by Thorne, Elle
Gavin and eight other shifters entered the warehouse. They walked in formation, as if they were part of an elite, highly synchronized dance team. Or a military team. Yes, that was exactly what they were, a highly effective, well-trained military team. He hoped the close quarters of the cage would work to his advantage. It could only fit a few of them and even then, they wouldn’t be able to move about very much.
Gavin’s jaw had a set to it that didn’t make Cy think he planned on having a friendly conversation. Cy took a deep breath. He didn’t plan to die, although he wasn’t sure if that was Gavin’s intention.
The shifters stopped in front of the cage. Gavin brought up the rear.
One of his men turned to Gavin. “The key?”
Chapter Nine
Lila pulled out of the warehouse lot, spinning her tires on the loose gravel, mostly because she was in a hurry to get the hell out of there before Gavin tried to stop her. Or before he asked her for the key.
“Now what, smarty-pants?” she muttered to herself, because she didn’t have a clue where to go to find out if there was an underground fight club for shifters. If she couldn’t figure it out in Dallas, her own stomping grounds, she was screwed, because she certainly wouldn’t be able to learn anything about it in a whole different area, like Houston.
The Tieros had no relationship to speak of with the shifters who held control over the Houston territory, a group of Germans called Nielsen. All of them were wolves. None of them had a relationship with the Tiero family. Sure, okay, the Tiero hadn’t been on the continent as long as some of the other shifter tribes, but still, you’d think they’d want to have a relationship of some sort. She scoffed at the silliness of all the territory rules shifters had.
Then again, she thought of Sophie almost being kidnapped and wondered if the whole territories and boundaries thing wasn’t good, after all.
“Oh, shit!” It hit her like a brick tossed out of a second-story window. What about Sophie’s close call when some shifters had been trying to kidnap her? Could that be the same group?
Rovers could be hired to do whatever. Hmmmm. She wondered if the rovers were being paid to get “contestants” to fight.
She grabbed her phone and called Sophie.
The phone rang four times before she answered.
“Took you long enough,” she told her younger sister. Then she quickly pulled the phone away from her ear. The sound of music blaring at After Dark was loud as hell.
“What?” Sophie yelled.
“Go somewhere quiet,” she yelled back.
“Okay.”
The music faded. A moment later, all that was left was the dull thump of bass.
“You know I’m working, right?” Sophie sounded perplexed.
“Yeah, I’m sorry. This is important. When you… when those rovers tried to kidnap you, when Kane saved you… Where were you, exactly?”
“What? You called me for th—”
“It’s important. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have. Seriously. I need to know.”
Sophie huffed a sigh at the other end. “I hope you’re not getting into any trouble.”
“Come on, Soph, it’s me, remember? You know I don’t do trouble.”
“Okay. Well, it was after the after-hours club. You and Veila went to breakfast, remember? Well, I met this guy. He was nice, funny, and a shifter, of course.”
Of course. Lila didn’t say it out loud.
“Anyway,” Sophie continued. “We went walking—”
“What? In that part of— What the hell were you—” Lila bit back the rest of her response. She would talk to Sophie about her naiveté later. Right now, she needed information. “Sorry. Keep talking.”
“I know, okay?” Sophie really did sound like she’d learned her lesson. “Anyway, so we went walking south, past the old restaurant auction place, you know?”
“Yeah, I know where that is.”
“Near there, in front of the car shop where Vax had the stereo put in his Porsche? The guy said there was a party across the street, except there was no party. There were some guys there, and then he vanished, and they tried to kidnap me. Then that bear, Kane, came out. Well, that’s it.”
“Have you given Vax the details?”
“Hell, no. Not all of them, and you’d better not either, or I’ll never tell you anything again.”
“Okay, okay. I promise.”
“Now I’ve got to go back to work before Veila thinks I’m slacking. What else?”
“That’s it. Thanks, sis. Love you.” Lila pressed End.
That gave her a starting point. Something was better than nothing.
Chapter Ten
Gavin shook his head. “That wasn’t the only key.” He reached into his pocket and pulled one out.
Cy fought the smile wanting to come out at his good luck. In fact, he wanted to cheer. A key was the only way Cy could get out of here and go find Lila and Petra. He was going to give that Lila a sound spanking when he found her for locking him in.
Of course, his cock twitched at the idea of planting his palm on her round ass.
Great. Not what he needed to think of at a time when he was going to have to outman, outfight, and outrun eight powerful shifters.
Leaning against the bars, his head down somewhat, but still watching from beneath his lowered lids as the shifters approached and assessed them. He determined which of them were weak, which were right-handed or left-handed, and which were injured. He scanned their clothing for weapons and wasn’t surprised most of them were unarmed.
Gavin clicked his teeth, a sound of disgust or humor, Cy wasn’t sure. Cy studied the other shifter.
“So, you told her something about yourself? I suppose you shifted and synced?”
Cy didn’t answer him.
“I already know beating the hell out of you doesn’t yield any answers. So why did you tell her? What did you tell her?” Gavin cocked his head, waiting.
Cy remained silent.
“You do realize she’s headstrong.” Gavin shook his head then looked at his men.
Then it hit Cy—the shifter was in love with Lila. He was worried about her, just as Cy was worried about her.
Finally, Cy spoke. “You have history with her?”
Gavin’s head snapped toward him. “Why do you care?”
He could tell from the way Gavin’s pulse reacted he’d gotten it right. Gavin and Lila had history. The question was, was it just history, or did they have something going on now? He wanted to think they didn’t; otherwise, she wouldn’t have reacted to him the way she had, nor would her tigress. He shrugged. It was none of Gavin’s business Cy wanted Lila or the degree to which he wanted her. That was between Lila and him.
“So, it looks like I have very limited options. Kill you. However, if I kill you and anything happens to Lila, it will be on my conscience that I could have done something differently. Another option is to see if we really can’t break you and get answers.” Gavin shook his head. “No, I don’t think that’ll work. Maybe I’ll just leave you here and see if our best scenter can’t find her.”
“You’ll be risking her life.” Cy’s voice was grave. “Let me go. I’ll look for her.”
“Why would you give a damn about her? You just met her.”
Cy locked eyes with the shifter. He seemed to be an honorable man, and the Tiero had a good reputation. He was counting on that. “I think, deep down, you know I will.”
Gavin looked at his men then back at Cy. “We’ll tail you.”
“No. You’ll bring too much attention to me. Do you have any spare hunter’s block?”
“So we can’t find you?” Gavin laughed. “Can you believe this guy?”
“You’re wasting time,” he reminded him, clenching his jaw. Time that could be valuable to Petra and Lila. “And she’s going to be talking to dangerous people.”
“We’re going with you. Take it or leave it.” Gavin’s tone held finality.
We’ll see.
&nbs
p; Chapter Eleven
Forty-five minutes later, with her cell phone battery almost dead from using maps to find the damned place, and without her charger, a frustrated Lila pulled onto the street with the store where Vax had taken his car to get a stereo installed.
Store, she scoffed inwardly. Hardly. She didn’t remember this street looking quite so sinister when Vax had brought the Porsche here. Then again, it had been broad daylight.
She glanced at the empty building across the street. This was the right place, she was sure of it. She drove past slowly, not wanting to attract attention by just pulling in. The street was completely empty. No vehicles. No people.
Still, this was the place, and, based on what Sophie had said, Lila had to look into it.
She drove a block farther, parked her Honda behind a convenience store, and got out. She took a step.
Click.
Then two more steps.
Click, click.
She looked down at her heels. Sheesh. She couldn’t sneak up on anyone like this. Why not just use an announcement service to proclaim her arrival? She tiptoed around the corner, slipped behind the dumpster, and shifted.
Much better. She looked down at her paws. She wouldn’t be heard coming now.
One leap took her over the wood fence behind the convenience store. A few more leaps and several bounds, and a couple of moments of loping, and she was scaling the buildings, well on her way to her destination. One final leap and Lila landed on top of the building where Sophie had said her attempted abduction took place.
She halted, taking a second to scent. Nothing. Then again, if the shifters were using block, like Vax always did, she wouldn’t be able to smell them, would she? She smiled inwardly at Vax and the amount of block he used to try to hide how he felt when he was around Callie. There wasn’t enough block in the world to cover that scent completely. That’s how much her big brother was into the curvy brunette. She sobered up for a moment, hoping one day she’d find someone as devoted to her as Vax was to Callie.
An image of Cy’s face crossed her mind. She pushed it away. She needed to concentrate on business right now.
Lila couldn’t scent anyone. She listened for heartbeats but came up empty. Still, she had faith she was in the right place. She ran to the back of the building and leapt off the shambling rooftop to the ground. After shifting back into her human skin, she tiptoed to the back door.
Locked.
After a moment of rummaging through a pile of junk as quietly as she could, she picked up a flat metal bar and shoved it between the jamb and the door. Pushing all her weight behind it, she shoved once, then twice. The third time did it. The door popped, the lock giving, some of the jamb shedding wood.
With a quick glance and a listen to verify she was still alone and hadn’t attracted attention, Lila opened the door just enough to slip inside then pulled it closed behind her.
She looked at the bar still in her hands. What the hell? Might as well keep it; it’ll make a good weapon. A part of her hoped she wouldn’t need a weapon, but another part of her hoped she would because if she didn’t, that would mean she’d been completely on the wrong track.
She blew out an exasperated breath.
She sniffed.
There it was!
The faint scent of shifters. It wasn’t a fresh scent. She tried to identify the shifters, but the smell wasn’t clear. Then again, scenting wasn’t really her strongest shifter attribute. Nonetheless, there’d been shifters here, so she felt a bit better about her chances of learning something—sometime.
Now it was all about the waiting and finding the best place to wait. She surveyed the dark warehouse. Barrels lined up along one wall. Extra-large wooden boxes lined up against the other wall. The concrete floor was covered with debris scattered and strewn all over. It looked like the scene from a fight. Maybe that’s what it was. A remnant from Sophie’s close call?
She slipped behind the large boxes, finding a perfect little cubby that would hide her. Times like this she wished she had some block. Oh well, if shit hit the fan, she’d run.
Ohhh. A light bulb went off in her head. What if she allowed herself to get caught? Then she could be taken to the place where Cy’s sister was being kept. Perfect! Lila was proud of herself for coming up with that.
What if she was missing for a couple of days? She didn’t want the Tiero to put together a search party for her. Maybe she should call Veila and let her know what she was doing.
No! Veila would start a fuss, try to help, attract attention, and definitely slow the process down.
She looked at her phone. Dead. Doesn’t matter. Now she had the perfect excuse not to call Veila. Not calling Veila meant she didn’t have to explain herself and couldn’t be called back home.
She made herself comfortable, taking her heels off, pulling up a small box to sit on, ready for the long wait that might come.
Lila wasn’t sure how long she waited. She catnapped as best as she could, with her nerves wound up. She heard voices. Not nearby, not yet, but the timbre told her the ones approaching were shifters. She crossed her fingers it wasn’t Gavin and his bunch coming to retrieve her to take her home.
There were three voices, two male and one female.
Chapter Twelve
“What’s the plan?” Cy asked as he got into the SUV with Gavin and his men. He’d borrowed a shirt they had in the back. It was ill-fitting and tight, as the largest guy there was still smaller than Cy. He sat in the second row, next to another shifter.
Gavin, who sat shotgun, looked at Cy then at his men in the very backseat. He nodded. “We’ll trace her.”
“Got her,” one of the guys in the back said, holding a phone up. “South side, next to the freeway, by Belton’s.”
“I know where that is.” The driver jammed his foot on the gas pedal.
What the fuck? Cy was stunned, disbelieving. They were tracing her whereabouts? “Is that standard Tiero protocol? To trace the members of the family? To keep tabs on their whereabouts? Does she know?”
Gavin raised a brow, his expression saying it wasn’t any of Cy’s business. Then he began to speak anyway. “Since her sister was almost kidnapped a few weeks ago.”
“Kidnapped?” That couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? Petra missing and a Tiero shifter almost kidnapped? “Who did it?”
Gavin shook his head. “What’s your name, shifter? Where are you coming from? What’s your story?”
Cy looked out the window. So much for anonymity. So much for not being a part of the shifter world. After the shit he and Petra had gone through, all he wanted was to be left the fuck alone by all shifters. He didn’t want to be friends with any—well, except one or two who had proven to be friends. It looked like saving his sister’s—and now Lila’s—lives would take a priority over his need for privacy.
“Cyric Villa.” Where from? He didn’t like discussing his life at all. He’d keep it brief. “North of here. I’m looking for my sister. That’s all that matters about my story.”
Gavin looked at the shifter in the seat next to Cy’s.
Cy wondered if that look meant anything. “Now back to my question. Is it standard Tiero protocol to trace the members of the family?” Most importantly, he asked again, “Does she know?”
“No.”
Cy contained the laughter threatening to spill out. Lila was going to pitch a fit when she found this out. He hadn’t known her very long, but he had no doubt this wouldn’t go over well. “Back to my question. Who tried to kidnap the Tiero sister?”
“Don’t know yet. Sophie hasn’t said much about it.”
That wasn’t much help at all. He wondered if Lila was having any better luck. Could her sister have told her anything about the kidnapping attempt? “Can you drive a little faster? Lives are at stake here.”
“No, we don’t want to attract the attention of the human authorities,” Gavin responded.
Screw attracting attention. That was the last thing Cy worried abo
ut.
Twenty minutes later, the guy doing the tracking exclaimed, “Shit.”
That was never a good thing.
“What’s up?” Gavin asked him.
“I lost the signal. Completely.”
“How does that work?” Cy turned to look at the guy.
“Dead battery or turning the phone off. It’s not like we did anything that was too intrusive,” Gavin answered for him.
Cy pondered the guy’s response for a moment. “I think what that means is Lila’s brother Vax may not know you’re doing this.”
“Security is my job. That means making occasional difficult calls on the spot.”
“It also means Vax doesn’t know, doesn’t it?”
“He’s busy.”
“Yeah, and if he’s pissed, your ass is in a sling.”
“Look, shifter.” Gavin managed to make it sound like an insult even though he was a shifter, too. “Your invitation could be rescinded at any point. It’s not like we need you.”
“I’d say maybe now that you can’t track her, you may need me more than ever. I rate a 98 on the scenter scale.” Cy knew, as shifter senses went, he could have been hiring his skills out for scenting. He would be willing to bet a lot of money Gavin didn’t have anyone better as far as tracking went.
Gavin’s nostrils flared just a bit, and a tic in his jaw reflected his irritation.
Cy was pretty sure he was right. “Got anyone better?”
“We sure don’t,” one of Gavin’s men answered. “Best we have is a 78.”
Gavin gave Cy a dirty look.
It was time to take control of the situation. “Enough said. Now I’ll call a shot or two. Pull over and let me get out and scent. Don’t stand near me. I don’t need your scents interfering with Lila’s.” Or my sister’s, if I can find her scent here.
The driver looked to Gavin for permission. Gavin nodded. The shifter pulled off the highway onto a side street.
“This is good. Stop here,” Cy told him, then opened the car and got out.
