sat behind the door. Will had taken up his position in the corner farthest from the heavy wooden door. The only window was a narrow opening at the very top of one wall, maybe ten inches by twenty. It must have faced due south, or close to it, because the full afternoon sun was pouring through the gap. That appeared to be the only source of either light or ventilation in the room.
    I checked my wrist, somewhat surprised to find my watch was still there, as was the raven pendant around my neck. It was mid-afternoon, so the sun should be slightly to the west, but mostly south. My purse was gone, which had my cell phone and my passport—getting that back would be a priority after we were free. Both of us were also missing our shoes—probably to make it harder for us to run if we happened to get free.
    I looked over at Will, and an oily trickle of dread ran down my spine. His jaw was clenched, he was sweating, and his dark skin had gone nearly white.
    “Will, other than the obvious, what’s wrong?” Besides the fact that I had to pee, and the thought of using the bucket made me want to hurl.
    “You need to get out of here,” he said, without unclenching his teeth more than a hair’s breadth. “You need to change into your raven form, go out the window, and notify Charlie. As soon as you feel good enough to fly.”
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I hedged. “We don’t know what they want, or anything.”
    “I’m not suggesting, Carys . I’m telling you, flat out. You. Will. Leave. Now.”
    I sighed. “I don’t think I should. There aren’t a lot of females in my family, and nobody’s sure about what happens if you shift when you’re pregnant.” It was one of the hardest things about being the only girl for two