Natalie walked across the parking lot to her car. She felt numb. She wasn’t sure what to think. Vince hadn’t come back. He hadn’t called. The only communication she had was a note telling her Brandi needed him. Natalie mulled it all over in her mind as she drove to work. Her insecurities told her that he’d gone back to Brandi because she’d needed him — that he wouldn’t ever be back.
But her common sense told her that all he’d said to her, all they’d shared, meant as much to him as it did to her. That he would be back and she just needed to stay strong until she heard from him again. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Then her psyche would sneer at her ridiculous ideology and tell her stop being a fool.
“Just do what you have to, girl. All that’s supposed to happen will,” she said aloud, coaching herself as she turned the ignition in her car and backed out of the parking spot.
Natalie was sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to turn green when her phone started ringing. Her heart pounded as she shoved her hand into her purse to retrieve her phone, but couldn’t find it. Natalie grabbed her purse and turned it upside down, emptying it on the seat next to her. She grabbed the phone and swiped the green button to accept the call. “Hello?!” she shouted breathlessly into the phone, her heart pounding in her ears.
“Natalie?”
Disappointment suffused her. “Yes. This is Natalie.”
“I am Delilah Sanders. Are you well?” Delilah really wanted to know. She’d heard the hope in Natalie’s voice and the crushing disappointment when she’d realized that Delilah was not the person she expected on the other end of the line.
Natalie closed her eyes and took a deep breath to get her emotions under control. “I’m fine, Delilah. How are you? I’m so sorry I missed your party. I’d already left for the South Shore by the time I received the invitation.”
“It is not a big thing. I’m more interested in who you hoped to be calling you.”
“I’m sorry?” Natalie asked.
“Who did you expect to be calling? Why are you disappointed?” Delilah pressed.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m glad it was you. Are you and Barron well?”
“Yes, we are very well. Were you hoping for Vince’s voice to greet you?”
Natalie paused before answering. She had no one to talk to about this. And her emotions were eating her alive. “Yes. I was hoping it was Vince. But I really am glad it was you.”
“Is Vince not there with you? He advised his employees that he’d be out of town for a little while. We assumed he went after you.”
“He did. But he’s gone now,” Natalie said, looking up into the rear view mirror as horns started blaring as she sat through the green light that had just turned red again.
“What do you mean he’s gone?” Delilah asked.
“He dropped me off at work yesterday morning. Said he’d be waiting for me at the suite in the hotel he rented for us. When I got there yesterday evening, he wasn’t there. He didn’t come back all night, and when I woke this morning, I was still alone.”
“No phone call? Nothing?” Delilah asked, beginning to get concerned.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with it.”
“It does matter. You are clearly upset. Tell me,” Delilah pressed.
The light turned green again, and Natalie drove on, taking the left turn that would lead her back to the hospital.
“He left a note for me. I didn’t know what to make of it, so I decided to stay positive. I ordered us dinner and settled in to wait for him to come back. But he didn’t. And now I feel like a fool because I believed everything he said to me. And then I feel guilty because I’m second guessing him. I don’t know what to think,” Natalie said, very clearly having an inner war of emotions.
“What did the note say?”
Natalie huffed. “It said, ‘Brandi needs me. I’m sorry.’”
Delilah rumbled. “That’s it?!”
“Yes.”
“And he hasn’t phoned you, texted you, nothing?”
“No. But it doesn't matter. I should have known better than to believe everything he said. It was all so easy to believe. I wanted it all as badly as he said he did. So really, if he’s really left me, I can’t even place blame on him. I shouldn’t have given in so easily. I just wanted him so badly. I’ve never felt anything like the pull to him that I felt.” Natalie took a minute to take a shaky deep breath. “I didn’t even mind the bite,” she admitted on a whisper.
“He bit you?” Delilah asked, her voice beginning to convey a little of the alarm she’d started to feel.
There was a hesitance before Natalie answered. “Yes. And I bit him. And we promised things. And I believed him.”
“As well you should have. He’s claimed you. You are bonded, mated to him.”
“Then where is he? He left me here with not even a phone call and went to Brandi. If he’s so committed, then why hasn’t he called to explain?”
“I do not know, but I will find out. Trust in him. I know it’s hard, especially considering the circumstances. But Vincent is a good male. He would not have claimed you if he didn't plan to remain at your side. He spoke to Kaid before he went to look for you. He was very clear that he wanted a family with you. He said he wants forever with you if you will have him.”
“He said that?” Natalie asked, pulling her car into the employee lot and turning off the engine.
“He did. Where are you?” Delilah asked.
“I’m at work at Touro Infirmary. I just pulled into the parking lot.”
“I will phone you back when I find out what is happening. Do not lose faith, Natalie. Vince spoke the truth to you. Something has happened to call him away. I will be in touch shortly.”
“Thank you, Delilah,” Natalie rushed out, before the line went dead.
Natalie looked at the phone in her hand. She took a deep breath, steeled herself against the day she’d have to get through before she could check her phone again for any messages from Delilah, or even Vince.
Natalie grabbed her purse and her overnight bag, locked her car and went into the hospital, making a detour to the cafeteria for a large coffee. She was a little early and had a few minutes before she had to report for duty. She sat down at a corner table in the cafeteria and sipped her coffee while she pulled up the phone number Delilah had called from and saved it as a contact in her phone. She realized then that she didn’t have Vince’s number, and he didn’t have hers. There was no way for him to call her.
“Damn!” she whispered, though it did give her a sense of relief. He couldn’t have called her if he’d wanted to.
“Problems in paradise?” a snotty voice snarked.
Natalie looked up to find Dr. Fuches standing beside her table.
“Not at all.”
“There will be, and don’t come running to me when it goes to shit. This ship has sailed,” Dr. Fuches said condescendingly.
“Thank god for small miracles,” Natalie said exaggeratedly. Then her phone began to ring.
Dr. Fuches opened his mouth to respond, but Natalie jumped to her feet, gathering her things and grabbing her coffee while she looked down at her phone. “I don’t have time for your pettiness. Excuse me,” she rushed out as she hurried past him, while swiping the green arrow on her phone to accept the call.
“Hello?” she asked hopefully.
“Is this Natalie?” a female voice asked.
“Yes, and this is?” Natalie replied.
“This is Valerie. I’m Vince’s sister. I met you when Delilah had Barron last week.”
“Valerie, yes, I remember. What can I do for you?” Natalie asked, concerned because Vince’s sister was calling her. “Have you heard from Vince? Is he okay?”
“No, I haven’t heard from him for a couple of days. But Delilah called me to see if I had. She told me about what’s going on, and the fact that you’re all tied up in knots not knowing what to believe. I asked for your number, I hope you don’t mind,” Valerie said
.
“No, not at all,” Natalie answered.
“I just wanted to tell you that he called me after he found you. He said that he’d found his One — you. He was thrilled. And he said he’d be there as long as it took. Delilah told me you weren’t sure what to believe. I get that. It’s a lot for someone that’s not like us to accept at face value, especially when it happens so fast. So I wanted to call and tell you that though I don’t know every word he said to you, I know well the emotions behind those words, and I can promise you they were real. Don’t doubt him. Something happened to call him away. We’re working on trying to get in contact with him now. We’ll let you know when we do, but I’m sure he’ll call you as soon as he can.”
Natalie’s smile was huge. “Thank you, Valerie. Thank you so much for calling to reassure me.”
“You’re very welcome. If it’s okay with you, I’m going to give your number to the rest of the clan. That way, no matter which of us hears from him first, we can get in touch with you. And you need to know something else, too. He claimed you. He marked you. That makes you family. You call us, with any little thing, you call us, we have your back.”
Natalie was practically hugging the phone to her ear. “Thank you, Valerie.”
“You’re welcome. Now, just hang on until you hear from him or one of us, and we’ll figure out what the hell is going on together.”
“It’ll be one of ya’ll,” Natalie said.
“What do you mean?” Valerie asked, confused.
“He doesn’t have my number. And I don’t have his!” Natalie exclaimed.
“You’re kidding?”
“No. Somehow we skipped right over that part. I guess it didn’t even occur to us there was so much going on between us,” Natalie explained.
“Well, we can fix that now. Soon as I hang up, I’m texting you his number. Call him, give him yours. And I’m calling him, too. Kaid is on the phone trying to reach him. And Bam is trying to reach some of his employees at the bar to see if they know anything.”
“Thank you, Valerie. I appreciate it so much.”
“Hang in there. We’ll figure it out.”
“I will. I’m sorry for seeming so wishy-washy. It’s just so new and it all happened so fast…”
“I get it. It’s okay. And Natalie?”
“Yes?”
“Welcome to the family.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You’ll hear from us soon.”
Natalie disconnected the call and took a deep breath. She felt better now about the entire situation. Her phone buzzed, and she looked down at it. True to her word, Valerie had texted her Vince’s phone number. She quickly saved Vince's number in her phone and Valerie’s too.
She looked up at the huge clock mounted above the wide doorway leading into and out of the cafeteria. She only had a few moments to get upstairs and clocked in. She pulled up Vince’s number and pressed the phone icon to place the call as she hurried to the elevators to get upstairs before she was late.
She frowned when the call didn’t even ring. It went straight to voice mail. Either he’d turned the phone off, or it had died and needed to be recharged. But it was okay. Either way, she had a renewed faith in him — in them.
Chapter 21
Vince wove his way through the downtown streets of New Orleans as quickly as he could to avoid the highest traffic areas until he could jump on the I-10 headed west. If Brandi was in Baton Rouge, she was only about an hour away. If he drove fast enough, there was a very good chance he could catch her. When he did, her husband would pay for putting his hands on her. He snarled again and shifted into low gear as he flew up the entrance ramp and onto the I-10.
He drove his truck like he’d never driven it before — he never dropped below 90 miles an hour and didn’t even bother to scan the interstate for policemen. He had one thought and one thought only. Find her, before her husband could get her too far from him, and he couldn’t help her.
A little less than an hour later, Vince was reaching the city limits of Baton Rouge. He slowed a bit and started looking at the cars he passed, scanning for a black 2019 Jaguar with blacked out windows. It shouldn’t be that hard to find. He called on his Lion to stay alert and on the lookout for the vehicle that Brandi described. Then he slowed down even more, to a more acceptable speed and made his way through Baton Rouge, confident he’d not passed the Jaguar. As soon as he was on the other side of Baton Rouge and out of the city limits, he pressed on the accelerator again, picking up speed in an effort to catch up to the vehicle that was carrying Brandi away against her will. He drove into the night, slowing only when he needed to go through a city with lower speed limits; otherwise, he never dropped below 90.
At some point Vince realized he needed to call Natalie. He reached for his phone and swiped it to wake it up. But it didn’t respond. He glanced down at his phone and pressed the power button, but all it did was cycle on and off again. He leaned over and popped open the glove box swiping his hand inside for his charger, but it wasn’t there. “Son of a bitch!” he cursed, remembering taking it inside the hotel suite he’d rented for himself and Natalie. He’d been so enraged that he’d not even thought to take it with him when he left the suite to come after Brandi. Vince thought of the short, blunt note he’d left for Natalie. He shook his head. “I’m a stupid fuck,” he mumbled.
Mate understand, his Lion thought at him.
I hope you’re right, he answered. I should have done better.
He got no response from Lion, and on he drove into the night, slowing to better look at each dark-colored vehicle they passed.
Shortly before dawn, with the sky still dark and filled with stars, he began to see the brake lights of a vehicle parked on the side of the road. The car didn’t have its flashers on, and he could just barely see the lights it was so far up ahead. He changed lanes into the right lane and slowed down so that he could get a better look as they went past. They were almost on the vehicle when his Lion sat up and roared. He’d realized this was the vehicle they were looking for.
Vince slammed on his brakes, but he was going too fast. He had to go past it and pull off the road in front of it. As they went past, he glimpsed a woman, Brandi he presumed, turned sideways in the passenger-side seat kicking with all she had at the driver of the vehicle who was trying in vain to fend off her blows. The man was punching at her as she kicked with all she had.
Vince jumped from his truck and ran as fast as he could toward the vehicle. He grasped the door handle and tried to tear the door open, but it was locked. Vince snarled and pulled back his fist, prepared to punch through the glass and get Brandi away from the fuckhead that had taken her. But he never got the chance.
It all happened so fast. Her husband reached below his seat and turned to face Vince. Brandi screamed and tried to lunge for her husband’s arm. A bright light lit up the inside of the car, and a loud bang rang Vince’s ears. Vince’s shoulder was suddenly on fire, and he was knocked back several steps. Lion snarled and roared his outrage.
But the man had left himself vulnerable. When he’d shot Vince, he’d shattered the glass in the window, giving a very pissed-off Lion shifter easy access to himself. Vince roared again and advanced on the vehicle. He reached through the window and pulled the man out. The man was crying and screaming, whimpering like a child, as Vince raised him above his head by the throat and bellowed in his face.
The man was near hysterical, his entire body trembling as he raised the gun again and pointed it at Vince’s face. Vince didn’t even think — Lion took over. In one single motion, Vince was gone, and an eight-hundred pound Lion stood in his place, ripping the man apart. Once it was apparent he was dead, Lion dropped him and allowed Vince to take over again.
Vince looked down at the torn, bloodied body, then at Brandi where she sat leaning as far toward him as she could while still being handcuffed to the door.
“You alright?” he asked in a very raw, growly voice.
&nb
sp; Brandi nodded, tears in her eyes. “Yes. But he shot you, you’re bleeding, Vince. A lot!”
“I’m fine. I’m coming around to get you out.” Vince walked around the vehicle and tried to open the door, but the car was still locked. He knocked lightly on the window to let Brandi know to unlock the door. She fumbled with the controls on the door a few times before getting the right one; then Vince heard the click of the locks as they disengaged. He opened the door carefully, knowing her wrist was handcuffed to it.
Vince knelt down beside the car and ran his hands over the edges of the door until he finally managed to loosen it from its fasteners. Then he removed the decorative door panel from the door itself. He grasped the armrest she was handcuffed to and squeezed it until it came apart in his hands. Then he stood and waited for Brandi to exit the vehicle.
Brandi got out right away, wasting no time in getting to Vince. She threw herself at him and hugged him to her. Vince held her for a minute or two until she seemed to regain a little control.
Brandi looked up at him. “Hi.”
“Hi”
“You found me,” she said.
“Told you I was coming,” he said, smiling shakily at her.
“Is he…?” she asked.
Vince nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. He deserved it,” she said adamantly. Brandi raised her hand from where it was pressed against his chest. “Vince, you’re bleeding a lot. We have to get you to the hospital.”
Vince shook his head. “No. We have to take care of this first. Can you drive my truck?”
“Yes.”
“Follow me. Alright?”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she persisted.
“Just follow me, Brandi.”
“Alright, just worried about you.”
“The keys are in it, go ahead and get in. We’ll get going in a minute here.”
Brandi nodded her agreement and hurried to get in Vince’s truck. She watched as Vince picked up her dead estranged husband and stuffed him back in his car.
Her stomach turned a little as she watched, so she averted her eyes.
Vince's Place Page 20
