“On it.”
Gage ended the call and Connor slipped his phone back into his pocket. He looked down at Cade, who glanced up at him and whined softly.
“I know. I want to go in and grab her too, but there are too many witnesses.”
If she were on a lower floor, they could sneak in a window. He’d done some recon, however, and followed her scent up to a door on the fourth floor.
“I wonder who she knows here.”
Cade growled this time and Connor nodded in agreement. It better not be a male.
“Should have tied her to our bed.” Then she’d be with them, between them. His dick swelled at the memory of last night. Taking her had felt so right.
Being apart was gut-wrenching.
There was a small, deliberate rustling and he turned as Trick walked toward them.
“You got here quick.” he said to the other man.
“I brought the Porsche.”
Cade growled. It was his car and fast. Very fast.
“I didn’t scratch it,” Trick said to Cade. He handed Connor a backpack. “Clothes for Cade. Where do you want me?”
“Go watch the other exit,” he said. “We’ll wait for one of her cousins to get here then we’ll figure out what to do.”
Trick nodded and ran off.
*
Shelby jumped at the knock on the door. She stood, groaning in pain. Floating spots danced in front of her eyes. Jala grabbed her arm.
“Are you okay? Sit down,” she urged.
Shelby blinked. “No, I have to see who it is.”
“I’ll get the door.” Jala sent her a stern look as she remained standing.
“Ask them to identify themselves first. I’ll recognize their voice.”
Jala nodded before moving over to the door. Shelby sat, not really having much choice, the trip to get here had done her in, taking the last of her energy.
“Who is it?” Jala called out.
“Sawyer, Shelby’s cousin.”
“He should have short, dark hair, tanned skin. Tall, about 6 foot 4,” Shelby called out.
Jala peered through the peephole. “Looks like him.”
“Let him in. Please.”
Jala opened the door, stepping back as Sawyer stormed in, his face stony cold. He ran his gaze around the room, resting on her briefly. He shut the door behind him.
“Are you alone?” he asked.
Shelby nodded, wincing slightly. Her head was pounding, aftereffects of a quick change and too much exertion when she was injured.
“Just me and Jala. It’s safe.”
Sawyer narrowed his gaze and strode toward her. “You’re injured.” He placed his fingers gently beneath her chin, turning her to face him.
He sucked his breath in. “Who?”
His voice was deadly and she saw Jala start and stare at them worriedly. She stepped forward. “That’s what I’d like to know. I wanted to call the police but Shelby wouldn’t let me.”
Sawyer glanced over at Jala then back at her questioningly.
“Jala and I go to college together. She’s a friend.”
“Why didn’t you come home? Were they keeping you somewhere close to here?”
How much to tell him? She definitely couldn’t tell him it all in front of Jala. She glanced over at her friend.
“They took me from home. I changed to go for a run when they grabbed me, drugged me.”
“They’re dead,” Sawyer snarled. “Who are they? Why did they take you? Where else are you hurt?”
Shelby held up her hand. “They weren’t the ones who hurt me.”
Sawyer’s eyes widened. “Then who?”
“I’ll explain everything but I think we need to move. They’re good trackers, Sawyer. I tried to cover my tracks as best I could, but I’m worried they might show up here and I don’t want to put Jala in danger.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Jala protested. “I’ll be fine.”
“I shouldn’t have put you in the middle of all this. I wish I hadn’t but I couldn’t think of anything else to do.”
God, she was so tired.
Jala sat next to her, taking her hand. “I’m glad you came here. You can trust me, Shelby. I have your back.”
Shelby smiled at her. “I know you do. But the quicker I leave and the less you know the better.”
Sawyer had been talking quietly on his phone as they spoke.
“See you soon,” he said before putting his phone in his pocket. “That was Owen. We’ve got to get going.”
Shelby opened her mouth to question him but he glanced over at Jala and she nodded in understanding. The less Jala knew the better.
Turning to her friend, she hugged her tight. “Thank you so much. You know, I never thought I’d have a friend like you, but I’m so glad that I do.”
Jala hugged her back. “Anything you need, I’m here.”
“Do you have somewhere you could go for a few days, Jala?” Sawyer asked, looking concerned.
Jala shook her head. “My parents are away overseas, but I could get my brother to come and stay. He was a Navy SEAL.”
Sawyer nodded. “Good. Do that. Call him now. Come on, Shelby.” Sawyer helped her stand and she swayed, feeling lightheaded. He caught her against him.
Jala had grabbed the phone and was talking into it quietly
“Can you walk, squirt?”
“I’ll be fine. Shouldn’t we wait for Jala’s brother?”
“He’s on his way,” Jala said, putting down the phone. “He won’t be long and he’s not happy so I wouldn’t stick around. He’s kind of overprotective.”
“I don’t think these guys will hurt anyone, but they’re strong and smart. If they do come, you tell them what you know.”
Jala smiled grimly. “Which is pretty much nothing.”
“Thanks again, Jala. I owe you.”
Jala gave her a hug and they said their goodbyes. Sawyer held her against his side as they moved down the stairs. Her legs were like Jell-O and by the time they reached the ground, she was shaking.
“Fuck this,” Sawyer said. He pulled his keys out of his pocket before gathering her up against his chest with one arm like she was a small child.
“I’m fine,” she protested.
“No, you’re not, you’re exhausted, injured, and stressed. Now hush and let me take care of you.”
Shelby sighed, relaxing against him. “Where are we going?”
“My truck is parked out front. We’re going to meet Owen and Jonty at the summer house.”
Sawyer pushed his way out the doors, beeping open his truck doors. He opened the passenger side, placing her inside before he ran around to the other side.
“Jack is going to let us use the summer house?” The pack used the house for cookouts during the summer. It was built next to a large lake and was pretty isolated. They wouldn’t be able to drive the whole way in.
“Jack can get fucked. He won’t even know we’re there—it’s all closed up now. No one will find us up there.”
It was a good plan. She leaned back against the car seat.
“You gonna tell me what happened?” Sawyer asked as he pulled out onto the road.
She turned to look at him. “Do you mind if I wait until we’re with the others? I don’t think I have the energy to tell it more than once.”
He glanced over at her, his gaze softening slightly. “All right, squirt. You just lie back and try to get some rest. I’ll wake you when we get there.”
*
“Do you want me to go question whoever she was with?” Trick asked Connor, nodding over at the apartment.
They watched as another truck pulled up and a large, muscular man stepped out. He grabbed a duffel bag from the backseat before storming inside. His every movement screamed military.
“No. Shelby is too smart to tell them anything. Besides, I have a feeling they called in protection.” He nodded at the man who was disappearing into the building. “Gage put GPS trackers on each o
f her cousins’ vehicles.”
He’d recognized the guy she’d been with as one of her cousins. It had been the only thing stopping him from racing over there and ripping the guy’s arms off for daring to touch what was his.
“Car’s this way.” Trick led them over to the Porsche. Cade growled softly.
“You can hardly drive in this form,” Connor told him reasonably. But he took the keys off Trick, knowing Cade would cope better if he were driving.
He started the car and headed in the direction they saw the truck drive off in.
“Call Dylan, get directions.”
Trick set Dylan up on speaker phone and Connor followed his directions, pulling off onto a gravel road.
“Looks like all the vehicles her cousins are driving are heading in the same direction now. You want us to come in as backup?” Dylan asked.
“No,” Connor said. “You’re needed there. We’ll be fine with the three of us.”
He pulled the car up about a mile out from where Dylan said the other three vehicles had stopped.
They all got out. Connor grabbed the backpack and they headed out on foot. When they reached the vehicles, it was clear that they’d headed out on foot somewhere.
Connor sighed. Shelby really was leading them on a nice chase.
“Let’s go.”
Thirty minutes later, they’d tracked Shelby’s scent to a log house nestled against a large lake.
“What now?” Trick asked.
“We wait for Cade to change back and then we go in and get her.”
“Easy as that, huh?”
Nothing about Shelby was ever easy.
*
Shelby finished telling her cousins everything, including the attack by the guard and how she had been spying on Garrison for weeks. When she was finished she couldn’t look at them, not wanting to see the shock and disbelief on their faces.
“So you see, I’ve put us all in danger.”
“Shelby, look at us,” Owen said firmly.
She raised her gaze, shocked when she saw nothing but love and concern in his eyes. She glanced over at Jonty and Sawyer who had identical looks on their faces.
“Why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you come to us? We didn’t even realize you knew about Garrison being your dad, let alone the rest of it.”
“Your dad told me shortly before he died. He gave me Mom’s diary. He told me how my father killed her.”
Sawyer paced back and forth. “Dad had no right telling you any of that. He could have gotten you killed. Fuck, I can’t believe you were kidnapped, beaten, and nearly raped.”
“Cade and Connor didn’t hurt me. It wasn’t their fault.”
“Like hell it wasn’t!” Owen yelled. “They took you, held you against your will. Everything that happened to you was their fault.”
The door opened and all three of her cousins jumped to their feet.
“And the fact that we were able to get to her so easily is on the three of you.”
Shelby gasped and looked over at the door to see Connor standing there, leaning nonchalantly against the door frame.
“You should have protected her better,” he added.
“What the fuck!” Owen yelled as Jonty leaped over to stand in front of her. Sawyer stepped forward.
“So you’re one of them,” he said in a low voice, his fists clenching.
Shelby stood and tried to move around Jonty, but he held her behind him.
Connor ignored her cousins, watching her carefully. “Shelby, sit down before you fall down.”
“Don’t talk to her,” Owen said.
“Why not?” Connor asked calmly. “I’ve been the one taking care of her for the last five days. The three of you didn’t even know where she was. If she was my cousin, I’d protect her like the treasure she is. I would know exactly where she was every minute of the day. She certainly wouldn’t be endangering herself by trespassing onto private property and spying on a senator.”
“Taking care of her?” Sawyer asked. “You kidnapped her. You allowed someone to attack her.”
Connor’s face darkened. “That will never happen again.”
There was a slight noise behind her and she turned to find Cade standing there. She swayed from moving too suddenly, the world around her tilting.
Jonty grabbed her, making her whimper in pain as he touched her bruised back.
“Careful,” Cade said sharply. “She’s injured.”
Suddenly he was beside her, helping her lie down on her side on the sofa. He sat next to her, brushing her hair from her face.
Then he went flying away from her, landing on the floor. Shelby sat up in shock as Owen stood over Cade, his body heaving with fury.
“Don’t you dare fucking touch her,” he snarled.
“Owen, don’t.”
He turned to look at her and she flinched as she saw his eyes had gone amber. He barely had control over his wolf.
Cade simply sat up and smiled, there was no humor on his face. “Oh, I plan on touching her. A lot. Every way and everywhere I can.”
Owen roared and reached for him. Shelby stood, needing to stop them from killing each other, but Jonty held her back.
“Stay out of this, Shelby.”
“They’ll kill each other,” she said worriedly as Cade threw a punch, catching Owen in the face. Owen took a step back before recovering quickly and slamming his fist into Cade’s stomach.
“Enough,” Sawyer yelled, stepping between them. “This is getting us nowhere.” He pushed Owen back when he tried to get to Cade again.
“It’s making me feel a hell of a lot better,” Owen said.
“Me too,” Cade agreed.
“Really?” Shelby asked. “I’m glad it makes you two feel so much better to hit each other. I mean, as long as you’re both feeling good the rest of us don’t matter, do we?”
Both men looked guilty.
“Sit down, Shel,” Jonty said, pulling her onto the sofa.
Christ, everything was a complete mess.
“How did you find me?” she asked Connor tiredly. What a mess she’d made of things and so far she couldn’t see a way out of it.
“We put GPS trackers on your cousins’ vehicles,” he told her.
“So I never had a chance, huh?”
“You did well at hiding your tracks,” Cade told her. “I was impressed. It took us a good hour longer than I thought to find you. We thought you might have gone straight to your cousins. It was smart of you to go into town and call them instead.”
“You followed me to Jala’s,” she said. “Is she okay?”
“Is that whose apartment it was?” Connor asked. She nodded. “Don’t worry, we didn’t go inside. We decided to follow you instead.”
“Good, she doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Shelby clenched her hands together. “Did you tell Garrison what I said? Are you taking me back to him?”
She was a dead woman. She had no doubt about that.
“They’re not taking you anywhere,” Owen growled.
“Not right now, no.” Connor surprised her by agreeing. “First, we want some answers to our questions.”
“What makes you think we’re going to just sit here and let you harass her?” Owen said. “I say we just take them out now.”
“You’re welcome to try,” Connor said. “But I can guarantee you’ll find we’re not that easy to kill and all you’ll end up doing is injuring yourself and upsetting Shelby.”
“I don’t want anyone getting hurt,” Shelby agreed. “This is all my fault, I should be the one to pay the consequences. Please, will you all just sit down?” She rubbed her forehead.
“Headache?” Jonty asked, massaging the back of her neck.
She sent him a smile of gratitude and closed her eyes for a moment.
“What kind of consequences are you talking about, Shelby?” Connor asked. She opened her eyes to find that he and Sawyer had sat. Owen and Cade were still standing, glaring at each other from
across the room. Tension remained thick but she supposed it was the best they could do. She should count her blessings they weren’t all trying to kill each other.
“You’ll have to tell Garrison about me, if you haven’t already.”
“And what do you think will happen when we tell Sam?” Connor asked with a slight frown.
“He’ll kill me,” she said matter-of-factly.
“What?” Connor and Cade yelled.
“What the hell makes you think he’ll kill you?” Connor asked.
“Or that we’d ever allow him to touch you?” Cade added.
Shelby stared at them in confusion. “Well, he probably won’t kill me himself, he’ll get someone else to. He has to, he can’t afford to let me live. I know too much. I could ruin him.”
Connor ran his hand through his short hair, letting out a deep breath. “Shelby, I know you somehow think that Sam killed your mom, and believe me you’ll be telling me that story soon. But even if that is true, even if Sam was capable of murder, there is no way in hell we would ever allow him to harm you.”
“Why would you care?” Owen snapped. “You kidnapped her to protect him.”
“We took her because we thought she was a threat to his safety. We wanted to question her,” Connor told them.
“Turns out we were right,” Cade said. “But no matter what, we will still protect her with every breath in our bodies.”
“Why?” Sawyer asked. “Shelby said you’re Garrison’s bodyguards, it’s your job to protect him. Why would any of us believe you’d protect Shelby from him?”
“Because our first loyalty is to our mate,” Cade replied.
Her cousins all stared at her in disbelief and she shook her head. “I’m not your mate.”
“Yes you are, we just haven’t made it official yet,” Connor countered. “Our wolves know it and so does yours. You’re just in denial.”
“But that ends now,” Cade added. “We are claiming you and there will be no more running away, no putting yourself in danger. You will listen to us and you will allow us to protect you.”
“No. No way,” she whispered, even as she knew they were speaking the truth. Her wolf knew it, but there were too many issues, weren’t there? “I’m the enemy, remember? I want Garrison dead and you’ve sworn to protect him.”
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