by Kelex
Turi stared at the strange sight as he took his seat.
Another scantily clad woman ambled over in shoes with heels so high she seemed almost unable to walk.
“Heya, sweetie. Frankie told me to come see what you wanted to eat.”
“What do you have?”
“Same old same old. Burgers. Dogs. Fries. We gotta pretty good cheesesteak. You look like a cheesesteak kinda guy.”
“Yeah, sure,” Turi said.
The woman brushed some of his wet hair out of his face. “We got some towels in back. I’ll bring you a few of those, too. Okay, pumpkin?”
He nodded, unused to female attention.
She smiled down at him before ambling off.
Turi scanned the place, looking for the man he’d arrived with. Frankie. He had introduced himself in the car, he thought, but couldn’t be sure. Maybe he’d introduced himself, too.
Warming up, he could concentrate a little better. He found Frankie in a booth not far away, talking to an older, portly man.
It wasn’t easy to hear with all the music and the catcalls from the men, but he was able to use his shifter hearing to pick up a few pieces of the conversation. The music ended for a moment, and he was able to zero in
“… dead. He saved my ass. Man, you should’ve seen this dude fight. Strong as an ox… took a bullet like it was a tap on the shoulder. I’m assuming it just buzzed him, though.”
“I need some strength if I’m going to deal with that bastard down the street,” the guy’s boss said. “When he’s done eating, send him over. Let me take a look…”
The music started back up, and another woman was on stage.
His waitress came over with a couple of towels and a broad smile.
“Thanks,” he said, taking them.
“Don’t mention it,” she said, smiling.
Not long after, she left and came back with his food. “A cheesesteak, double order of fries, and a pop. Or I can get you something else to drink? I forgot to ask.”
“This is fine,” he murmured, his stomach clenching in hunger. He began to devour the sub, moaning at the taste. As hungry as he was, anything would’ve tasted divine.
Before he was finished inhaling his food, Frankie came over and sat across from him. “Good news, Terry—the boss wants to meet you.”
Terry? Turi didn’t correct him. No reason to. It didn’t really matter. He went on eating, shoving the food in his mouth.
“Been a while, eh?” Frankie asked.
Turi nodded.
“Play your cards right and you won’t need to go hungry again.”
Turi sighed, unsure what they were going to ask of him. He didn’t really care. He’d gotten a meal out of it.
“You’re not on drugs, are ya? I know I asked before, but you just sorta mumbled.”
Yes and no. “Nope,” Turi answered between bites.
“Good.”
After he was finished eating, Frankie escorted him to meet the boss. He was hired as protection—whatever the hell that was. Frankie then took him to a hotel down the street, got him a room, and told him to shit, shower, and shave.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at eight, sharp. Got it?”
Turi nodded before he closed the door.
And he was alone.
He turned to look around the room. It wasn’t as nice as the last room he’d had, but it would do. He could sleep on a bed instead of the ground. Be warm. Get a shower. He lowered his bag to the floor so he could pull out some wet clothes to dry for the morning.
And that’s when he found the hole in the bag.
Panic hit him as he heard the shattering of glass. He sorted through and got to the towel he had wrapped around the vials to see they were all shattered.
All but one.
The one almost empty.
He might have one dose left.
Turi crumpled to his knees.
“Fuck.”
* * * *
Across the city…
Lane went through the closet, tossing some items into the donate pile, others into his suitcase. There was no point in taking as much back with them to Bear Mountain, especially considering he likely wouldn’t need three-piece suits in the valley. He wouldn’t get rid of them all, but there was no point in keeping every one when they could easily help someone else in need.
He sorted through the last of his suits and moved on to his ties. When he came to one that was almost the exact shade of blue as Turi’s eyes, he paused, his chest clenching.
Lane ran his fingers over the silk, hating that it hurt this godsdamned bad.
Nearly a month and there was no word.
He and Kai had been searching for weeks—but kept coming up empty. The only thing they could do was hope and pray Turi would come back to them.
But hopefully not during the few days they came back to pack up their shit and move out of their apartment.
Lane heard a pop sound in his mind, and an intense feeling of panic hit him. It hit so hard that he backed up against the closet door, gasping for air. Kai came rushing into the closet seconds later, his eyes wide.
“Could he be?” Kai asked.
“Where would we even begin to look?” Lane asked.
“No idea… but we can ride around. See if we feel anything else.”
Lane followed Kai down to the parking garage and climbed into their SUV. Moments later, they were out on the rainy, clogged Chicago streets, searching for a needle in a haystack.
Nothing else came.
Nothing.
And then a moment of dread hit. “Go south.”
“On it,” Kai said, switching lanes and making the turn.
They rode the city streets all night, into the gray light of morning.
And came home empty handed.
“Was it a figment of our imagination?” Kai asked, pinching his nose once they’d parked the SUV in the garage. “Hope gone wrong?”
“He’s here. I can feel it,” Lane said. Being this close was so damned frustrating. But without a direction… a feeling… they were just driving in circles. “I just hope nothing bad happens before we can figure out where.”
“I need sleep,” Kai murmured. “If it’s possible at this point.”
Lane nodded before they both climbed out of the vehicle, rode the elevator up, and crashed together in bed—sleeping fitfully into the later afternoon.
Chapter Nineteen
Later that evening…
Accompanied by his driver and his new right-hand man, Benny sidled into Gino’s new establishment, ready to check things out. A smile formed over his lips as soon as he walked in. What did he see but a woman shimmying her ass on the small stage. Cracking his knuckles, he moved over to Gino’s table.
I needed a good punching bag today.
Gino only grinned as Benny walked closer, making him narrow his eyes. What’s Gino got up his sleeves?
“Seems we have a failure to communicate,” Benny said, pointing to the woman on the stage. “What are we going to do about that?”
Gino glared at Benny. “It’s a free country, Benny. You can’t stop me. It’s a free market economy.”
“Oh?” Benny asked, anger rippling through him. Kai had said the same godsdamned thing to him, that son of a bastard. He looked over his shoulder at Keir and his hood, still pissed it wasn’t Kai at his right.
Just as he turned his head, he saw Gino waving over his guys.
One in particular caught his attention. A smile slowly spread over Benny’s lips.
Turi froze, eyeing Benny.
“Hey, handsome,” Benny said, a smile breaking out over his face. “How are ya?”
Gino looked between Benny and Turi, looking confused. “You know this man, Terry?”
“Terry?” Benny asked, chuckling. “Terry and I go way back. Terry here is another one who doesn’t follow directions well.” Benny turned to Turi. “They were supposed to come back to Chicago and you stay. Not the other way around.”
�
�I left. They’re free to do whatever they want,” Turi said. “I have no control over what they do now.”
“Well, they’re still in Bear Mountain, pining for you,” Benny said. “Maybe we need to give them a good reason to come home, eh?”
“What in the hell is going on here?” Gino asked.
Benny sighed before pulling out his gun and blowing a hole into the middle of Gino’s chest. Screams sounded all around, and the place turned into chaos. He then turned the gun on Turi and pulled the trigger again, hitting the guy square in the chest—missing his heart by inches.
Turi let out a deafening roar and lunged, but fell to his knees and collapsed.
Benny looked down at his nephew’s mate and chuckled.
“You’re coming with me, kid.”
* * * *
Kai felt the pain hit him right in the middle of his chest. Gasping for a breath, he went to his knees. After a few seconds, he could breathe again and was able to get to his feet.
“Kai!” Lane cried as he came racing into his room. “What the hell happened to him?”
“I don’t know. But I sense he’s in trouble.”
Before Kai could even make a coherent thought of what to do next, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He fished it out and saw it was Benny.
He was about to decline the call when instinct told him to answer it. “Hello?”
“I think you need to come to Chicago. As fast as you can drive.”
He met Lane’s stare. “What reason do we have to come to Chicago, Benny?”
“Something has happened to your mate.”
Eyes wide, he stared at Lane. Kai’s stomach clenched. He lowered the phone and hit speaker. “Where’s Turi?”
“Somebody shot him,” Benny said. “I’ve got him, but it don’t look too good. You need to hurry up and get here before it’s too late. I’ll do what I can. Patch him up as best as I can until you get here.”
“Who shot him?” Kai asked.
“Gino,” Benny answered. “Turi was apparently working for the guy as muscle. Not sure how that happened. I came in to take to Gino… your boy shifted for some reason and Gino shot him.”
Kai frowned. It didn’t make sense. “We’re on our way. Please take care of him, Benny.”
“Of course. You know… things went wrong a few weeks back. I said some things. You said some things. We’ve had some time to let the anger fade. We need to talk, son. Once you get here, we need to talk.”
“Yeah, sure,” he fibbed. Kai ended the call and felt like throwing up. Their uncle had their mate.
“Shot?”
“Benny sounded like he was on the road. He’ll likely be headed home. We need to get there as fast as possible He won’t be expecting us to already be in Chicago. We can sneak onto his property.”
Lane shook his head. “He has eyes and ears all over the city. He likely knows we’re here. We could be walking into a trap. I say we roll right up to the front door like nothing’s wrong.”
Kai considered Lane’s words. “Maybe… let me think things over as we go.” He fished their keys out from his pocket and tossed them to Lane. “You drive.”
They were in the SUV in minutes, out on the highway in a few more. By the time they pulled up to Benny’s gates, he’d decided Lane’s way was best. Sneaking in, if caught, could piss Benny off. Turi’s safety was their priority.
Lane hit the security panel.
No one answered.
Kai sensed a moment of panic. A roar in his mind. “Out. Climb the fence. He needs us!”
Both of them leapt from the car and scaled the metal gate, jumping from the top. By the time they hit the ground, they’d shifted into their bear forms. Racing across the manicured lawn, they ate up the ground and made it to the old mansion in a matter of seconds.
Inside, Kai heard a female scream.
He kicked into the next gear, barreled up the grand stairs outside, and slammed his big bear body into the double doors. They gave under the pressure, splintering as he shoved himself inside.
Two shifters lay dead in a pool of blood.
Aunt Mary and Uncle Jack were on the staircase, still in human form. Jack leveled a rifle at the huge beast in the middle of the huge foyer.
At his feet lay Benny, his guts ripped open and bleeding.
Jack fired the gun once, twice… and the creature didn’t move. He only roared and began racing up the stairs towards Jack and Mary.
“Turi!” Kai screamed after shifting back to his human form.
The beast paused. Sniffed the air. But he didn’t turn.
“Turi… we’re here!” Lane added at Kai’s side.
Turi looked over his shoulder, the eyes of his panther side narrowed on them.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” Kai said, taking a few tentative steps forward. “We’re here to take you home.”
Their omega turned, growling fiercely.
“Don’t you want to come home?” Lane asked, skirting the bloody scene and moving closer. “We want you to come with us, mate. Come home, baby.”
The cat-part of their beast hissed.
Kai refused to be intimidated. This was their mate. The man they were fated to be with. He wouldn’t harm them.
He wouldn’t.
Creeping ever closer, he looked down at a dying Benny.
“Save me,” Benny squeaked.
“What did you do to him?” Kai demanded.
“Nothing,” Benny moaned, before gurgling up blood.
Kai seriously doubted that. He’d bet everything he owned on something.
He turned his attention back on their omega, moving slowly as he crept closer. “Are you ready to come home?”
The creature growled low.
“We know what happened. We know about the babes,” Lane said from the other side of the bloody mess.
Kai looked to him, unsure that was the right tactic.
“We know about the babes, and we don’t care,” Lane added. “You’re ours, no matter what.”
The beast seemed to relax a little.
“We just want to take you home… where you can get better. You need that serum, right? We can get it for you. Make the voices stop,” Kai told Turi. “You just have to come back to us. Shift back to your human form.”
Turi’s massive paw swept out and nearly got him. Before Kai could back away, the beast leapt on him and slashed down his side.
He screamed in pain and felt his animal roar within. Able to squeeze out of the beast’s hold, an idea popped into his mind. Kai turned to Lane. “Keep him occupied!”
“What?” Lane screamed back, looking stunned. “Where are you going?”
“Trust me!”
Lane looked like he didn’t want to agree, but he nodded.
Kai raced to the left and crashed into Benny’s home office. He headed for the gun safe, but saw the computer. After logging in, he pulled up the house security cameras and logged into the service. He rewound it to the point he saw Turi being dragged into the house.
He had been shot, but there was no way to know who had done it.
After that, there were no cameras on the inside.
Kai deleted everything from just before they pulled in with Turi and then cut the feeds to the cameras for anything else. After that, he heard a loud roar and remembered why he’d come in.
He broke into his uncle’s gun safe and took out the only non-lethal weapon. An illegal, ultra-powerful stun gun. He hoped it would be enough to knock Turi on his ass—and give them the time they needed to get their omega somewhere safer.
As Kai raced back to the scene, he set the voltage as high as the thing would go. He slid into the foyer, aimed the stun gun, and he hit Turi with it.
Only—it had the opposite effect he expected.
Turi went wild.
Their omega leapt onto him, crushing him under the massive weight. He tried to shift, so he would have the strength he needed to push Turi off, but he couldn’t.
He couldn’t
move an inch and slowly felt his lungs burning as he suffocated.
“Turi!” Lane cried, rushing closer.
No, my love. Don’t get too close.
Lane got right up in Turi’s face and caressed the side of the beast’s face. “You’re killing your mate, Turi. You’re killing Kai.”
Turi lashed out, sending Lane sprawling with one swipe of his claws.
Kai gasped, trying to drag air in…
But it was no use.
The edges of his vision turned dark.
Just before he passed out.
* * * *
Lane gasped for air after his back hit the wall. Ignoring the pain, he shifted—and raced toward Turi. He had to save Kai.
Without harming Turi.
He barreled into their omega, knocking him off Kai. As Turi rolled, Lane grabbed Kai’s shoulder with his teeth—as carefully as he could—sliding him back.
Turi got back to his feet and charged them both.
Lane held his ground, his big, furred body above Kai’s prone one.
Turi stopped inches from him and roared.
Lane roared right back in his face and didn’t back down.
Their omega lifted a hand, ready to slam into him.
Lane stood there… refusing to lift a hand in response.
Turi’s clawed paw came swinging down…
And stopped inches from Lane’s still body.
The beast growled again, lowering his paw. And then Turi dropped to his knees, collapsing onto the marble floor.
Jack came racing down the stairs, rifle aimed at Turi once more.
Lane leapt between them, facing down Kai’s uncle.
When Jack readied to fire, Lane roared at him.
Kai rose to his hands and knees—still in human form. “Shoot him, Jack, and I’ll kill you where you stand.”
“He hurt Benny!”
“Benny probably hurt him first,” Kai murmured.
Jack looked to Kai and then back to Lane before lowering his weapon. “Get the fuck out of our house. And never come back.”
“With pleasure,” Kai said before struggling to his feet.