“Hold on,” John stopped them this time. He tapped an area on the map near the pay phone. “I know this area. It’s in the Bowery. Darbo has a club down there. After Dark. Don’t you think it’s a bit of a coincidence? That she got picked up near Darbo’s hangout?”
“At this point, we don’t know who took her. It’s too bad that she didn’t have her phone with her. I suggest that we check that pay phone first, then we go to the club. If we don’t succeed in locating her, we’ll go to the police. I have some private investigators on payroll, and we can use them too. We’ll comb through her contacts, her co-workers, her past clients, to get our bearing. And we’ll do this calmly and efficiently,” said Quinn. He then turned to Trent, adding, “Exercise caution. This is New York, not Aspen. Plenty of people will see you if you can’t control your beast.”
Trent didn’t comment. He couldn’t make that promise. His patience was wearing thin and his tiger could slip out at any time.
Quinn caught his eyes and snorted. “I don’t trust him. We should bring a collar and leash with us.”
“For what?” Trent was scandalized. “I’m not a dog.”
“Can’t have you roaming the streets of Manhattan as a tiger. It would be different if you were on a leash and someone pretended to take you out for a walk. We’ll get a fine,
but it’s less dangerous than the prospect of people thinking you’re a loose exotic pet.”
Vanessa jumped from her seat, flailing her arms excitedly. “Ooh. Can I be the one to walk Trent? You and John are public figures; you’ll cause a scandal if the media caught you doing something like this. But no one will care if it’s me.”
Trent shook his head. “No one is putting a collar on me. Can we just go? We’re wasting precious time.”
His alpha and oldest brother skewered him with a look of distrust. He turned to his fiancée and said, “Bring the collar and leash. We’ll split into two groups. I’ll bring my SUV and you ride with John.”
“Let’s do this,” said Vanessa with excitement. She looked pretty pumped. “Let’s get Arielle back and kick some ass!”
Four minutes later, they exited the parking garage and headed to Turner Street. Quinn drove the SUV while Trent sat shotgun. Halfway there, he almost slipped. His control against his tiger weakened, just as Quinn had suspected.
Quinn glanced at him and snorted. “You don’t seem like you can fight it any longer. Go in the back. You can track her scent better if you shift, right?”
Trent murmured ruefully. Quinn always saw through him. At a traffic light, he moved to the back. He pushed down the middle seats, then shifted, surrendering to his beast. His clothes and sneakers ripped to pieces and he didn’t give a damn. The vehicle swayed a little from his transformed weight. Luckily, the windows were tinted black; bystanders couldn’t really see what was happening inside the SUV.
Quinn snorted, shaking his head as if he’d just seen something amusing.
Now that he was one with his beast, he could see better, smell better, and hear better. Trent focused his attention on Arielle’s scent. He had it memorized. But from the closed vehicle, he couldn’t track a damn thing. He tried to power down the window with his paw, but his claws were in the way. At moments like this, he missed having a human thumb.
“Just relax,” said Quinn from the driver seat. “We’re almost there.”
Trent couldn’t wait. Once they were at the location, he burst out the moment Quinn opened the door. The day was getting brighter and a few people in the street yelled in surprise. He knew he must look quite intimidating.
Vanessa, who came with John, quickly apologized. “Sorry, he’s tame. He won’t hurt you. We’re just taking him for a walk.” She then proceeded to wrap a leash around his neck. The collar was intended for a dog so it didn’t fit. Vanessa ditched it.
The pedestrians swore at her, calling her crazy, and one threatened to call a cop.
Quinn glowered at them. He was very protective of his mate.
John crouched next to Trent, whispering, “Did you get a lock on her scent?”
He did. He sniffed around the phone and followed his mate’s scent on the sidewalk. At one point, it was quite strong. She must have fallen or something. Trent also smelled the scent of two males. One was a heavy smoker and the other was marinated in cheap cologne. The two new scents commingled with the smell of tires. It must be the car her kidnappers used. Since Arielle was transported in a car, it was hard to track her solely by her scent. So, Trent memorized the scent of her kidnappers and the car and followed it.
“I think he’s got it. I’ll walk with him,” said Vanessa to John and Quinn.
His brothers went back to their cars. Vanessa trotted next to him, barely able to keep up with his speed. Trent stopped and growled, annoyed with the leash. Vanessa seemed to understand what he was trying to say.
“Oh, I’m not letting you go alone. The cops will shoot at you, thinking you’re wild.” She unceremoniously climbed on his back as if he was a horse. “This is better. Ride on, Trent! Let’s save your damsel-in-distress! Onward!”
Trent lashed out his tail in annoyance. Figures. The nerd queen would treat this rescue mission as if she was playing an MMORPG. He returned his attention to Arielle and followed the trail of the scents. He couldn’t go too fast, otherwise Vanessa would fall off. She slipped several times, but managed to climb back up, which kind of annoyed him. If she wasn’t Quinn’s mate, he’d have left her in the dust.
The trail led him to the back alley of a seedy-looking building. Three cars were parked against the walls. Vanessa jumped down and let go of the leash. Trent sniffed around a Ford Taurus. Arielle’s scent was thick on that. The scent led him to a back door. He growled. It was no mistake. Arielle was in this building. Trent let the others know with a loud roar.
John exited from his car. “I knew it. This is After Dark, Darbo’s club.”
Quinn narrowed his eyes, while his hand held onto his phone. “Let’s go, Trent. Save your mate.”
Trent didn’t need any more encouragement. He pounced at the door and clawed it until the veneer shredded to splinters. He pounced and pawed until the hinges came off and the door fell backward. He heard screaming from the people inside. He burst in, and knocked them down with a swipe of his paw. One man tried to shoot him, but the gun jammed. Arielle’s scent was thick on him. Trent bit his arm and shook him like a rag doll. Quinn, John, and Vanessa closed in from behind.
Where is she? She is close and yet I can’t see…
Trent leapt on the stage and followed Arielle’s scent. It was stronger now… He ran into the dressing room. More people screamed at him. Arielle was propped up on a chair, looking as if she were high. She wore skimpy clothes and platform shoes and her makeup was half done. The woman who worked on her had abandoned her attempt and was cowering in the corner.
One of the men shrieked at the other, telling him to shoot. Trent recognized him as Frank Darbo and his instinct kicked in. He leapt through the air and mauled Darbo’s bodyguard before going after Darbo himself. He made sure he didn’t accidentally kill them. When the two were neutralized, he went after the woman. But she had already fainted.
Trent approached Arielle and licked her hand.
She opened her eyes and petted him in the head. “Oh, look a kitty. Oh my, what a big kitty you are. Look at those whiskers. Oh, your fur is so soft. And big eyes. You’re a handsome kitty, you.”
He heard chuckles from behind him. Quinn, Vanessa, and John watched him with big grins on their faces.
“I don’t think you have to worry about her being afraid of you. As you can see, she likes you very much,” said Quinn. “You’d better take her home now. Vanessa, you drive them. John and I will take care of the rest.”
Making sure there was no one else around, Trent shifted to his human form and scooped her into his arms.
Arielle giggled at him and pinched his face, pulling at his cheeks and squishing his nose.
“Hey, you’re not furry. Where did the kitty go?”
“I don’t know what they gave you, but you’re tripping,” said Trent.
“I’m not,” she argued.
“You are. I can see you’re high as a kite.”
“Boo! I want kitty back.”
“She’s a funny drunk,” said John. “See you guys at home.”
~~~
When she finally came out of her stupor, Arielle felt like she hadn’t slept in weeks. It was hard to keep her eyes open. She drifted in and out from her pleasant little slumbers while she noticed people visited her bed. At one point, she was sure a doctor examined her. She finally forced herself to stay awake and found Trent was sitting at the foot of her bed.
“Trent?” she called.
He startled. “Babe, finally. You want some water?”
Her palate was extremely parched. She let out a tiny nod.
Trent poured some water from a carafe into a glass and helped her drink. The cold, clean-tasting liquid soothed her throat.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“How do you feel?” Trent helped her sit up.
“Sleepy.” Then she noticed her arm was hooked into an IV line. “What’s this?”
“Doctor’s orders. To keep you hydrated and to flush the drugs out of your system.”
“Doctor?” She looked around. It didn’t seem like she was in a hospital room. The bedroom she was in was tastefully decorated by a high end interior designer. “Where am I?”
“Quinn’s place. We called our private physician to take a look at you. Darbo had drugged you.”
“Ah, yeah, that piece of shit. He wanted to take embarrassing pictures of me and blackmail me.”
“We gathered that. Quinn questioned Darbo yesterday. Darbo’s plan was backfiring though. You were too zonked out to even stand up. You had a low tolerance to the drug he gave you.”
“Is that so? I rarely take medication even when I’m sick. What happen to Darbo? How did you find me?”
Trent took her hand and kissed it. He looked as if he’d just taken a shower. His hair was damp and his shirt smelled like fresh laundry. Suddenly, she was overcome with the urge to hug him and bury her face in his chest. Damn, she missed him so much and they were only apart for a few hours.
Wait… did he say Quinn questioned Darbo yesterday?
“How long have I been out?” she added.
“About two days. Vanessa helped me locate the pay phone you used to call me. Then, I tracked your scent. It brought us to Darbo’s club. Darbo is in Riker’s now, facing kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. His men, the same. Some were in the hospital. I was a bit too rough on them. Quinn used his connections to keep them from making bail or talking. Darbo will stay locked up until his trial.”
“That’s good news.”
“Now that you’re up, everybody wants to see you. Especially mom. She’s been driving me nuts for not being able to protect you.”
“But that’s not your fault.”
“Tell that to her.” Trent started to get up when she stopped him.
“Wait. Stay with me for a while,” she begged.
Trent abandoned his attempt to leave. He reached for her and pulled her into his arms. God. Arielle closed her eyes and held on to him tighter. It felt like home. There was no other person in the world she wanted to be with at this very moment beside him. His scent and warmth and presence comforted her. He was the only man for her. The other part of her soul.
From now until eternity.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Trent kissed the top of her head. “For what?”
“For bailing on you. It was so selfish; after everything you did for me.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I’m the one who should have told you the truth in the first place.”
She pulled back and smiled. “I can see why you didn’t. I’d have thought you were crazy. I never would have believed shifters were real.”
Trent smiled. He tucked a stray hair from her face behind her ear. His eyes were gentle. Kind. The eyes she often found herself lost in.
“I take it you’re not afraid of me anymore?”
She studied his expression. “I started to see the appeal of a guy with fur. I dig it.”
One of his eyebrows arched high. “You like the furry version of me better. You kept calling me big kitty and complimenting my pretty whiskers.”
“Did I? Ah. Did I say something embarrassing when I was high?”
“Not telling.”
“Trent!”
“You said you love me.”
Oops. “Did I?”
“You did.”
Whoa. Embarrassing indeed. Her cheeks blushed.
“Well?” Trent prodded her. His emerald eyes glittered.
“I do,” she admitted. “It took some soul searching to realize it, but I do. When I thought there might be a chance I would never see you again, I felt like my heart was breaking. It hurt more than finding my apartment in flames or catching Chris with Sabrina.”
Trent’s expression was priceless. He pulled her against him and kissed her hard. Warmth flooded into her from his lips, cocooning her in a heady, bubbly champagne feeling that she loved so much. He was the first man who made her feel that way.
When he finally let her go, she thought she was high again.
“Well? How about you?” she ventured. She needed to hear it from his lips once again, even though she already knew the answer.
Instead, Trent lavished her with a wicked grin. He twirled a lock of her hair and whispered dangerously, “Let’s go home and I’ll show you how much I love you.”
Epilogue
Three months later…
Autumn in Aspen was spectacular.
It was even prettier than a New England autumn; Arielle had to admit it. The fall foliage had completely changed color into a wide array of yellows and oranges, and yet the leaves still clung to the branches. The weather was lovely, a brisk forty-two degrees, with a chill in the wind that signaled snow was on the way. It was the eve of Halloween and Vanessa and Quinn’s wedding incorporated a spooky theme into it.
She would be wearing white and the bridesmaids would wear cream-colored gowns. The autumn and Halloween themes were infused in flower bouquets and table decorations. Elegant yellow and white roses graced carved pumpkins on the tables. It was an outdoor wedding, and since it was held late in the afternoon, by the time the banquet was served, it was twilight. Hundreds of lantern and candles were lit along with dozens of outdoor fireplaces.
Arielle had to hand it to Savannah for picking up such a lovely spot to host a grand wedding. The event was held on the Alexander family estate in Aspen, Colorado with an extensive guest list of extended family from both sides, friends and acquaintances – more than nine hundred people were invited to the ceremony. Arielle suspected that half of them weren’t even human. They were so good at blending in, she couldn’t tell who was shifter and who was human.
After she was enlightened about the existence of others, she devoted her time to assimilating and studying shifters. She learned that some people could change into species other than tigers, like wolves, lions, ravens, and even bears. Trent and his family introduced her to the underground world of shape shifters living among humans in New York. They were not much different than normal humans. They faced the same problems, normal people did and Arielle found that very fascinating.
About two weeks ago, Arielle quit her job at the firm to work pro bono with a local legal defense office that specialized in helping shifters with legal problems. Trent supported her decision and was proud of her, while she was happy she was able to practice law once again. If she liked how things turned out, she wanted to start her own firm specializing in helping supernatural clients.
Trent touched her shoulder. “We’re ready to start.”
Arielle smiled. “I’ll tell them.” She hurried to the ma
in house where the bride and the rest of the wedding party anxiously waited for the ceremony. Vanessa looked so gorgeous in her wedding dress, a beautiful Vera Wang bespoke gown, and Savannah had also flown in a makeup artist and hair stylist from LA. When they finished their magic, Vanessa was transformed into a perfect magazine bride.
The doting mothers went first to take their place in the pew. Then the bridesmaids lined up behind the bride. Two adorable flower girls walked down the aisle before Vanessa.
A live string quartet played “Here Comes the Bride,” as Vanessa’s dad took her hand and walked into the garden, where the groom awaited. As if the weather had conspired with the wedding planners, the moment Vanessa’s dad handed his daughter to a beaming Quinn, a soft breeze swept past them, swirling golden leaves into the air, making the atmosphere most enchanting. Arielle felt like she was witnessing a fairytale wedding.
It was magical.
The bride and groom exchanged vows. Trent was the best man, and he handed them the rings. Then the priest declared Quinn and Vanessa to be husband and wife. When Quinn lifted his wife’s veil to kiss her, elation filled his handsome face. Their kiss beat any Hollywood movie’s romantic kiss.
Arielle didn’t realize she was crying until Trent handed her some tissues. It was a beautiful ceremony and she was happy for Quinn and Vanessa. They were a beautiful couple and very much in love with each other.
As the photographer snapped pictures of the bride and groom with the bridesmaids and family, the guests were escorted to the banquet tables. When the photo session was finished, Vanessa pulled Arielle aside and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you so much for helping me plan this wedding and for keeping my mother and sisters out of my hair,” she said as she pulled at the bodice of her dress. “I hate wearing dresses, but hey, at least I look awesome, right?”
“What you talking about? You looked absolutely breathtaking,” said Arielle. “Didn’t you see Quinn’s face earlier? He could eat you up in one bite.”
“Ah, I know that look very well. That means I won’t be getting much sleep tonight.”
Animalistic Galley Fin Page 11
