Cassie glared in return. Gray didn’t say anything.
The driver snorted. Jenna tossed her head back and laughed, enjoying the power of knowledge over him.
He’d think she was crazy, but Cassie followed her conversation and his daughter was the sanest person he knew.
Jenna wiggled the gun, making him flinch. “This is priceless. Do you think she just married some guy and is living the dream? Nope, get this: he turns into a wolf.”
Gray stared at Jenna. Cassie didn’t say anything. He wanted to tell Jenna that was ridiculous but the words didn’t bubble up.
Jenna flicked the muzzle of the gun toward Cassie. “She’s going to outlive you by more than decades. Try centuries. Has she told you that yet?”
Cassie shook her head, but it lacked conviction. It was a sad please don’t keep talking shake. Why wasn’t she calling Jenna absurd?
Just chalk up what you see next as evidence of the new world we’re going to tell you about.
He’d heard that before, only that sounded like Amy’s voice and she’d never said those words to him.
Yet his mind begged to differ.
Where were his voices? When he was suffering a paranoid state, he saw shadows and his voices were loud and incessant. But Jenna was clear and Cassie was real next to him.
He scanned the inside of the van. It was empty; the only seats were the driver’s and passenger’s. Gray couldn’t guess what it’d been used for before, but the smell was definitely bleach.
They obviously had no issues with kidnapping. Had they killed in here before?
“What are you going to do with us?” Cassie asked. She didn’t cower and her voice didn’t shake. He was glad she wasn’t alone, but he wished they’d just taken him instead.
“It’s really too bad they sent your mate after my guy. A human mate with living family—it makes your dad a target and you and your shifter can’t communicate telepathically.” Jenna leaned forward and hissed, “He doesn’t even know you’re in danger.”
Again, Cassie didn’t refute Jenna’s claims. Was she calling on her professional training?
That had to be it. People weren’t telepathic.
Jenna waved the gun again. She was either a hand talker or liked how unsettling the motion was for her prey. “He will know when he tries to swarm my guy’s compound. Only a picture of you two tied up will be waiting. If the Guardians attempt another assault…” She swung the muzzle toward Gray and made a shooting sound.
Cassie flinched.
Jenna switched her aim to Cassie. “They keep trying…” Her smile was cruel.
“I’m still unclear,” Cassie said like her life hadn’t just been threatened. “You think that the Guardians will leave you be because you’ve abducted me and my dad?”
“As long as they leave us alone long enough for me to gain my immortality.”
“You’ll be stuck with a mate forever that you may not like.” Thatta girl. Play along with Jenna’s delusions and make her second-guess herself.
“I don’t care. I’ll have money and I’ll have health.”
“I get the health, but where does the money come from?” Cassie asked.
Gray kept from looking bewildered. Immortality. Mates. Nonsense. But a part of him fluttered and he waited for a flood of information, anything. Nothing.
“I’m not quitting my job. Human trade is lucrative. And when we—”
“Jenna,” the driver snapped.
Jenna’s smug expression faltered, but she recovered. “Let’s just say, there’s room for growth.”
The van rocked as they hit rough spots and potholes. Where were they going?
Gray couldn’t see much more than sky over the front seats. The sky and now trees, but they weren’t close together. They were still within city limits.
He and Cassie swayed as the driver made several more turns. Jenna braced herself against the van door. Gray wished he were telekinetic and could open the door and dump Jenna on her ass with a wicked case of road rash.
They finally stopped. The driver got out and Jenna kept her gun trained on them. All Gray could see out the windshield was a large square warehouse painted a yellow that reminded him of baby vomit.
The driver got back in and pulled ahead. Darkness encompassed them and it was hard to make out the steel rafters and support beams.
Jenna flipped the handle on the side door and slid it open. She stepped out backward and kept her gun up. “Don’t piss Tony off. He has an itchy trigger finger and”—she leaned forward and pinned Cassie with a nasty smirk—“he likes to sample the goods.”
Over my dead body. And that was exactly how it’d turn out if Tony lifted a finger toward Cassie.
“Get out,” Jenna barked.
He went first, keeping himself between Cassie and Jenna. The plan failed when Tony fell in step behind them.
Two metal chairs had been placed side by side in the empty stall next to the van. And like the van, the warehouse smelled like it had been doused in bleach.
Human trade is lucrative.
They were traffickers. Were they the ones Jace was after?
Gray frowned. Jace did security and Gray knew nothing about his work. But it made more sense than anything he’d heard tonight, and it’d explain why Jace was secretive about his work. Maybe he was an undercover officer.
Gray and Cassie were herded toward the chairs.
“Sit,” Jenna ordered. “Tony’s going to tie you up.”
Both of them had guns. He and Cassie were unarmed and when his adrenaline wore off, he might collapse after the race and the kidnapping.
Tony made quick work of binding them with zip ties and duct tape to the chair with their hands behind their backs. Gray’s legs were going to lose feeling from the constriction, then he’d stiffen up so badly that once he tried to move he’d fall on his face.
Jenna circled them and studied the work. “All righty. You two wait here.”
She walked off with Tony. They went to a cramped office stuffed into the corner of the warehouse. The square window on one wall showed Tony dropping into an office chair and Jenna propping her feet on a desk with a phone to her ear.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Cassie said. “There’s a lot about my life with Jace that I couldn’t tell you.”
“I’m sorry, too. Jenna’s the one that was hitting on me.”
Cassie’s eyes flared. “That’s how they did it. They used a human to watch you so they wouldn’t be sensed.”
A chill snaked down his spine. “Cassie, you’re talking as senseless as Jenna.”
She sighed. “No, I’m not. And I could explain everything, but until you see it with your own eyes, I’m afraid you’ll only question your own sanity.”
He was questioning more than his sanity, but not Cassie’s. “Try me.”
“First, I’ll start with this: you knew everything and accepted it, but they had to wipe your mind.”
“Come again?” He couldn’t ignore the thrill of hearing that Cassie had trusted him with…whatever she was going to say…at one time.
“Jace, the people I live with, they’re all shifters.” As the story spilled from her, he waited for the moment he had heard enough fantasy.
It didn’t come. It was oddly…familiar. The part he kept getting hooked on was Jace’s mom, Armana. Each time her name was mentioned, a spike of intense interest speared him.
Cassie’s shoulders dropped and her head hung. “So there it is. How are you doing?”
“I…don’t know.”
Cassie glanced at him. Her eyes narrowed. “You remember, don’t you?”
“God, no. What you’re saying is insane. What’s bothering me is that I’m not sitting here telling you how crazy it is.”
Her lips quirked. “They can’t actually steal memories, they can only bury them. But I think your mind is stronger than we thought.”
We. He couldn’t blame her for thinking he was mentally fragile. Hell, twenty years ago he might’ve dissolved into a f
ull breakdown, but all those exercises and self-care had really worked.
“Tell Dr. Sodhi that.” Now wasn’t the time for jokes, but the dad in him had to lighten the mood where he could.
“He’d agree.” She stared at the office where Jenna danced to music that didn’t breach the walls and Tony skimmed through his phone. “Jace said he was close to catching the leader. They must’ve set another trap.”
There was nothing they could do. They were bound with no way to communicate and sequestered in an industrial park on a weekend. No one was around to hear their calls for help.
They had no choice but to sit and wait.
Chapter Sixteen
Armana had no choice but to make a move. “I have to go in, Commander. Once these two idiots find out that the trap failed, they’re going to take it out on Cassie and Gray.”
Her heart pounded. She’d been able to follow the van without being detected until they entered the industrial park. There was little traffic on a Saturday and her car would stand out like a beacon.
She’d ditched the vehicle and grabbed only her phone. Chasing the van had been easy; staying concealed hadn’t.
She had called and briefed the commander as soon as she pulled out of the marathon parking lot, and he’d stayed on the phone ever since. He’d guessed that Cassie and Gray had been taken to keep Jace from killing the rogue in charge. Jace had known about the decoy location and was launching his assault as she stood by a storage unit and surveilled the warehouse Gray and Cassie were in. If only she had X-ray vision.
“Go,” the commander said. “Jace’s raid will be over soon and the kidnappers will either find out about the fail or get twitchy with their hostages. But Armana, I’m on my way. If there’s too many for you to handle—”
“I won’t endanger them with my stupidity.”
“Keep your phone on you. If Jace’s mission goes south all of a sudden, I might not be close enough to mind-speak.”
“Got it.”
Armana clicked her phone off and stuffed it in her pocket. She slunk around the storage unit and eyed the warehouse’s security cameras. They faced the door obviously, but the sides of the building were clear.
The warehouse twenty feet away wasn’t hooked up like this one. She angled away from her target and aimed for the neighboring building.
When she got close, she tracked the perimeter, keeping clear of the other warehouse’s security. There wasn’t a good way to the roof. She tried the next building over.
It had a second level and a fire escape. Perfect.
She scaled the rickety stairs and hauled herself to the roof. Running across it, she picked up speed and leaped to the next roof.
One more jump. Thank the Mother she was wearing athletic shoes. She took the jump, clearing the expanse between roofs. As lightly as she could, she landed and rolled to a stop. Listening carefully, she waited to hear if anyone inside panicked.
Nothing.
She crawled to a vent. It was too small to fit through, but she skirted around it to see inside as much as she could. The warehouse was a bare metal skeleton. They probably didn’t care who suffered inside during the winter; they’d only built a structure to move product. In this case, people.
Another vent erupted from the edge of the roof. It was rectangular and she could shove herself through it.
But it was bolted on. She had no tools.
Well, she was strong and she healed quickly. She tugged and pried at the grate until her fingertips were raw and bleeding. When it was loose enough to give her wiggle room with the bolts, she worked her way through each one and set them aside to avoid the ruckus of tearing metal from metal. Lifting the vent, she went slow to keep the noise down. It screeched in her sensitive ears, but she scented only humans inside.
The vent opening was clear. She inhaled. Gray and Cassie and a male and female. Fresh exhaust, presumably from the van. Her nostrils burned from the strength of the bleach vapor. Under it all, she smelled terror, human sweat, tears, and other bodily fluids that made her own blood boil.
The supports provided her more than enough options to climb into the building. Nimbly, she lowered herself down.
Gray and Cassie came into view. They were next to each other, tied to their chairs. Neither of them appeared hurt. She scooted along a dusty beam. An old nest, a hazard of the big doors being left open too long, was wedged above her head and the feathers left behind tickled her senses.
She scrunched her mouth to each side and wrinkled her nose. As she was fighting not to sneeze, Gray glanced up and started.
“Amy?”
Cassie jerked her attention around and looked up. Then she stared at her dad. “Did you call her Amy?”
Armana put her finger to her lips. She wanted them to quit talking for more than one reason.
Cassie and Gray both snapped their attention to the floor in front of them, but Gray lifted his gaze back to the ceiling. Armana shrugged.
“Dad,” Cassie hissed. They both looked to the corner.
Armana swung to another rafter to get a clear view.
Voices filtered out from a haphazard room. It had a frame and walls but only a tin roof across the top to give it some privacy from the rest of the place.
Another two rooms bordered one side and the stench of bad plumbing emanated from them. Bathrooms. She concentrated but didn’t sense others besides the two humans she planned to kill.
Brilliant strategy, though, rogues working with humans. They’d probably lied, bribed, and promised all kinds of treasure to these two idiots. Rogues wouldn’t keep their word. If they were capable of it, they would have stayed with their pack or started their own, not broken the laws of their people. And rogues knew they wouldn’t be allowed to exist outside of a pack setting, so why not sign their death warrant and tell humans about their existence?
It was a mess, but that was what her son and Maggie dealt with. Armana needed to rescue Gray and Cassie, then face her own reckoning for interfering in Gray’s life.
She evaluated the structure. The walls had been insulated, rendering them useless to climb down. She couldn’t risk jumping straight down onto concrete. If she were outside on dirt or grass, that’d be different. In here, it was just her and her sore bare hands. She couldn’t afford to twist an ankle.
There were four support beams. She could scale down one of them. Two were in the office window’s direct line of sight. The other wasn’t close to cover of any sort. She chose the one between the van and the far wall.
Darting along the rafter, she made her way across the warehouse, holding her arms out for balance and grabbing cross supports when she needed to jump across.
She glanced back to check the office. No one had come out, but the atmosphere had changed. What was different?
The music had quit playing.
Gray and Cassie tracked her the entire way, their gazes burning into her. Armana reached the support and used her hands and feet to scale down it. She’d reached halfway when a “What?” rang from the office.
The office door flew open. Cassie gasped. Armana dropped the last twelve feet and landed in a crouch.
The woman stormed out, her face twisted. So, they’d found out Jace hadn’t fallen for the trap this time.
“How’d he know?” the woman shrieked.
The man emerged from the office and as he was turning in her direction, Armana scurried behind the van. She stayed low, keeping under the van’s windows. The woman shouldn’t see her if she was confronting Gray and Cassie.
“How did who know?” Cassie asked shrilly. “Did something happen to Jace?”
Armana swelled with pride. Cassie wasn’t panicking, she was covering for Armana.
Footsteps approached.
“Tony?”
Armana tensed, hoping the woman wouldn’t come looking for her partner.
Tony didn’t respond. He was close. Armana lifted her gaze. Sure enough, the muzzle of the pistol cleared the back of the van first. But she didn’t go af
ter that. She spun around the bumper and aimed a fist into his groin. Moving too fast for him to react, she nailed him. He dropped with a cry and she snatched the gun from him.
“Tony?”
Armana fixed her grip on the weapon. The familiar weight brought back a lot of memories of her days before being a mom. She shot Tony in the head. His body went limp, and her ears protested the noise.
She stormed around the van. The woman’s disbelief was satisfying, but Armana didn’t waste time.
The woman swung her gun up, but Armana had already aimed.
Squeeze.
The first shot hit a shoulder. The woman blinked before a mask of pain covered her face.
Armana took the extra second to aim center mass. The woman jerked as a second hole ripped open in her shirt. She collapsed. Armana rushed to free Cassie.
Gray stared at the woman, his mouth hanging open.
Cassie’s expression was filled with relief. “Oh my God, Armana. I was hoping you saw them take us.”
“Armana?” That snapped Gray’s attention back to her.
“This is Jace’s mom. Are you remembering any of that?”
Armana’s phone buzzed in her pocket, but she had to untie Cassie to work on Gray before she could answer the phone. Whoever that woman had talked to on her phone could be waiting for her to return with information.
“I know her as Amy,” Gray said. He was craning his head around to watch her.
“I’m sorry, Gray,” Armana muttered as she ripped through duct tape at Cassie’s hand only to find zip ties underneath. She snapped them apart.
“As in the Amy you were…”
“We’ll have to talk about this later.” Armana couldn’t look Cassie in the eye as she scooted around front to work on her feet. She paused to pull her phone out and toss it to Cassie.
Cassie was rubbing her wrists and fumbled the phone. She righted it. “It’s Commander Fitzsimmons.”
Armana finished Cassie’s legs and moved to Gray.
“Cassie told me everything,” he said.
“But you don’t remember.” She did his legs first. Freeing his hands from behind his back felt too much like hiding.
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