by Desiree Holt
***
Riesa sat in a chair in the living room, drinking a cup of tea and watching the turmoil around her. Derek and Rand had called everyone in their small pack, and all of them—male and female alike—had gathered in Derek’s living room. They had willingly left work to help in the search for Hannah. Jesse and Charlie, the sheriff’s deputies, were in the kitchen working their contacts by phone and poring over the reports being emailed to their cell phones on the search for the vehicle and lab results on the tire tracks.
Jesse had talked at length with someone from the Tampa Police Department and reported that, yes, Riesa had helped them on many cases where standard investigation hadn’t worked. That put her front and center with everyone, especially Rand, a dark, intense man whose anxiety for his mate had him ready to explode.
Derek had taken charge of things, the calm in the middle of the storm, and shielded her from the questions everyone threw at her as well as Rand’s demand she give them more details of her dream. She knew Jesse had a sketch artist on the way to transfer the image of the huge house Riesa had seen in her dream from her mind to paper. And Jesse and Charlie accessed property records from three counties, trying to see what properties might fall in that obvious price range.
Riesa was nervous with all the new people milling around her. From force of habit, she worked to make herself as invisible as possible. She did much better one on one, but working with the Tampa PD, she’d learned to tolerate crowds better.
Every few minutes, Derek would glance at her. Despite the blazing fire in his gaze, it reassured her. Gave her a sense of security—something the chemistry exploding unexpectedly between them did not. Riesa had never been attracted so instantly or so powerfully to a man. Every time he looked over, her nipples tightened and her pussy throbbed.
Was it because he was a shifter? She wondered what sex with him would be like. Strangely, the thought itself didn’t frighten her. Paranormal was a part of her life. What did panic her was the powerful strength of the attraction. She didn’t dare let him touch her again. She was sure the sparks between them were so strong they might be visible to those around them.
She’d studied shifters after her first encounter with one, and she did know they had incredible sex drives. That lust was as much a part of their makeup as a fierce sense of protectiveness. They took care of their own. It was obvious Derek was the pack alpha. Did her unexpected connection with him mean he saw her as one of his own?
No. She couldn’t even think about that now. She needed every bit of her strength to help them find Hannah.
She was staring into her teacup as if she might find answers there when she felt a light touch on her shoulder and looked up to see Jesse standing beside her with a pixie-like redhead.
“Riesa, this is Patty.” His voice was very gentle. “She’s our sketch artist. If I can get you to sit with her in a quiet place, she’ll try to reproduce the house in your dream.”
“Hello.” Patty smiled. “Let’s find a place to do this.”
Jesse looked around, frowning at the crowd of people that seemed to spill over everywhere.
Derek broke away from the group he was with and came over to them. “Problem?”
Jesse shrugged. “I guess. We need a quiet place for this and there doesn’t seem to be one.”
“They can use my bedroom. It’s got a desk in it.”
“That should work,” Patty told them.
His bedroom? She was going to get a glimpse of his bedroom? Riesa tried not to show her curiosity as Derek led them down the short hallway.
The room was as masculine as he was, with a massive bed covered with a quilt in earth tones. Riesa couldn’t help imagining herself on the bed with Derek, ignoring the inappropriateness of her lustful thoughts in the middle of a crisis. A large dresser and a desk sat by the window, and in one corner was a wide leather armchair. Derek shoved it over by the desk as if it weighed nothing and indicated Riesa should sit there.
“It’s very comfortable,” he told her. “You can relax better here. I’ll send someone with more tea, and check on you myself in a little while.”
He studied her for a moment, the same fire she’d seen before glittering in his eyes. Then he raised one hand, caressed her cheeks with his fingers, and smiled at her.
“You’ll be fine. Relax. Everything will turn out all right.”
“I want to find Hannah.” She began to feel desperate. Too much time was passing.
“You will. We will. Now work with Patty and see what you and she can get down on paper.”
Hannah settled herself in the armchair and described the image she’d seen. It took several minutes to get it right, but Patty was both talented at her job and very patient. Finally, Riesa nodded.
“That’s it. I’m sure of it.” She sat back in the chair. “Do you know of any place near here that looks like that?”
Patty studied the sketch. “Maybe. But I’d rather show it to Jesse and Charlie and see if they can identify it.”
When she left the room with the sketch, Riesa tilted her head back and closed her eyes. She was exhausted from the dreams, the drive here, being surrounded by a crowd of people, and then trying to dredge up images from her brain. Her head ached, the usual residual effect of seeing the images and interpreting thing. She wondered if anyone had some aspirin here.
“You need to lie down.”
The deep voice startled her, and she opened her eyes. She hadn’t heard the door open or Derek enter until he was standing right in front of her.
“I’ll be all right,” she told him. “I just need a couple of aspirin.”
He reached out and gently drew her from the chair. “Aspirin first, but then rest. Don’t argue.”
He turned back the quilt on the bed, sat her down, and bent down to tug off her shoes. Then lifted her so she lay on the cool sheets, plumping pillows behind her head.
“This really isn’t necessary,” she protested, but the bed felt so comfortable. A bolt of heat stabbed through her as she realized Derek slept on these sheets. That they held his scent.
“Can you sit up?” He held out a glass of water in one hand and two white tablets in the other.
“Yes, of course.” She tossed the pills into her mouth and drank almost the entire glass of water. “I can’t lie down here in your bed, Derek.”
He pulled the quilt over her then sat beside her. “I don’t know why not. It’s a very nice bed.”
“That’s not the point.” She tried to sit up again, but he pushed her gently back against the pillows. “Every minute we waste, Hannah is in greater danger. And….” She bit her lower lip.
“And what?”
“It doesn’t seem appropriate for me to sleep in your bed.”
He cupped her chin in his hand. “First of all, we’re not wasting any time. Jesse and Charlie are pulling in information to help us identify which house this is and where it’s located. When we find it, the others and I will…do what we have to do to get inside and save Hannah.”
“I know you are shape-shifters, Derek. I told you that. It’s why I saw the wolf in my dreams.” She clutched at his wrist with both hands. “But the man who has her is evil. I have a very sick feeling about this.”
He relaxed slightly at her words. “I promise I’ll come get you when we need you. And there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be in my bed.”
When she looked at him, she saw the fire in his eyes had leaped to life and was blazing. Amber lights sparked in the dark-brown irises, and his chiseled face was taut with…passion? Was that what she saw? She had sensed the immediate connection between them, and she was sure he had, too. So, what did it mean?
Before she could say anything more, Derek leaned forward and brushed his mouth against hers. A soft touch, nothing more. But then his tongue came out and licked her lips. Need bloomed inside her, stronger than she’d ever felt before. Her breasts ached with fullness, her nipples hard, and the pulse in her cunt beat insistently.
Withou
t even thinking, she opened her mouth and his tongue swept inside, licking her inner surfaces. She touched her own to his, caught in a familiar dance but now with unfamiliar steps. His male essence was the most powerful she’d ever come in contact with. When one hand brushed across her breasts, she couldn’t help the moan that rushed from deep in her throat.
She squeezed her legs together at the thought of his cock sliding into her, his mouth on her nipples, his fingers playing with her clit. The tempo of her breathing changed and the pulse beat even more furiously.
Then, as if both struck by the same thought at the same time, they pulled away from each other. She stared into his dark eyes, trying to catch her breath.
“We can’t….” she began.
“This isn’t….” he started.
She gave a short, breathless laugh. “This isn’t the time.”
“No, it isn’t. I should have more control of myself.” He shook his head. “But from the minute I opened the door to you….”
“I know,” she whispered. “I feel it, too.”
“Let’s find Hannah. Then we can explore this further.” He rose and pulled the covers up to her chin. “Rest, Riesa. I promise to wake you the minute we know anything.”
***
Someone had made a fresh pot of coffee, and Derek refilled his mug before joining Jesse and Charlie at the kitchen table. Jesse just disconnected from a call.
“Okay, I think we’ve got something.” He shuffled his notes in front of him. “But we’re going to need everyone’s help.”
“Just point us in the right direction,” Derek told him.
“Point me.” Rand was suddenly beside them. “I have to be the one to get her out of wherever she is.”
“We’ll all do it,” Charlie said. “The last thing we need right now is for someone to be a hot dog and go charging off alone.”
“It has to be me,” Rand insisted. “I promised to keep her safe and I didn’t. I should have covered all my bases, but I never….” He swallowed hard, visibly working to bring himself under control. He looked at Derek. “I have to do this.”
“And you will. But in a sensible manner that won’t endanger Hannah any further.” He gestured to an empty seat. “Sit down and listen while Jesse and Charlie go over everything, and then I’ll brief the others.”
Rand dropped reluctantly into the chair, but Derek could almost feel the anger and rage vibrating from his body. And the impatience to be doing something. Lust took many forms in their kind—sex was only one of them. Vengeance and retribution could be just as powerful. He would have to be sure Rand wasn’t so driven by the lust for vengeance that he did anything to harm their chances of finding Hannah.
“All right,” Jesse began. “We managed to narrow it down to three possible sites, all within a hundred mile radius of here. We worked on the theory that if the guy who saw Hannah shift in town returned the next day, his base couldn’t be far away. These are all pieces of property owned by someone of enormous wealth, someone who stays out of the limelight but who has appeared on both state and national radar before.”
“For what?” Rand demanded.
Charlie waved a hand in the air. “Various things. But now we can narrow it even more. The two most likely suspects masterminding this are Frederick Dangler and Rogan Mueller. Both men have dark-blue SUVs registered to them with license plates starting with DG. Both of them have game preserves on their estates, and the word is they experiment with both animals and humans. Which would explain why a shifter would be such a prize to them.”
“Jesus.” Rand blew out a breath.
“Right.” Jesse took up the narration. “Exactly. Whichever one of them it is, Charlie and I are pretty sure they are trying to capture shifters to experiment with their blood, their DNA, whatever. Maybe even harvest the eggs from a female and try crossbreeding.”
Derek watched Rand while the deputies were talking. The man’s face turned pale, and a muscle twitched in his cheek. Rand was riding close to the edge, which meant Derek would have to keep a tight leash on him. Easier said than done.
“What kinds of experiments?” Rand finally got the question out.
“We don’t know the exact nature,” Jesse told him. “Both of these men are very secretive. But from what I’ve dug up, I’d say they might be trying to alter them genetically, make them faster and more dangerous then charge millions for people to come there and hunt them.”
“But shifters are….” Rand shook his head. “Never mind. If he knows about them, he doesn’t care about their humanity. Jesse, we have to get Hannah out of there and stop this man, whichever one he is.”
“How can we figure out which place it is?” Derek wanted to know. “It’s not as if we have a lot of time. God knows what they could be doing to her now.”
“We’re going to take care of that with some aerial shots. But then we need to get inside. I’m guessing these are heavily guarded compounds. So that’s where everyone else comes in.” He looked at his watch. “Alexa should be here shortly. She really wants to help.”
“And Liana is on her way, too,” Charlie told them, referring to his wife. She had been a shifter disconnected from everyone, living by herself, until Alexa reached out to her.
“What is it you want us to do, exactly?” Derek asked.
“Exactly?” Jesse’s lips turned up in a small grin. “How high can you jump?”
***
Hannah forced her eyes open then almost wished she hadn’t. Everything around her was fuzzy, her head pounded, and she had an overwhelming urge to throw up. She closed her lids, inhaled a deep breath, let it out, and opened her eyes again. Better, but not much. She forced herself to lie still for a few more seconds then tried once more. She had to know where she was.
This time, things weren’t quite so fuzzy, the room wasn’t spinning, and the violent nausea had subsided a little. Moving slowly and carefully, she forced herself into a sitting position and took in her surroundings.
She was lying—well, sitting—on a huge four-poster bed in a bedroom she’d never seen before. Pale-blue walls were decorated with a variety of pictures that she somehow had the feelings were more than just Walmart prints. A dresser with a mirror stood against one wall. Hannah managed to get to her feet and make her way slowly on the thick carpeting. What she saw in the mirror startled her.
Her eyes were wide and dilated, probably part of the reason she couldn’t see so well. Beneath them were dark smudges, as if she hadn’t slept in a long time. Her face was drawn, the skin so pale she wondered if she’d somehow lost most of her blood. Her stomach was still doing flip-flops, but, with an effort of will, she kept it under control.
She spotted a door in the wall to the left and tried to open it.
Locked!
Not a good sign.
She pounded on it with her fists, trying not to panic.
“Hello? Anyone out there? Can you hear me? Hello?”
But after five minutes, she gave up and looked around the room again. Where was she? There were no windows in the room, so she couldn’t see outside. Couldn’t use any point of reference to get her bearings. Okay, how had she gotten here? To this strange bedroom in whatever place she was?
Then it came crashing back with gut-wrenching intensity. She remembered the two men outside Rand’s house. The prick of the hypodermic needle. The sack she’d been stuffed into. The long, bumpy car ride. And, finally, the enormous estate and the huge, ugly man who had greeted her. They’d found her, the man who’d seen her at the convenience store and whoever he worked for. Not only had she been idiotic enough to shift in public, she’d also deliberately disobeyed Rand’s instructions to stay inside and wait for him. After all, what could happen in just a few minutes?
Unfortunately, she’d found out the hard way. Now, after a second dose of whatever they were giving her, she was a prisoner in this place. What kind of plans did these people have for her? She’d heard horror stories about what happened to shifters who were captured. S
he wasn’t sure if she wanted to remember them or ignore them.
Rand!
Just the thought of him made her body shiver with the memory of the things they’d done. Her panties dampened and her nipples became almost painfully hard. He wanted her as his mate. The connection was there. She felt it and so did he. He’d told her so.
Mine! he’d said, and she’d felt as if she’d come home. Rand would find her. Maybe she could reach out to him mentally. Somehow. Send him a message. She knew shifters had extraordinary psychic powers, but those were usually connected to their acute senses. Of course, it couldn’t hurt to try.
She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, trying to make herself as calm as possible. But before she could focus her mind, she heard a key in the lock, the door opened, and the ugly man—Mueller, he’d said his name was—entered, followed by two other men she’d never seen before. One of them carried a lab kit with him.
Hannah curled her hands into fists and dug her nails into her palms, trying to beat back the fear sweeping through her. Whatever Mueller had in mind for her, it wasn’t going to be anything good.
“Ah, Miss Raines.” His voice was just as abrasive as she remembered from her arrival. “I’m glad to see you’re awake.”
“What am I doing here? I demand you let me out of here. I want to go home.”
Mueller chuckled, a sound that made her think of gargoyles. “Still spirited, I see. Good, good. So much the better.”
“Why am I here? What do you want with me?”
“You are going to be my star,” he told her. “The diamond in my crown.” He motioned for the two men to move forward. “I will provide for you, take care of all your needs. My chef will prepare your meals. The bathroom is through that door.” He pointed toward one wall.
“I want you to let me go.” She tried not to show how terrified she was.
Mueller ignored her, simply gesturing to the man behind him. “George is going to draw some blood from you. A simple procedure if you do not fight him. Once we have the results of those tests, we will proceed from there.”
