by Layla Nash
And Dodge would... He let himself out of the apartment as he tried to figure out why the fuck he got an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought about returning Persephone to the witch’s house and then walking away because she wasn’t his responsibility. His wolf damn well wanted her to be his responsibility, or at least wanted to find out more about her, smell her, see if her skin was as soft as he imagined.
He growled in irritation at himself. He was a grown wolf and wasn’t going to lose his mind over a girl. Even one who smelled as nice as Persephone and who had the finest ass he’d ever seen in his life.
He hadn’t reconciled the urge to protect her with the need to eventually distance himself from a vulnerable human by the time he made it to the animal sanctuary. It wasn’t fair to get humans mixed up in pack business, and even though she’d been thrown in the deep end, that didn’t mean she wanted to take a swim. It had been hell on his parents, mixing worlds like that, and it wasn’t something he’d wish on anyone. Ever.
Dodge had traveled in his wolf form, the miles disappearing under his paws. He didn’t want to deal with leaving a vehicle behind, as it would just invite questions, and the less attention on Persephone’s hopefully short-lived disappearance, the better. He changed back into his clothes and carefully re-hid the knives he always carried, ducking behind a set of massive cargo containers.
There wasn’t much advertising for the place and very little information available on the charity that seemed to be running it, which gave him an uneasy feeling in his guts. They had a lot of gear and equipment around, but not many people to staff the place. Most of them seemed to be sitting around doing nothing, while Persephone – looking adorable and annoyed and informal in cargo pants and a t-shirt – hauled around landscaping. He watched her but stayed out of sight as the other workers knocked off later in the afternoon. Dodge expected her to also throw in the towel, but she kept working with a single-minded determination that started as damn impressive but grew into rather worrisome.
He nearly jumped out to help her a couple of times, particularly when she banged her shin and muttered in pain. Each time, he questioned his sanity for continuing to just observe the girl instead of grabbing her and getting the fuck out of there. He kept getting text messages from Evershaw asking when he would return, but ignored them like he usually did.
His superior shifter hearing alerted him to the arrival of at least two SUVs or trucks, possibly more, and several males. Persephone remained unaware, focused on her work. Dodge wanted to immediately swoop her up and disappear, but hesitated as he glanced around. She was in a separate building and unlikely to run across the men unless they sought her out, and if they did... His wolf bristled. It was late and dark outside. There was no reason for anyone, particularly several large men, to show up out there unless they had a very specific reason.
If Persephone herself was their reason for arriving, those bastards were about to run into a buzzsaw called Dodge.
He eased out of his hiding spot to investigate the new arrivals. Three large SUVs with blacked out windows and armored doors. His hackles rose. Not good. The scent of blood and death lingered in the air and almost made him sneeze. Dodge stayed in his human form, since he figured guys like that wouldn’t hesitate to shoot a wolf but might wait a second before they shot a man.
Only a second, though.
He rethought that assessment the moment he caught sight of them: massive bruisers with tattoos, badly-fitted suits, sidearms, and fake Rolexes. Dodge’s upper lip curled in a silent snarl. If that hadn’t been enough to give them away as connected to organized crime, the three corpses they dragged out of the SUVs, wrapped in tarps, would have pushed it over the edge.
Dodge retreated, having seen enough, and went to retrieve Persephone. He needed to get her out of there fast. Those bruisers clearly weren’t aware that someone else was on the property. The moment they figured it out...
He shook his head and used all of his stealth to return to the massive building where she’d been throwing around trees and shrubs, and froze. Panic closed his throat. Where the fuck was she? He couldn’t breathe as the wolf wanted to immediately burst into his hunting form to track her down, but the man managed to hold onto sanity. She couldn’t have gone far. If the intruders found her, then he had half a dozen men to kill. Not a record by any means.
He found her as she moved toward the boxy building where the intruders had gone, and clenched his jaw against an immediate curse. The girl had no sense of self-preservation. Surely she had to realize that investigating mysterious people at night in a rural location – alone – was dangerous to her health? She’d run away when confronted with a witch and a wolf-man, so why the fuck did she feel obligated to sneak up on armed mobsters?
Dodge moved as quickly and calmly as he could, not wanting to startle or scare her, and found her pressed against a wall near an industrial kitchen. The sound of bone saws and heavy knives whacking into flesh made it clear someone was butchering... something. He winced and pushed down a hint of nausea. He’d seen a lot of nasty shit in his life, but somehow the thought of butchering some poor son a bitch to feed to wild animals... It was just a bit too much. Give him an honorable death and toss his body on the trash-pile if necessary, but don’t chop him into bits in a kitchen.
He knew the moment when Persephone realized what was going on, because she took in a wobbly breath and nearly fell backwards onto her ass. Every part of her started shaking and he caught the scent of her sweat. Panic. She was close to sheer panic. Hysteria. Screaming. Even the most cold-blooded men he’d worked with probably would have needed a second to compose themselves after witnessing what went on in the kitchen, so he didn’t blame her a bit. He just needed to make sure she didn’t give them away.
Dodge moved fast to cover her mouth and restrain her against him, so she wouldn’t scream or bolt, and told her to stay still. She went rigid with fear, the smell of it practically pouring from her. Dodge didn’t like that he contributed to her fear. There was enough of that already, but there wasn’t another choice. He started moving backward, keeping his attention on the doorway in case the mobsters reappeared to fetch the last body in their trucks.
His lips brushed her ear as he breathed, “This is the worst bit. Just a few seconds. Be brave for me, just a bit longer.”
She still dangled in his grip like a broken marionette – disjointed but still tense and unmoving. Her legs started to flail just a touch, like she meant to help him back up, which he appreciated. Dodge kissed her cheek absently but didn’t remove his hand from her mouth.
They retreated one soft step at a time. He strained to hear what the men were doing, but the saws and thwack-thwack of cleavers combined with jolly laughs helped to conceal whatever noise Dodge made. He tried not to be grateful that disposing of a body was a noisy business that required a great deal of concentration, but there it was. The small gift the universe threw his way.
He’d rather be lucky than good any day.
He started to breathe a little when they got to the door to outside. He hadn’t seen anyone else at the trucks but carefully checked the area for any lingering meatheads. When nothing else stirred – except for a distant roar from one of the animals – he dragged Persephone out into the open and hiked her up against his side so he could run.
Moisture on his hand almost distracted him before they reached her car. It was only when they could hunker down behind the engine block that he thought to investigate. Tears. She wept silently but intensely, and tremors had taken over her entire body. He swallowed guilt and a bit of grief for her, that she had to witness something so cruel. She should have been protected from something like that. A girl like her didn’t need to know that sometimes bodies got chopped up and fed to animals to get rid of them.
Hell, he didn’t like knowing it.
Dodge crouched in front of her as she leaned against the front tire. He didn’t remove his hand from her mouth but edged close, wanting to comfort her in the coo
l night air. “I need you to listen to me.”
Her eyes, still shining with tears, found him. His heart ached for her. God, what a mess. But he couldn’t afford to let her emotions distract him. He waited until she nodded before he went on, occasionally glancing over his shoulder to see whether the mobsters had moved. “Did they see you? Does anyone know you were working late?”
She blinked at him several times, then made a muffled noise. Dodge hesitated before uncovering her mouth, even though he needed to hear her answers. He cleared his throat and murmured, “Don’t scream, Persephone. Okay? Nod if you understand.”
She rolled her eyes in irritation, which he took as a good sign, but she nodded and waited as he slowly removed his hand. Dodge held his breath, just in case he had to tackle her if she started hollering.
The architect sniffled a little and wiped at her cheeks, trying to brush the tears away. “What’s going on? Who are those men? Why are you here? Were they really – really ch-ch-chopping up...”
Her tone went high and wobbly at the end and Dodge tensed, easing closer. “We can talk about it later. We have to get out of here fast. Does anyone else know you’re working late?”
“I d-don’t think so.” She shook her head and stared over his shoulder at the kitchen of horrors. “Geordie told me I had to move the delivery, so I did, but he said he had a meeting at four and wanted me gone by then. I didn’t realize...”
She took a shaky breath. Dodge nodded and carefully cracked the driver’s side door. “Okay. We can sort that out once we’re clear. You steer the car and I’ll push.”
He helped her up and into the car, but lunged to catch her hand when she went to automatically put the keys in the ignition. He took them away and shoved them into his pocket. “They’ll hear the car start. I’ll push it out of here and we’ll start it down the road.”
She nodded again but he wondered how much she actually processed. No doubt she was at the end of her rope. He met her gaze for a long moment, willing her to keep it together long enough for them to get clear, and crouched so he could squeeze her knee. The wolf wanted to climb in with her and curl up around her until she was safe and protected. But there wasn’t time for that.
Dodge kept his eyes on hers, relieved that she no longer cried. “You can do this. You’re very brave. I just need you to be brave ten more minutes and then I can take over. Look straight ahead, put it in neutral, keep the car on the road, and I’ll do the rest.”
Persephone stared at him, then managed to take a deep breath. “Okay.”
He squeezed her knee one more time, more for himself than to reassure her, and carefully shut the car door. He went to the back and dug in his boots, ready to push the car across the damn city if it meant keeping her safe.
Chapter 11
Percy
I almost peed myself when Dodge grabbed me in the kitchen. It would have served him right for sneaking up on me like that, but most of me was too relieved to have someone else there to deal with the awfulness of what those saws and cleavers...
I shuddered and dragged my attention back to what I was doing in that moment. He’d said I just had to be brave for ten more minutes. That was it. Focus on steering the car. I’d managed to get it into neutral and then he grunted and the car started moving. I looked back once to see him pushing the car, not even breaking a sweat, but his head cocked as he looked at me, like he was irritated I wasn’t doing what he said. I turned back quickly to focus on the road.
Luckily, there wasn’t traffic. I might have passed out completely if another car drove by. With nothing else out there, it gave us plenty of warning if anything else approached. My foot kept creeping toward the gas, wanting to go faster and get the fuck out of there.
We must have gone a mile, at least, before Dodge came up on the driver’s side and opened the door, shooing me toward the passenger side. “Good girl.”
Good girl? What, like I was a Labrador? I gave him what I hoped was a withering look. “This is my car, and –“
“And how much experience do you have with combat driving and evading pursuit?”
I scowled, wanting to give a smart ass remark, but the memory of those thwack-thwack noises and then the foot hitting the floor... If those guys pursued us, I didn’t want to be the one in charge. At least Dodge looked capable. That was half the battle. Maybe.
So I climbed over the console, almost busting my knee on the gear shifter thing, but finally flopped into the passenger seat. My legs remained mostly under the steering wheel, even with Dodge already getting in, shutting the door and starting up the engine. He patted the inside of my knee absently as he moved my legs out of the way. I could only stare at him in consternation as he put the car in ‘drive’ and headed at a leisurely pace toward the city. I would have floored it, but he drove like it was a Sunday afternoon on the way to the park.
“Who the fuck are you?” I finally asked. My brain didn’t want to come up with any other words. Stopping to think meant stopping to remember, and I didn’t want that. I wanted brain bleach. I wanted one of those movie devices that zapped away your memories. I wanted to go back in time and never accept the job at the animal sanctuary.
“I’m Dodge,” he said, and damn me if he didn’t reach over and offer his hand to shake. “Since we haven’t been formally introduced, I suppose.”
I stared at his hand, flabbergasted. “I – What –“
He sighed, like I was completely unreasonable, and caught my hand to shake with an exaggerated up-and-down. “Nice to meet you, Persephone.”
“Why were you out there? What were you – were you following me?” My voice ended in a shriek, loud enough it bounced around inside the car and made him wince.
“There are some things we have to talk to you about,” he said slowly, not looking at me. He kept his attention alternately on the road in front of him and the road behind him. “And since you ran off before we had the chance to explain what happened this morning, yes – they sent me to bring you back.”
“So you’re kidnapping me.” I debated reaching for the door handle and jumping out of the car.
He gave me a sideways look, like he could read my mind, and just about dared me to try it. My cheeks flushed and I gripped the strap of my purse harder. At least I’d left it in the car, so my stuff wasn’t left behind at the sanctuary.
Dodge shook his head and sighed. “I’d say I just saved your life, sweetheart. But if it makes you feel better about the whole thing, sure. I’m kidnapping you.”
I fumed. What a dick. Even if he’d been nice enough to keep me from freaking the fuck out earlier. Although that was more likely just him wanting to keep his own ass safe. Before I could come up with an articulate way to tell him to go jump in a lake, he drove faster and took a sharp turn. “Who else knew you were there? Are there security cameras around the facility? Do you have to swipe a badge to enter or check-in?”
I blinked, struggling to keep up with the rapid-fire questions. “Uh... Just Geordie and the people who were working earlier. The last one left around... three thirty, I think? I wasn’t paying attention to the time. There are security cameras but they’re mostly focused on the animal pens and the vet block where the tranquilizers are kept. I don’t know if there’s anything where... where we were. There’s no badges or ID swipes. They keep talking about putting a system in, but Ms. Bridger hasn’t had it installed yet.”
He shot me a sideways look. “Bridger? That’s the woman who’s running this place?”
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Do you know her? She’s older, blonde, has dark eyes...”
“Yeah, dark eyes,” he muttered. “As black as her fucking soul.”
I reared back in surprise. “What are you talking about? She’s done a lot of good, and –“
Dodge shook his head and pulled out his phone, dialing without taking his eyes off the road. I faced him, feeling one more thing spiral out of my control. “You don’t know her. You must be thinking of someone else.”
H
e didn’t look at me. His phone must have connected because he said, “I’ve got her. There’s a problem.”
Someone responded, then Dodge grunted. “Well, there’s two problems, then. Maybe three or four, come to think of it. Can’t talk about it now. We’re going back to her apartment tonight. Meet tomorrow at the Korean barbecue place. Right, near 5th. Twelve. Make a reservation for one of the private rooms. Easier that way.”
I stared at him. I must have missed something. It felt like I’d closed my eyes and at least an hour of events had passed, because nothing he said made any sense. “What – we’re not going back to my apartment. I mean, I am, but you’re not – there’s no way in hell you’re going to my apartment. And I’m only going back to pack a bag and get on the next bus out of here.”
“You have to act normal,” he said, not looking at me as he put his phone back in his pocket. “Like you didn’t see anything fucked up in that kitchen. Right? If you scamper off like a frightened baby bunny and they see it, they’ll know that you must have seen something that frightened you. Those guys won’t stop to ask what you saw, they’ll just kill you.”
My stomach unbalanced and gurgled in warning. I couldn’t take my eyes off his face; he looked far too serious to be joking around or trying to scare me just for the hell of it. He said it so matter-of-factly that it almost sounded reasonable. Of course men who chopped up bodies with meat cleavers wouldn’t mind killing me if they thought I’d seen them. Sure. Apparently things like that happened in a world where bodies were chopped up and...
I gripped my knees until my hands ached. “Oh my God. Are they going to feed that – that man to the animals? To the tiger? The tiger’s going to eat him and then – then – oh my God. Oh no. Oh no.”
“Shit,” he muttered, then abruptly reached over and grabbed the back of my neck. He shoved my head down between my knees, his grip surprisingly gentle. “Breathe. Hands on the dash. Just breathe. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Don’t think about it.”