by Lisa Oliver
“Could be, your sweet mate has had enough of being treated like a fairy tale red riding hood who needs his hand held to go to the bathroom. He could have blocked your link when he realized you’d done it to him,” Marco said grimly as he and Craven kept pace with him.
“He wouldn’t do that, and even if he could, our wolves should still be able to sense each other. Mine is going frantic.” Shadow broke into a run. The SUV they’d used to go to a meeting which had blown up in a spectacular fashion, was currently buried somewhere under the wreckage. Rowan’s place was closer than the pack house from where they were. He picked up the pace, his friends keeping up with him easily.
Nothing could be heard but the sound of their boots pounding the uneven sidewalk, and harsh breathing. Shadow wasn’t worried about his friends – they were all fit, as was shown by how easily they kept up. But his mind couldn’t stop churning; worry about his mate interposed with how close they’d all come to dying that day.
Harry had been right. Shadow had been too full of his own importance, getting his mind straight for the role he was about to play of arrogant dealer with more money than brains. Marco and Craven had been scanning the street, looking for possible traps – just like any other scumbag would order his minions to do when they’re on unfamiliar territory. It was Dominic who had knocked on the door, Harry by his side, Playing the role of middle man nicely. Feelings of anguish cut deeply through Shadow as he thought about what could have happened if Harry hadn’t quickly shoved Dominic to the ground, covering his body with his own, the moment he heard that clicking sound. Me and my men owe our lives to Harry. My mate’s life too. Rowan would have surely died if the explosion had killed me. If they had stepped inside the old apartment block…
Rowan’s at his apartment, Shadow had to focus on something positive and Rowan was the only positive that mattered. He’ll be working on his computer, lost in his little world of coding. The moment he looks up at me, my cock will stand to attention. He’ll say something sweet and cute like ‘are you here to have lunch with me,’ and I’ll sweep him up, hold him close and then I’ll sit him down and tell him…
“That’s his car,” Craven yelled, pointing down the road.
Shadow looked up, so focused on putting one foot in front of the other, he hadn’t noticed they were on Rowan’s street. Rowan’s car was parked at an odd angle, almost blocking one side of the road. Shadow could already see the car was empty, both front doors of it left wide open. Sprinting over, he could see the keys were still in the ignition.
“He could’ve seen the explosion,” Marco said, pointing to the smoke that still lingered on the horizon. “If he was driving down here, when the explosion went off…”
“That doesn’t explain where he is now, or why Talon’s gone too,” Shadow snapped. I should’ve told him, I should’ve begged him to just stay in his apartment, just for today.
“Talon had orders not to say anything, but the direction of Rowan’s car suggests he was heading to his gran’s anyway.” Craven sniffed the air. He was standing around the passenger side of the car. “I’m picking up two strange scents with Talon’s. No way of knowing if they’re human or pack because one of the strangers uses far too much cologne.”
“Spread out and see what else you can find,” Shadow said grimly as he searched the ground for any possible clue. “Something made my mate leave his car…”
“Yeah, probably worried about you getting your ass blown up.” Marco joined him, bending over sniffing the ground. Together they traced Rowan’s scent from when he left the car, to about twenty feet away.
“Another scent. This one’s wolf,” Shadow snarled.
“It could have been another pack member, helping them.” Craven joined them. “Smelling the ground’s not going to tell us if they’ve been taken by force or not, and with this damn roading, there’s no sign of a scuffle. Maybe they saw the explosion, had car trouble and someone gave them a lift.”
“Excuse me,” A woman’s voice called out from about three houses down from where they were. “Excuse me, are you looking for the two men in that car over there?”
“Why yes, ma’am, we are.” Marco must have known how close Shadow was to losing his shit as he moved in the woman’s direction, taking the lead on talking to a potential witness to whatever happened to his mate. “The young man who was driving the car is a good friend of ours. We had plans to meet up for lunch, but he never arrived.”
“I knew something had happened, and I did call the police,” the woman, a lady in her mid-thirties who was still wearing a night robe, had red around her nose and eyes, indicating she probably had a cold. “I’m not usually home through the day,” she said to Marco, although Shadow could hear her clearly.
“I’ve been sick and was asleep. But there was that huge explosion. It was so loud it rocked the bed. I got up, like you do, and I was peering out the window when I saw your friend’s car was parked like it is in the middle of the road. I thought, ‘well, that’s not right’ and I was just going out to see if I can help, when I heard this voice yelling really loudly.”
“That was very sweet of you to want to help,” Marco said gently. “Could you hear who was yelling and what they were saying?”
Now the woman’s cheeks were as red as the puffiness around her nose and eyes. “There wasn’t much to hear. I just heard one young man, he was on the passenger side of the car yelling out to Rowan is it, at least that’s what it sounded like, and telling him to watch out.”
She clutched at the front of her robe. “I couldn’t go out then, I was too scared. That one guy by the car who was yelling for his friend was fighting really hard against two other guys. I thought he was winning, but he was trapped by the car door and then one of the attackers smashed the guy’s head into the door frame. He just collapsed in a heap on the ground and the two men started to drag him away. I was talking to the police by this time. I mean, you don’t expect to see things like that in this street.”
“I agree, ma’am, that must have been really frightening for you,” Marco soothed.
What about Rowan? Because it was clear to Shadow from what he’d heard, that it was Talon fighting off the two men and he must have been unconscious for anyone to be dragging him away.
“Did you see what happened to the other young man?” Marco continued calmly. “He has a bad leg and limps sometimes, maybe you noticed?”
“Oh, that poor dear. I see him sometimes when he’s collecting his mail and I’m heading to work. He has such a lovely smile.” The woman shook her head. “He was crying and sobbing so loud I could hear it, staring at the smoke above the buildings, shouting something that sounded like Shadow. His leg gave out on him. It was like he was stumbling towards the explosion, which makes no sense at all. But then he fell, and his friend yelled at him to look out, but it was too late by then. There was a third stranger in a mask looming over him. They put a black sack over his head.”
Shadow could feel his wolf rising, not taking no for an answer. His mate, his sweet mate thought something had happened to him and… And…
“Ma’am, this is very important,” Marco said urgently. “Did they get in a car, or a van, or some kind of transport? They must have done, surely, if you saw the two men being dragged away.”
“A black van.” The woman sniffed and nodded, dabbing at her nose with a tissue clutched in her hand. “I got the number plate. I gave it to the police, but the lady on the phone said that all available patrol cars were being rerouted to the explosion site, and they didn’t have any patrol cars in the area. I told them to hurry. I told her men were being kidnapped off the street in broad daylight, but all she could say was that someone would get back to me.”
Craven and Shadow shared a knowing glance. It was clear the whole thing had been planned and whoever took Rowan knew Shadow and his friends would be at the site of the explosion.
The helpful neighbor was crying now. “I mean, I tried, didn’t I? I gave them the plate number, I told them the c
rime was happening right then and there, but no one came to help. How does that happen? Here, of all places. This is a nice street, although maybe this is the cheaper side of town, but surely…”
“Ma’am, you’ve been immensely helpful,” Marco said, gently taking her arm and leading her back to her house. “If you could just give me the plate number you gave to the police, me and my friends will go down to the precinct and see what’s being done about those two young men. You don’t have to worry about it anymore. You’ve done so much already.”
“But I don’t think I did…” Her voice trailed off as Marco got her into her house.
“A plate number’s better than nothing,” Craven said grimly.
“I will kill them,” Shadow promised. “I don’t care who or what or why, I’m going to kill them all. Endangering my pack by blowing up part of my territory was one thing, but if just one lock of hair on my sweet mate’s head doesn’t curl the way it should, I am going to tear apart those who took him, into such small pieces, there won’t be enough for dental records to identify them.”
“This could be an inside job,” Craven warned as Shadow watched Marco stride out of the neighbor’s house and head their way. “The explosion was one thing to try and kill us, but timing that with a hit on your mate is too much of a coincidence to ignore.”
“If it’s someone in my pack responsible for this, you can bet I’ll know who they are by nightfall.” Shadow curled his lip. “It’s time to go hunting boys. I want every single pack member identified and located before night fall. I refuse to spend the night without my mate in my arms.”
Chapter Thirteen
Rowan woke with a thumping headache and he winced as he tried to open his eyes. His vision was blurry, and it took quite a few blinks before he could see clearly again. Not that there was anything to see. It was pitch black all around him. His hands were still tied behind his back, but he’d been laying on something solid. Concrete, he guessed, coming from the chill underneath him.
He tried to push himself upright, into a sitting position, but with his hands behind him and his bad leg, he found it impossible. Wiggling his whole body backwards, his back encountered something wet and solid. Eww, damp walls, he thought as he used the wall to move his body, so he was at least sitting on his butt – on damp concrete - but it was better than laying like a sacrificial offering. Rowan shivered and it wasn’t just from the cold.
As his brain slowly cleared from the fog he experienced when he woke up, Rowan’s memories of being taken flooded his brain. He strained his ears, but the only sound he heard was his own heart, and subdued breathing. What did they do with Talon? Rowan hoped his friend was all right. His wolf could sense Shadow was alive despite the explosion which was one relief. If the man had died, as Rowan feared, his wolf would be inconsolable. But he’s busy as usual, his brain supplied and that really wasn’t helpful to Rowan’s current state of mind.
Looks like it’s just me and you, he sent to his wolf, who was strangely subdued. If anything, his wolf half seemed to be waiting, but for what was anyone’s guess. Rowan huffed and wiggled his toes in his boots. At least he was still clothed, which he was going to take as a tick in the positive column. But the sharp pain that ran up his leg reminded him he’d twisted his ankle and his bad leg was throbbing badly thanks to the chill. That means any form of running is out of the question.
Rowan sighed and leaned back against the wall behind him. A cold seeping sensation came through his jacket almost immediately, and he bum-shuffled forward about a foot before he stopped. His hands being tied was the real issue. Maybe I could bring them around to my front and get rid of the ties with my teeth.
Rowan was sure he’d read of someone doing that once, but unfortunately, reality was a lot harder than fiction. I’m going to have to lean on that bloody wall, he thought, dreading the idea of his clothes getting any damper than they were. His goosebumps had goosebumps, and Rowan wished he could shift. But with his hands behind him, he’d just dislocate his shoulders if he tried, and besides, without knowing who’d taken him, it’d be a huge risk.
Sniff, smell, damn it. What can I smell? Not a lot, which wasn’t helping his situation either. There was no scent of anyone in the hole he was in. Just damp, mold, and a slight chlorine smell from the water, Rowan guessed, or maybe the concrete itself. Basement? Cold cellar? Aside from the concrete, there were no other clues. Even after his eyes adjusted to the dark, all he could see was more concrete, shaped in a curve.
There’s no door. No window. Fuck! Rowan’s heart rate increased, and he started to pant. His mind went into overdrive, imagining himself buried somewhere in a concrete tomb where no one would ever find him. Look up. Look up, his logical mind screamed at him. Still hyperventilating, Rowan looked up. The ceiling curved up towards the middle. Small chinks of light shone around a dark circular shape at the summit of the wall curves.
I’m in a tank.
It’s not covered in dirt.
There’s no way in hell I can get out.
The tank was wide – easily more than two of Rowan’s arm widths. From what he felt from leaning on the wall, Rowan knew the surface of the concrete was uneven, but as he was a wolf shifter and not a goat, he had no way of climbing even if his leg was in perfect shape.
Rowan’s panic was there, right under the surface of his skin, threatening to erupt in a meltdown of epic proportions. His mind was running the statistics – days a body could live without food. How bad would his thirst have to be before he licked the walls. Where would I pee, because the thought of dying among his own muck wasn’t helping Rowan’s peace of mind at all.
I must get my breathing and heart rate back to normal. I’m going to get my hands free. It was the only thing remotely in his control. What he was going to do afterward was anyone’s guess. Rowan’s mind flitted to Shadow – a mate he barely knew and who’d become so distant over the past few days, it was like living with a stranger, which apart from the sex and Rowan’s distant memories of an alpha’s son, he was. At least he’s okay. It’s such a damn shame he’s too busy to notice I’m missing.
/~/~/~/~/
“I will fucking kill you.” Shadow threw the young man against the wall and then stalked after him. The asshole was easy to find. The cologne he wore could be scented by Craven even after Rowan’s attacker had showered. It was a pack member, just as Shadow feared, but young, barely eighteen. His two co-conspirators were huddled in a corner crying.
Picking the man up again, Shadow held him high above his head wanting nothing more than to wring the man’s scrawny neck. “I’m going to kill you and when I’m done, I’m going to tear every inch of flesh off your bones. I’m going to take those bones and grind them into a paste, and then I’m going to shovel that paste down your parents’ necks before I banish them forever. Do you hear me?”
“We were ordered to do it.” The young man’s voice cracked, and he’d peed his pants. “I didn’t want to. None of us did. But Dad always told me to obey the elders.”
Fucking knew I should’ve dealt with them when I had the chance. Shadow mentally cursed. “Where. Is. My. Mate?”
“I don’t know. Honest I don’t.” Tears and snot ran down the young man’s face. “We… I… We were ordered to take them out to Elder Simon’s house. He lives on the edge of pack territory. That’s all we did. Just dropped them off. Honest. They were still alive when we left them there.”
The “for now” was implied. Shadow shook the man’s body hard, before launching him through the air again, sending him flying against the wall his friends were huddled against. “Lock ‘em up,” he snarled at Harry, well aware his fangs were showing. “If they so much as hint at running away, tear their throats out and leave their bodies for the rest of this pack to find. I will teach everyone what happens when they come between me and my mate.”
Shadow turned, the urge to kill so strong in man and wolf, he had to get out of the house. He knew Rowan was alive, but that was all he knew. And it wasn’t e
nough. Long shadows cast by the setting sun showed it would be nightfall soon. In his mind’s eye, Shadow could see him. His poor mate huddled somewhere, most likely in the cold and dark. Hurt. Probably hungry. He strode over to his SUV, confident his three friends would follow him.
Chapter Fourteen
Rowan shivered, trying to keep his legs crossed as the pressure on his bladder increased. He rubbed his hands up and down his arms, the twin bands of blood around his wrists showing tearing a plastic tie with his teeth wasn’t as easy as it looked on television. It’d been a real struggle, getting his hands in front of him, but while his wrists and shoulder’s ached, he’d managed it. He had no idea how much time had passed. The shadows cast by the chinks of light in the ceiling had moved but weren’t as strong as they were before. He never wore a watch and he’d left his phone at home. It wasn’t as though Shadow ever called him. Rowan didn’t think his mate even had his number.
I should’ve dated him before I let him claim me. Rowan’s hollow laugh bounced off the concrete. It’s not as though he’d ever dated anyone. Cassie used to date, a lot. Rowan remembered how she’d come running into his dorm room one time, holding up her phone like a trophy. “He gave me his number,” she’d shrieked, bouncing on Rowan’s bed. Like it was a big deal, just exchanging contact details and yet, Rowan would’ve given anything to have felt that one fissure of excitement, the promise of a new love, just once before he died.
Shadow is a good alpha. Rowan examined that statement, making a mental list of pros and cons. The problem, Rowan admitted to himself, was he didn’t have many decent examples to compare Shadow to, in either the alpha or the mate sense. Shadow was better than his father in being alpha. And he was twenty thousand times better than his brother Percy. But then Percy wasn’t alpha born. Rowan wondered if that’s why Percy used to be such a shit. It couldn’t be easy trying to live up to a perfect older alpha brother.
