Tug-of-war

1- I am kidnapped before I can even finish my coffee

I was on my way to my "Contemporary outlook on greek mythology" class, coffee in hand, kinda doing that half-jog thing you do when you might be late but you don't want to actually run, when I coincidently saw an actual greek god. Okay, not an actual greek god, but his face sure looked like it had been chiseled out of marble by a wonderfully skilled sculptor. His sharp jawline was covered with a dark stubble, the kind that makes kisses scratchy but looks oh so sexy. His black hair was slicked back and cut shorter on the sides. His features were all angles, but his eyes looked... gentle. Bright green eyes that were- oh god, they were looking right at me. It was only after an embarrassingly long couple of seconds that I realized I had stopped walking and was just standing there, gawking at him.

I was about to start running to my class's building to make up for lost time when he started walking towards me, a smile growing on his face. My heart started to beat faster in my chest, and my knees felt weak. There was no way this drop-dead gorgeous guy was actually walking towards me, right ? Maybe his friend was right behind me? I quickly turned my head to look, but there was no one else around. The paths through the campus were almost empty. A faint voice in my head told me that was probably because most classes - including mine - had just started and I was late, but for once in my life, I didn't seem to care at all about being late to class. When I turned my attention back to the handsome stranger, he was standing close to me. Very, very close. Close enough for me to smell the intoxicating scent of his... cologne, deodorant, hair gel? Whatever it was, it had a lovely earthy scent, mixed with the smell of pine trees. I looked up to him - boy was he one tall glass of water - and I could feel my face burning. I was expecting him to ask me for directions or something, but a small part of me dared to hope he would actually ask for my number.

Whatever I was expecting, I was not expecting him to grab my hand and just say:

"Mate."

'Mate'? What was he, Australian?

"Um... How can I help you, dude?", I answered awkwardly, trying to ignore the electricity coursing through my hand like static where he was touching it.

He looked confused, as if it was totally normal to just walk up to a total stranger, call them 'mate' and grab their hand. Or as if we were old friends and I should've just said 'Hey mate, what's up!' right back at him.

He didn't say anything else, just stared at me insistently. I started feeling uncomfortable. This situation was plain weird, and a stranger -handsome as he may be- was grabbing me. I ripped my hand away from his and backed away.

The sadness in his eyes when I pulled away made my heart ache with guilt. A lump formed in my throat, and I suddenly felt cold all over. What was this? I had no business feeling guilty, did I? I turned around and quickly walked away, hoping he wouldn't follow me.

Little did I know that before I took ten steps, he would sweep me off my feet.

No, literally. My stomach dropped from the vertigo as I was suddenly hauled up and flipped upside down. Next thing I knew, my coffee was splattered on the ground and mystery-guy was holding me up on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes with one arm, carrying my bag with the other, and running like a madman.

I stayed frozen for a moment, trying to register if this was actually happening to me, before I had the good sense to start screaming.

"HELP! HELP! STRANGER DANGER!"

"Shhh!" he hissed, as if I was totally overreacting to being... I don't know, kidnapped !?

I opted to start flailing my legs and banging my fists against his back, which felt pretty ineffective. I might as well have been struggling against a solid rock statue. Still, I gave it my all, thrashing around like a cat being taken to a bath.

"Let me go! Let me go, you weirdo! You- you jerk, you BASTARD! HELP!"

My captor sighed with relief and I heard the sound of a car door opening. Oh no no no no no.

"Oh HELL no, you're not taking me to no secondary location! HELP! HELP!" I screamed even louder.

It was no use. I was quickly thrown into the backseat of a minivan, where, to my horror, another stranger was sitting. He looked completely taken aback - well, welcome to the club. I tried to get out, but my kidnapper easily blocked the exit, slid in the seat next to mine so that I was stuck between the two strangers, and closed the door. I tried to punch him anywhere I could reach, but he smoothly blocked every hit.

"Little help here?" he said.

"Help you what, kidnap this girl?" the voice behind me asked incredulously, but I still felt two strong hands grab my wrists. What kind of uncoordinated team of kidnapping weirdos was this ?

"What went wrong, man? What the hell is happening?" the guy restraining my wrists asked as I tried to wriggle out of his grip.

"I don't know! She tried to get away from me, I didn't know what else to do!"

"Well of course she'd try to get away from you, why would you try to take away some human girl? I thought we were here to find your mate?"

Wait, 'human'? My heart sank even deeper with panic. This added a whole new layer of weird, as if this situation needed to get even freakier.

"This IS my mate", stranger number one said, continuing his nonsensical conversation.

"Wha- no way man, your mate would never run away from you. And you can't have a human mate!"

"Jared. I know this is my mate. I've never been so sure of anything in my life."

"But-"

"Do NOT contradict me. She is my mate. Period."

The way he said it had an unexplainable power. He hadn't even yelled, but I could feel his words vibrate in my chest, like the bass in a live concert. I stopped struggling, frozen in fear. 'Jared' fell silent.

"Drive." He said in the same commanding voice. The engine started and we took off. I hadn't even noticed the driver.

And thus began what felt like the longest car ride of my life.