by Shayla Black
Panic bled through his veins. “Oh, god. Raine! No, baby. No.”
Racing toward the club, Hammer yanked his keys from his pocket. At the door, he trembled as he tried to open the lock. Dread crawled up his spine and wrapped around his throat, choking the air in his lungs.
“If you have her, you cocksucking motherfucker, I’m going to kill you,” Hammer vowed as he yanked the door open. “Liam!” he bellowed, tearing down the hall. “Liam!”
The doors to Beck’s and Seth’s rooms banged opened simultaneously as both men stood blinking at Hammer. Roused from sleep, they looked startled and confused.
“What the hell are you yelling about?” Seth asked with a scowl.
“For fuck’s sake. Are you two idiots arguing again?” Beck shook his head in disgust. “Keep it down before Raine has both sets of your balls hanging from the kitchen window like wind chimes.”
Hammer ignored their comments. “Liam!”
As he thundered down the hall, his friend emerged with his pants half zipped and looking disoriented. “What the bloody… What’s wrong, Macen?”
“She’s gone,” Hammer choked out, trying to swallow the fear and anger lodged in his throat. “I’m worried Bill has her. Her car’s in the lot. The driver’s door is open, and her stuff spilled everywhere. She wouldn’t have walked away and left her wallet, her phone, her…”
Macen’s whole body trembled as he gripped Liam’s shoulders, needing to ground himself with something solid.
“No. That can’t be.” The same horror Hammer felt filled Liam’s voice and stare.
“I don’t know how long she’s been gone,” Hammer barked, trying to contain his panic. “I woke up maybe five or ten minutes ago and found her missing.”
“Oh, fuck. If it’s Bill…” Beck growled, pinning Hammer with a knowing stare.
The doctor knew exactly what Bill Kendall was capable of since Hammer had called him the night Macen had discovered Raine in the alley. The two had slipped a sedative in her soda so Beck could examine her. Hammer had taken photos to document the horrific abuse she’d endured at the hands of her loving father. Liam had seen the pictures just last week. He’d also had the displeasure of meeting Bill, so he understood well the urgency to find Raine.
Swallowing tightly, Liam gripped Macen’s arm. “The security room, mate. The cameras will tell us if that piece of shit has our girl.”
As all four men raced down the hall, an ominous déjà vu crested through Hammer. He swallowed back the urge to vomit.
“What was Raine doing in the car park alone during the wee hours?” Liam asked.
“I think she intended to bake something.” Hammer unlocked the door, flipped on the lights, and hurried inside the private room. “There’s flour, sugar, and other shit all over the counters, but I think she needed an ingredient she didn’t have.” He scrubbed a hand over his face as he sat in front of a bank of wide monitors. “I can’t believe she didn’t wake one of us up to go with her.”
Liam paled. “What was she baking?”
“Something she’s never made. Date scones, I think,” Hammer growled.
Why did Liam care? Bill could well have taken the woman they loved. Macen didn’t want to focus too keenly on the brutalities she could be suffering at this very moment. He just wanted her back.
“God, no.” Liam’s voice cracked. “Oh, love… Not the scones.”
“Why not?” Seth asked. His brows slashed as he stared at Liam, who looked more shaken than ever.
“She wanted to make them for me.” Guilt and remorse roughened Liam’s voice.
Struggling to keep his own emotions in check, Hammer rewound the security feed from the parking lot. “We never had the chance to tell her that Bill had been sniffing around. She went out to that lot, never imagining…”
God, now he wished he’d made the time.
Liam curled his hands into fists. “I thought we could protect her.”
Hammer had, too. They’d been wrong.
When he found the right file and hit play, no one in the room said a word, just stared at the monitor. As Raine hurried from the back door, the time stamp showed four forty-six a.m. Hammer glanced at his watch. Quarter past five now. His gut clenched at the thought of all the terrible things that could befall her in nearly thirty tormenting minutes.
On the monitor, she made her way toward her car. A tall figure dressed in black and wearing a baseball cap stepped into view, sneaking up behind her. Hammer’s stomach pitched as he watched the man grab her. Raine fought, throwing an elbow, stamping on his foot, struggling like a mad thing, using every trick she’d learned in the self-defense classes in which he’d enrolled her. When she turned on the man, still fighting, she tried to knee him in the groin, but he held her down. Raine attempted to shove the heel of her palm into his nose but only succeeded in flipping the hat off his head. Startled recognition had her jaw dropping, her eyes widening.
The face and glowing blue eyes Hammer had hoped never to see again filled the screen.
“I knew it,” he roared, turning toward Liam. “That motherfucker has her.”
Liam nodded grimly. “Wind it back.”
Hammer jerked his attention to the screen once more. Without the hat to conceal Bill’s expression, an evil sneer consumed his face. Chills froze Macen’s every muscle, rolling through him in a debilitating wave.
Liam pressed the rewind button and homed in on Raine. She snapped her hand toward Bill’s cap, knocking it to the ground. Hammer could clearly see the bastard’s bulbous nose and the long white scar bisecting his cheek—a result of a wound Raine had given the son of a bitch over six years ago, when she’d last fought not to let her father take her innocence and her life.
The image played on, and Raine shot a frightened glance at the security camera mounted to the nearby lamppost.
“She knew we’d come here. Our brave little…” Liam’s voice cracked.
Cold fury filled Hammer with an even colder purpose. He and Liam knew the enemy and had no doubt what Bill was capable of. He’d do whatever it took to rescue Raine. And if her father’s head start was too big to overcome… Macen ground his jaw tight. He’d kill the fucker so slowly and painfully Bill would grovel for death.
“Your brave little sub clearly wanted the cameras to catch her assailant,” Seth concluded as they watched Bill jam something that looked like a cell phone against Raine’s ribs.
Hammer leaned forward, trying to decipher the mysterious object in Bill’s fist. The man suddenly slapped his hand around Raine’s arm, twisting it behind her back. Her mouth opened as if gasping in pain.
Rage thundered through Hammer as Bill yanked her tight against his round belly, drawing the hand with the black square up a few inches under Raine’s ear. A stun gun. He could kill her with that. Oh, dear god.
Unable to look away, even knowing what would happen next, Hammer gnashed his teeth as Bill pressed the probes against Raine’s neck. Her body spasmed, then she fell limp into her father’s arms. He carted her toward a dark van, jumped in, and rolled out of the lot.
“No!” Liam shouted, his face distorting in agony. “Oh, Raine.”
Hammer lost it. Bolting out of the chair, a feral roar ripped from his throat before he slammed his fist on the metal desktop. Every cell inside him seemed to detonate like an atomic bomb. His body shook with uncontrollable rage.
“How do we find her?” Beck asked.
“We?” Hammer arched a brow.
“Yes,” Beck insisted. “If she needs a doctor…”
“Bill Kendall is a dead man,” Liam vowed.
“Fuck yes. He is. We end this now,” Hammer agreed.
“Guys, we need to call the police,” Seth interjected. “You’ve got video proof that Bill kidnapped her. If we zero in, we might even be able to get a plate number off that van.”
Macen didn’t want to involve the authorities yet. When the police found Bill, they’d merely arrest the prick and let him live through a trial, during wh
ich Raine would have to recount everything her father had ever done to her, as well as the violence he heaped on her now.
Liam had it right; Bill Kendall needed to die. Hammer wanted to end his miserable existence. The end more than justified the means if it meant they could bring Raine back home. But no way would he sit at the club with his thumb up his ass, answering a shitload of questions while the wheels of the justice system creaked along at a snail’s pace.
“No,” Hammer barked. “I know exactly where Bill is. He’s sitting at home, waiting for me because he wants his paycheck and he’s using Raine as bait. We’re going to pay him a visit. You stay here on standby. We’ll call you if we need to show the police the footage.”
Understanding curled Seth’s lips into an icy smile. “Got it. Get out of here. Just make sure you all wear gloves. Fighting fingerprint evidence in court isn’t easy.”
“I’ve got gloves in my medical bag,” Beck assured. “I’ll get it and be right back.”
“I’m throwing on the rest of my clothes and grabbing my gun,” Hammer announced as the three men darted out of the room, leaving Seth to wait for their call.
He dressed frantically. Liam and Beck must have done the same as they all met up within two minutes. Finally, with his pistol tucked into the small holster at his side, he raced with the other two for Hammer’s car. Piling in, Macen turned to them. “We get Raine out. Whatever happens after that is self-defense. Got it?”
“Bloody fucking right, it is,” Liam growled.
Beck nodded grimly. “Bill charged you when you attempted to call the police, Hammer. We both saw it.”
With a nod, Hammer tore out of the lot. Urgency breathed down his back. He wanted to press the accelerator to the floor, but his mind warred with him. If he got pulled over for speeding, that would give Bill even more opportunity to—
No. Don’t fucking go there. You already failed and buried one woman you loved. You’ll never make it back again if Bill goes too far and you lose Raine, too.
Hovering just above the posted speed limits, Hammer cursed. He couldn’t get the visual out of his head of Raine’s limp body slumped against Bill or the demented look of triumph on the bastard’s face as he hoisted her into his arms and hurried away. The cowering black-and-blue state in which he’d found the girl in his alley years ago also haunted Hammer. The images blended, flashing through his head in a never-ending loop.
Guilt stung him. Why had he cut off Bill’s stipend? Hammer didn’t need the fucking money. He’d inherited a trust fund he couldn’t possibly spend in three lifetimes. By comparison, the paltry amount he’d doled out to Bill was mere pennies. But the peace of mind had been priceless.
Right now, Hammer would gladly give every cent for that peace of mind again. But Bill confessing last week that he’d indeed attempted to rape Raine as a teenager had sent him off the deep end. If Hammer hadn’t cut off the stipend he’d paid to keep the animal at bay, she would be safe and sound and happily baking at Shadows.
He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I should never have lost my temper and stopped paying him. This is my fault.”
* * *
“Don’t blame yourself, Macen,” Liam insisted. “I’m at fault. If I hadn’t been comparing the love she gave me, Raine wouldn’t have left the club.”
“Comparing? What the hell are you talking about?” Hammer’s brows slashed down in a scowl.
“When I came back from the hospital and lost the bloody plot, I accused Raine of loving you more than she does me,” Liam confessed, banging a fist against the car door.
And didn’t he wish he could take it all back now? That he hadn’t let exhaustion and frustration get hold of his tongue? He should merely have asked Raine about her feelings. If something unspeakable happened to her because he’d demanded that she prove her love for him with everything from sex to scones, he’d never forgive himself.
Hammer’s jaw dropped. “That’s the reason for the jealousy?”
“She’s loved you for years, Macen.” Liam swallowed down his regret. “I didn’t think she could ever…” He shook his head. “Then she proved me dead wrong earlier.”
Beck leaned in and poked his head between the seats. “Raine loves you just as much as she does Hammer. She wouldn’t have been so torn all this time if she didn’t.”
“I know that now, and I wish I’d never doubted her. She showed me everything in her heart.” Liam hung his head, then turned to Hammer. “You saw her do it, too.”
“I did, but do you believe her? No doubts?” Macen shot back.
“None,” Liam replied. “I was convinced the half dozen years she’d spent with you meant more than the five weeks we’ve been together. I feared I’d always come second. I was wrong.”
“It’s not the quantity; it’s the quality.” Hammer gripped the wheel tighter. “Besides, I didn’t tell her how I felt until you forced the issue—which you were right to do. You’ve given her so many things I didn’t. You still give her things I can’t. You see that, right?”
He nodded miserably. “I wish you’d smacked me sooner and told me I was out of line, mate.”
“Nothing I said would have convinced you. Raine had to open your eyes,” Hammer gave Liam’s shoulder a brotherly squeeze. “She did a fanfuckingtastic job of it, too.”
“She’s only whole when she’s with you both,” Beck interjected. “She’d never love one more than the other. At the lodge, she told you she would have both or neither of you because she’d rather live her life empty than half full.”
Liam remembered. Beck had nearly as much insight into Raine’s psyche as he and Hammer. The doctor was probably a damn sight more objective, too.
God, he’d wasted so much energy on jealousy he had no reason to feel. Liam didn’t know if he could stand the regret.
In his pocket, his phone buzzed. He jerked it free, hoping Raine had managed to reach out to him or even that Seth called with good news. Instead, he saw Gwyneth’s name pop up on his display. Why the devil would she be calling before six in the morning? Kyle might have taken a turn for the worse, Liam supposed, and he would be sorry if that were the case. But right now, he had to focus on finding Raine.
He shoved his phone back in his pocket.
The closer they drew to Bill’s house, the sharper his memories of his last visit here. The more his skin crawled. The decay that permeated every inch of Raine’s childhood home sent a shudder up Liam’s spine. How could anyone live in such squalor? And what was the state of the room Bill had locked Raine in right now?
Fear pumped through Liam’s veins like acid. He took little comfort in knowing that he and Hammer would ensure Bill was dead by sunrise. Instead, Liam couldn’t stop wondering what depravity Raine would be forced to endure before they rescued her. Or if they would be too late.
“If Bill wants money, why hasn’t he called for a ransom yet?” Beck pondered.
“Because he knows I’ll come looking for him. I’m sure he wants a little time with Raine so he can finish what he started when she was a kid.” Hammer looked ready to hit something again.
“He’s going to rape her, isn’t he?” Liam choked out the question…but he already knew the answer. He and Hammer had been thinking the same thing, but speaking his fear aloud made it more real. His guts churned.
“Yeah, but she’s a survivor. I’m more afraid of what else he’ll do.” Hammer’s jaw clenched. “That drunk asshole has a violent streak. If he’s been hitting the booze this morning, he may do more than violate her. No telling what.”
The fear of never holding or touching Raine again made Liam feel as if he’d been swept up in a tornado and slammed to the ground. To have her loving, compassionate soul ripped away would be his worst nightmare. Dread, thick and scalding, filled him. The weight of the terror staggered him. Liam didn’t want to simply kill her sire; he wanted to make the bastard suffer interminably.
“Fuck the stoplights, Hammer. Go faster,” Liam growled.
“I can�
��t risk getting pulled over for a speeding ticket when we’re so damn close.”
Liam knew that, but the logic chafed. “I don’t understand why he had to use the fucking stun gun on her. She’s just a wisp of a girl.”
“Bill knew Raine wouldn’t go willingly. She fought him once and won. The scar she gave him is a daily reminder.” Hammer cursed. “I can’t stop thinking about the way she dropped like a stone into that son of a bitch’s arms.”
