by Vivian Arend
Amy lifted her knee and caught him between the legs, hard enough he fell to the floor, hands clutching his crotch. “Who’s feeling cocky now?”
“Enough,” Mike ordered. “Take her and the kid, and tie her up in the room we prepared. We only need one more thing, and we’re done.”
“Kidnapping me and Dexter is a declaration of war.” Amy struggled in the grip of four wolves, all of whom seemed wary of getting within knee range.
Mike grinned harder. “That’s exactly what this is. And before the day is over, the war will be over. Whitehorse will have a new Alpha. Me.”
In spite of the hands holding her, she was ready to fight as they were dragged down the hallway. Then Dexter whimpered softly, and the plan changed in a split second. “Hey, Dex. Chin up, buddy, we’re going to be okay.”
“Depends on your definition of okay,” Toby joked, a ripple of laughter carrying through the group.
“Give me one minute with you by myself,” Amy offered. “One minute, and you’ll be joking through a set of dentures.”
How could anyone threaten a child? She didn’t care so much about herself, but she could sense Dexter’s terror, and that pissed her off more than the attempt to take over Whitehorse.
They were brought into a room off the mechanical side of the hotel. “This is where I work,” Toby bragged. “I know all the tricks how to make things work. The part that will impress you is that means I know how to make things break. And burn. And explode.”
While he gloated, the others duct-taped her wrists to a chair, her ankles to the sturdy metal legs. “If you start running now, you might make it to the Alaska border before Evan catches you.”
Toby shook his head as he reached for her, twisting his fingers in her hair to hold her still while he pressed a piece of duct tape over her mouth. “Evan? He’s not going to run any direction except straight to you. Which is exactly what Mike wants. So you may as well stop with the threats and think about how much this is going to hurt.”
She should have tried harder to bite him.
A moment later they were alone. She was secured to the chair, unable to speak or get herself free. A few feet away, Dexter was curled up in another chair, his back toward her as he cried softly.
Her only option was nonverbal. Even as she twisted at the bounds around her wrists, she reached out and comforted the boy, filling the room with as much peace as possible. Slowly his crying turned to sniffles, and he faced her, dashing tears from his eyes and lifting his chin.
“I’m sorry I was so scared.” He crawled into her lap, touching the tape over her mouth. “I need to take this off, right?”
Amy nodded.
Dexter carefully peeled back the tape. Amy felt as if she’d been given some kind of horrifying facial. “That’s much better. Thank you for helping me.”
“Are they going to burn us up?” Dexter whispered, terror in his voice.
“They think they’re going to, but they’re not very smart.” Amy tilted her head toward her hands. “They should have tied you up too. You’re a very good ally in a tough situation.”
The little guy worked to untangle the tape from one wrist. “He’s not my daddy.”
The kid might be scared to death, but that statement at least came out loud and clear.
Amy agreed with him. “No, he’s not. He’s a bad man who needs to be taught a lesson. I think someone will be here soon to help us, but until then we have to work together. If that door opens I want you to hide.” She looked around the room trying to spot a suitable place to hide an eight-year-old.
“I can’t shift yet,” Dexter warned.
“That’s okay. There are lots of places for you as a human.”
This room had more possibilities than the first one she had been stuck in, but it still wasn’t a solution. Wolves would sniff Dexter out no matter where she tucked him.
As soon as Dexter got her right hand loose, she went to work on the left. “I think I see something that will help. Let me get my feet free, and I’ll get you set up.”
“Is my mommy okay?”
Amy nodded. “But she’s going to be very happy to see you once we get out of here.”
It was a matter of timing. Out in the hotel, there was a group of wolves she needed to stay away from. She had Dexter, and she needed to get him to safety.
And somewhere out there was Evan who she was certain was doing everything he could to get to her. If she could wait long enough for him to show up, that would make all the difference.
But until he showed up, she would just have to prove she was a worthy leader for the joint packs.
It took Evan five minutes flat to discover Amy was nowhere in her house. He paced the living room, following her most recent tracks, and ended up on the back porch, totally confused.
There was another scent along with hers. Something must have happened.
His phone rang, and he slapped it on.
“I’m so sorry, I had no choice.”
The voice was somewhat familiar, and Evan struggled to place it. “Laney?”
“My ex showed up. He made me grab her, and now I think it’s a trap for you.” Laney’s words increased in speed as her terror became more apparent. “Sam and Dexter are somewhere in the Moonshine Inn. Mike said he’s taking over the pack here in Whitehorse. He said he’s heard you’d lost control. Someone from your pack was helping him, and I’m so sorry.”
Dammit. Evan was back in his truck and headed for the inn. “Don’t panic, just tell me again what happened.”
“We went to the inn. He said he would let Dexter go, but when we got there, they grabbed Sam, and tried to grab me as well. I got away. I think they didn’t expect me to—” her voice broke before she forced herself on, “—they didn’t expect me to leave Dex. But I had to. It was my only choice, and now they have my son, and they have Sam.”
He should have expected something like this to happen. “Laney, I need you to do something. Contact everyone you know in Canyon. Whatever they can do to help, tell them to do it. I’m going to the inn, and I’m going to get your son. But I need backup. Can you do that for me?”
“You would save Dexter for me?”
“You’re pack. Amy and I promised to take care of all of you, and that’s what we’re going to do. I bet right now Amy is looking after Dexter. I want you to remember that.”
Wavering sniffles came over the phone.
“But you have to be brave and help as well. Contact Canyon.”
“I will. Please, save my son.”
Evan hung up and hurriedly made another call. “They’ve made their move,” he told Shaun. “I bet it’s Lance and Toby, but they’ve hooked up with some troublemaker out of Dawson City. I’m headed to the Moonshine Inn. Meet me there, and be ready with emergency services.”
“Do you want me to call them in already?” All Shaun’s usual joking had vanished.
“It’s pack related, so we need to make sure this stays secret, at least for now. But let’s not take chances.” Evan pulled to a stop around the corner from the hotel. “I’m there. Don’t let me down.”
He jammed his phone into his pocket and headed to one of the service entrances. He paused, reconsidered and instead found a fire exit ladder, jumping up and grabbing the bottom rung so he could quickly ascend to the roof.
Stealing into his own hotel. He always figured it would come to this, but he never thought it would be Amy’s life on the line as well. Someone kidnapping her and making a challenge for pack—this was more than discontented rumbles. This was going to end in blood.
Now he had to make sure it wasn’t his or his mate’s.
He eased open a ceiling vent. Sneaking in would be slower than rushing down hallways, but less risky in terms of running into any bad guys. He lowered himself into the dark space and closed the vent to hide his presence.
&nb
sp; And then he forced himself to slow down. To sense where he was so he could reach out with the other part of him. The strong mental link between him and Amy had to make a difference. Somehow, he needed to be able to contact her, even from here.
He kicked himself that he’d mucked up so much in the first place that they’d never made it to the point of marking each other. This entire rescue would have been a lot easier if they already had that connection.
There was only so much that he could go on, but somewhere in the building below him she was waiting. A sense of peace came unexpectedly, even in the midst of his blind fury. She was smart, very smart, and he remembered something she’d mentioned about discovering everything there was to know about the inn and the pack house during her recon days. That gave him the first inkling of which direction to look for her.
Evan stole his way to the service elevator, using the cables and sidewall to travel. He had to force his way past the actual elevator, grasping hold of the cables with a set of gloves he found tucked into a service box. The heavy leather protected him as he slid downward at a rapid pace.
He reached the bottom floor and pried the door open an inch, freezing as a wolf paced past farther down the hallway. Low conversation carried from beside the elevator before moving farther away.
Evan followed silently, thankful for the lack of air currents that kept his scent from those he was tracking. As soon as he made the main hallway, one deep breath was the only clue he needed, and after a cautious wait he took the first door.
Amy whirled silently to face him, hands up and ready for attack before she straightened and smiled. Fingers going to her lips as he stepped toward her.
He caught her in his arms and squeezed briefly, needing a moment of physical touch to anchor him.
She returned his hug then moved back, gesturing with her head toward an open duct. Dexter stared from the metal boxlike opening, surprise and hope in his eyes.
Amy squatted and pushed the little boy’s bangs from his eyes. “This is my mate, Evan. Do you remember him?” she whispered.
Dexter nodded.
She turned, slipping a hand around the back of Evan’s neck to draw him closer so she could speak quietly. “I need you to get Dexter out of here.”
“We can all get out of here.” Evan motioned toward the door.
Amy shook her head. “You have a better chance if it’s just the two of you. Plus, if I can get to the main panel, I can lock the hotel down and trap them. If we all take off, they might burn the inn then hide. We don’t want them to show up again later and keep tormenting us.”
“You’re not going to go wandering around the inn when they could kill you.”
Her expression sharpened. “Dexter can’t escape by himself, and you can’t talk to the computer, can you? I know it’s asking a lot, but this is my pack as well. I need to defend it, and this is the best way I know how.”
Evan’s heart fell as the seriousness of what she was asking hit.
He had said he trusted her, had even given her space during the fight in the bar, but this was their real world. This was a challenge not only to her leadership, but for the entire pack.
If he turned her down, he was as good as saying she wasn’t worthy of leading. He had only one option if they were going to make it as mates, as sick as the choice made him.
“I’ll take Dexter.” He caught her by the chin and forced her to look him in the eye. “But you leave a trapdoor so I can get back in.”
“Evan—”
She was about to argue. Forget that noise. He spoke firmly. “I trust you, it’s not that. But don’t ask me to stand by and do nothing to defend the pack. More importantly, I need to help you. I want to stand at your side while we do this.”
She didn’t hesitate. Just pressed up on her tiptoes and planted her lips against his. A fiery kiss full of desperation and passion. The two of them together, even though for a time their skills were needed in different directions.
Evan put everything he could into the kiss before pulling back.
“I’ll set the side service door on a code block,” Amy promised, sneaking her hand out of his pocket and holding up his cell phone. “I need to borrow this as well. The password for the door will be ‘united’.”
Evan nodded then turned toward Dexter. “Okay, buddy, it’s time for you and me to do a little sightseeing inside some secret passages. Hold on, and we’ll get you to your mom as fast as possible.”
A set of arms wrapped around his neck as Dexter settled in tight. Evan spared one last glance over his shoulder at Amy, then crawled into the ductwork and headed for the roof.
Chapter Twenty-One
Evan vanished with Dexter. The lovely sense of certainty her mate left with her washed away the urge to worry.
It wasn’t cockiness, but confidence. Even while they were apart, they were working together to get the job done.
Amy closed the panel and turned her back on the duct, focusing on the task ahead.
She opened Evan’s phone, made a couple of adjustments, then turned it on. She used the 3G connections to access the main computer she had hacked into so long ago.
She had been using illegal access to the system as part of her revenge. Now it looked as if having the cheats in place might save them.
One after the other, she checked the systems for ways to give Evan time to get Dexter free. She turned on alarms in three different sections of the hotel. None of them connected to outside authorities, but hopefully the clanging would be bothersome enough that Mike would send someone to check them.
Her thumbs flew over the teeny keyboard as she accessed a direct line to the security cameras. It took her thirty seconds to find her targets, figuring out not only where Mike waited, but where Lance and Toby were setting up mischief.
Mike had taken over the bar. All the curtains to the outside were closed—no prying eyes could spot what they were up to. It also meant she’d have to go through the side hallway and take the back door into Evan’s office.
Toby concerned her more. He was in the mechanical room, a soldering iron in his hand. She wasn’t sure what modifications he was making, but in reference to their discussion about explosions, it didn’t look good.
The entire situation had a deadline, and she had to make sure she was in the right place at the right time to get out alive.
With Evan’s phone set up to show multiple camera angles, she risked opening the door and scooting into the hallway. It would be far faster if she could take the direct route rather than crawling through ducts. She snuck forward, placing each step to avoid making any noise, moving to the emergency staircase like a ghost. She ducked through the door seconds before two wolves passed where she had just left.
By the time she reached the top of the landing, her thighs were burning from lactic acid. As she moved, she kept one eye on the shifting camera reports, the phone clutched in her hand like a lifeline. That’s how she saw the roof grid open, and Evan’s head and shoulders appear. He glanced around quickly, but none of the rebels were on the roof.
Evan sprinted to the fire escape, checking over the side of the building before crawling out of sight, Dexter clinging to his back like a monkey.
If things went well, Evan would be on the ground in less than fifteen seconds. Amy paused for long enough to set off a new series of alarms, all of them on the far side from where Evan and Dexter were descending.
Now it was her turn. She ran the length of the hallway, fiddling with the set of keys she’d taken from the maintenance room. A group of wolves were approaching, and she used the master key to access one of the larger suites.
She closed the door silently behind her, leaning against the door. Mike’s wolves paced past, unaware of her presence only feet away. Incompetent fools. They should have been using their noses. But, she was glad their skills at espionage were as bad as they were. It
meant she and Evan could get the jump on them.
Amy looked around as she got her breathing under control. It wasn’t her final destination, but the room she was in was a good second choice. One of the fancier suites in the hotel, this one had an Internet connection along with the television. It was like Christmas, Hanukkah and every birthday wish she’d ever made. A couple adjustments later and she’d hacked into Evan’s system again.
Now more than one security-camera view was visible at a time. Her alarms had worked, and outside the building Dexter was in Laney’s arms, just barely visible across the street in a gathering of familiar faces.
There was no sign of Evan.
Amy took the time to trigger a program she’d written ages ago during her revenge-planning days. The one that would set off alarms at random intervals. She added in the power grid, which would set up the lights to fail in a random series. She hit start, then headed back to the door ready for the next stage of the adventure.
Down one more set of stairs, around the corner, she slipped into Evan’s office and stood motionless against the side wall, waiting for her heart rate to slow before she risked opening the mainframe.
Mike was only a dozen steps on the other side of the door from her.
She checked Evan’s phone again, but it only confirmed what she had suspected. While Mike seemed in no rush to burn things as he’d threatened, Toby was no longer in the mechanical room. Instead, he and Lance were both on their way back to the bar.
She bet anything they were hoping Evan would show up.
Which meant she couldn’t wait any longer. She tiptoed across the floor and opened the computer in the corner. Evan had crashed all the Moonshine Inn laptops at one time or another, and Amy had slipped remote access codes into all of them.
But the big old mainframe was the jackpot for taking control of the final touches.
She opened the master control and stared for a moment at the flashing command box. All of the doors in the inn had an electronic safety lock. When given the order, the doors would automatically swing open to allow visitors to exit in a rush during an emergency.
