Just a Taste [Merricks, Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by McKinlay Thomson

  “I promise,” Emily said. “Caroline is here. We will be fine. Go and call me when you can.”

  Wolf gave her a swift kiss and then he was out the door. She tried to hold the worry for her men inside and remind herself that the town’s firemen were experienced and wouldn’t let them take any stupid risks, but it didn’t help much.

  She wanted to be there for support. Silk Ties was Hawk and Wolf’s lives and it was burning to the ground. She should be at her men’s side, not stuck here waiting for someone to tell her what was happening. Should she go against her promise to Hawk and go to the club? Or stay in the safety of her bakery and worry about her men? Shit. What to do? Go or stay, stay or go. She was going to go insane.

  The option was taken away when Candy walked into the bakery with a gun in her hand.

  * * * *

  “The fire was started in the main dungeon,” Pierson Carter told Hawk. “It was started with a liquid accelerator.”

  Hawk stood on the street outside the club along with Pierson and Sheriff Blake. Pierson was one of the local firefighters and a member of Silk Ties. Hawk knew him well and thought very highly of the Dom. He and his two brothers Grayson and Brock had fought a hard battle for the heart of Emily’s friend Kate. She was a cantankerous little sub and loved a good argument, but her men had tamed her somewhat, or so they thought.

  The club had been taped off with police tape and Hawk could see smoke marks along the broken windows and on the roof. The fire department had drenched the building with water and foam and Hawk could only imagine the destruction on the inside.

  Hawk looked at his friend, angry that someone had purposely entered his and Wolf’s domain and caused such destruction. Half the damned club had burned down before it was extinguished and would take time and money to repair. Who would do such a thing? And was it related to the trouble Emily was having?

  Was Wolf correct and Candy was the person behind all the destruction? He could understand why she would go after Emily if she was obsessed with Wolf, but burning down the club she was so desperate to be a part of seemed extreme, even for her.

  Unless this was revenge for Wolf making her enter the auction. Maybe she wasn’t really happy to be Mistress Savannah’s sub and decided to take it out on the club to get back at Wolf. She had only had to spend one night with the woman and then move on, but they were still together.

  So many questions, and he didn’t have the answers. He didn’t like a sneaky enemy. In the marines, he had known who the enemy was. He was given a mission with a target and he worked with his commander and team to eliminate the adversary.

  He never went on the undercover missions. With his blond hair and blue eyes, he never fit the profile and he was glad. He hated the idea of walking around constantly wondering who was going to stab you in the back.

  Now, he needed to protect Emily against a threat that he didn’t know and that meant he didn’t know where it was coming from. He had thought it was just a case of jealousy, and whoever it was would stick to minor vandalism and threats. Now he wasn’t so sure.

  “We are yet to determine the perpetrator’s entry point,” Blake added. “You won’t be able to enter until we have finished taking evidence.”

  “What about the apartment upstairs?” he asked. He doubted they would be allowed access, but all their possessions were in the apartment and they would need clothes and such.

  “We are waiting on the fire investigator to confirm,” Pierson told him. “But I’d say that the fire has caused structural damage, making it dangerous to go upstairs.”

  “Sorry, Hawk,” Blake said. “Will you and Wolf have somewhere to stay?”

  “Yeah, thanks,” he replied. “We will stay with Emily.”

  “Good,” Blake told him. “Sarah was worried about her.”

  “So was Kate,” Pierson added. “And no one get any piece if the women are unhappy.”

  Hawk smiled at their banter. He could see the friendship the two men had forged dating the sisters. Emily didn’t have any sisters. Her friend Holly was as close as it came. He wondered if he would be standing around in a year or two throwing around banter like Blake and James, with Holly’s men, Chase and Jarrod.

  “Where is Emily?” Blake asked. “I didn’t think you would leave her alone after what happened at the bakery.”

  “When I heard about the fire,” Hawk told them. “I thought she would be safer at the bakery. Caroline is with her and it’s the middle of the day.”

  Despite all that had been happening, Merricks was still a relatively safe place and Hawk knew that the town’s men would watch out for Emily. She should be safe enough in her shop. He hoped. God, he was second-guessing himself and he never did that.

  “You think the fire was to draw her out?” Blake asked. It was a possibility and that meant that the person after Emily was escalating, getting more and more daring and dangerous.

  “Unless the fire was a distraction,” Pierson said. “And they wanted you to leave Emily behind.” Shit, Pierson did have a point, which meant that Emily was alone and in danger.

  “Fuck,” Hawk said. “I’m off my game. Where’s Wolf?”

  “Talking to the fire chief around back,” Pierson replied.

  Hawk took off toward the back of the building, Pierson and Blake hot on his tail. He needed to get Wolf and get back to Emily. The fire was out, so the club could wait. She was the most important thing in his life and he had left her alone. What was he thinking? Wolf was going to have his balls and rightly so.

  He spotted Wolf the moment he ran around the corner of the building and rushed over.

  “Hey,” Wolf said. “Fire has almost destroyed the entire bottom floor. Where is Emily?”

  “At the bakery,” he replied. “Look, man. I fucked up. I never should have left her, but I didn’t see the connection and thought she would be safe.”

  Fuck, if something happened to her, it would be his entire fault.

  “You don’t know that anything is wrong yet,” Blake said. “I’ve contacted dispatch to send a car over.”

  “I’ll try her cell,” Wolf said. “Emily knows better than to not answer when one of us calls.” Wolf whipped out his phone and dialed her cell. Hawk waited impatiently for her to pick up. Come on, babe. Pick up. “It went to voicemail.”

  “Fuck,” Hawk swore. “We need to get there now.”

  “Calm down,” Wolf said. “We will find her, and god help the person who has caused her harm. No one touches what is mine and lives.”

  “Jump in the squad car,” Blake said. “It will be quicker.”

  “I’ll call James, Chase, and Grayson and have the women put on lockdown,” Pierson said. “All we need is them going off half-cocked and armed to the eyeballs to rescue their friend.”

  “Sarah, Kate, and Holly have done all right in the past, “Wolf said. “If I had to have anyone watching Emily’s back in a hostage situation it would be those girls.”

  Hawk had to agree. Sarah had been taken hostage three times since coming to Merricks and had shot and killed two of the men. The third guy had lived and was now in jail, but the women had made it out unharmed every time.

  “Sarah is not shooting anyone today,” Blake said. “I had to confiscate her gun after the incident with Holly.”

  “Bad move,” Pierson said, shaking his head. “That means that Kate will start shooting people.”

  “We don’t have time for this,” he said. Hawk, Wolf, and Blake strode to the squad car and Hawk jumped in back. He didn’t care where he sat as long as they got moving.

  Blake turned on the sirens and skidded out of the lot toward the bakery. The crackle of the radio broke the silence and Hawk heard Deputy Erik’s voice.

  “The bakery is empty,” Erik said. “I’m checking the back. Hold on.”

  A sinking feeling was heavy in the pit of Hawk’s gut. Emily was gone and they were going to lose her trail. He couldn’t believe he had made such a stupid mistake.

  “Proceed with caution
,” Blake said. “We are unsure of the threat level.”

  Hawk held his breath as the radio went quiet again. He hoped they weren’t too late. Please, let her be all right. He would give anything. Hawk almost jumped out of his seat when the radio crackled again.

  “We have found Caroline in the back office,” Erik said. “She is alive and well, but no sign of Emily. She says Candy came in with a gun.”

  Fuck, so it was Candy. Hawk heard Wolf growl from the front seat. She was going to be in a world of pain when they caught up to them. Not that he would underestimate her again. They needed to treat her as if she were dangerous as any other enemy.

  Blake pulled the squad car up at the bakery and they all jumped out. They needed to make a plan and try to figure out where Candy would have taken Emily. Maybe Caroline had some clues. Either way, they would need to call for more men.

  “I will talk to Caroline,” Blake said. “She has suffered a trauma and I don’t want you two giving her a hard time.”

  “Fine,” Wolf replied. “I will head to CUSS and see what they can do.”

  CUSS was Grayson, Brock, and Pierson’s security company. They handled all sorts of personal and corporate security and had been invaluable in the past when it came to threats against the town’s woman. Pierson would have already informed them of the situation and they were probably already working to help find Emily.

  “I’ll call Tank and Cole and Trace Jackson,” Hawk said. “Cole had spent a fair amount of time with Candy. Maybe he knows where they went.”

  Hawk pulled out his cell and dialed. They needed to move fast to rescue Emily before Candy could achieve whatever goal she had in taking their woman. She couldn’t have gotten too far. Hawk had been at the club for about twenty minutes before they caught on.

  Emily was smart. She would know to stall Candy for as long as she could, and with three older brothers, she would know how to fight dirty. He hoped that they found her before she would have to do anything drastic and before Candy could hurt her too much.

  Hold on, babe. We’re coming, he thought.

  “Tank,” he said when he heard the voice pick up. “We have a situation.”

  “Who has Sarah this time?” Tank asked.

  “It’s not Sarah,” he replied. “It’s Emily.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Emily sat in the back of the blue van and couldn’t believe this was happening. When Candy came into the bakery with the gun, she had almost snorted. The woman was a jealous, nasty bitch, but she wasn’t a killer. It wasn’t until she had gotten to the van that Emily realized who was really behind all this.

  “I’m sorry, Emily,” Candy had said. “Go through the kitchen and out the back. Both of you.”

  “What are you doing, Candy?” she asked. “You need to leave now. If you do this, you can’t come back from it. You will be a criminal.”

  “You don’t understand,” Candy replied. “I have no choice. Now move.”

  Something was wrong. Emily could see the tears in Candy’s eyes and they looked real for once. She usually cried crocodile tears to get attention, but this was more than that, and Emily started to get seriously worried.

  “Everybody has choices,” Caroline said. “You just need to make the right one.”

  “Nope,” Candy said. “Not this time. Please, you are making it worse.”

  “Let’s do what she says,” Emily said. “It will be all right, Caroline.”

  Emily swiped her cell from the counter and pocketed it before Candy could make it around to them. Lucky for her it was on silent and wouldn’t alert Candy that she had it.

  She followed Caroline into the kitchen and for a minute thought they could make a run for it but changed her mind when she felt the press of the gun in her back.

  “Into the office,” Candy said pulling rope from her pocket. She threw it at Emily before continuing. “Tie Caroline to the chair and make it tight. If you don’t, I will shoot her.”

  “This isn’t necessary,” Emily said. “You could just lock her in.”

  “I may be ditzy, but I’m not stupid,” Candy said. “I’m not going to leave her untied in an office with the phone. The cops would be on to us before we reached the end of town.”

  “So we are going somewhere?” Emily fished for information that might help them get rescued.

  “You are,” Candy said. “Now hurry up.”

  Shit, Emily really didn’t want to do this. She needed to think of a plan, but her brain had just frozen over. If she tied Caroline up and went with Candy, she would be at her complete mercy.

  “Don’t worry, Emily,” Caroline said. “Just do it.”

  “I’m sorry,” Emily said, her eyes filling up with tears. Where were her stupid overprotective brothers now? Where were her stupid overprotective Doms? The fire. Why hadn’t she seen it?

  She walked behind Caroline and tied her arms behind her back and then to the chair. She wasn’t going anywhere and Emily felt hopelessness sink into her stomach and make her feel sick with distress.

  “You started the fire at the club?” Emily asked, but she already knew the answer.

  “No,” Candy said. “But you are about to find out who did. Let’s move. Go out the back door and get into the back of the van.”

  Emily walked out of the kitchen and down the corridor to the back door. She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket but couldn’t answer it. Please be one of my men, she thought. If she didn’t answer, they would know something was wrong. She had been given strict instructions to always carry her cell and answer when they rang.

  Emily saw the blue van the moment she got close to the back door. She slowed down, not wanting to walk from the safety of the bakery, but her allusion of safety was broken when Candy shoved her forward with the barrel of the gun.

  She walked out into the alley and the back door to the van slid open at her approach. Emily sucked in a sharp breath as the person in the van was revealed to her.

  “Get in the van, slut,” Mistress Savannah said. “I’m going to teach you a real lesson in submission before I send you back to your Masters.”

  “Mistress Savannah?” Emily was shocked. She barely knew the woman and had only met her at the club that one time. She never came into the bakery and Emily hadn’t seen her around town. “I don’t understand. What have I ever done to you?”

  “Oh, you are a dumb-witted bitch,” Mistress Savannah replied. “It’s not what you have done to me. Now get in the fucking van.”

  “So this is about Candy?” Emily asked, climbing into the van. She had been worried before, but now she was petrified. She had seen what Mistress Savannah had done to Candy at the club and it looked incredibly painful. She didn’t want to be on the receiving end of the Domme’s cane.

  “No,” she replied. “For once this isn’t about Candy. She was just a means to an end. She did scream beautifully when I punished her though. I might keep her once I have finished with you.”

  “I don’t understand,” Emily told her. “If it isn’t about Candy, then why? I haven’t done anything to you. Please, just let me go.”

  “Candy,” Mistress Savannah said. “Tie her up and gag her. I don’t care to hear her whining. Hurry up or you’ll feel my strap.”

  “Yes, Mistress,” Candy said. Emily noticed that her hands shook as she reached for the rope and for the first time ever, she felt sorry for the woman. She was covered in welts and bruises and wasn’t her usual sarcastic, bitchy self. Mistress Savannah had done a number on her.

  “Please,” she whispered. “We can escape together. You don’t have to do this.”

  “I’m sorry,” Candy said, crying. “I have to do what she tells me.”

  “Hurry up, slut,” Mistress Savannah said. “You are wasting time.”

  Emily knew that Candy was too scared to help her. She had to find a way to get through to her, but she wasn’t sure how. Candy had been abused and frightened, and she was going to have to say just the right thing to sway the woman to her side. She
needed to get Candy to feel safe again.

  “It’s okay, Candy,” she said. “Just do what she says, and when the timing is right, we will get out of this together.”

  “Why would you help me?” Candy asked. “I have caused nothing but trouble for you and your friends.” Wasn’t that the truth, Emily thought.

  “Because,” Emily replied. “You could be the biggest bitch on the planet and you still wouldn’t deserve this. We can go back to hating each other when this is all over. Now tie me up and just try not to make her angry.”

  “Okay,” Candy replied, and Emily felt the rough rope wind around her wrists. “I am sorry. I never wanted any of this. You’re really nice.”

  “And you’ll be really sorry if you don’t shut up,” Mistress Savannah shouted from the driver’s seat.

  Candy tied her hands together and Emily opened her mouth for the ball gag that Mistress Savannah had given her. Emily hated gags and now she knew why. They opened her mouth impossibly wide and she found it hard to swallow. Her jaw would hurt like a bitch if she didn’t get it out soon.

  “Get up here, so we can leave.”

  “Sorry,” Candy said and slipped into the passenger seat, and they took off. Emily fell back and landed on her hands. Pain shot up through her arms. Emily rolled to the side to take the weight of her arms and hands and braced herself against the side of the van.

  She wondered where Mistress Savannah would take her and hoped she could hold out long enough for Wolf and Hawk to rescue her. They would come for her, they had to. They loved her, just as much as she loved them. She wasn’t in any doubt. They may not have said the words yet, but she knew in her heart that their love was strong.

  Emily would just need to bide her time and follow Mistress Savannah’s orders until her men came, and hopefully she wouldn’t get too banged up in the process.

  * * * *

  Wolf passed the floor of the conference room at CUSS and tried not to take everybody’s head off. Emily had been gone an hour and Wolf could imagine all the bad things that Candy could have done to her in that time.