by T. A. Grey
Rolling his shoulders, Gavin pretended to work some of the kinks out of his muscles. It was a joke. Nothing could make his muscles loosen up. And then he let his fist fly. BAM! He caught Harry across the mouth.
His lip busted open into a bloody mess and his head kicked backward from the motion.
“What the fuck!” Marcus roared, running for the bars separating their cells. “I said I’d talk! Let him go, you motherfucker!”
“No, I don’t think so. I distinctly heard Harry say he wanted to talk. Well, Harry, talk.” He let loose with an uppercut that clipped Harry’s chin. A tooth snapped and flew out of his mouth as his chin tried to go up into his face.
“Tell me what you want to know!” Marcus screamed.
Gavin might have smiled if he had the energy to do so. He’d gotten just the reaction he wanted out of him. “Will’s taken Alicia and they’re not in the pack. I want to know where he is.”
“How the fuck should I know where your goddamn brother is, MacKellen?”
Gavin shrugged. “Not the answer I was lookin’ for.” He plowed his fist into Harry’s stomach in a series of blows meant to make the man piss his pants. It worked.
Marcus shoved his face into the bars as if he could will himself into the other cell. He mewled. “I don’t know where he is, but I hope he guts her.”
Wrong. Answer.
Gavin finally let himself go, taking out all his anger and frustration into Harry Graham. There was no guilt at his actions. No remorse, no willpower to even stop himself. He knew deep inside that Harry, along with Marcus, had something to do with the death of those two kids. He used that little bit of reasoning to assuage his guilt.
Harry sagged against the wall, no longer able to keep himself upright. Gavin’s fists were covered in the man’s filthy blood.
Marcus stared down at his brother with horror. “I’m going to kill you.”
“You’ve wanted to kill me for a long time now. I’m surprised you haven’t managed to do it.”
His eye twitched.
When he didn’t say anything else, Gavin shrugged and locked Harry in the cell and moved toward Marcus’ cell. “Looks like I did go at the wrong brother. Harry, I’m going to pay a little visit to Marcus here. Only, I’m not gonna hold myself back this time. I got a lead pipe in the other room. What do you think I could make his body look like after I beat him with it?”
Harry let out a gargled shout. “No! D-don’t do it. Please don’t do it.” He started sobbing.
Gavin almost cringed at the horrific sound. Almost.
“I’ll tell you any-anything you want.” He spit out a wad of bloody mucous.
“Where did Will take Alicia?”
Panting, Harry spoke through bloodied lips. “Try the Tin Can.”
Every muscle in Gavin’s body went on alert. “What’s that?”
“Young…hangout. Teens like to go there to drink, sometimes with humans. Or…other lykaens.”
“Where is it?”
“About twenty…minutes northwest of here. An old warehouse. Lots of fence wire.”
Gavin’s eyes narrowed. This could be a hoax. He wasn’t going to get his hopes up. “How do you know about this?”
“They all do it. Just ask. Overheard Will mention it before at work.”
“Since I’m finally getting some cooperation out of you, answer me about this. Did you poison the meat?”
“No,” he cried on a ragged moan.
“Were you in the car that hit Alicia?”
He shook his head wildly. “No!”
Marcus glared at him with hate-filled yes. “You’ve beaten an innocent man. Are you happy with yourself now, alpha?”
“Yeah, I am. Since we’re all being honest here, why don’t you fess up now, Marcus? Did you do this to my face?”
Marcus leaned into the bars, so close Gavin could have reached through and ripped out his throat. “Yes,” he hissed. “I’d do it again, only worse if I had the chance. And Will was kind enough to lend me his knife to do it.”
Stunned, for a moment, Gavin couldn’t say word. Will had helped him to do this to him? He forced himself to snap out of it. Now wasn’t the time to focus on anything else but finding Alicia.
“So what did those little kids do to deserve what they got?” Gavin asked.
In an instant, Marcus went from livid with anger to docile and calm.
“What, got nothing to say about those two dead kids?”
Only Harry’s panting breaths filled the silence.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You’re a coward, always have been. Even now, you can’t stand up and take responsibility for what you did.”
More silence.
“I’ll be seein’ you later.”
Marcus walked back into the corner of the cell, those cold eyes calculating as Gavin left. Trying to wipe away an encounter with Marcus was like trying to get rid of an icy chill while standing in a deep freeze. Back upstairs, more concerned faces turned toward him. He gritted his teeth. God damn he loved his family but they drove him crazy.
“Who knows where the Tin Can is?”
They exchanged glances, confused. Fuck all. He pulled out his phone and dialed Hart. Hart had put out an APB lookout for Alicia. Still it’d been nearly twenty-four hours and no one had seen or heard anything.
Hart answered on the sixth ring. He must be busy. “What?” Hart growled.
“I need to know where the Tin Can is. Some local hangout for teenagers outside the pack about twenty minutes.”
“Hell, I don’t know.” He grumbled and cursed. “Let me ask around and call you back. Maybe someone knows.”
“You got less than twenty minutes.”
Gavin hung up and didn’t say a word to the curious stares. He just went, got in his truck and sped out of the pack heading in the direction Harry said. The motherfucker better be right.
Eventually he reached a run-down area. This could be it or it could be completely wrong. He drove through the streets looking for a warehouse. Old boarded up brick buildings lined the empty streets. An occasional decade old car sat at the curb. One was missing its windshield and had been replaced with tarp and duct tape. There was a payphone with the metal cord hanging down missing the phone part of it. Someone had spray painted the boarded up buildings with names he couldn’t recognize.
He made it to the end of the dead-end street. That’s when he looked right and saw it. Without thinking, he floored the engine, blazing past stop signs and red lights. No one was around, this place was like a ghost town.
But up ahead there was an old warehouse. Looked like it hadn’t been used in ages. The faded sign on the side of it read Louis’ Machine & Tool. Since 1965. There were no cars parked in the lot. But around that lot was a metal fence at least ten-feet tall with barbed wire at the top.
Someone still owned this property and it looked like they wanted to keep the neighboring thugs out. Too bad it didn’t work.
His phone vibrated and he shoved it to his ear as he circled the building looking for in entrance through the fence. “Yeah?”
It was Hart. “Listen, there’s a warehouse in the area you’re talking about but it’s a known crack house.”
“I found it.”
Hart sighed in agitation. “Listen, we’re on our way. Don’t go in there. Crack houses aren’t safe.”
“I’m going to get her back.” Gavin ended the call.
Braking to a stop, he glared at the fence. There had to be a way in. The gate had two chained locks on it and a wooden bar behind it to keep someone from easily cutting the locks and getting in. If this was the teenager’s hideout then there had to be an easy way to get in.
“Fuck it.”
He didn’t have time to waste figuring it out.
Gavin put the truck in drive and slammed the accelerator to the floorboard. His tires squealed, rubber shredded and the scent of burnt latex filled the air before the truck caught and lurched forward. He blew through the fence with an explosive cras
h. He stopped short of the building’s door and hopped out, running for it.
His blood raced, heart hopped with adrenaline. “Alicia!” he screamed, pulling at the door.
It was chained shut. He ran to the next, but it didn’t budge. He kicked at it with all its might. The metal squawked under his assault and he paused rethinking the situation. Something was barring the door shut from the inside. That meant there was a third entrance. Both these doors had been locked from inside.
He raced around the entire building without finding another door. Fuck! There had to be a way in!
His eyes moved up and there, he saw it. It looked all so obvious now. Perfect for rebellious teenagers and crack heads to climb into the building. The industrial sized garage bin was pressed up against the building with two large containers on top. Climbing up those boxes would put him at the perfect level to reach the window. The window without any glass in it.
Gavin leaped onto the bin, climbed the boxes, then peered inside. It was dark and empty.
“Alicia!”
He shouldered his way through the window, not so easy as big as he was. On the other side there was a large crate below him. He dropped to it easily.
On the ground he spotted empty beer cans, cigarette butts, empty packs of smokes, and dirty little pipes. He charged through the building, while trying to keep his fear at bay. “ALICIA!”
Sirens blared in the distance. Hart was coming, bringing help.
Gavin spun in circles. There were only two other rooms. An office, which held a trash can that looked like it’d been used to light a fire and a bathroom with a male/female logo on the front. It was empty, the toilet gone and sink torn out. Even the mirror had either been sold or taken. Only hinges were left in its place.
“Alicia!” he screamed, his chest burning in agony.
She had to be here. She had to be here.
Then where the hell was she?
He ran back to the doors and lifted the metal hinge and flipped the steel bolt lock that had been keeping him out. He shoved the double doors open and sucked in breaths.
She wasn’t here.
He was wrong.
She wasn’t here.
He looked around wildly, then spotted the garbage bin he’d climbed up on. His heart sunk. No…it couldn’t be. Please don’t be… He walked to it on heavy steps and shoved away the crates from the top. Breathing through the agony ripping his heart apart, he lifted the lid and peered inside.
“Fuck!”
He jumped back from the empty bin and charged back into the warehouse. She wasn’t in the bin. She could still be alive. God dammit she had to be here. They’d searched every other possible option.
With the doors bringing in more light, he scanned every single inch of the warehouse. There was no second floor. No extra rooms. Nothing but…
His eyes zeroed in on the brown sewer grate. If that’s what it was. There weren’t bars but a single hole meant for putting a crow bar in to make it easier to lift the heavy bastard.
On heavy legs, he walked to it, numb. This was the only other thing here. If this wasn’t it…then he didn’t know. He’d have failed her.
He sucked in a breath but all he caught was the rancid stench of days old cigarettes, moldy water, and muck.
Footsteps charged into the warehouse. He knew Hart and Elizabeth had brought a team to search the place. Gavin hooked his finger into the lid and lifted.
It was dark. Too dark to see.
“I need a light!” His voice came out much more panicked than he’d thought it would.
Someone was by his side in a second. Hart, he realized. Hart handed him his police issued Maglite. Gavin flicked it on. Light saturated the area below, a small draining system, an old one. And at the bottom was his mate.
A choked cry escaped him. He hadn’t even meant to make a sound. “Rope,” he rasped. His vision blurred at the sight of her.
“Sweetheart, baby, can you hear me?” Please be alive.
She didn’t move. She sat in the cramped space with her knees shoved up to her chest and her head tucked across her shoulder.
“Get rope!” someone shouted.
His eyes devoured her looking for any semblance of life. She was covered in the well’s filth, her hair covered her face so he couldn’t see it, and he couldn’t tell if her chest was rising and falling.
“Hurry!” he yelled.
Someone shoved rope in his face and they all got to work. He yearned to go down there and pull her up himself but his bloody body was too big to fit, so they tied the rope around Elizabeth’s waist and hoisted her down with six guys holding the rope.
“Got her!” she called.
They pulled and pulled, heaving her back up, the weight heavier with Alicia. Gavin didn’t feel it. He could have lifted them both by himself.
They broke the surface and he rushed to take Alicia into his arms before the rope was even cut away. He placed her down on her side and pressed fingers to her throat.
What he found there made him cry out in agony. Filthy or not, he covered her with his body, wrapping himself around her. “I found you, sweetheart. I found you.” He held his mate, whose gentle breath breathed across his cheek, and he cried silent tears.
Someone came and made him set her down. He swiped at him. It was Hart. Hart who looked him in the eyes and talked him down, told him everything was going to be okay now, that the doctors needed to start getting her healthy again. Yes, yes, he realized. He needed to get her fixed, make everything all better.
He let her go, and took out his pocketknife to cut the ropes, but didn’t leave her side. He held her hand clasped in his as they checked her for injuries.
Severe dehydration they said. Shock and contusions.
With the help of Hart and the officers, they loaded her into his truck; wrapped her up in blankets. On the way back to the pack, Hart called their pack doctor and told her to meet them at Gavin’s house.
Gavin found it ironic that in the few weeks Alicia had come to stay with him, she’d been in more danger than she ever had in her life. All because of him.
The commotion in the pack was tremendous. Everyone wanted to see her, to know what had happened. Where was Will, they asked? Gavin didn’t know. Didn’t care. All that mattered was getting Alicia well.
He sat with her in the bedroom while the pack healer, Heather, performed her own checkup. She hooked up an IV with a saline drip to rehydrate Alicia. Heather administered some medicine to help with any pain. With the healer’s help, they cut Alicia’s filthy clothes off and gave her a sponge bath right there on the bed. He didn’t give a fuck if it ruined his mattress. Not one fuck.
She still never moved, never came awake. As the hours passed, he started to think bad thoughts. Like what if she never woke up again? What if something really bad had happened to her brain?
He had to force himself to push those thoughts away. Alicia didn’t need his negativity right now, only his love.
After Heather left, Alicia was clean smelling and taped up, wrapped up, and medicated. He curled onto the bed with her and held her gently. Tears filled his eyes and he said a little prayer that he’d gotten her back.
“I love you, sweetheart. I love you.”
CHAPTER 25
It was two days after the attack on Gavin’s mate. Two days which rocked the whole pack almost as much as the death of Emma and Anthony. Alicia Clarkson might not be Gavin’s official mate yet, but everyone knew it would happen. Their love was evident, the sacrifices real. They were true mates.
That’s how Hanna found herself at the Burly Bear getting drunk. She never had been a drinker. That’s why she came here to let Tish feed her delicious tasting drinks, because she never kept any alcohol at home. Tish didn’t ask questions either. She got it. She’d seen plenty of people whose lives were in the crapper. Bartenders had to be in line right next to therapists, because both their clients talked about the worst times of their lives.
Not Hanna though. She wouldn’t b
e talking about anything. Not even to Kaity. A part of her wanted to, really needed that advice on what to do about Tom, but since Alicia’s attack and with Will missing…well, it didn’t seem like a good time to bother anyone with her ‘problems’.
Hanna shook her head. It was all so wild to have it happen to you. Things like this didn’t happen in her family. From how it’s been painted so far, it looked like Will was off his rocker. Completely.
That alone was reason enough to drink fruity cocktails.
Alicia was healing up well. Gavin was in full-on alpha mode. Hart was tense, Jo was tense. Everyone was looking for Will. Marcus and Harry Graham were hungry for Gavin’s blood after Gavin beat the crap out of Harry. The parents of Emma and Anthony craved the murderer’s blood and answers to the senseless death of their children. Basically the whole pack was a mess.
Even her life was. Though at least in comparison, it didn’t look so bad.
She chuckled around her straw and slurped some goodness. Quite suddenly the air became stifling and a masculine scent reached her nose. Oh, that one smelled good. She sniffed, cocked her head to the side following that decadent aroma—then froze at what she saw. Alex stood at the door, his eyes on her, brow pinched low. He did not look happy.
“And he’s coming your way,” she muttered. Shoot, shoot, shoot. She quickly looked around as if she could command people to fill the empty bar stools on either side of her so he wouldn’t sit next to her. But the place was empty because it was noon on a weekday.
He filled the barstool to her right, his elbows leaning on the bar as he ordered a beer.
Just like in the car that day he pulled her over, she kept silent with her eyes trained forward. Maybe if she just pretended he wasn’t there…
“Hanna, what the hell’s going’ on?” he snapped.
Her eyes flew to his, wide and a bit scared. Darn, he looked handsome. He always looked good. He smelled of sawdust like he’d been working. His hair looked windblown, clothes worn and fitting him so well. He wore a faded, baggy T-shirt of some band she didn’t recognize, and carpenter’s pants paired with steel-toe work boots.
“Um, nothing. I mean, what are you talking about? The Alicia thing or the Will thing?”
