Sassy Ever After: Mate of Honor (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Renee George

  Bailey couldn’t see any ropes or ties holding Dale in place, and she wondered why he was just sitting here and not trying to figure out a way to get out. “Is there some other exit to this freezer? It seems like it’s a safety hazard not to have some kind of backup in case someone is…”

  “Kidnapped and locked inside. I don’t think the manufacturers thought that would be a problem restaurant owners would come up against.”

  “Don’t be a smart-ass.”

  “Lady, I’ve been locked up in this place since last night. My balls are as cold as a polar bear’s nose. Don’t you think I’ve tried to find a fucking way out?”

  “Shit.”

  He widened his eyes and said, “Exactly.” Then followed with, “Christ, you stink of Forrest Blackthorn.”

  Bailey blushed. “Mind your own business.” She could still smell him as well. He’d marked her, Lara had said. She inhaled deeply. His earthy scent calmed her.

  “If I knew how to mind my own business, I wouldn’t be here.”

  “Why are we here? Do you know?”

  “I’m here because I had the stupid notion that it’s wrong to steal from the poor so that the rich can keep getting richer. Idealistic, I know. If you hadn’t stalked me to the Blackthorns last night none of this would be happening.”

  “Again, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was there for Lara Hout. I’m her maid of honor. I don’t have a clue as to who you are or why you think I’d want to hunt you down.”

  His expression blanked. “You’re serious?”

  “As serious as this kidnapping.”

  “I’m the whistleblower for your lawsuit against the state. I called you last week.”

  “And hung up. Why in the world would you think I’d know you from Adam?”

  Things were starting to make some sense for Bailey, but she still didn’t understand why they’d taken her and Dale. He hadn’t given her any information. She couldn’t hurt anyone at this point. So if they had the source of the leak, then why come for her?

  “I don’t have the drive, so why am I here?”

  Dale bit his lower lip. “I was buying time.”

  Bailey smacked him on the arm. “Asshole!”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think they’d grab you.” He shook his head. “I passed it off to that other lawyer. Your partner before she left last night. Right before I was grabbed. I thought if I gave you the information, you’d leave me alone.”

  “Tory has the drive?”

  “Yes.”

  “And these thugs think I have it.”

  “Yes. Unfortunate, but yes.”

  “Shit.” Bailey fought against the rising panic. All it would do is cloud her ability to think.

  “I thought they would let me go if I told them I’d already let the cat out of the bag. I mean they can’t stop shit getting out now, right?”

  “That’s naïve.” Bailey had worked enough human rights cases to know that people who had no compunction ruining other people’s lives wouldn’t hesitate to hurt or kill someone who got in their way.

  The guy who’d dragged her in opened the freezer door. He balled his hands into fists. “Where’s the USB drive?”

  Bailey shrugged. “I don’t have it.”

  “A few hours in the cooler will loosen your tongue, isn’t that right, Dale?” He slammed the door. The freezer motors kicked in as even colder air began to pump into the room.

  “That guy a friend of yours?” she asked.

  “Used to be. He’s not really a bad guy. Just stupid.”

  “I think smacking me in the face and throwing me in here makes him a pretty bad guy.”

  “Not considering he could have just killed you and easily disposed of your body.”

  A shock a fear jolted Bailey. “Uhm, well, when you put it that way…”

  Dale closed his eyes for a second. “I’m sorry I got you into this.”

  It was too late for apologies. “I’m going to look for a way out.” The freezer door was locked, no surprise, and she searched around the cold storage for some glimmer of escape. “What information did you have?” Thinking about work might keep her mind off of the fact that she was scared shitless. “Who were you working for?”

  “I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

  “Who?” she asked again.

  “I worked for SIP,” he said. “In their development department.”

  Bailey shook her head. “Sip? What is that?” One of the wire racks against the wall was loose. Bailey worked at it, tugging and kicking until the bottom bar broke off. It was lightweight, but she thought it might do for a weapon.

  “Silverback Investment Properties.”

  “I met Maxine Silverback. It doesn’t surprise me that she’d be involved in stomping on the poor.”

  “Not her,” Dale said. “She--” He put his face in his hands and rubbed his cheeks. “Damn, it’s getting cold in here.”

  “Shift. You’ll be much warmer in wolf form.” She was debating letting her fox out, but when she would have to change back, she’d be naked.

  “He told me they’d kill me if I took animal form.” His eyes were stark. “I believe him. Actually, I think he’ll kill me no matter what happens.”

  She bounced a pipe against her palms, probably less than a pound. “What do you think? I’ll stand by the door and when your friend comes back…” Bailey pulled her arms back then swung the pipe down over her head. “Whamo!”

  “Unless you have a machete, I think you’re just going to piss him off.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

  The freezer door rattled. Bailey opened her mouth, but Dale shushed her. “Don’t move.”

  “Screw that,” she whispered. “I’m not going down without a fight.”

  The man who stepped in had a tri-colored beard and short blond hair. His eyes held a look of pure satisfaction. Like that cat that caught the canary. The enforcer who’d smacked her around stood behind him.

  “This is perfect,” he said. “I can smell the new Blackthorn alpha all over you, sweet cheeks. This is like killing two problems for the price of one.”

  His presence was heavy, and Bailey could feel power roll from him like an unnatural tide. She held up the useless pipe as if it would be any real defense. “Who…who are you?”

  “Victor,” he said. “Victor Silverback.” He smirked. “You and I are going to get to know each other real well, vixen. Then I’ll let me friend have what’s left over.”

  Behind him, the man with the brown eyes pulled his ski mask off. Bailey gasped. “Mach Larson.”

  He bared his teeth. Anger and hatred colored his face. “I’m going to enjoy this more than I can say, you fat bitch. The fact that it will hurt Forrest Blackthorn is icing on the cake.”

  “After all these years, you are still a big, fucking douche-nozzle.” The two large men occupied most of the door space. Bailey’s only hope was to shift and run. No way she could best an alpha and an enforcer, but she was not going to let them use her to get to Forrest. “You can have me, assholes,” she said, surprised by her own ferocity, “over my dead body.”

  “That can be arranged,” the Silverback Alpha said.

  Bailey flipped Victor the bird. She threw the aluminum bar at him. He blocked it easily and advanced on her. Even as she began to shift into her fox, she knew her chances of escaping Silverback was slim, but she had to try. For Forrest’s sake, she had to fight. Unfortunately, her clothes made a quick shift impossible. Victor actually laughed as she struggled to get out of her top.

  A howl from behind her startled her when she finally got herself free. Dale Comfry had transformed into a large gray wolf. He lunged at Victor, giving Bailey the opportunity to skirt around him.

  Mach Larson kicked out, his boot connecting with Bailey’s side. Pain rocketed through her little body, but she managed to skirt the next kick and get out the door. The sickening crunch of bone, the high-pitched yelp of pain, and the deafening silence that followed wren
ched Bailey’s gut. Dale had given his life to give her this chance. She wouldn’t waste it.

  She was in an unfamiliar building, but there was an opening to a staircase, and she took it. Not far behind her, she heard the yips and snarls of wolves on the hunt and the loud voice of Victor Silverback. “Find her,” he shouted with rage. “Find her and kill her.”

  Chapter Nine

  Forrest texted his brothers to meet him at the Wolfe’s Den, a bar owned by Aric Wolfe, Tristan Wolfe’s oldest son. The place was closed this early in the day, but Aric had surveillance cameras both street side and alley on his bar, and he agreed to let Forrest look at the recent recordings.

  Aric and his mate Jordan were waiting at a side entrance for Forrest. His brother’s and Lara had already arrived. He hated the frantic feeling of helplessness clawing up his throat as they went inside.

  The interior of the bar was neat and tidy. The table surfaces were scratched and worn, but clean. His anger heightened his senses, and it took all his control to ignore the smells of men and women who must have drunk there the night before. Bailey needed him to be sharp. To find her. He couldn’t do that if he were distracted.

  Once in the back, the four Blackthorn brothers and Lara huddled around the monitor as they watched vehicles passing by at the time Lara had said Bailey was taken. Jordan Wolfe, Aric’s mate, came in with coffee for all of them. She was short and curvy like Bailey, but that’s where the similarities ended. Jordan was Latina, with dark hair and rich brown eyes. Though she had a vibrancy that reminded him very much of Bailey.

  He passed on the offered coffee. His stomach had knotted with worry, and coffee would only make it worse.

  Forrest kept his gaze glued to the screen. “No, thank you.”

  “You’ll get her back,” Jordan said gently.

  “I have to.” He gave her a brief nod and then one to Aric.

  Aric smiled across the small room at his mate, and Forrest, for the first time, understood what the bond between them must feel like. He hadn’t even formalized his bond with Bailey, but he knew, with certainty, he would give his life if it meant getting her back safely.

  “There,” Lara said, pointing at a van that passed by. “That’s the one.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” She bit her thumbnail. “I think.”

  Aric Wolfe brushed his shaggy, black hair back from his face. “XZP 12K. I’ll call a friend of mine at the police station to run the plate.”

  “It’ll probably come back stolen.”

  He shrugged. “Can’t hurt, man.”

  Forrest nodded. “Thanks.”

  Aric patted Forrest on the shoulder. “I’d be going out of my mind too if someone took my girl. You’ll find her. Just hang in there.”

  “Wait.” Dorian leaned forward. “Run that back and forward again. In slow motion.”

  “To the van?” Forrest asked. “What did you see?”

  “Something. But after the van.” He gestured for Luke to keep going forward. “There. Stop. It may be nothing.” He put his finger on a silver Mercedes SL Roadster. “Unless there are more than one of those in Blue Creek, that car belongs to Victor Silverback.”

  Evan stood up. “You don’t think…”

  “This can’t be about you not choosing Maxine,” Luke said. “That’s extreme, even for the Silverbacks.”

  Forrest swallowed the knot of fear in his throat. Maxine had attacked Bailey in wolf form last night, but it hadn’t been a serious challenge. She hadn’t even put her teeth on his little fox. If she had, he’d have done her damage. And while he knew she wanted him as a mate for reasons that involved power and politics, she didn’t love him. “She wouldn’t.”

  Dorian raised a brow. “It could be a coincidence. Victor could have just been passing that way.”

  Shaking his head, Forrest said, “It’s the only lead we have.”

  “We have no idea where he went from there,” Lara said. “How are we going to find her?” Guilt colored her voice. “This is all my fault. She’d been out of pack crap for years, and I had to suck her back in.” Her shoulders jerked forward as a sob escaped her.

  Evan put his arm around Lara. He looked at Forrest and shook his head.

  Dorian put his hand on Forrest’s shoulder. “I sold Victor that car.”

  “And?”

  “And all my vehicles come with an anti-theft package that includes tracking.”

  Forrest blinked at his brother. “So, you can find him?”

  A wicked smile crossed over Dorian’s lips. “I can find him.”

  ****

  Bailey skittered out of the first open door after running up five flights of stairs. The musty, stained carpet snagged on her claws as she raced down the hall. The many doors on both sides of the corridors were numbered. 52, 54, 56 on one side, and 53, 55, and 57 on the other. This was a hotel. Abandoned by all accounts. She had to find a place to hide, and in fox form, she couldn’t open the doors. It scared her to make the transition to human again. She would be naked and vulnerable. A sitting vixen. But she’d have no chance if she let them trap her out in the hallway.

  She could hear the howls and barks echoing in the stairwell. She had to hurry, or her window of opportunity would be gone. She concentrated on the change, forcing her fox to recede. It fought against her, her fear making it want to take charge.

  Please, she begged her beast. Reluctantly, it withdrew. Quickly and quietly, she turned every knob, praying that one would open. She needed to get out of the open. Every locked door constricted the lump of terror in her stomach.

  Room 59, the last one on the left was open a few inches. The lock had been jimmied, probably by squatters, and the hinge was off at the top. Bailey shoved the door open and pushed her way inside. Closing it was impossible, but she did the best she could. The room had a rusted mattress frame, a pizza box with a dried up pepperoni slice on the floor next to it, a sleeping bag that smelled of human waste, and a broken bedside table with missing drawers. The scent was awful, but the aroma coming from the bathroom was worse. Someone homeless had definitely been holding up in the place and using the toilet without running water. The conditions made her sick. No one should have to live like this. It was the reason she’d started the class action suit in the first place.

  She ran to the window. Below was an alleyway. There had to be a fire escape, right? She peered down. Wrong. It was sheer brick and windows all the way to the hard pavement. She swallowed back the hot dread rising in her throat. If worse came to worse, that would be her way out. She wouldn’t let Victor or Mach use her. She’d kill herself before she let that happen.

  ****

  “Are you sure his car’s on this street?” Trust Avenue was on the poorer side of town. It was laced with apartment buildings with missing or boarded-up windows. Drug dealers hung out on corners, and two blocks down was an over-filled homeless shelter. He knew this because he’d been donating money to keep the place open since he’d taken over the family business. “I can’t see Victor driving his fancy car in this neighborhood.”

  “I’m sure,” Dorian said. He had his laptop out and had been navigating as Forrest drove the SUV.

  “This place gives me the willies,” Lara said from the back. She sat between Luke and Evan.

  “I think the people who live here feel the same way,” Forrest said.

  When he was in high school, he’d volunteered at the shelter on weekends. He’d had a friend whose family had lost their home, and they had to stay in the shelter for several months. It had given him a new perspective on how someone could end up in such dire straits. At the time, volunteering was the only way he knew to help. His friend didn’t want people to know about his parent's situation, so he made Forrest promise not to tell anyone. And Forrest never did. In some ways, he regretted not going to his parents to get them help. After all, even though his buddy was a human, it’s what the Blackthorns did.

  Dorian gave him a strange look as Forrest parked on the curb outside the
Trust Hotel, a building with condemned signs on the front windows and door. “Have you been here before, Forrest?”

  “No.” Forrest looked at Dorian. “Where’s the car?”

  “According to the tracker, it’s down the side alley.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  The Blackthorns exited the SUV like a gang going to war. If Victor had Bailey, if he hurt her, the Silverback Pack would have to find a new alpha.

  The found the car parked behind the white van. “Son of a bitch,” Evan swore.

  “He has her,” Dorian agreed.

  The van was empty, but Forrest could smell Bailey’s scent. His nostrils flared as he swept his hand toward the side door. “That way,” he said. “They took her in there.”

  Forrest followed Bailey scent trail through the rundown storage area, down a hall, and into a kitchen. He could smell blood and death everywhere, almost to the point that it obscured the sweet berry smell he’d been chasing. His brothers and Lara had scattered, not wanting to leave any area unsearched.

  “Over here!” Lara shouted.

  Forrest ran, his heart loud as a bass drum in his ears. Inside a walk-in freezer, the corpse of a man lay naked with his neck twisted into an unnatural position. There were two sets of clothes on the floor. A man’s jeans, T-shirt, and tennis shoes, and a woman’s skirt, top, and flats.

  Forrest grabbed the shirt. “This is Bailey’s.” He could detect his scent mixed with hers.

  “That’s Dale Comfry.” Dorian turned him over. “Bailey asked about him last night.”

  Forrest remembered the man and the conversation. A growl ripped from his lips. “Victor was here.”

  Evan sniffed the air. “Mach Larson, too.”

  Lara gnashed her teeth. “That fucking asshole.” She gripped Evan’s arm. “He hates Bailey.”

  Forrest knelt at the door. The aroma of musk and fur hung heaviest near the entry. Fox and wolf. “She shifted,” he said. “She must have gotten past them when they were killing Comfry.” He pounded back the hope her escape gave him. He knew with three wolf shifters after her, Bailey’s freedom was temporary at best.