by Stormy Glenn
Dom’s shoulders slumped. “Fine. Meet me out front in fifteen minutes or I’m leaving without you.”
Dom didn’t wait for Chay to reply. He got up from the table and stormed out of the room. Chay might be right. Dom felt twitchy. His arms didn’t itch exactly, but he felt uncomfortable in his skin. If this had been any other situation, he would have simply shifted and let his cat run, except he knew his cat would run right for Keeland, and he had promised to give the man some time to think.
He took a quick shower, basically just washing off the sleep grime, then dressed in his usual faded jeans and black T-shirt. The last things he added were his black leather jacket and riding boots. He never went anywhere without them, not even in the summertime.
On the way out of the room he was staying in, Dom grabbed his helmet, keys, and wallet. He knew tonight he was hopefully spending the night at Keeland’s house, but it would be nice to get back to his own bed. He didn’t like sleeping in someone else’s space, not even his brother and best friend’s place.
Chay was waiting for Dom by the front door.
Smart man.
Dom hurried outside and climbed onto his bike. The need to ride was growing. He didn’t know if it was due to his anxiety about Keeland or something else. He just knew he needed to feel the freedom of the road for a little bit, so he took the long way into town.
By the time he pulled up in front of the shop thirty minutes later, Dom felt a little better. He was still anxious, but it wasn’t consuming him like before. Dom parked his bike and turned it off. He waited for Chay to pull up before taking off his helmet and climbing off his bike.
“Did you feel like this when you mated my brother?”
“Like what?”
“Like you wanted to crawl out of your skin.” It was the only way Dom could think to describe what was happening to him. He did want to crawl out of his skin, and into Keeland’s.
“Not to your degree, but I think I might have had an easier time of it because Gabe already knew he was a shifter by then. I didn’t have to explain this world to him.” Chay chuckled. “Well, not much, anyway.”
Now that he knew he was a shifter, Dom wasn’t sure how he felt about having a human as a mate, although he’d take Keeland any way he could get him. He just wasn’t sure how the whole shifter-and-human bond went.
“Is mating with a human different from mating with a shifter?”
“In the grand scheme of things, no,” Chay answered. “There will be some differences, though.”
“Like what?”
“Well, Keeland won’t be able to run with you in shifted form, or fly in my case. While some of his senses will become enhanced now that you two are mated, he will never truly understand what it feels like to be in shifted form, to smell the crisp night air or run through the trees, the ability to see farther, smell better. Humans don’t have that.”
The way Chay explained it, Dom almost felt sorry for Keeland. There were very few things he enjoyed more than running through the woods in his shifted form. He was saddened by the fact that he would never be able to share that with his mate.
“That’s not to say having Keeland as your mate won’t be the best thing in the world,” Chay went on. “The bond between mates is better than anything you’ve ever experienced. The knowledge that there’s one person out there just for you changes everything. Mates are protective, loving, and caring. Hell, the best part of my day is coming home to the joy on Gabe’s face when he sees me.”
That right there was what Dom wanted with his mate. One person who was there just for him, who was happy to see him after a long day’s work. He wanted that with a depth of yearning even he was shaken by.
“Come on, old man,” Chay said as he climbed off his bike. “Let’s get a little work done. Before you know it, it’ll be time for you to go get ready to spend the evening with your mate.”
Dom chuckled ruefully and joined his best friend. “You’re probably right.”
“I usually am.”
Dom playfully punched Chay in the arm, then darted into the shop before the man could retaliate. He felt a little lighter and more able to breathe, so that was something. Maybe he was worried over nothing. Keeland would take the time he needed to think, and then they would meet up that evening to get to know each other better. They were already planning on him spending the night.
Yeah, he was anxious for nothing.
When he reached the doorway to his office, Dom stopped and grabbed onto the doorframe with a hand. He rubbed the center of his chest with the other. The sudden inability to breathe concerned him. Maybe he was more anxious about this whole thing with Keeland than he knew.
“Hey, you okay, man?”
Dom gave Chay a weak smile. “My chest hurts.”
Chay’s eyebrows drew together, his gaze dropping to Dom’s chest. “Hurts how?”
“I feel kind of like I have a boa constrictor wrapped around my chest.”
Chay’s eyes widened. “Call Keeland. Call him right now.”
Dom started to reach for his phone, but a hand on his arm stopped him. He glanced up at Chay. The man tapped the side of his head. “Call him here.”
Oh, right.
Dom closed his eyes and concentrated on talking to Keeland through their bond. “Keeland, can you hear me?”
Dom didn’t hear anything for a moment, but then Keeland’s voice came through, sounding tentative and anxious. “Dom?”
“Yeah, baby, it’s me. I know you wanted a little time to think, but is everything okay?”
“Define okay.”
Dom frowned. “Are you safe?”
“Define safe.”
“Keeland!”
“You remember those two guys in suits?”
Dom swallowed tightly as he opened his eyes and stared at Chay. How could he forget them? “Yes.”
“They’re back,” Keeland replied, “and they're being a lot more insistent this time, asking a lot of questions about wild animals and my association with people here in town.”
Dom’s claws sprouted from his fingertips. He dug them into the wood of the doorframe. “They’re there now?”
“Yep.”
Dom pushed past Chay and headed for the front door. “I’ll be right there.”
“Dom—”
“Five minutes, Keeland.”
“Be careful.”
Dom smiled to himself, because Keeland certainly couldn’t see it. “I will, Special K.”
Chay was right there with Dom as he climbed onto his bike. Dom grabbed his helmet, but before pulling it on, he turned to look at his best friend. “Those guys who were questioning Keeland before are there again, giving him a hard time.”
“Right,” Chay replied. “I’ll have Gabe meet us there.”
Dom pulled on his helmet and started up his bike. It was all he could do not to peel out and race down the road. Still, he probably pushed the speed limit just a bit. His need to get to his mate as quickly as possible was riding him harder than riding his motorcycle on the pavement without rubber on his tires.
He couldn’t help but wonder if these were the same men he'd tangled with the night before. He’d been patrolling the area around Keeland’s house, unable to be far away from him, and spotted a couple of men sneaking through the bushes.
The fight had been brief but vicious. Dom had to wonder if the humans he’d been fighting knew he would be there or if they were simply trained to fight shifters. He’d barely gotten away with his fur intact.
The ride to Keeland’s clinic was quick, as Dom knew it would be. He pulled off the road and parked his bike about a block away. If someone was actually there, he doubted they had come alone, not after fighting him the previous night. That was assuming they were the same people, and Dom was pretty sure they were. Just how many people could be stalking his mate, after all?
Once Chay pulled up and parked next to him, Dom took off his helmet and climbed off his bike. He waited for Chay to do the same, then asked, “
Where’s Gabe?”
“He’s taking Henrietta in for her checkup.”
Huh?
“Come again?”
Chay nodded in the direction of the clinic. “He’s going in to do a little recon under the ruse of taking his kitten in for her first exam.”
That was actually pretty smart. It was also dumb as fuck. If the guys searching for them knew who Gabe was, they’d know the second he stepped through the doors that there was trouble.
“Tell him to be careful,” Dom advised. “If they know who Gabe is…”
Dom didn’t need to add any more. The way the blood drained from Chay’s face said the man got it.
“Let’s head in the back way,” Dom suggested.
“How?” Chay fell into step beside Dom.
“Give me a minute.” Dom concentrated on sending a message to Keeland again. “Special K, we’re here. Chay and I are going to come in the back. Is there any way you can unlock the back door?”
Dom waited for Keeland to respond, then asked, “Keeland?”
He didn’t like the fact that Keeland didn’t answer him. It made him edgy. Well, edgier. His nerves were already pretty shot. He glanced at Chay. “He’s not answering me.”
“Keep trying,” Chay replied. “I’ll see what Gabe has to say.”
As they reached the corner of the clinic building, Chay grabbed Dom’s arm. Dom could tell from the grimace on his face that something was wrong. “What?”
“Keeland’s not there.”
Dom stiffened. “What do you mean he’s not there?” he snapped. Where else would he be?
“Gabe said Keeland’s car is still in the parking lot, but he went in and the entire building is empty.”
“Chay, I can’t…” Panic and rage swamped Dom. His panther roared, clawing at his insides. He wasn’t going to be able to keep his panther from coming out. The need to hunt down whoever had taken his mate and rip them to shreds was overwhelming.
“He has to be here,” Dom insisted. He just had to be. Dom didn’t think he could handle it if something happened to his Special K. He needed Keeland more than he'd ever thought he would. The man was his only reason for breathing.
“Dom, I think he’s been kidnapped.”
Dom stared, hard. “Gee, ya think?”
Chapter Eleven
Keeland winced as he opened his eyes. He quickly snapped them shut to ward off the glare from the bright lights hanging above him. It felt as if he was looking into a thousand-watt light bulb.
After waiting for the throbbing in his head to fade to a manageable level, he opened his eyes just enough to look around. Well, it was fairly safe to say he was no longer in his clinic. The walls in his clinic were light blue. These walls were white, and a faded, paint-so-old-it-was-peeling white, too. The only piece of furniture in the room was the single cot Keeland was lying on.
Keeland sat up. His blood run cold when he realized he'd been stripped right down to his boxers. He pulled his knees up to his chest, then glanced around the barren room. It was pretty dismal. If the faded paint wasn’t enough, wooden slates had been nailed over the window.
It was obvious whoever had him didn’t want him to get away. That didn’t bode well for him, but even less so for whoever had taken him, because Dom would come for him—Keeland felt it down in his soul—and when he did, the panther shifter would be pissed.
“Dom?” he whispered in his head, praying the man could hear him. He had no idea if this mate link thing had a distance factor or not.
“Keeland?”
Keeland blew out a relieved breath. Tears sprang to his eyes. He was so damn happy the man. “Yeah.”
“Fuck, baby, where are you?” There was a high, frantic pitch to Dom’s voice.
Keeland almost cried. “I don’t know.”
“What do you see?”
Not much besides ugly white walls.
Keeland climbed to his feet and padded across the floor to the window. While there were wooden slates over the window, he could still see beams of sunlight coming through, which told him he might be able to see out.
“I think I’m in the countryside somewhere,” Keeland said. “All I can see is trees, a wooden fence, and a field beyond the fence.”
“What kind of fence?”
“Uh…” Keeland narrowed his eyes as he tried to peer closer. “It has metal fencing between wooden posts.”
“What’s in the field? Cows or hay or what?”
“Cows, I think. I don’t really see anything, but it doesn’t look like they’re growing anything there, either. The grass looks kind of yellowish.”
“What else do you see?”
“Why?” What would it help?
“Chay is a falcon shifter. He’s flying around looking for you right now.”
Oh.
“He’s a falcon?”
“Yep.”
Huh. Keeland had kind of thought panther shifters were all there were. Guess that wasn’t true, which made him wonder what else was out there. “I guess that means I’d better study up on avian medicine.”
Keeland couldn’t hear Dom laugh, but he could feel his amusement. “That might not be a bad idea, babe.”
Keeland glanced out the window again. He pressed his face against the wood and turned it one way and then the other, trying to see as much as he could. He knew he’d spotted something good when he saw the front end of a black vehicle.
“Dom, there’s a black car parked next to the house. I think it’s an SUV.”
“Can you tell what kind of SUV?”
Keeland tried to see more of the vehicle, but it was cut off by the edge of the house. “No.”
“Okay, we can work with this.”
“One more thing—the window is covered by wooden slates. I’m not sure if Chay can see that from the air, but it might help.”
“He can spot a field mouse from two hundred feet up,” Dom replied. “He’ll be able to see wooden slates over a window.”
Keeland certainly hoped so, or he didn’t know how he was going to get out of here. He tried to pull one of the boards off the window. It didn’t budge, so he doubted he would be getting out that way.
Keeland gasped and turned when he heard a jiggling of keys at the door. “Dom, you’d better tell Chay to hurry.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Company is here.”
Keeland pressed himself back against the window as the door swung open. There was no point in pretending he was still unconscious. Besides, there wasn’t enough time to make it back across the room to the cot.
One of the men in suits who'd come to his clinic stepped into the room. His gaze went to the cot first, then around the room until it landed on Keeland. He looked shaken for a moment, almost as if he hadn’t thought Keeland would be awake yet.
“Dr. Fagon.”
“Who are you?” Keeland asked. “Where am I?”
“Dr. Fagon, calm down.” The man raised a hand as if trying to placate Keeland. “This will all be explained to you.”
Keeland raised his eyebrows. “You can explain kidnapping me?”
The man stiffened before insisting, “You were not kidnapped.”
“Really?” Keeland waved his hand down his nearly nude body. “I suppose next you’re going to tell me I’m not standing here practically naked.”
“Dr. Fagon—”
“I want to go home,” Keeland snapped. “You can’t keep me here against my will.”
“We just need a couple hours of your time, Dr. Fagon, and then you're free to go.”
“Then why take my clothes?” Keeland really didn't like standing there in just his boxers. He felt more exposed than he would have if he’d merely been kidnapped. Maybe. He wasn’t sure. He’d never been kidnapped before. Either way, freaking the fuck out was a totally acceptable response.
“We simply needed to make sure you didn’t leave before we had a chance to talk to you.”
“We?” Keeland swallowed tightly before contact
ing Dom through their link. “Dom, there’s more than one of them.”
“Understood,” Dom replied.
“Why have you taken me?”
“We simply need to have a discussion with you, Dr. Fagon.”
Keeland’s eyebrows lifted even more. “And you couldn’t do that at my office?” That’s where they'd kidnapped him from, after all.
“You didn’t seem to want to hear what we had to say when we were there before, and we couldn’t bring our evidence to you. It’s not something that can be discussed within hearing of others.”
Keeland crossed his arms. “Okay, I’m listening.”
“Can you come with me, please?”
It was strange that his kidnapper was polite.
Keeland waved a hand down his nearly naked body. “Like this?”
The man stared for a moment before stepping out of the room. For a moment, Keeland thought he might have been fed up with Keeland’s resistance—not to mention his smart mouth—but the man came right back with his clothes.
“If I give you these, you have to promise not to run away until you listen to everything we have to tell you.”
Oh, that one was easy. Keeland didn’t plan on running. He was waiting for Dom to arrive and teach these guys a lesson about kidnapping mates.
“Fine,” he said, because the rest of his thoughts were not for this guy’s ears.
“Get dressed.”
Keeland grabbed the clothes and pulled them on as quickly as he could. He really didn’t want to remain standing there in his boxers any longer than he had to. Once he was fully clothed, Keeland looked up to stare at the stranger.
“What now?”
“Please, come with me.”
Keeland was a little surprised that the man just turned and walked away. He’d expected to be escorted by his arm or something. It wasn’t until they reached the room at the other end of the hallway and he saw the two armed men standing by the front door, that he understood.
“Dom, there’s a bunch of them and they have guns.”
“Good to know, Keeland. Keep us informed. Chay is still searching.”
Keeland glanced out the window as he was led through a set of double doors into a study. “That black SUV I saw is a GMC.”
