Hilary left and came back sometimes. But she seemed to be having difficulty with what to do next, as though this hostage situation wasn’t supposed to last this long. Kylie knew it had something to do with Titus and Hilary’s desire to make him pay for her sister’s death, but it was hard to say what.
Did Titus just not give a shit that Kylie was being held hostage? Did he even know?
Those were the questions constantly circling Kylie’s mind. She was driving herself mad trying to figure out the situation.
“Where are we?” Kylie had asked this question repeatedly with no answer.
This time, Hilary turned and glared at Kylie. “Would you knock it off? Just shut up! It doesn’t matter where we are. If this is where you die, this is where you die.”
“Wow. I wonder if that’s what your sister would have wanted.” Kylie wasn’t sure why she was going down this path, but it was worth pursuing. At least in her opinion it was. “I wonder if Heidi—her name was Heidi, right? I wonder if Heidi would have approved of you taking some other woman hostage and sticking her in some kind of maintenance shed on a deserted property in Branson, Missouri and then basically letting her die of thirst and starvation just because you are convinced—and wrongly I might add—that Heidi’s killer is Titus Holbrook.”
“Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!”
“Well,” Kylie went on. What did she have to lose by disobeying? “The thing is if Heidi was here she could also tell you she wasn’t dating Titus. She was dating Jason. They aren’t one person. They’re two people. And then your sister could tell you she was out walking with Jason Holbrook and they were attacked by a wolf and your sister died from her wounds. And yeah, Jason was a total prick for leaving her there, but it was a freak incident.”
Hilary suddenly swung around to face Kylie. “You said before that Jason killed my sister.”
“That’s true.” Kylie had to tread carefully here. Jason Holbrook had been a wolf at the time of Heidi’s death. He’d shifted for some reason that Titus did not seem to know. Perhaps nobody ever would know the truth. “Jason was with your sister. He left her there. It’s possible she could have been rushed to a hospital or something if he had taken her to get help. But he ran away. And that’s why she died.”
But Hilary was frowning. “You said he killed her. That’s what you said. You said that it wasn’t Titus. You said Jason Holbrook killed my sister and that he’s dead.
“It was his action that resulted in her death, therefore, yes, he would be held responsible for her death.” Beads of sweat rolled down Kylie’s face and coated her upper lip. She was so thirsty that she could feel the room beginning to spin. And yet right now she could not afford to flinch. “Jason would have been held responsible had he lived. But he died out there at some point and now there’s nothing to be done about it.”
Hilary stared at Kylie for one long, tense moment. “You’re not telling me something. There is something you’re holding back. What is it?”
“I’m holding something back?” Kylie stared at Hilary and tried to keep her face a blank mask. It was kind of hard considering she was sweaty and reaching the point of desperation herself. Something had to give here. Where was Titus anyway? Was he not coming because of all the things she’d said?
“You think Titus Holbrook is going to what? Come here and turn himself in just because you took me hostage? You think the law is going to care that you’re trying to get a confession out of someone you think is a criminal? No! They’re going to lock you up and throw away the key!”
Hilary smiled but it was cold and cruel. “Yes, but you won’t be around so what do you care?”
“So, you’re going to kill me? Why?” Kylie tried to sound unconcerned. It was surprisingly easy considering she felt near death right now. “What good is that going to do you? You want to add murder to your already long rap sheet? That seems like the wrong move.”
Kylie wasn’t entirely sure what made her think she heard something outside the door, but after a moment or two, she was almost sure she had. Hilary was going on and on about how she wasn’t going to be blamed for Kylie’s death. She insisted Titus was going to go down for that one too because of some stupid plan Hilary had concocted. But Kylie wasn’t listening. She was too busy paying attention to the scratching noises coming from just outside the door.
Her eyes were tired. They burned and itched from the sweat continually dripping down her face. But she could see just a hint of what appeared to be sunlight through the crack at the bottom of the door. There was a brief shadow crossing the doorway and then the shadow disappeared. The scratching noises did too. And Kylie began to wonder if she had imagined the entire thing.
Hilary had taken another breath to launch into a second part of her villainous speech when there was a huge thump above their heads. Hilary actually dropped to the floor while Kylie craned her neck around to look up at the metal ceiling above them. Footsteps. She was sure of it. Huge ones. But what made enormous footsteps like that? What sort of beast would attack a metal building to begin with?
A human one.
Kylie felt her breath catch. Hope bloomed inside her heart and she began to think she might actually get out of this. She tugged at the zip ties binding her hands. Her wrists were sweaty and bloody from the plastic cutting into them. The dull ache of that had long ago faded into the background of other discomforts Kylie was experiencing right now. They just didn’t matter.
“What is it?” Hilary whispered. She actually crammed herself up against the wall as though she thought she could hide in a room with only one other chair and no table. There was nothing in there to protect her. Nothing at all. “What is that thing on the roof? Do you think it’s some kind of maintenance crew? It can’t be! This place is deserted.”
Deserted. What was a completely deserted property where someone could commandeer a maintenance shed for days on end and not raise a single eyebrow. Kylie gaped at Hilary and scoffed in disgust. “You brought me to the amusement park? Seriously? That is what you decided was a good place for a hostage situation to go down?”
A corner of the roof was suddenly ripped apart. A low growling noise accompanied the movement on the roof. Hilary shrieked and ran to Kylie. She wrenched Kylie’s arms up until Kylie had no choice but to awkwardly try to stand up with the back of the chair still technically between her arms and her body. The position wrenched her shoulders and made her grunt with pain. She could barely stumble on her feet since they were asleep because she’d been sitting there for too long.
“It’s him!” Hilary gasped. “It’s the wolf man!”
Kylie didn’t get a chance to agree or disagree before Hilary dragged her to the door and yanked it wide open. It barely registered that the door hadn’t been locked. At least not from the inside. But none of that mattered because the brutal afternoon sunlight spilling down onto the amusement park was enough to keep Kylie’s eyes permanently glued shut. She could only stumble along behind Hilary as her idiot captor dragged Kylie through the brush and trees clogging the old amusement park.
“Come on. Hurry up!” Hilary murmured irately as she towed Kylie along.
Kylie felt her eyes begin to adjust after days of being held in that stupid shed. Her arms were behind her back though and that meant Hilary was yanking Kylie backwards through the rough terrain.
It looked as though they were deep in the back of the amusement park near the base of the roller coaster. The old track was still there. Other than the severe overgrowth of bushes and what used to be beautifully landscaped pathways, the small amusement park still had all of its rides. Roller coaster, Ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, and carousel were all still there. The pieces were battered and weathered after so many seasons of sitting, and yet oddly ghostly even in the late afternoon sunlight.
Kylie stumbled as they moved across a cracked bit of pavement where an old food stand had once been. Her heel caught on the edge of the pavement and she lurched forward. Hilary cursed and yanked backwards, but that gave Hilary
an idea.
Somewhere trailing behind them, with what was probably no trouble at all, was Titus Holbrook. The sound on the roof, the scratching on the door had to be Titus in his wolf form. That was the only logical answer. Kylie would have a long talk with him later about why the hell it took him so long to get there.
But for now, Kylie suddenly stopped walking and threw her entire body weight in the opposite direction. Her hands and wrists screamed from the pressure of Hilary pulling so hard in the other direction, but that one yank was all it took. The weight was suddenly just gone and Kylie was loose.
She bolted from that spot, not caring what she hit or what she stumbled on as long as she kept upright. It was hard as hell to run with her hands tied behind her back and her ankles and feet tingling from disuse. But Kylie managed. She had no choice. She had to get away from Hilary before Hilary got so desperate that she did something really stupid. Something that honestly involved murder.
Kylie ducked beneath a low hanging branch but caught her toe on the root of the old tree sticking up above the ground. She went flying forward and would have landed face first on the gravel and brush-strewn track between the bushes if not for something enormous and furry that managed to catch her at the last second.
The top of her body seemed to drape over something so enormous it was practically the size of a small sofa. Her face landed in fur. Soft charcoal black fur that tickled her nose and smelled faintly of male spice and the outdoors. Kylie’s knees still hit the ground. But the beast carefully caught her upper body and stayed absolutely still as she struggled to use its bulk to stand her back upright on her feet.
It was an awkward movement that took far too much time. It seemed like forever. But when Kylie finally came to her senses, she realized she was staring down at a giant black wolf whose back was easily level with her waist. It was the biggest dog she had ever seen. But it wasn’t a dog. It wasn’t even really a wolf. That creature stared at Kylie with gray eyes that were so uncannily similar to Titus’s that she could see his human identity peeking out at her from behind their keen, intelligent gaze.
Kylie swallowed back her fear and her disbelief, licked her lips, and whispered one word. “Titus?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Yes. Titus. It was him. But he couldn’t tell her that in so many words. Not right now. There was no way to communicate with her. Not yet. And maybe not ever. This was all new territory for him. He’d never spent time with a human like this. Not with one who knew his secret. But that was neither here nor there for the moment. Titus needed to put some distance between them and the crazy woman currently plowing her way through the shrubbery shouting at the top of her lungs. It was as if Hilary had totally lost her mind.
Titus whined softly and nosed Kylie’s thigh. Her hands were tied behind her back, but he couldn’t do anything about that right now. Not with his teeth. He would wind up ripping her hands apart. His jaws were just too huge for that kind of task. He needed to get her someplace where he could shift back to his human body and take care of it.
“Titus,” she whispered.
Titus bobbed his head up and down and then nudged her. He didn’t want to knock her over, but they really needed to get going. It was like herding. Fortunately, he was big enough to shoulder her right off the little track she’d been following when she’d run from Hilary. Just in time too as he heard Hilary shoving her way through the brush absolutely out of her mind.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Hilary sang at the top of her lungs. “There’s nowhere to go. I’ve got the keys and the gates are locked. Unless you can fly!”
Hilary was beating at the bushes with something. A broom perhaps. It was hard to say. She’d evidently picked it up on her way through the mess left over from the amusement park’s former days of glory. Right now, it looked like someone’s backyard left to rot.
Titus led the way through the brush and trees, winding his way and trying to keep his pace slow enough to accommodate poor Kylie’s awkward shuffle and unbalanced walk. All things considered, she was doing pretty well trying to keep up with him. He could smell her there behind him. The sweat and the fear and even the confusion and wonder. There was no telling what kind of shape she was in after being Hilary’s captive for days at a time.
Finally, the sounds of Hilary’s shouts and beating at the trees and bushes seemed to fade away at least a little. The sounds coming out of her mouth lifted the hair on Titus’s back. They were going to have to confront her one way or another. But first, he needed to get Kylie’s hands free.
Titus stopped not far from an old popcorn stand. The sign was hanging askew, and the building had nearly been swallowed by the vegetation around what had once likely been a cute little courtyard at the base of the roller coaster exit. But the little shack at least provided enough cover for Titus to shift back to his human form.
He turned to face Kylie. She was staring at him. The tension on her face was palpable. It seemed absolutely surreal to be here like this with her. He had never shown himself—not intentionally anyway—to any human. Now he shifted right there for Kylie to watch. His limbs elongating and his body changing, hair receding into his skin and taut skin covering the sinew and bone of a man.
Kylie choked on her words. She was pale and sagging and didn’t look as though she could take much more of the stress. As Titus found his human voice in the back of his throat, Kylie collapsed just in time for him to catch her with his honest to goodness arms.
“Kylie,” Titus whispered. “It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s just me.”
She murmured something faint, too faint for him to hear. Her swoon wouldn’t last long though. She was a tough woman. With that in mind, Titus reached behind her and gave a quick yank on the zip ties to snap them in two. Kylie flinched but didn’t cry out. She sagged even harder against him and Titus picked her up into his arms.
He didn’t know what to do. Should he risk Kylie by taking her with him to confront Hilary? Or should he go ahead and leave Kylie by herself and confront Hilary on his own. Either way, something had to be done about the madwoman currently shrieking her displeasure to the world at large. It was almost as if she had lost her mind.
Then Titus felt his phone in his pocket. Funny how that worked. The clothing just appeared and disappeared. Whatever was in his pocket worked the same way. It was the magic at work and yet the entire thing was so preposterous that even Titus wasn’t sure what to make of this often too convenient reality. His phone was buzzing though. There was no getting around that fact. He pulled it out and looked at the display.
We’re here.
The message was from Ash. They were where? Titus craned his neck around and inhaled deeply. Between the scents of disturbed plants and broken branches, discarded and forgotten trash, and rusting metal, he caught something else. Something familiar. The slightly lake water smell of Younger’s boots. The orange scent of Ellie’s shampoo. Ash’s sandalwood and cedar cologne, and even the hint of motor oil and exhaust that always clung to Duke after a ride in his old truck. His team was at the amusement park.
Titus rattled off a text. He didn’t care. He needed them at this point. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get them in. Hilary wasn’t lying. She had locked the gates. But his team was resourceful and he needed their help with this one.
“Hey.” Younger’s whisper barely carried as far as Titus’s ears. “Boss, this fence isn’t all that sturdy.”
Titus turned with Kylie still draped in his arms. He strode toward the barrier fence not far from the base of the roller coaster. Hilary seemed to be keeping herself near the front entrance of the park as though she was sure that’s where Kylie would run. But the park itself wasn’t that big. It was vaguely kidney-shaped with the front entrance at the narrowest portion of the property and the roller coaster anchoring one of the far sides.
“Give me those.”
Duke snagged a pair of bolt cutters from Younger and made quick work of the old chain link fence. Once there w
as a flap long enough for the four of them to get inside, they slipped through and stood facing Titus.
“Time to go, boss. Don’t you think?” Duke seemed to be standing on tiptoe trying to see over all the junk in an effort to get a position on Hilary. “Call the cops on her and just let them sort her out.”
“I can’t do that anymore,” Titus told his friend. “It wouldn’t do any good. She’s not going to leave Kylie alone until I finish this with her.”
Ellie slapped his arm. “Then leave Kylie with us and go finish it. And don’t worry about your secrets. They’re safe with us.”
“What secrets?” Titus wasn’t entirely sure what Ellie was referring to. How did they know anything? Had Mindy told them what she suspected after going through Hilary and Caroline’s files?
But Ellie only shook her head. “Exactly. It doesn’t matter. You could be a vampire for all we care. That’s not going to change how we feel. All right. That’s what I’m getting at.”
“She’s right.” Ash nodded. “I’m going to stay with her. Duke and Younger are going to stay with you.”
Titus pursed his lips. He wasn’t sure he was ready to come out in such a grand fashion. But what other choice did he have? Hilary was far less likely to try something if she thought she had three strapping men to deal with. Even if she decided to pull a gun, it wasn’t going to stop Duke or Younger. They were seasoned enough for that. They knew how to take down one skinny, wacked out red-head.
“All right,” Titus carefully handed off Kylie to Ash. “She’s just passed out from the pain. If you have water, she could probably use it. Hilary had her shut in a maintenance shed for the last two days and I don’t think that was in the plan.”
Ellie made a face. “Stupid twit.”
Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset Page 116
