CHAPTER 64. KIDNAPPED

NATE'S POV

The sensation of Athena in my arms was a privilege rather than a burden. Her limp form, nestled against me, sent a surge of warmth through my muscles as I navigated the dense woods. Her occasional fluttering eyelids and faint murmurs indicated a struggle between consciousness and the drug's hold on her.

"Where are we?" she mumbled, her voice feeble and disoriented. Her eyes, struggling to focus, sought answers in the dimly lit forest around us. "Where are you taking me?"

"Sleep, baby girl," I whispered, my voice a soothing melody against the haunting silence of the woods. "You're going to be just fine. I've got you."

Athena's intermittent moments of awareness were like delicate rays of sunlight breaking through heavy clouds. I tightened my embrace, finding joy in the fact that I could provide comfort to her in this disoriented state. The drug, coursing through her veins, had claimed her consciousness, leaving her vulnerable against the waking world.

As I continued through t