He put the car in park and then hauled her out of the driver’s seat and moved her into the passenger side, before climbing behind the wheel.
“There we go.” He reached out and touched her cheek. “You made this so easy for me. I thought I was going to have to break into your house and knock out your boyfriend, but then I realized you were going to make it easy on me.”
Had he been watching her through the window? Shit.
“Don’t you just look beautiful with drool on your face, but then, I’ve seen you like this before.”
Realization slowly sank in. It was him. The same man who’d attacked her at the Doornail and who she’d suspected had been involved with the experiments.
Even with her body paralyzed and her slumped over position, she could watch him.
He pulled the black knit hat off his head and she squinted, trying to distinguish his features in the darkness.
All it took was passing under one streetlight to figure it out.
The pretty boy who worked for her aunt. Andy? He’d made that comment about her being familiar, and she’d messed with him by suggesting they’d met at a club. Because he’d been so damn skeevy.
But the familiarity had come from him working in the lab during her imprisonment. He’d been a full part of her torment—she knew that now without a doubt.
Anger built hot inside her—volatile and unfortunately useless.
He glanced over at her and his smile flashed white in the darkness.
“Ah, look at that. I think you’re starting to remember me. Remember how I said I’d always find you? Well, you made it a lot easier when you showed up at your aunt’s.”
Hell yeah, she remembered him, and this wouldn’t bode well for him later.
“You know what’s hot?” he asked lightly, turning onto the interstate. “Fucking your aunt and thinking of your sister.”
Her sister? This bastard knew Bree? Wait… Her heart began to thump harder and inside she was shaking her head furiously.
Andy. Drew. Andrew. One and the same. She should’ve put the pieces together, because it all seemed so obvious now.
“She was a sweet little virgin, nice piece of ass, and I think a little bit in love with me after a while. But I had to let her go.”
She was going to kill this son of a bitch, without a doubt.
“Because I was screwing Jocelyn, and it just didn’t seem right doing them both. She’s amazing, you know. Jocelyn? Pretty damn goal driven. A powerful, beautiful woman,” he said softly, his tone almost wistful as he cast her a sideways glance. “It must run in the family. You’re all pretty hot.”
He reached out and touched her thigh. “I almost had you too. During the experiments. You were so out of it, you couldn’t have known your head from your ass. I was on the verge of taking you…” His lips twisted, his expression hardened. “Then you nearly ripped out my throat.”
And she’d do it again before the night was through. She knew without a doubt this bastard would die.
“But I learned something this morning. See, your boyfriend came over and broke into Jocelyn’s apartment. Kicked my ass a little bit, which trust me, I’m not proud to admit. So later I’ll have to kill him for that.”
Good fucking luck—one of us will kill you first.
“But while I was playing at being unconscious on the floor, I learned something.” Andrew gave an incredulous laugh. “I’m going to be a daddy.”
He knew. Oh God.
“So how about we go get your sister, just like you planned.”
Grace tried to protest, make some kind of vehement reply, but all that came out was a bare whisper of a groan.
“No need to tell me where she’s staying. I followed your boyfriend over earlier.” He reached behind him into the small backseat and grabbed a Glock.
Fear overrode the fury at the sight of the gun, but not for her, for Aubree. Grace couldn’t help her right now—she couldn’t even help herself with whatever drug had paralyzed her system.
And that became abundantly clear when they pulled up outside Hilliard’s parents’ house. Andrew didn’t get out of the car, but just waited. Terrance and Aubree came outside a moment later—Terrance had a cell phone to his ear.
Maybe he was talking to Darrius. Oh please, please let him be talking to Darrius.
The windows were tinted, and she knew they couldn’t see inside. Inside her head she screamed at them to run. In her version of things, she sat up and waved them back. But she was trapped inside herself, and they were sitting ducks.
Terrance pulled open the door. “Hey, Grace—”
Grace had the briefest moment to take in the horror on Aubree’s face and the sudden rage on Terrance’s before Andrew pulled the trigger.
Chapter Twenty
“She’s coming there? Are you sure?” Darrius asked grimly, adjusting the cell phone against his ear as he jogged out to his truck.
“Yeah, D. She just called Aubree.” The wariness in Terrance’s voice made it clear he hadn’t been too happy about Grace coming out alone either.
A snarl of frustration erupted past his lips, and Darrius shook his head and started his vehicle.
“Don’t let her go anywhere. When she gets to the house, you bring her inside. Got it?”
“I got it. Shit, bro, what happened between you two? Why’d she run?”
That was a damn good question. Though he had a pretty good idea of the answer.
Despite every belief that it couldn’t happen, he’d marked her tonight. Had claimed Grace as his mate and decided her future for her.
She had to be livid. How many times had she stated she wasn’t looking for serious?
And you somehow bit her anyway.
Their mental connection was new and fragile, and he hadn’t tried to lock on her mind yet or pull up her emotions. He wasn’t sure that ability would’ve kicked in so soon, or if he wanted to see what was going on in her head.
“Oh, hey, they’re pulling up right now, D.”
“Great. I’m just a minute away from the highway and then I’ll be there in like fifteen.”
“Sounds good. Hey, Grace—”
A gunshot snapped through the phone line—Darrius knew that sound without question—and he almost went dumb with shock. His foot slipped off the accelerator and the truck lost speed rapidly.
Screaming. There was a woman screaming. Grace? Aubree? There was no sound of his brother though. And then there was silence.
Instinct kicked back in. Darrius slammed his foot back onto the accelerator and the truck lurched forward. He steered it onto the interstate a few minutes later and then pushed close to one hundred all the way to his parents’ just over ten minutes later.
The front yard was silent and empty, but as Darrius made his way to the door he saw the dark stains of blood on the grass.
His blood turned to ice, but he tried to keep his head on as he pushed inside the front door.
“Darrius.” His mother rushed him, tears in her eyes. “He’s hurt pretty bad.”
He looked beyond her to the couch and where his brother lay clutching his bloodied chest. His eyes flickered open and he winced.
“I’m sorry. I tried to stop them, D…” His words trailed off into a liquid-filled cough.
“It’s not your fault.” Darrius strode across the room and fell to his knees before his brother. “You’re going to be okay, Terrance.”
“I’ve called the shifter emergency aid number. Paramedics should be here soon,” Dad said quietly.
Nodding, Darrius tried to decipher where the bullet had entered and how close to his brother’s heart it had come. Apparently not a direct hit, because that would’ve killed him. Quick healing shifter blood or not.
“You’re going to be okay,” he said again, with more conviction this time. “Can you tell me who took them?”
“Some big blond dude.” Terrance drew in another slow breath. “Probably around my age. Shot me the minute I opened the door to Grace’s car.”
/>
The only person that came to mind was Jocelyn’s assistant—the pretty boy whose ass he’d kicked this morning. Shit. Nothing worse than a guy with a bruised ego and a motive.
Figuring out that motive was the key though.
“Thanks, little bro.” Darrius squeezed Terrance’s hand lightly, hoping to reassure. He glanced at his parents hovering nearby. “Keep pressure on his wound, Mom.”
His mom nodded, eyes wide with fear, but kept the towel pressed to her son’s chest.
Darrius pulled out his cell phone again and called Larson.
“We’ve got a problem, sir.”
“Besides that it’s ten at night and I was just about to climb into bed with my fiancée?” Larson drawled. “What’s up, Hilliard?”
“Masterson and her sister have been forcibly taken by one of Jocelyn Feloray’s cronies.”
“Son of a bitch. Now that’s not good, not good at all, actually.” The alpha’s tone sobered. “Call in the rest of the team and have them meet us at the office ASAP.”
“Will do.”
“Do you have any idea where they are?”
Darrius hesitated. “I installed a GPS tracking device on Masterson’s car—just in case some shit like this went down, or if she got into any more trouble. I’ve got the receiving unit in my desk at work.”
“Smart thinking on the tracking device.”
“Larson…I need to tell you who Grace is.”
“No need. I’m fully aware Jocelyn Feloray is her aunt.”
Shocked into silence, Darrius struggled to find a suitable reply.
“I know everything about everyone in my pack, and especially someone I trust on my P.I.A. team. It doesn’t detract from the fact that Grace is an excellent agent and I trust her completely.”
Shit. Larson had had more faith in Grace than Darrius. Shame swept through him and he struggled to swallow against the lump in his throat.
“We’ll get them back, Darrius.”
“I know.” Instinct told him they’d find Grace and her sister, but the what-if factor was wreaking havoc on his emotional state.
“Good. Now get your shit together and I’ll see you at the office.”
By the time Darrius arrived at the downtown office, the rest of his team was there and waiting.
Yorioka, Larson and Donovan were all dressed in black, ready for a rescue op, and just as alert as a midday shift.
Donovan handed him a cup of coffee. “How are you hanging in there, Hilliard?”
“I’ve been better.” He didn’t smile, didn’t bother trying for his upbeat persona. “I appreciate you all coming in tonight.”
“Hell, Masterson is one of our own. Why wouldn’t we?” Yorioka shook her head, her lips compressed.
Right. One of their own. Of course it was logical thinking on their part—they were looking to rescue their comrade. He was looking to rescue his mate.
His mate.
The idea was still so fucking unbelievable it almost brought him to his knees. But it had been there in the red marks on her neck and the way he occasionally got a sense of her emotions. It was quick, like a scent on a breeze that came and went before you could realize it.
But from the glimpses of her emotions he’d caught, he knew she was murderously angry. Angry, and yet terrified as well.
Grace belonged to him now. And some asshole had made the mistake of taking her—a mistake that would cost him his life.
“Thought you were supposed to be watching her?” Donovan muttered. “How’d someone manage to grab Masterson and her sister if she was under your protection?”
Darrius bit back a snarl of frustration. He’d been asking himself the same question for the last hour, and the answer was because Grace had fled the house not even fifteen minutes after he’d marked her.
Hell, he couldn’t have predicted that. But he should’ve. She had probably panicked. Gotten depressed. Who knew what had been going through her head when she’d snuck out while he’d been showering.
“She left my protection without notifying me,” he finally replied. “And apparently that’s all it took.”
“Do we know where Grace and her sister are, Hilliard?” Larson asked.
“I have their location,” Yorioka volunteered, striding forward with the small handheld receiving unit that would tell them where the two were. “Hang on and let me read this.”
How had Yorioka known where he kept the receiving unit? Darrius cast her a sharp glance and opened his mouth to ask, and then told himself Larson had likely mentioned it to her.
When Grace had voiced her earlier concerns about Yorioka, he’d brushed them off. Now there wasn’t anyone he wouldn’t consider a traitor.
“Looks like they’re traveling west…weird.” She shook her head, her brows drawing together. “It’s putting them in the middle of Puget Sound.”
Remembering she wasn’t native to the Pacific Northwest, Darrius filled her in. “They’re likely on a ferryboat.”
Donovan grunted. “That’d be my guess.”
“Let me see the unit.” Darrius strode forward and easily took the unit from Yorioka’s hands. “Looks like the Edmonds to Kingston run.”
Larson gave a terse nod. “All right, we’ll take two vehicles to the peninsula. Donovan and Hilliard, I want you both to bring the van and Yorioka and I will follow you in the sedan.”
As everyone moved out, Darrius approached their alpha.
“Hey. I’m sorry I interrupted your evening—”
“Forget it.” Larson waved his hand in dismissal, his gaze darkening with irritation. “Things weren’t exactly going as planned anyway. Let’s get out of here.”
“You’re pretty damn quiet. Just worried?” Donovan, who was driving the van, glanced over at Darrius.
They’d caught the last ferry over to Kingston and were currently waiting to disembark.
“Yeah.” Worried as all hell definitely took over as the dominant emotion, but he was also confused. A little elated, and a lot guilty. Shit, his emotions ran the gauntlet.
Grace hadn’t asked to be mated, and yet he’d claimed her without her consent. Without even discussing it—because he hadn’t thought it fucking possible.
But none of this would even be relevant if they didn’t rescue Grace and Aubree. Shit, just the idea of anything going wrong made his stomach heave and cold sweat break out on his neck.
Jocelyn’s lover had made a huge fucking mistake by taking the two girls tonight. Had Jocelyn forced him to?
He’d pay for what he did, that much Darrius did know. Clenching his jaw, Darrius forced himself to stay calm and draw in a slow breath.
“You look like you’re ready to rip someone’s head off,” Donovan muttered and shook his head. “You need to be careful, Hilliard. It’s pretty clear you both are sleeping together, but keep your hearts out of it.”
A little late for that. Darrius didn’t reply. He couldn’t bring himself to admit he’d marked Grace tonight, because he didn’t fully understand it himself yet.
But he’d figure out how this had happened. Once he had Grace safely back, he’d be doing some digging on his supposed first mate.
“So where are they heading now?” Donovan asked as he drove the van off the ferryboat.
Darrius glanced down. “It shows Port Angeles. You know the way?”
“I’ve been there a few times.” Donovan tapped his hands on the steering wheel. “I like the peninsula. It’s nice. Got trees and shit.”
Darrius couldn’t even crack a smile at his friend’s somewhat derisory, yet amusing, description of nature.
Donovan glanced in the rearview mirror. “Looks like Yorioka and Larson are still behind us.”
A thought slid through Darrius’s mind. “You ever have any reason not to trust Yorioka?”
“What the fuck? No. Yorioka is cool. Where’d that question come from?”
“Grace was a little uneasy about her.”
“Hmm. I can see that. Yorioka isn’t exactly givin
g off the warm and fuzzies to Masterson. But she doesn’t trust her.”
“That’s pretty much what I said.” Darrius closed his eyes for a moment.
Where are you, Grace. Can you sense me?
He tried to lock on her mind again, but the sensation was so new. It was like trying to lock a butterfly in the crosshair of a rifle. He’d have her thoughts one second, and then they’d be gone.
And trying to see through her eyes at what she was looking at wasn’t giving up much, because the bastard had obviously tied her up or something, and her current view was mostly the darkness of the floor and dashboard—not out the window.
This shit was hard. Had he ever been able to do this with Jenny? Had he ever tried? Connecting mentally with Grace would mean he had a better chance at rescuing her quicker.
If he could only—
The view through Grace’s eyes changed. The dashboard disappeared and then it seemed as if she were being moved out of the vehicle because he saw the night sky and streetlights. It was almost as if she were unconscious, because she didn’t move. But her mind was alert, he’d heard her occasional thoughts, which left the possibility of her being hurt. Or paralyzed.
His heart pounded and he tried to not to think about the second possibility. He just let himself continue to see through Grace’s eyes.
But if Grace was aware of him in her head, she didn’t show any sign of it.
“They’re changing cars.”
“What?”
Donovan’s sharp response made Darrius realize he’d said the words aloud.
“Whose changed cars, Hilliard?”
Darrius didn’t answer, couldn’t reply as he tried not to break the connection between him and Grace.
“Hang on.”
I can see you, sugar. Where is he taking you?
And then he saw the sign. Literally as the car’s headlights reflected upon it.
“Hurricane Ridge.” He opened his eyes again and glanced at Donovan.
There was comprehension in his friend’s eyes, and disbelief. “I don’t fucking believe it. You’re in her head. You mated with her.”
Savage Betrayal: Savage, Book 2 Page 22