by Becca Van
“Every room for lease in town is likely to be booked out. We aren’t going to be able to stay here overnight. What if we don’t find her? What the fuck are we going to do then?”
“We might have to sleep in the car,” Emery said and couldn’t miss the scowl Elwyn turned his way. “Hey, it’s better than sleeping on the streets. Maybe we can find somewhere in a town close by.”
Elwyn shook his head. “I doubt it. The people here probably have the whole surrounding county booked out.”
“Then we’ll just have to make sure we find that bitch and take off.”
“We’re going to need to go back to Glendive. We can’t abandon your car because that will definitely draw suspicion our way.” Elwyn rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m starving, but the diner across the street is packed to the rafters. That leaves the hotel. What is the likelihood of the pub serving breakfast?”
Emery shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Elwyn fell into step beside him as they skirted the mass of people walking about the small town. When Emery saw the sign for the clinic next to the diner, he almost stopped in his tracks, but he slowed his pace instead. The doctor’s office was closed and there were no lights on inside. He glanced toward the diner and stumbled into his brother.
“Watch where you’re fucking going.” Elwyn shoved him away.
“I know where she is,” Emery whispered.
“How the hell would you know that? We just fucking got here.”
“Because I just put eyes on our target.”
“Where?” Elwyn moved toward the brick wall of the hotel and turned to face his brother.
“Turn around, we don’t want her seeing us.” Emery grabbed his brother’s arm. “Just keep walking toward the hotel entrance.”
Elwyn grumbled under his breath but started walking again after shrugging off Emery’s hand.
“Where is she?”
“Would you believe working at the diner?”
Elwyn nodded as he pushed the door to the hotel open and stepped inside. “Yeah, I would.”
Emery blinked as he entered the pub and sighed with relief when he saw people eating breakfast. He glanced around and spied a lone empty table in the back of the room. He rubbed his hands together and smiled. It was perfect. He and Elwyn could sit in the shadows and go over the plan until they were sure they had everything down pat.
Failing to get that slut wasn’t an option. She needed to be taken out so he and his brother never saw the inside of a prison cell. There was no fucking way he was going to be some beefed-up prison mate’s bitch.
Once he and Elwyn were seated and their breakfast order had been taken, Emery leaned back in his chair. He could tell by the frown on his twin brother’s face that the cogs in his brain were turning.
“Please, tell me you didn’t leave your medical bag in your car.”
“Of course, I fucking didn’t,” Elwyn replied. “I thought you saw me put it in your trunk.”
Elwyn shrugged. “I was too fucking tired to notice.”
“I’ve got everything we’ll need.”
“Then we shouldn’t have any trouble reaching our…goal.” Elwyn rested his elbows on the edge of the table.
“No, we shouldn’t.”
* * * *
Pixie sighed as she finished writing out her witness statement and began to read it over looking for errors. She was feeling really emotional, and having to recollect what had happened had brought back all the horror she’d managed to ignore over the past week.
Tears weren’t far from the surface and swallowing around the constrictive lump of emotion was almost impossible, but she needed to do this for Cheryl and any other woman who was unfortunate enough to cross paths with the doctor and his cop brother.
Fear skated up her spine. How long had the medical professional been killing? Was he using his patients to scope out his next target?
She pressed a hand to her stomach and swallowed the bile threatening to come up her throat.
She startled badly when Tatum rushed into the room, scaring the shit out of her.
“What’s wrong, baby? Why are you so upset?”
Pixie dragged in a deep breath and slowly released it. Tatum skirted the desk, scooped her up into his arms, and sat in the chair she’d been sitting in, plonked her on his lap, and hugged her tight. She turned her face into his chest and clutched at his shirt, drawing his wonderful scent deep into her lungs.
“Fuck! No wonder you’re almost in tears,” Tatum said as he began to rock her gently.
She guessed he’d read what was on the computer monitor.
“Is that everything, baby?”
“Yeah.” Her breath hitched and she shivered.
“If you’re done, I’ll send it to Preston Louis at the FBI.”
“Do it.”
Tatum leaned forward and tapped at the keyboard for a few minutes, and then his arms were back around her. He caressed a hand up and down her back. Even though it was just on lunch time and the hours of the day had passed quickly, it also felt as if they’d dragged.
She’d worked hard by putting all the invoices and such into the bookkeeping software program, delaying the inevitable, which had caused her to become tense. Maybe if she’d compiled her witness statement first thing this morning she wouldn’t have felt as if a black ominous cloud was hanging over her head.
Pixie was feeling ill, restless, and scared, and there was no way she could stay in the office all alone and concentrate on the rest of the tasks she’d set out for herself, so she decided it was time to help out in the diner.
Breakfast had been busy, but Shaffer and Rex had promised to call her if they needed another pair of hands. Nonetheless, they’d seemed to handle the breakfast crowd without much difficulty, but she suspected that was due to more than a few sore heads from an overindulgence of alcohol.
“I’m okay.” She finally sat up and met Tatum’s gaze.
Tatum scrutinized her face and then smiled. “You’re more than okay, baby. You’re gorgeous.”
She blushed at the compliment but returned his smile. “I love you, Tatum.”
He pressed his lips to hers and when she parted her lips on a moan, he deepened the kiss. They were both breathing shallowly when he lifted his head. “I love you, too, mate.”
She pushed up from his lap and moved aside so he could stand. “I’ve had enough of doing office work for a while. I’m going to help out in the diner.”
“Whatever you want, baby. You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t like sitting on my hands, Tatum.”
He paused in the doorway of the office, turned to face her, and palmed her cheeks. “I know you don’t, Pixie, but I don’t want you exhausting yourself.”
“Pfft.” She waved her hand in the air. “You were here when Broden checked me over first thing. He’s given me the all clear. I can’t believe I don’t have a scar. You, Rex, and Shaffer must have passed on some powerful healing genes.”
“We don’t care about any scars, baby. We’re all just glad you’re alive and well and here with us.”
“Aw, you say the sweetest things, Tatum.” She smiled up at him.
“Now, don’t you go around telling anyone that, baby. You’d ruin my reputation for one, and secondly they wouldn’t believe you.”
“You’re probably right.” Pixie chuckled. “We can’t have the big bad reigning King looking all soft and mushy, can we?”
“You’re not gonna drop that, are you?”
“Not a chance in hell.”
“Give him hell, sweetie,” Rex said from outside the room. “Every table has been filled. Pixie, are you up to helping out?”
Tatum moved into the hallway, and she followed. She met Rex’s gaze and smiled. “I was just telling the reigning King here that I needed a reprieve from all the paperwork and was going to help whether you asked me or not.”
Rex moved closer and kissed her lingeringly on the lip
s. “You’re a life saver, sweetie. In more ways than one.”
“I wish that were true.” Her lips trembled as she remembered Cheryl again.
“Hey, I’m sorry.” Rex tugged her into his arms and held her tight. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t. I was already feeling emotional.” She released a shuddering breath. “I just finished my witness statement.”
“Ah.” Rex stroked a finger down her face. “You hang with me, kid. I’ll have you smiling again in no time.”
“Kid?” She quirked an eyebrow and glared at him.
Rex grinned and kissed her forehead. “Just a figure of speech, sweetie. There is nothing childish about you in any way, shape, or form.”
“Hey, a little help here?” Shaffer called down the hall, sounding harried.
Rex dropped his arms from around her, laced her fingers with his, and guided her down the hall.
“You’re going to have to help Tatum in the kitchen,” Shaffer said. “I’ve just placed a shitload of food orders.”
“Looks like you’ll have to suffer with Shaffer’s company,” Rex teased.
“Fuck off!” Shaffer smirked. “You’re just jealous because you’re going to be stuck in the kitchen with Tatum.”
“You’ve got that right,” Rex said. He lifted her hand to his mouth, kissed the back of it, and then hurried away.
“Are you ready, sugar?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s get to it. The quicker we serve the hordes, the faster they’ll leave.”
“There is that.” Pixie followed Shaffer out into the diner.
Over the next few hours, Pixie was run off her feet serving meals, pouring coffee, gathering up dirty dishes, and wiping down tables. When there was finally a lull, she headed to the kitchen to rinse dishes, put them in the industrial-sized dishwashers, and turned them on.
“Is there anything you want me to do in here?” she asked Tatum and Rex as they worked the grill and stove.
“The trash cans are full,” Tatum said. “Normally, I wouldn’t ask you to do such a dirty job, but we don’t have time. Do you mind taking the bags out to the dumpster?”
Pixie snorted. “It’s not that bad and of course I don’t mind.”
“Thanks, baby. You’re a legend.”
“You get to sleep in tomorrow, mate,” Rex said. “We’ve decided that we’re not opening the diner’s doors on Sunday.”
“But you’ll be missing out on all that profit.”
“We have more money than we could ever spend in a lifetime, baby,” Tatum said. “Didn’t we tell you that all the men in this town bought a lottery ticket and won a shit load of money?”
“Yes, you told me.”
“We’re not going to have enough food left after serving so many people.” Rex met her gaze. “They’ll have to move on to greener pastures if they want to eat in the morning.”
“I could go shopping at the supermarket if you want?”
“Nope,” Tatum answered. “My mind is made up. We’re all too tired to deal with another day like yesterday and today.”
“If you’re sure.”
“We are,” Rex and Tatum answered simultaneously.
Pixie giggled. She crossed her arms beneath her chest and scowled at them both. “The reigning Kings’ have spoken.” She tried to keep her expression fierce but ended up laughing when she saw their lips twitch with amusement.
“You’re just a bundle of laughs aren’t you, sweetie?” Rex grinned.
She smiled back and nodded, then turned toward the trash cans.
She loved her mates so much. They’d all joked around with her whenever they had a spare moment and lightened the fear and grief she’d been carrying around.
They filled her heart to overflowing and lightened her soul.
She couldn’t have asked for better men, and they were all hers.
Chapter Twenty-One
Emery had been standing in the shadows in the alleyway at the back of the diner for hours. He was bored out of his brain, and worried someone other than the bitch would walk out the back door and see him.
Elwyn had moved the car to the narrow street leading to the alley and was sitting in the comfort of the car, no doubt listening to music.
Emery covered the loaded syringe in the pocket of his jeans and hoped he’d get the chance to use it. He also had a roll of duct tape and a rag in his other pocket. If only that slut would come out so he and his brother could get the fuck out of this overcrowded backward town.
He was nervous because he’d seen the men in the hotel and the guy working alongside the bitch. They were all fucking huge with muscles on muscles, and if he hazarded a guess they were all military trained. He could tell by the way they moved and how they all seemed to scan the faces in the crowds. He and Elwyn had been wearing peaked baseball caps, and each time one of the locals looked their way, they’d lowered their heads, keeping their faces in the shadows.
His heart flipped in his chest and adrenaline surged in his system when the back door the diner opened. He hunkered down behind the dumpster just in case one of the men was coming out. However, when he heard light footsteps he knew it was a woman. He balanced his weight as he crouched and leaned forward to peek around the corner of the large trash can and almost laughed with glee when he saw his target. She was carrying two bags of rubbish and would hopefully have to put one down so she could lift them individually up and over the edge to get rid of them.
Emery smiled when she did just that, and when she turned her back to him as she reached for the other bag of trash, he made his move. He walked up behind her, soundlessly pulling the needle from his pocket and the plastic cover from the stainless-steel tip, and when she lifted the bag to fling it into the dumpster, he covered her mouth with his free hand, jabbed the hypodermic into her neck, and plunged the fast-acting drug into her system. The bag of trash fell from her hands, hit the rim of the bin, and toppled in. She tried to scream, but it was barely a squeak since the medicine was already working and his mouth was over her mouth.
When her knees buckled, Emery lifted her into his arms and hurried away from the back of the diner. Elwyn saw him coming and jumped out of the car and raced toward the trunk.
Emery dumped her body into the trunk, pulled the tape and rag from his pocket, and passed the tape to his brother. Between the two of them, they had her trussed up like a turkey in less than two minutes.
“Let’s move.” Elwyn jogged around to the driver’s door, slid into the seat, and started the ignition.
Emery got in the passenger seat and kept scanning to see if anyone was following them or had seen them kidnap the slut. He didn’t start breathing easy until they were beyond the town limits of Ambrose.
* * * *
Broden felt as if he was going crazy with all the people who’d invaded the town. He hadn’t bothered to go to his usual haunt with Archer and Airen at the pub, because he was worried his bear was going to make an appearance. His animal was restless and getting more aggressive, so he’d decided the only option was to lock himself inside the clinic and hide. With so many people about town, the last thing they needed was his beast getting free and revealing to the world that shifters existed. What they were dealing with now with the music festival would be a cakewalk compared to what would happen if their secret got out.
He walked to the back window and stared up the alley. When he saw a man carrying an unconscious brown-haired woman, his medical persona came to the fore. He hurried toward the back door and jogged down the narrow lane, hoping to offer his help.
He wasn’t fast enough. Two guys jumped into a car and took off, but he memorized the number plate before the car disappeared. The woman had been nowhere in sight. He frowned and sniffed the air. He had to swallow the deep angry rumble when he smelled Pixie’s scent and it was strong. Broden spun on his heel and burst through the back door of the diner. He skidded to a halt in the kitchen as Tatum and Rex turned to face him.
�
��Someone just kidnapped your mate.”
* * * *
Tatum stalked toward Broden and grabbed his shirt in his fist. “What did you just fucking say?”
“You can’t roar, Tatum. There are humans everywhere.”
Tatum sucked in a deep breath and nodded. His heart was aching and felt as if it had stopped beating. He was panting, but it hurt to breathe. Fur rippled along his arms before receding, and his claws erupted and retracted. “Shaffer, get in here now.”
Broden exposed his throat and averted his gaze from Tatum’s fury. Even though he knew none of this was the Kodiak’s fault, he was so angry he wanted to rip his throat out, but he’d never hurt a friend. His lion was roaring and snarling, close to breaking free, but Tatum couldn’t let that happen. At least not yet.
“What?” Shaffer asked as soon as he entered the kitchen.
Tatum met first Shaffer’s and then Rex’s gaze. Rex looked as if he was about to shift into his lion form, too, but he trusted his brother to keep his animal at bay.
“Explain,” Tatum ordered.
Broden explained what he’d seen.
“You can take charge here or kick everyone out. I don’t give a fuck.” Tatum released Broden and ran toward the back door with Rex and Shaffer on his heels.
“Let me track her,” Shaffer growled. Tatum nodded and sniffed the air. He frowned when he caught a chemical scent mixed in with Pixie’s and searched the area near the dumpster. He picked up the syringe lying on the ground and inhaled deeply, imprinting the aroma of a dead man deep into his lungs. He dropped the needle and sprinted after his brothers, heedless of the fearful looks directed their way from the humans. As he ran he contacted the wolf shifters, Zayn, Karter, and Jace Strike.
“Zayn, Karter, Jace, I need your help. Our mate’s been abducted. We’re following the scent, but we’re going to need a fast vehicle and your help tracking.”
“Shit!” Jace snarled.
