by Dianna Love
Hawk flew down and banked to the right, then soared back up.
Vic waved. “I’m guessing Hawk didn’t find anything either or he’d have stopped and shifted.
Adrian could speak mind-to-mind with any Gallize shifter while they were in animal form, but none of them could communicate with Hawk telepathically in any form. He wasn’t Gallize.
When Adrian reached where they’d parked the truck Vic and Hawk had ridden in, Hawk had shifted and dressed. With everyone loaded up, Vic followed Adrian.
It took seventeen minutes to reach Daisy’s kidnap point.
Adrian kept checking his watch. He had no idea when he’d find Jaz, but every second ticked away, tearing him up with the wait.
Adrian recalled Jaz’s description of the location along the highway where she’d intended to meet up with Daisy. When he passed the spot, he pulled off on the side of the road where two vehicles could park.
He hurried to Vic and Hawk’s truck, telling them, “Let me do a quick look at a place we passed. Shouldn’t take me long to determine if this sheds any useful information.”
“I’ll turn around to watch. Call us if you go out of sight and something comes up.”
“Copy that.”
Scooting across the empty road took no effort with so little traffic moving through this area. Even so, the woods were thin. A parked vehicle would stand out. That’s why he hadn’t wanted to park close to the spot.
He stepped off the road on the other side and started tracking. Lots of scents from people and animals, but then he’d go through a stretch with only a few scents. He’d walked six or seven hundred yards when he recognized a faint smell.
Dropping down on his knees he inhaled deeply.
Red’s voice piped up. Walk into woods.
Adrian stilled. He didn’t say a word, but turned toward the woods. As he moved forward, the scent became stronger until he found a spot where he detected a female shifter had been.
Wolf shifter.
What confirmed this location for him was when he and Red recognized the scent they were both hunting.
Red said, Mate. Not here.
Agreeing that Jaz had once been here, Adrian tracked the scent back to where her smell covered a small area.
His hair stood.
The other smell, a male wolf shifter, mixed with hers in a violent mash.
Blood had dried on surrounding weeds and saplings.
That had to be Kaiser’s blood. Adrian’s pulse raced at a realization. Kaiser’s scent matched the one Adrian had found at the last location. Kaiser had not just been trying to drag Daisy off for himself. He’d committed this crime before.
He’d been kidnapping female shifters.
Backing away from the property, Adrian kept watching, because the last person he wanted to face right now was Tanza.
No way did he want to answer her questions when she would not believe his answers.
When he reached the trucks, he told Vic, “I have a lead. Give me a minute to call a resource and I’ll tell you if it’s any good or not.”
“Do it.”
Adrian called Scarlett. When she answered, he hit her with what she could do. “I need information. I found something that will possibly take care of what the Guardian wants and help me track down evidence to help Jaz.”
“What do you need?”
“Can you access traffic cams and pull up phone records like yesterday?”
“Yes. Give me specifics.”
Adrian had a tiny hesitation at exposing Kaiser, but the Leonard he knew had always been black and white about doing the right thing. He’d once told Adrian, “We’re all shifters, but we aren’t all good or all bad. I will protect the innocent no matter who threatens them.”
Decision made, Adrian gave Scarlett everything she needed to get busy.
Chapter 23
Adrian marveled at how the shifter kidnapping females, who might be the infamous Blood King, had chosen a perfect place near a small town filled with humans. The entrance to his property looked like a celebrity’s home.
Very little traffic traveled the road leading to the Blood King’s home on a Saturday. In this quiet area, Adrian bet the traffic never got any busier.
People around here might speculate about who lived here, but they wouldn’t bother a wealthy resident. Who would say a word if the reclusive owner paid a chunk of taxes and donated to anything the town needed?
When Scarlett scoured traffic cams in the areas where the women had gone missing, she fingered what everyone else had missed. Two mommy vans had pulled up at the spot where Adrian had found Kaiser’s scent. A women with a small child got out of one and another woman got out of the other.
Nothing unusual about either one, until Scarlett realized how tall they were and how their mannerisms seemed exaggerated, such as laughing a lot. But they’d kept their arms crossed.
She zoomed in to catch a side view of one sporting an Adam’s apple. Then one gave an obvious look at her watch, said something, and they left.
The second clue had been realizing how dark the windows were tinted and how this happened the day the female shifter had last been seen in that area. She grabbed the tag and followed that to where the vehicle had been seen refueling.
Adrian had passed the local gas station where the van fueled up two to three times a month. When he told the owner he was on his way to help his sister with her van, then described her and the van, the man pointed down this road. Adrian and his team had found a place to pull into the woods and start tracking both sides of the road heading in that direction.
As they had neared the entrance to this property, Adrian had started picking up wolf shifter scents. Probably perimeter security. He quickly crossed the road and joined Vic, then moved them back far enough to observe the wrought iron gates, but to not be easily seen.
Hawk should be back by now. He’d gone to do recon from the air. Vic carried Hawk’s clothes and tactical vest in his backpack.
Flying low over the treetops, his winged teammate spotted the flashing light Adrian had pointed straight up. Hawk swooped in to land quietly. He shifted.
Vic tossed him cargo pants, dark green shirt, boots, and a tactical vest.
Hawk liked his clothes and equipment even if he didn’t get to wear them long, since sending him airborne provided more support.
Reporting as he dressed, he said, “The place looks understated even though they have a long fancy entrance. I had to fly through the openings in the trees and land to watch. That’s what took so long. They have thick cover, which shields them from overhead eyes.”
Adrian’s palms sweated. This had to be connected to Jaz. She’d been there when Daisy was grabbed. She’d been there when Thea was almost taken, but those had been jackals.
Still, they could be profiteers looking to sell to this group. He asked, “Did you see any women?”
Bouncing his head up and down, Hawk said, “Hell, yeah. They had a bunch of them chained to trees. You’re not going to believe what I saw.”
“What?” Adrian hoped it wasn’t a golden pelt.
“They have the freaking Golden Kodiak wolf. She fits the human description right down to the scar. Wonder what kind of bennies we’ll get with SCIS for turning her in.”
Out of his mind from worrying about Jaz, Adrian ordered, “No one is touching her or handing her to SCIS!”
Vic and Hawk ceased all motion, staring at Adrian.
No way out of this but with the truth. Adrian said, “She didn’t murder anyone. I have proof, or I intend to have something tangible by the time I face the Guardian.”
Hawk’s intense gaze clouded with worry. “You just got your freedom back, Adrian. We can tell how much it means to the boss that he doesn’t have to ... lose you. I don’t understand this and doubt he will.”
Adrian cut his eyes to Vic who stood with arms crossed and a grim expression. They didn’t understand. He couldn’t walk away from Jaz even if he had to face lethal consequences.
&
nbsp; Trying to convert his teammates into Team Jaz first, Adrian said, “I think once the Guardian hears all the evidence, he’ll understand why I’m protecting her until she has a chance to give her side. She killed the wolf shifter out of self-defense. He attacked her first when she caught him trying to drag a female shifter away.”
Relaxing his stance, Vic asked, “I heard the kill was in this area. Did that happen at the last place we went where you tracked alone?”
“Yes. I wanted to see the spot for myself. What I didn’t expect after smelling Kaiser’s scent where they fought was for his scent to match the suspicious wolf shifter residual scent at the last kidnap location. I need to get to the bottom of this and shoving her in a SCIS pit won’t solve it.” Adrian could see Vic’s wall of belief in her being a murderer cracking.
Still not sold, Hawk asked, “How do you know this woman, Adrian?”
“It’s a long story I’ll be happy to share, but I found her because I was tracking her at the request of Kaiser’s sister. I knew her other brother overseas. He was my best friend.”
“Leonard?” Hawk frowned.
“Yep. I felt I owed it to him to help Tanza when she called asking me to find Jaz.”
“Jaz?” Vic prodded.
Scratching the back of his head, Adrian muttered, “Hell, here’s all of it.” Then he explained how he’d met Jaz once before during a battle with shifters where she covered his six. He would not share that she knew Scarlett and drag anyone else into his mess. Then he caught them up from her saving a woman in Clarenceville all the way to where he stood in front of them.
“The only other thing you need to know,” Adrian continued, “Is that she’s my mate. Or will be if I can save her.”
That dropped both jaws.
Taking in the men Adrian respected and would not put in a difficult position, he made it simple. “If you don’t agree with what I’m doing to extract Jaz out of there, you’re welcome to leave. I only ask that you don’t contact the Guardian for at least an hour. I need that much time just to find a way in without getting caught.” If he had to do this alone, he stood a huge chance of being captured.
Hawk shoved his hands on his hips, clearly pissed. “You think I’m going to walk away now? Hell, no, asshole. I came to do this and, on the chance that she’s your mate, none of us would walk away from that. Once we have her free, it’s up to you and the Guardian at that point. Agreed?” Hawk finished and shoved a questioning look at Vic.
The wolf angled his head at Hawk. “Ditto, bitch.” He glared at Adrian. “You’re not kicking us out now. I have to see this woman. I’m just glad to know there are still mates for us out there.”
“Speak for yourself,” Hawk muttered.
Talk about being humbled by his Gallize brothers. “Thank you,” Adrian said with deep sincerity. “There have to be more for all of us. If I survive this, I’ll do all in my power to see that you find your mate. That includes you, bird boy.”
Hawk smiled, but shook his head. “Let’s start planning.” His face altered to serious. “I didn’t finish telling you what I found out.” The hawk shifter spelled out details of the home and surrounding areas, including one place they had a chance to breach.
Adrian felt his body revving up for a battle. “I’ll go with your advice on insertion. We can’t kill any shifter that gets in our way. If they’re bonded to the alpha, Blood King, whatever, that could expose us.”
“Copy that.” Vic had already started checking what weapons he had inside and on his vest.
“One more thing,” Hawk brought up. “The guards were talking about how their boss said your woman was too dominant to be kept.”
“Damn right.” Pride rolled through Adrian’s words.
“They also said she had to fight another shifter tonight to entertain their boss,” Hawk added. “After that, she’d be shipped off to the Black River pack.”
Adrian loved hearing Jaz called his woman. A sign his teammates believed him.
As for tonight, he didn’t need one more reason to fight panic over Jaz getting out of there alive, but Hawk had given him more than he could have gotten on his own.
Adrian said, “We’ll get in place before dark, then I insert. If they force her to fight another shifter, she’s powerful enough to hold her own, but I want her out before that.”
“We have to get her out before that,” Hawk clarified.
Vic and Adrian paused in getting prepared. “Why?”
“The guards were laying bets on if she could shift with the titanium they were ordered to shove in her back.”
Chapter 24
Adrian gritted his teeth and shouted internally at Red. Stop it. You’re gonna cost Jaz her life! His wolf had been rampaging since hearing about Jaz with a titanium spike in her back.
No one got to waste a second if Adrian couldn’t afford to lose time on a meltdown, not even his wolf. Red almost shoved out while Adrian stood with the guys.
Their faces had held the fear of going into a mission with a wolf shifter who couldn’t control his animal. Adrian had drawn on his energy and stubborn will to keep Red in place.
Moving through woods now on the back side of the property, which kept him in a downwind position, Adrian had seventy yards to reach the spot he’d insert from. Hopefully, he’d get a look at where Jaz had been chained to a tree, based on what Hawk had told him.
While he took careful steps and watched everywhere to avoid making a sound, his wolf continued to pound his insides.
Red’s voice dropped into that demonic sound. Find golden wolf and save! Now!
Squeezing his eyes shut for a second to stay calm, Adrian returned to watching his surroundings and quietly replied, I am trying to save both of them. Jaz’s wolf has a name. Tarski. You say Tarski is your mate, well Jaz is mine if we ever get the chance to make that choice. She’s the reason I’m doing all I can to heal us. If you want Tarski as bad as I want Jaz, why aren’t you helping me? Do you think either of us ends up with a mate if the other doesn’t succeed?
Red pulled his withdrawing act again.
Hell, no. Adrian pushed his wolf again. Well, do you care enough about saving Tarski to do more than whine?
Shut up!
Oh, that’s great, Red. Yelling at me is not helping either. I’ve tried everything I can think of to reach you. What have you done? Adrian allowed a pause of silence and said, I need your help. I love Jaz and Tarski. I want to save them both. We are not worthy of them if we can’t mend this divide and heal. We will have more nightmares. It’s not going away any time soon, but if Jaz and Tarski are willing to help us we have to show we’re ready to save each other. Don’t you want that?
Adrian expected Red’s presence to drop out of sight again, but his wolf spoke in a halting, yet normal tone. Want mate. Want life. Tired.
That stopped Adrian in his tracks.
His wolf was not saying he needed to rest. Red admitted he was tired of fighting.
Emotion bottled up in Adrian’s throat. He pushed past it and said, I don’t like fighting either. Not with someone I care for as much as I do you.
Red came right back with anger. Human your best friend.
Not anger, but ... hurt.
Ah, shit. Had he wounded his wolf by constantly saying he’d lost his best friend when Leonard died? Adrian swallowed down bile at thinking about how often he’d said just that.
His chest hurt.
He had to fix this right fucking now. I was wrong, Red. Leonard was very important to me and he was my best friend. But a best friend is not someone who shares my body and my soul. You are more than a best friend or brother. I don’t have a simple word for how much you mean to me. I love Jaz and her wolf. I’m sorry I failed to explain this when I mourned Leonard. That was a difficult loss, but I never wanted to give up on life when he died. Not until I lost you. I want you and I to share a life with Jaz and Tarski, but I have no life without you. You were, and will always be, that important to me.
Continuing to e
ase through the forest, Adrian left Red alone to think on that. He had screwed up worse than he’d thought with his wolf.
Only time would tell if they had a chance to save their bond.
As soon as he got in position, Adrian sent one click no one near him would hear.
He and the guys had come up with a gutsy plan. Vic and Hawk would create a distraction one minute after that click. Vic started telling Hawk what he wanted to do, which sounded questionable, but Adrian had to let them do their part.
Hawk had pulled a hand grenade off his vest before shedding clothes. He handed it to Vic. “When you signal me, I’ll fly down to get this. Pull the pin and hold it up in the palm of your hand.”
Vic’s face rearranged to appalled. “What if you fail to pick it up in time?”
“I won’t miss.” Hawk dug through his vest as if inventorying everything.
Still staring at Hawk as if the guy might have landed on his head a few times, Vic argued, “You have to fly down, pick up a live hand grenade, fly back up and over the target, then drop it and get away before detonation.”
Not pausing in checking every little thing on his vest, Hawk muttered, “Copy that.”
A muscle twitched in Vic’s jaw. “What if you can’t do all that in time?”
Sighing, Hawk’s reply came back full of confidence. “I can. I’m going along with the crazy shit you want to do. This is my crazy shit.”
Adrian hoped they both survived each other’s crazy shit.
He could not look at himself in the mirror again if anything happened to either of them that couldn’t be healed. That would be nothing compared to facing the Guardian.
An explosion near the entrance boomed on the sixty-second mark.
Up and moving low to the ground, Adrian hurried to a line of small buildings behind Jaz’s tree. He could see her chin lift, alert, but quiet.
Guards raced around, some shouting orders and others following. They left a solo guard to watch Jaz.
She started talking to him.
Good woman to draw his attention.
