Heat Rising: A KinKaid Wolf Pack Story

by Lee, Jessica

  He dialed the front gate, sending up a silent prayer she hadn’t left the grounds. Until things calmed, the alpha’s sister was a hell of a lot safer behind the gates.

  The guard on duty answered on the second ring. “Front gate.”

  “This is Dalton. I need for you to check your records and tell me if Rosa KinKaid has left the grounds today.”

  “Yes, sir. I don’t even have to check. She did. I was here when she left.”

  Kaleb gut twisted. Dammit! “How long ago did she leave?”

  “Let’s see…” The clicks of a computer mouse echoed into the receiver. “About three hours ago. Said she was heading down into Hollows.”

  “Hollows, huh?” Well, at least he knew her general path. “Okay. Thanks for your help.”

  “Anytime, sir.” The line went silent.

  Still, something didn’t feel right. She hadn’t mentioned needing to leave the grounds today. Kaleb stared at the glowing display on his dashboard.

  GPS.

  Yes. Kaleb tossed his cell back onto the seat, shifted his vehicle into reverse, and gunned it back out onto the road. Landry had obtained approval from the alpha to acquire tracking software for several of the vehicles belonging to the KinKaid family and the enforcers.

  Rosa may be fine, shopping herself into oblivion, but he’d feel a lot damn better about the timing of her trip if he could verify she was indeed exactly where she was supposed to be—in Hollows.

  Kaleb made it over to Landry’s in record time. At the door, he put his knuckles to the wood with a few hard raps. Seconds later, footsteps sounded on the other side and Landry opened the door.

  “Didn’t we part ways already for the day?”

  “Get over yourself,” Kaleb grumbled and brushed past the guy.

  “Come in, why don’t you…” Landry flipped the door closed with a bang.

  “You have the program that can track our vehicles loaded on your PC here, right?” Kaleb aimed for the large monitor sitting on the table near a bank of windows in the living room.

  “Yeah… Why?” Landry joined him and plopped down in the black, vented swivel chair, facing the flat screen.

  “Because I need you to run a quick search and locate for me.”

  Giving the keyboard a few taps, Landry entered his password and had the software up and running. “Who am I tracking?” He glanced over his shoulder at Kaleb.

  “Rosa.”

  His fingers stalled on the keys. “Why do I need to be looking for Rosa’s vehicle, Kaleb?” Landry swiveled in Kaleb’s direction, his mouth drawn tight and thin. “She’s on the grounds, right?”

  Shaking his head, Kaleb uttered, “No.”

  “Fuck. Me.” He spun back around. “Could this day get any worse?”

  “Shit. Let’s hope not.” Kaleb glared at the monitor as Landry pulled up the appropriate VIN for Rosa’s Jeep. “According to the front gate, she’s supposedly on a trip down to Hollows. But I don’t know…”

  “Why? What’s got you thinking Rosa’s not where she claimed?”

  “Something doesn’t feel right. Rosa never mentioned to me she’d planned to leave today, and especially since she promised to have a talk with her brother this afternoon.”

  “What’s so critical about her talking to Evin that she’d need to make a promise to you?”

  At that moment, a map popped up on the screen, hopefully saving his ass from having to divulge any more information than necessary. Her…status was Rosa’s news to share, not his. A red blinking icon drew Kaleb’s attention.

  “Is that her location?”

  “Yeah.” Landry leaned in closer to the monitor, as if the new position would somehow cause what they were seeing to make more sense.

  “That’s only about ten miles from here.” Apprehension coursed through Kaleb’s veins, making the act of standing still more of a challenge. “The guard at the gate said she’d left at least three hours ago,” he bit out.

  Both men stared at the fixed red dot, waiting.

  “Why the hell isn’t it moving?” Kaleb growled.

  Suddenly, Landry launched from his seat. “That’s what we are about to find out.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Rosa stretched out her limbs. Her body ached. Damn, every joint and muscle felt bruised, overworked. Dragging her eyelids apart, bright lights screamed into her retinas. She clamped them shut again. Where am I?

  The scent of dirt, mold, and… Rosa sprang upright, her eyes going wide. The sudden change in position had gravity draining the blood from her head. She swayed. Blinked. Clasped at the edge of the cot beneath her, doing her best to absorb all the visual input of her surroundings. A small metal cage that couldn’t be more than twenty-five square feet enclosed her and a small bed. Other than the twin fluorescent lights above her head, the rest of the room was dark. Based on the smell, she had to be in a basement.

  Kidnapped.

  The word clanged around inside her head like an ominous bell of doom. It was all coming back—the text, the dark SUV running her off the road, the gunshot, then…Arick Gregorson. He’d shot her with a tranquilizer.

  Rosa reached up, her fingers gliding over the tender spot near her clavicle. Shit. How long had she been out?

  She swung her legs over the side of the makeshift bed and stood. The room tilted and she staggered, but quickly regained her balance. Her skin itched. Her clothes felt too tight. She tugged on the hem of her blouse and rolled her shoulders. God, she was so freaking hot. She blew her hair out of her eyes. Inside the soft lace of her bra, her nipples pebbled. Her thighs quaked, and moisture pooled between her legs.

  “No… Please, no,” she whispered. Dread settled behind her breastbone like an anchor, the weight nearly pulling her under. She had a really bad feeling her symptoms had nothing to do with the drug Arick had used to sedate her. A tingling crawl at the base of her skull drew her hand. Rosa cupped her nape, and closed her eyes. She didn’t need a mirror to know the dark brown line had reached its apex at her hairline.

  It was too late.

  Her heat had risen, and now…now her worries about her heart being torn in two over her choice of mate no longer took precedence. Arick had solved that problem by giving her a new one to survive. Rosa curled her fingers around the bars forming the cage doors. She leaned in, relishing the feel of the cool metal against her palms and seeping through the thin cotton of her blouse. Her future and her life may be at the mercy of the Gregorson pack, but that didn’t mean the fight was over. She wasn’t a KinKaid by name only.

  A door banged shut somewhere in the room, and Rosa’s eyelids flew open. She stiffened, waiting. Then out of the shadows, Arick Gregorson along with another male, this one unfamiliar, emerged. A couple of feet from her cell, they drew to a stop.

  Arick stood there in a crisp white shirt and black slacks, legs spread, his hands braced on his hips. His blue gaze roamed over her from head to toe, making Rosa regret it hadn’t been winter when she’d left the gates, and she’d worn something more substantial than jeans. Like a thick, heavy coat.

  “How are feeling, Rosa dear?”

  “I can’t believe you’d risk your own pack with a stupid move like this. Everyone will pay for your arrogance.”

  Arick chuckled and eased forward. “What is it they say? ‘The end is worth the means.’” Then his smile died. His step faltered. Arick’s nostrils flared, and a low growl rumbled off his chest.

  This close, Rosa couldn’t help but breathe in the male’s musk. He was aroused. Unbidden, her sex clenched, and need swelled her folds. Christ. She didn’t want him. In her head, she would never want him. But her body…the heat…it had no scruples.

  “Stay away from me,” she rumbled a warning in return. Rosa willed her fingers to release the bars, and ordered herself to back away. Despite the fact every molecule cried out for what she knew tented his trousers. No way in hell.

  A snarl swelled on Arick’s lips. “Barnes! Hand me the Halo!” he barked the order to the shifter be
hind him. The male sped away, then returned in seconds.

  “What do you—” Arick’s partner in crime’s head cranked her way. He glared at her. Pupils dilated. His mouth gaped. “Fucking hell,” he groaned and palmed his crotch. “The bitch smells like she’s in heat.”

  “No, shit.” Arick shoved the male out of the way. “Stand back!” The dark-haired enforcer rammed his hand in his pocket and pulled out a key ring.

  Rosa’s heartbeat galloped. She stumbled in reverse until her spine pressed into the hard bars. Sweat popped on her brow and trickled down her temples. “Don’t do this.” Rosa shook her head. “Arick, you don’t want to do this.” Air soughed from her lungs.

  The key jingled in the lock, then the door flew open. Halo in hand, Arick strode inside, stopping within the opening of the small space. Rosa bared her fangs, hissing. Claws punched from the tips of her fingers.

  Cornered.

  Damn. She had nowhere to go.

  Rosa dodged left. Then right.

  Arick would lose flesh before she went down.

  With uncanny accuracy, Arick swung out with the noose and hit his target: her neck. Rosa howled and dug at the silver-laced twine around her throat. Arick yanked hard on the pole, knocking her off balance. Rosa tumbled forward and onto her knees. Before she could regain her footing, Arick was behind her, a rigid hold on the stricture. She coughed under the pressure.

  “Hold still or I’ll tighten the damn thing even more, and you won’t be our little problem any longer.”

  No, no, no… It couldn’t happen like this. “I swear I will kill you with my bare hands,” she wheezed. “A slow, agonizing death.” Rosa squeezed her eyelids shut. A hard tug at the neckline of her shirt came next. She pitched back under the pull, and the material gave way, tearing down her spine.

  “Mother fucker,” he spat.

  “She is, isn’t she?” The other male’s excited voice had her lifting her head. He stood just inside the cell, the outline of his thick erection at eyelevel.

  Rosa swallowed hard. Dear God, what would they try to do with her?

  “Get the hell out of here!” Arick marched around her, loosening the Halo. “You really want to mate with a damn KinKaid?” He growled. “Touching her—bonding with her—puts you between me and her, which means I’ll end up having to kill you too.” He pulled the Halo’s noose free and backed out of the cage, slamming the door. “Don’t make me waste my time, Barnes.”

  Falling forward, Rosa’s palms slapped the cool cement floor. Hard pants exited her chest. They hadn’t raped her? Her fortune was almost too surreal to believe.

  Rosa pushed back onto her bottom, drew her knees in, and wrapped her arms around her legs. The male she’d heard Arick call Barnes, glared at her, as if she were the reason his life sucked. Sorry, buddy. It wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies for her either.

  A hard tremor set off in her midsection, then traveled outward to her arms and legs. Rosa’s breath hitched, and she choked back a groan. Every beat of her heart resounded in her sex—the emptiness impossible to ignore. Sinking her teeth into her bottom lip, she held on. Problem was, a female’s heat didn’t just last for a matter of hours. The constant turned on mode could continue anywhere from three to four days, up to a week. Tears welled, blurring her vision.

  If Arick didn’t end her life before it was over, Rosa was sure the lust would drive her out of her mind.

  Landry—Kaleb—they had to find her.

  Lacing her fingers, she squeezed her shins tight and breathed deeply. They would find her.

  ***

  With Kaleb riding shotgun, Landry burned rubber out of the front gates and onto the main road toward the fixed point that was Rosa’s vehicle. She had to be okay. There was no other option. Because Landry wasn’t sure what he’d do if someone had harmed her. Wasn’t sure the thread that kept him tethered to his sanity wouldn’t snap.

  He studied his friend’s tense profile and the dark shadow of stubble along his jaw. Kaleb looked as if he was about ten seconds from snapping a molar. Landry stared back at the road in front of them, working his palms over the steering wheel’s leather wrap.

  Eight more miles to go.

  Eight more miles of hell before they’d have an answer.

  “I figured there was no reason to call Evin until we knew something more concrete about her status,” Kaleb said, breaking the silence.

  “Yeah. Exactly. That’s why I decided not to let him know we were heading off territory.” Landry repositioned in his seat. “No reason to alarm him until we knew there was a good reason.”

  “She could just be broke down. Engine trouble,” Kaleb added.

  “Then why hasn’t she called one of us?”

  “Phone’s dead?”

  He chewed on that thought for a second. “Maybe,” Landry mumbled. But he’d known Rosa too long. She wouldn’t normally be so careless as to drive off with a dead phone. Besides, he knew for a fact she owned a car charger. He’d seen it in her Jeep before. Which left only one explanation as to why she wasn’t answering; something had to be wrong.

  “I’m just trying to come up with something—anything to peel me off the edge of needing to…” Kaleb shook his head then slammed his fist into the passenger door.

  “I know,” Landry said. “Believe me…I know.”

  A few agonizing minutes later, they rounded a wide bend in the round. “Should be coming up on her Laredo any second now.” Kaleb palmed the passenger handle as if ready to spring from the SUV.

  Then up ahead and off the side of the road, Landry spotted the familiar shape of Rosa’s Jeep. “There it is.” Trepidation crawled inside his gut and uncurled its sickening tendrils.

  “Yeah, I see it,” Kaleb muttered. “Shit.”

  Landry passed her vehicle, then pulled onto the shoulder in front of it. Kaleb was out the door before Landry could cut the engine. After setting the parking brake, Landry climbed from the Hummer.

  “She’s not here,” Kaleb called out and slapped the Laredo’s doorframe. “Dammit!”

  “Check the interior and see if she left any clues to her whereabouts.”

  “I’m on it,” Kaleb replied, already climbing in the truck’s cabin.

  Landry made a wide berth around the scene, his nostrils flaring, absorbing the variety of scents in the area, seeking any markings of dominance left behind by his kind.

  Nothing.

  Yet it didn’t take long before Landry had picked up several footprints in the trampled brush just off the shoulder. Then the wind shifted, turning, rustling the tall grass, and blowing straight across his face. The scent—so subtle at first—blended with the multitude of tangy fragrances Mother Nature had in her palette that Landry had almost missed it. Yet, there was no mistaking the molecules riding the breeze: blood. Specifically, shifter blood. But the amount was too faint to identify whose.

  His own life-giving fluid ran cold. Please God…this can’t be Rosa’s.

  Scanning the immediate surroundings, Landry finally spotted the source. Crimson droplets sprinkled a section of the vegetation. Squatting for a closer inspection, he broke off a segment of the grass and brought it to his nose for a deeper inhale. The coppery scent burst through his olfactory system, but the imprint was unfamiliar. Not Rosa. Thank God.

  His gaze fell on a nearby dark object. Landry leaned in and plucked the pistol from its resting place. Bracing a forearm on over his knee, he studied the weapon with its distinct engraving along the barrel—RAK. Rosa Ann KinKaid.

  His heart hammered against his breastbone at the sight. Closing his eyes, Landry bowed his head. What happened, Rosa? What the hell were you doing out here?

  “Kaleb,” Landry called out, pivoted, and stood. “I’ve got—” His friend was already there, rage burning like the fucking Fourth of July in his eyes.

  “Rosa’s thirty-eight?”

  “Yeah.” Landry nodded. “What did you find?”

  “Her cell.” He gave the thin black device a wave. “And this
.” Kaleb handed over the other item, his lips a hard, thin line.

  Fuck.

  Landry stared down at the elegantly penned letters on the page, the handwriting eerily familiar. His gut twisted.

  You take from me. I take from you. A little tit for tat, Landry. Come and get her…if you dare.

  This was all his fault. Landry’s fists curled, his forearms trembling. His stomach cramped, and he swallowed back the bile threatening to spill. How could this have spiraled so damn out of control?

  “Arick fucking took her,” Kaleb chewed out between clenched teeth. “That sick bastard! He lured her out here somehow and drove her off the road.” The male spun, as if searching for an arrow pointing out his next path. “God, I hope she shot one of those sons of bitches.”

  “Looks like she probably wounded at least one of them.” Landry nodded toward the splatter scene. “Let me see her phone.” Kaleb handed over the cell, and Landry punched up the display.

  No recent calls, except for the missed one from Kaleb. Next, he checked her messages. A recent one from Kaleb, and then one from a number with no corresponding contact name. Landry tapped that one, opening it.

  His pulse stuttered, fury swelling. A sharp pain in his temple threatened to blind him. His vision went red. The bastard had used Landry as bait. Christ…Rosa. Why would she do such a thing? His life wasn’t worth the cost of hers. He staggered.

  “Landry!” It was Kaleb, but his voice sounded disconnected as if channeled from a far away place.

  He would kill Arick. Drown the sick son of a bitch in his own blood.

  “Michaels!” Hard fingers gripped his biceps followed by a hard shake. Reflex launched Landry into his fighting stance, one fist drawn back ready to take down the target in front of him.

  “Whoa!” The male backstepped, his forearms snapping into place around his face. “Hey…Landry, it’s me, Kaleb.”

  Landry blinked, trying to bring the image of his partner into focus.