by Mason Sabre
“N-No. No one there ...” His words died on his lips as Stephen slammed his head back down again.
“Don’t piss me off.” Stephen pushed his knee onto the guy’s back, causing him to call out in pain. “My sister and my friend. You’re tiger. Do not even try to tell me you don’t know who she is.”
“Ohhh … your sister …” The man gave a pathetic, cockeyed smile. “She w-was here, but she didn’t stay. She didn’t like the room.”
Stephen’s arm twitched to slam the man’s head down again. Phoenix was certainly expecting it because he tensed, readying himself for it, but instead, Stephen yanked the man to his feet and pulled out the car keys. He tossed them to Phoenix. “Go to the car and open the boot.”
“The boot?” The man squirmed in Stephen’s grip, but Stephen held on tighter, his other hand going around the man’s throat and choking him.
“I wasn’t speaking to you.” He dragged the man along with him as he followed Phoenix to the car. Phoenix glanced over his shoulder, but said nothing. He unlocked the car when they got to it and then the boot. Stephen shoved the man against it. “Get in yourself or I push you in. On the count of three.”
“I told you, I don’t know no … anything.”
“That would be one …,” Stephen said, pinning the man with a glare.
“Please.”
“Two …”
The man went to say something else, but seemed to reconsider. He placed his hands on the edge of the boot and lifted his leg to climb in.
* * *
Raven’s bar wasn’t that far away from where the hotel was. It was situated on the edge of town, where it became a city. Even though it was out of the way and could only be reached by car, it was always packed with patrons. Stephen pulled the car to a stop in one of the staff spots. The bar was closed, but he knew Raven would be in there setting up. The panther was married to this damn bar.
He looked over at Phoenix. “You can stay here if you want to.” This probably wasn’t a show for a young wolf, but it was Phoenix’s choice. He’d have to see these things sooner or later.
“I’ll come.” Stephen felt a surge of pride at the young wolf’s declaration. He was a watcher, he thought with approval. He took in everything that went on around him but said nothing.
Climbing out of the car, he hoped like hell Raven could help them. When he opened the boot, Andy cowered away, his submissive tiger recognising full well the dominance of Stephen’s. Stephen wasn’t giving him a choice this time. He grabbed him by the hair and pulled him out of the boot, then strode towards the bar. The man scrambled along the ground as he tried to keep pace or lose his scalp. When they approached the main door, Stephen launched the young man at the large metal doors, sending him crashing into them. The man bounced off the metal shutters, making them rattle violently from the force. Blood trickled down from his nose but there was no pity from Stephen. He pulled him back up to his feet and the man yelped.
It was a good minute before they heard the clank of the bolts on the other side. Raven slid the heavy door back and squinted against the rays of bright sunshine. He gave Andy a visual once over and then looked at Stephen. “Couldn’t ring the bell like a normal person?”
“Brought you a present.” He tossed him though the open door and Andy went sliding across the wooden floor inside.
Raven gave Andy an impassive look and then motioned his head towards Phoenix as he slipped in with the rest of them. “And who’s this?”
Stephen followed Raven’s gaze to Phoenix, who was casting uneasy glances at the dangerous-looking panther. He didn’t blame the kid. Raven exuded a menacing aura, one that warned you not to dare mess with him. He was tall and well-built, muscles bulging under his shirt and snug-fitting jeans, indicating an incredible physique. Black eyes stared out from a ruggedly handsome face—which might not have been so pretty considering how many times he’d had his nose broken and face and lip cut open from past heated ‘arguments’. Fortunately for him, shifters healed amazingly fast, and physical scars were something an Other would only ever bear if they had not healed from inner pain that had been caused. A scar that ran down the side of his right eye hinted that Raven had experience of this, but the mark only served to make him seem even more threatening. Despite this, his incredible good looks, and the danger he emanated, ensured he was never lonely for female company.
“This is Phoenix,” Stephen said. “He’s with me.”
That was good enough for Raven. Phoenix got dismissed as any kind of threat instantaneously and given no more thought. He pulled the huge door shut behind them again, blocking out all sunlight and leaving the room in dimness.
“My sister and Cade are missing. This shit knows why and he isn’t talking.”
Raven shook his head slowly, tsking. “Why didn’t you say so?” He pulled out a pair of black, leather gloves from the back pocket of his jeans. “It’s been a while since you brought me a present.”
Stephen held his hands out. “I know. I’m a shitty friend. Still got the last one?”
Raven shrugged. “Just the head.”
“Trophy?”
“Dart practice.”
Andy’s eyes grew huge, and he quickly backed up along the floor. “No ... please ...” His back hit the snooker table and he whimpered as he watched Raven roll his sleeves up and reveal a tattoo of a pendulum on his arm with the name Poe written on the top of it. He gulped hard. “Y-You’re R-Raven?”
“That’s correct,” Raven said calmly.
“The Raven?”
Raven slapped Stephen on the back. “Fucking hell, mate. He sure is fast. Where did you catch this one?”
“Please,” Andy begged. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Chapter Seventeen
“P-Patterson.” Andy sat on a chair, unbound and uninjured, but too afraid to make a run for it. He’d not make it two steps, and he knew it. Piece of shit. He was a disgrace to his kind. He was spilling his guts without any coercion, one of the negative aspects of hiring a coward to do a job. They’d turn their own mothers over just to save their own necks.
“Patterson?” Raven asked him. “As in the Patterson?”
Andy nodded his head in earnest. “Yes … he … he …”
Fucking Patterson. It had to be him, didn’t it? Who else would pull shit like this?
“What does he want with Cade and Gemma?” Stephen growled.
Anyone would think Andy was Human the way he reeked with fear. He huddled in his chair, shaking. He was worse than a Human. His gaze wandered over to Phoenix, who was sitting on a stool next to the bar watching them interrogate him.
“Don’t you look over at him,” Stephen snarled, grabbing Andy’s jaw and forcing his gaze back to him. “You look at me when I am talking to you.”
Stephen grabbed one of the chairs close to him, turned it so the back faced Andy, and straddled it. The proximity did exactly what Stephen had wanted it to—it made Andy even more ill at ease. “What does he want my sister for? And my friend? You need to start giving me answers.”
Andy’s eyes grew wider and he swallowed nervously. “I … I don’t know.”
“You don’t know or won’t tell me?” Stephen glared at him, his eyes dead set on his. Andy couldn’t hold the gaze, his eyes darting from Raven to Phoenix. “What do you think?” he said to Raven. “Do we believe him?”
Raven came to stand next to Stephen and leaned down to peer at Andy, his long, black hair falling forward and making the scars on his face appear even more menacing. Raven’s heavy build was intimidating—he was almost as big as Stephen and stood out when he walked into a room—but it was his black, penetrating eyes and crazy-ass tattoo that could scare the shit out of people.
Andy shrunk away from him, gulping. “I don’t know,” he whispered pathetically.
“Did they know my sister was coming?”
Andy shook his head.
“Then how did they find out?” Stephen narrowed his eyes at him.
/> Andy fidgeted in his seat then sat on his hands as if to stop himself from saying anything further. A nervous shaking started in his leg as he started to tap his foot on the floor.
Stephen slammed his hand onto Andy’s thigh to stop the tapping, making Andy jump. He cocked his head to the side, his voice predatorily low. “I assume it was you?”
“No … no …”
“You saw the daughter of the alpha and fucking sold them out …”
“No ... I swear ... it wasn’t like that …”
Stephen gripped Andy’s knee and used it to pull him and the chair closer, their faces inches apart. “Tell me how it was.”
Andy’s eyes darted from Stephen to Raven. “Please ... I don’t know anything.”
Stephen squeezed his knee tighter, his grip threatening to crush the bone under his fingers. “You’re really starting to piss me off, Andy.”
Andy nodded, his face contorting in pain. “O-Okay. I called them ...”
“Who did you call? Patterson?”
Andy shook his head. “My mate. I called him and told him who had come in. I couldn’t believe it was Gemma Davies. I mean, shit, she’s like— “
“She’s like what?”
“Nothing ... I just mean … well, she’s goddamn Gemma Davies.” He looked at all three of them as if that statement explained everything. “Then this morning, before I finished my shift, Patterson suddenly shows up with his men. I couldn’t do anything. You have to believe me.”
“Then what?”
“They want the keys. To your sister’s room.” He gulped hard. “I tell them that I don’t have them, but they don’t believe me. They made me give them the keys. Then the next thing I know, they’re carrying them out. My shift was over by then so I just went home. I swear.”
Raven leaned in closer, his panther flickering in his eyes. “You went home? Someone gets kidnapped and you just go home?”
“I was going to call the authorities,” he spluttered.
“Where has he taken them?” Stephen demanded.
“I don’t know. Maybe his house.”
“His house?” Raven scorned. “Even a Human like Patterson isn’t that stupid.”
“That’s what he said. He told the other man to take them to his place.”
Stephen stood up abruptly, and the chair toppled to the floor. Andy relaxed for a moment, but his wild eyes continued their crazy darting around. But as Stephen backed away, Raven picked the chair up and slammed it back down again, smacking it into the insides of Andy’s thighs before sitting down. Andy cried out as the wood dug into his flesh. “Would you be lying to us, Andy? So that we can let you go?”
“No, I wouldn’t ... I promise.” He glanced over at Stephen, his eyes pleading. But there was no help coming. Raven grabbed Andy by the jaw and made him face him. “I promise, it’s the truth. It’s all I know.”
“If we let you go, are you going to call Patterson and warn him?”
“No ... no … I’d never do that.”
Stephen didn’t think that Andy had the nous, let alone the balls, to call Patterson and warn him, but still, there was a certain unease at letting him go free. How could they trust him? Raven strode over to where Stephen stood with Phoenix. Andy didn’t budge, not even moving the chair that Raven had left there purposely. “What do you want to do with him?”
“We take him with us,” Stephen said matter-of-factly. It was the best way. They didn’t have time to make sure he was secure. Killing him was an option, but that went back to time and also to the fact that if he was telling the truth, the only actual crime he had committed was stupidity, and while Stephen was all for offing the idiots, he also knew Society would probably not quite approve of it.
Raven frowned, obviously not agreeing with Stephen’s sentiments. Even Phoenix was staring at Stephen with an expression of concern on his face at his decision.
“If we take him with us and he has lied to us, then we can just beat the shit out of him until he talks. If he has told us the truth, however,” Stephen shot a glance to Andy to gauge his reaction, “then maybe we just toss his blabber-mouthing ass over to Patterson to deal with.”
Raven snorted. “And you call me the harsh one.”
“We’re going to Patterson’s?” Phoenix jumped in. It was the first time he had spoken since they got there. He had just quietly been sitting and observing. Stephen had had his eye on him throughout, but the boy had seemed fine. He hadn’t looked away or flinched from anything. There was a true fighter behind those young eyes. Malcolm and Trevor would do well to realise it and utilise him.
“Yes, but I don’t think he will be there. He’s an asshole, not an idiot.”
“This is because of me?”
It would be natural for Phoenix to think that, especially as Patterson had wanted his head a couple of years back for the murder of a Human boy. But that had all been dealt with now.
“No,” Stephen assured him. “It’s because he is an idiot.”
“What if it is?” It wasn’t fear that marked Phoenix’s expression as he asked. Stephen wasn’t sure what it was really. It could be a sudden realisation that he would always have to be looking over his shoulder. Maybe that was why he had been trying so hard for the past two years to tone himself up.
Andy still hadn’t moved. He sat there on guard, waiting. Stephen didn’t believe him, but going to Patterson’s was the only clue they had. They’d start there and move on from there. He did believe that Patterson had something to do with it, however. The Human was an ass, though he had upgraded if this was his job alone, and Stephen doubted that very much. This wasn’t how Patterson danced, but Stephen was sure as shit going to crash his party. He’d even bring the booze, light a bonfire and offer him the first round. “He wants something. I don’t know quite what it is. But don’t you dare think that this is because of you. Okay?”
Phoenix gave an unconvinced nod. He’d see sooner or later, Stephen thought. He would realise just how bad these Humans were. Phoenix still held faith in them. He still believed that there was goodness in them, but that was because he never made it to adult Human. His conditioning was still in its infancy, and his being turned washed almost everything away. But he would eventually see.
“You know where he lives?” Phoenix asked.
“Oh, I sure do.” If it weren’t for the fact that his sister and best friend were missing, Stephen would have let himself smile at the memory. Two years ago, Trevor had set up Phoenix to be killed, but his plan had been shot to hell when Stephen and Cade had shown up and stopped his plans. Stephen had then hand delivered the dead body of an Other to Patterson so that he would drop his manhunt against Phoenix for the murder of a Human boy. However, Patterson had not been pleased to encounter a dead body at his door, his throat missing after Stephen had ripped it from the shifter’s throat.
Patterson’s house was one of the largest houses in the countryside. It was one of those that had been there for years, like an old farmhouse, but appeared more like a stately home. The grounds surrounding it were lavish with greens, and even at this time of year, when the trees shed their leaves and stood out on the horizon as twig-covered skeletons of mother nature, it still looked beautiful. The wildness of it called to Stephen’s tiger. He was ready for the hunt and the run.
He pulled the car up a little way from the house and let himself inhale the country air for a moment. Phoenix didn’t say much from where he was sitting beside him in the passenger seat, but his eyes took everything in. Raven sat in the backseat with a bound Andy next to him. His hands had been tied and tightly secured to the car door. He was not getting out anytime soon.
There were no cars on the driveway to Patterson’s—no lights on in the house, no smoke from the chimney. In fact, the house looked deceptively empty to anyone who was Human. But Stephen was Other. Life hummed against his ears like the gentle buzz of a distant bee. He could pinpoint the exact location of each and every person inside.
“Do we go in?” Phoenix
’s eyes were transfixed on the house, his anxious eagerness palpable.
“No ... not we. Me.”
Phoenix shot him a look, but it was Raven who spoke. “You’re not going in there by yourself?”
“I’m not going in. I just want to see who is there ... sniff the place out. I can pick up Gemma’s scent easily.” If he couldn’t, he’d be in trouble. She was the one he should be able to pick up no matter what.
“I’ll come with you. Who knows what shit you’re going to come up against,” Raven said.
“What about him?” Stephen motioned to Andy. They couldn’t take him with them.
“Phoenix can stay here.” He turned to Andy. “You aren’t going to try any shit are you?”
Andy shook his head animatedly.
“You can handle him, can’t you, kid?” Raven asked Phoenix.
Unease settled inside Stephen as he waited for Phoenix to answer. He wasn’t too happy with leaving him alone with Andy, even if he was tied up. And he sure as hell didn’t want Phoenix saying yes to Raven just because he felt he had to. If he couldn’t handle it, Stephen would rather know. If Cade and Gemma were in there, though, he’d rather not have to worry about getting Phoenix out, too.
“I can do it,” Phoenix said with determination.
“Are you sure? Don’t just say it if you have any doubts.”
Phoenix shrugged and glanced over at Andy, who was glaring at him. “He’s tied up. He isn’t going anywhere.”
That he was, but even Stephen knew that people could get out of anything if they wanted to badly enough. “If we leave you and he starts anything, even just the slightest inkling, you knock him the fuck out. Okay?”
Phoenix nodded. “He isn’t going to be a problem.” But maybe that was the problem. Were they hardening Phoenix up a little too much? Had his father’s cruelty done this to him? Something had changed in the boy. There was a hardness in him that was more than just an act, a hard resolve in the way he looked at Andy. Even Andy sensed it, because his expression became less complacent as he at looked Phoenix.