Grabbing his keys, Cole holstered his Glock at his side and left the house, locking it up and setting the alarm his brother never remembered to use. If he’d done as Cole had warned him, he would’ve had some type of protection from them.
“Fuck!” Cole slammed his hand on the steering wheel and left to find his brother, hoping he was still alive when he finally did find him.
Chapter Two
Dane leaned over the bar top and tossed his empty beer bottle in the trash. His eyes were on Olivia as she washed dishes behind the counter. Her back was to him, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the curve of her waist or the flare of her hips. Looking at her ass was totally off limits, because he couldn’t even glance at it without his cock getting hard. She wore tight jeans and a cotton shirt that was provided by The Deuce, and her long, golden hair fell in ringlets almost to her elbows.
She was human, but his panther didn’t care. He was infatuated with her and her safety, and he’d taken the role of protector of the bar the moment it had been offered by Talon, his alpha. Liberty, the alpha’s mate and owner of the bar, gave him an approving nod as soon as the acceptance had left his mouth.
“Where’s Cole?” he grunted from sexual frustration when Olivia turned around. The bartender hadn’t made it in yet, and he was starting to worry about his friend.
“He’s running late,” Olivia stated, stacking glasses as she dried them. “Said he had something to take care of before he came in and for me to open things up if he wasn’t here by eleven.”
It was only Wednesday, so the bar wouldn’t be very busy. The other Guardians had planned on coming by for lunch, but since the Summer Solstice had been only a couple of weeks ago, and Kye and Malaki had both been granted Guardian status, Ranger and Savage were staying back to help train them.
Malaki was better, but his relationship with his sister, Calla, was still strained. Dane wanted to punch the punk for his attitude, but Savage and Ranger assured him Malaki would straighten himself out once he calmed down. Dane had to chuckle to himself. The short, scrawny blond male who’d come to their pride broken and scared had reached his maturity at a rapid rate. He could give their largest Guardian, Savage, a run for his money.
“Can I ask you a question?” Olivia muttered as she pulled her long hair up into a sloppy bun on the back of her head.
“Of course,” he said with a nod.
“If there is peace with the shifters, why are you still here? I mean, not that I mind, but don’t you have other things you could be doing besides sitting here all day while the bar is open?”
“We are always in protection mode with our pride,” he explained. “You are human, but an employee of the pride, and that includes Cole, Moe, Luke, and anyone else who works at The Deuce.”
“I understand.” She smiled slightly, a soft blush painting her cheeks. “Thank you.”
Before he could ask her anything else, Cole stormed through the front door, an angry scowl covering his features. Dane’s beast snarled in his head as he stood to confront him. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” he barked and pushed past, heading for the back of the building.
Dane’s combat boots stomped an irritated rhythm as he followed the male. When he approached the breakroom, he heard Cole curse and slam his fist into the lockers. As Dane entered the room, he found the human male with his head against the wall, his fist still pressed against the metal side of the locker.
“I don’t think nothing is wrong,” Dane snarled.
“This doesn’t concern you, Dane,” Cole snapped, pushing away from the locker. “This isn’t pride business.”
“When it comes to someone I consider a friend, it does,” he argued. Cole’s eyes darkened as he pivoted on his heel. The sunlight coming through the window to the left casted a glow across the male’s features. His cut jaw was tight, the muscle pulsing with his anger.
“My baby brother, Landon, has gone missing,” Cole finally admitted. “No one knows where he is.”
“Why the fuck didn’t you call me?” Dane bellowed, his fists tightening at his side.
Shaw Security Specialists, Talon’s company, was often hired to help find missing children, and they could help him. Why in the hell hadn’t Cole asked for their help?
“This isn’t pride business!” Cole exploded, grabbing the sides of his head in frustration. “This is all my fucking fault.”
“What?” Dane growled, slamming his hand into the male’s shoulder when he made a move to pass. Both men froze as a current of awareness rolled through Dane and obviously Cole as well. Dane’s panther pushed at his skin, his fangs elongating as the pain Cole was feeling ran through his veins. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Dane had to shake the feeling of touching the male from his mind. Whatever the fuck that was, he would deal with it later. It wasn’t the first time he’d felt something weird when they’d touched. His friend was hurting, and he needed to focus on that. It wasn’t the feeling of a mate, but it was something.
“My previous employment is coming back to haunt me,” Cole cursed.
“Your military career?” Dane frowned.
“Yes.” He swore and took a seat heavily in the chair behind him. Dane knelt at the male’s feet so he was eye level with him.
“You better start telling me what the fuck is going on so we can help you,” Dane warned.
“I think it was the drug cartel we went in and busted six years ago,” Cole began, covering his face with both hands. He let out a heavy sigh when he brushed them down his eyes, taking the wetness with it. “They have threatened to find us and our families for years.”
“Didn’t you get them all?”
“No,” Cole shook his head, “we got their leader and all of the men who were at the estate in Columbia, but there were others, less important, that we never found.”
“Do you think they know where you are now?” Dane asked, feeling his beast prowl beneath his skin. His protective side fired to life. Someone was after Cole, and there was no question in his mind that he’d protect Cole and his brother.
“I would bet money on it.” Cole reached for his phone, looking at it like the answers would show up in the form of a message or voicemail. The desperation and fear coming off of the male was a thick fog in the room, choking Dane as he listened to Cole’s explanation.
“Where was your brother last seen?” Dane inquired. “I will get the pride involved.”
“I can’t ask that of you,” Cole replied.
“Too fucking late, Cole,” Dane snapped. He removed his phone from his pocket and lifted it to his ear. The male’s eyes spoke the words he was too proud to say. He was desperate for help. “Talon, we have a problem.”
Olivia wondered where Cole and Dane had run off to when the bar began to fill up. It was only the middle of the week, and the last thing they expected was for a lot of customers to show up for lunch. She quickly attached three orders to the wheel at the kitchen counter for Moe to start and spun it toward the cook. She returned to the bar, cracking the lids of three beer bottles for the patrons waiting at the bar top. She made a tray full of drinks and groaned when she lifted the weight of the tray.
The door to the bar was wrenched open and several of the Guardians from the Shaw pride raced in, along with the alpha. Booth, the dark haired one, stopped a few feet in front of her. “Where is Dane?”
“I think him and Cole are in the back,” she fretted, looking over her shoulder. “What’s going on?”
“Stay here,” he clipped out and walked around her, careful not to touch her.
Her bosses, Liberty and Nova, rushed in behind them. Liberty was very pregnant, but that didn’t stop her from grabbing an order pad as Nova set up behind the bar. “Let’s get these orders done.”
“What the hell is going on?” Olivia repeated.
“I don’t know everything, but I will,” Liberty whispered, her eyes flashing between blue and amber. Her boss was a shifter, and it was obvious her
panther was agitated. “Let’s take care of things here until we know more.”
“Did Dane call you?” Olivia pressed.
“He called my mate and the Guardians,” she said, then paused. “I need you to help me with the bar right now, Olivia. We can worry about the males after everything is taken care of here.”
For the next hour, Olivia tried her hardest to take orders, deliver food, and be the best waitress she could be, but it was hard because Cole and Dane were holed up in the backroom of the bar with the other members of Dane’s pride.
A rumble of thunder outside the window sent a chill of unease through her. She never liked storms, but something about this one brought the feeling of something ominous.
The heavy sound of boots on the wooden floor drew her eyes up as the men walked out of the hallway leading to the office and breakroom. Talon and several of his men marched, their steps coordinated and done as a unit, telling others they were in charge. Their presence held an air of authority, and she felt the power they gave off even if she was nothing more than a human.
Olivia approached the bar when they stopped to talk with Liberty. Her husband…well, mate, spoke softly and quieted as she approached. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Could you take them these?” Liberty asked as she set two beers on the counter. “Maybe you can see if they’re ready for food, too?”
“I will check on them.” Olivia nodded and removed her apron, hanging it on the peg by the kitchen window. The others didn’t say anything to her as she walked away. The more she wasn’t told what was going on, the more she worried something big was happening. She hoped like hell it wasn’t another hate group trying to kidnap the shifters to study.
She knocked softly on the breakroom door and got no answer. When she was about to open it, Dane stuck his head out of Liberty’s office. “We’re in here.”
“Liberty sent me back to give you these and to see if you’re hungry,” she began, but her words trailed off when she saw the sheer desperation and anger on Cole and Dane’s faces. She gasped, sat the beers on the desk, and dropped to her knees next to the couch where Cole was sitting, staring off into space.
“Cole, what’s going on?” she asked, placing a hand on top of his knee. There were tears at the corner of his eyes, and she wanted to reach up to wipe them away. “Cole?”
“I’ve put everyone here in danger,” he stated in a monotone voice.
“What are you talking about?” she asked. The pounding in her heart became a rapid staccato as he looked into her eyes.
“My brother has gone missing, and I have reason to believe he was kidnapped by the family of a drug lord I helped capture when I was in the military.”
“Oh, my God,” she gasped, reaching up to cup his face. She wouldn’t attempt to hide her feelings for him anymore. Olivia cared for him so much, she felt his pain as if it was her own. She looked over at Dane, who was hovering on Cole’s other side. His eyes were completely amber, and they glowed even in the light shining from the fixture above their heads.
“We will find Landon,” Dane promised.
“Dane?” she began, but he shook his head, placing a hand on Cole’s shoulder. She wanted to hug them both, but didn’t. “What can I do?”
“You don’t have to do anything,” Dane replied. “My pride is going to search for him.”
“I want to help,” she continued.
“I need you to stay safe, Liv,” Cole said, using the nickname he often called her. He reached up and touched her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “It’s important I don’t lose anyone else.”
“Dane,” she whispered, pulling away from Cole. When she turned toward the shifter, he moved back a few steps, and the action squeezed her heart.
“Olivia, I agree with Cole,” Dane stated, his voice dropping to a deeper tone than usual. His body swelled as she moved toward him. “We can’t let you be involved. It’s too dangerous.”
“I’m nobody,” she breathed out as her eyes locked with Dane’s. She was helpless against the depths of the amber hue. Dane’s stare was deep, like he was searching for her soul and had found it. The corner of his lip lifted, revealing fangs, as a deep, rumbling sound emanated from his chest.
She took another step toward Dane, completely unaware she’d moved. Her hand landed on Cole’s shoulder, and there was a tingling in the tips of her fingers, but she ignored it and the feel of Cole’s muscular shoulders. Dane took a step back, but their connection wasn’t broken. He just watched her with possessive eyes.
She wanted to be close to him, too.
The thought struck her hard as she looked between the two men. They’d become close over the last several months, and she’d returned the flirting from both of them. What the hell was she doing?
“Call me if you’d like something to eat.”
It wasn’t until she was standing on the threshold of her boss’s office that she realized she might have feelings for both of them.
“She’s your mate, Dane,” Cole observed, noticing the connection between the two. He’d seen it with all the others. There was a certain expression and changing of the eye color that told him these shifters were aware of their mates before they even knew it. Dane wore the same expression Winter and Savage had had when they would speak to Nova and Mary Grace before they touched for the first time.
“I don’t think so.” Dane scowled, but his nostrils flared enough to tell Cole he was lying. “I think she’s yours.”
“I won’t bring a female into the dangers that my life holds.” Cole scowled and reached for his beer. “Look at what happened to my brother. I can’t do that to a woman. Especially not Olivia.”
“Do you care for her?” Dane asked, coming around to take a chair from in front of Liberty’s desk. He spun it on one leg until it faced the bartender and took a seat.
“I do,” Cole nodded, sobering a little when Olivia’s face came into his mind’s eye. “She and I have become very close, and so have the two of you.”
“We’ve all become close,” Dane corrected him. It was true. The three of them had grown close since Olivia first stepped into the bar almost a year ago and interviewed with Liberty. She’d become such a fixture in their lives, it was obvious both men felt protective of her.
“I need you to make sure no one comes in here and hurts her,” Cole sighed and leaned over to put his head into his hands in a sign of frustration. “The cartel will come here, Dane.”
“I won’t let them harm anyone in this building,” Dane vowed. “That includes you, Cole.”
“I’m sure they already know I work here.” He cursed, standing up from the couch. “They’ve probably sent some people in to check on me already.”
“We can replay the cameras and watch the videos,” Dane assured him, but Cole didn’t want to bring them into his mess.
He could still feel the warmth of Olivia’s hand where she had touched his shoulder. He would take that strength with him while he searched for his brother. With the sheriff involved, he hoped they would find Landon before he was hurt or killed.
“Noah will be working on the recorded surveillance of the bar, and we will make sure to add a few more Guardians here in the meantime.”
“It kills me to ask this of the pride, but my hands are tied,” Cole said, looking over his shoulder at the shifter.
Dane was larger than him and could take out a fucking army if he had to. The shifter’s long, dirty-blond hair curled as it fell below his mangled ear. His normally icy blue eyes were the color of his panther’s: a glowing amber. Everyone was on edge, and Cole would forever be grateful for their help, but would it be enough? Could they find Landon?
“We will help,” Dane promised. “The sheriff will be here any minute, and you need to tell him everything you know.”
“Okay,” Cole replied, turning for the window that looked out behind the building. There was a gravel lot used for overflow for the bar. It only got used on the weekends. Beyond that was a grove of trees tha
t covered about fifty feet before the property line stopped at a fence built by the owners on the road behind them. If there was anyone hiding back there, the panthers would know by scent. It wasn’t a lot of coverage, and no one ever worried about it, but the shifters who were tasked in keeping The Deuce protected checked the area several times a day.
A knock on the door had Dane reaching for the lock. The lawman entered and removed a sheet of paper from a metal binder. Cole heard the click of the pen a moment before Sheriff Lynch spoke. “I need you to tell me everything you know.”
Chapter Three
Olivia stared at the pool table across the bar. Two Guardians were playing a game as if it were any other Friday night. Dane was leaning against their usual table at the back of the bar, watching her every move. It’d been two days since Cole’s brother had gone missing, and everyone was on edge. The pride was out searching for him, yet there had been no signs of him anywhere in town.
She bit her lip and wandered over to them when she noticed their beers were empty. Noah and Booth were quiet while they played. Each of the panthers kept their eyes on the crowd even as they played the game. Dane watched her and Cole more than the others, and she was okay with that.
Cole kept to his job at the bar while the search was being conducted. Talon wanted to use Cole to see if they could draw out the cartel by placing him directly in the line of fire, so to speak. Olivia had a few choice words for them when she’d found out, but she kept it to herself. She didn’t want to be disrespectful to the alpha of the Shaw pride, but she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind to Dane or Cole.
“Everything is going to be okay, Olivia,” Dane said as she approached. “I can see the worry in your eyes.”
“Well, I’m not very happy about Cole being a sitting duck,” she barked and picked up the beer bottles with a hard jerk. “I’ll bring you refills.”
Dane (Rise of the Pride, Book 8) Page 2
