Wolf’s Heart

by Ruelle Channing

  “Dammit, Carlee! You’re going to your place? What in the hell are you thinking?”

  He sped up, swerving through traffic and watching for cops, in a hurry to get to her. “Just be okay, Buttercup. Please, just be okay.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  The cab driver made his way through the busy streets. His eyes met Carlee’s in the rear view mirror as the tears rolled slowly down her cheeks. “Are you okay, Miss? Is there something I can do for you?

  She sniffled, wiping her cheeks and nose on the back of her hand. “You wouldn’t understand. Let’s just leave it at man trouble.”

  She was looking out the window at her building as she reached into her purse, taking out some cash and handing it through the window to the driver. “Thanks for the ride. Keep the change.”

  The first step out of the cab was the hardest. She stood for a moment and looked at the building, then reached into her purse for her keys and approached the entrance.

  With each step she took, she steeled her nerves. When she finally reached her door, there was no need for a key, someone had forced the deadbolt. She fought to stand, to just breathe as her eyes looked around.

  The place had been trashed. It wasn’t like this when she had been here a few days ago. Now the couches were upside down, tables broken in pieces, books thrown from their shelves. She felt sick just being here but forced her legs to move, each step feeling as if she was walking in quicksand. As soon as she saw the fireplace and the dishes, the night of the beating came back as a vivid replay in her mind, her hand pressed against her stomach. There was no pain there now, only a tingle that would serve as a constant reminder of the gift Ryden had given when he healed her.

  The air was filled with the stench of rotten food. Gagging as she tried to breathe she placed her hand over her mouth and nose in an attempt to stop the smell.

  Shit! I need air. I need out of here.

  Moving quickly into the bedroom, she found the same scene greeting her. She realized she was crying again as she picked up the pieces of her broken Cal Ripkin, Jr. bobble head.

  She screamed and jumped when the phone rang, and tripped over the mess on the floor. She stared at the phone, hesitating, unsure whether to answer or not. No one knew she was here…or did they? The decision was made for her when the machine picked up. The voice that filled the room was not one that she expected. A voice from the past she rarely heard, her dad. His tone was strictly business.

  “Carlee? Carlee, if you’re there, pick up. Your mother and I have been trying to reach you. Kyle is in bad shape. Carlee, you need to…”

  She snatched up the receiver before he got any further. “Dad? Sorry, I lost my phone and have been away a couple days. What’s wrong with Kyle? Where is he?”

  She listened on the phone, and his voice sounded tense. “Kyle has been slipping in and out of a coma. He woke up and asked for you. I thought you might want to say your goodbyes.”

  She searched to find a piece of paper. She found the notebook she kept near the phone on the floor, found a pen, and wrote down the address. There were so many questions running through her mind. She thought he had been doing better. It had been months since she had gotten a call. Every time she tried to call Kyle all she got was his voice mail. She always left messages, but they were never returned. The questions would have to wait for now.

  “Tell him I’m on my way. Tell him he isn’t going anywhere without me, he promised. Have someone ready for a transfusion when I get there.” Not waiting for a reply, she disconnected the call and let the phone drop to the floor.

  She knelt down and pulled up the corner of the carpet. She found the loose board and jimmied it with her finger until it finally popped so she could lift it up. It was her own version of a safety deposit box. She took out her passport and a couple hundred in cash along with her Glock .40, and stuffed it all into her purse. She hated guns, refused to carry one. Funny how quickly things change. She rushed back through the apartment and slipped out the door without looking back. She had no plans to return—ever. Her investigation of MedVision and its owners, and her worries, would have to wait. Kyle needed her.

  As soon as her feet hit the sidewalk, she started to run. Her only thoughts at that moment were of Kyle and getting to him. She had run for several blocks before it finally occurred to her to hail a cab. It had only been a few minutes before one finally stopped. She settled into the back seat after giving the address.

  It had been years since she had seen Kyle. Not by her doing and probably not by Kyle's choice, but by their parents' manipulation. She knew that he didn’t want her to watch as he deteriorated. He wanted her to have a normal life. He started to refuse the transfusions of Carlee’s blood. She still donated the blood when her parents would call. She just didn’t get to see Kyle. She and her father had arranged for her blood donations in private. She often wondered if he could tell the difference. Kyle wanted her last memories of him to be the big strong brother who, no matter what the situation, would take care of his little sister. She had always led him to believe that he did. The truth of the matter was, Kyle had always been sick.

  He developed Cooley’s anemia right after he left the hospital at birth. After that, he had a life of blood transfusions and then his kidneys went kaput. She now knew that’s why she was brought into the world. She reached up and rubbed her arm absentmindedly just at the thought of all the blood that had been taken over the years. After all that, anyone would think she wouldn’t be bothered by them. But, to this day, needles still give her weak knees. Thinking back about the tissue samples and the bone marrow biopsies almost caused her to hurl. It was only when she was proven to no longer be of any use to Kyle that she was sent away, only permitted to come back on the rare occasions that she was healthy enough to give blood. Her parents never wanted two children. They only wanted one—their son.

  As the cab pulled up in front of what appeared to be a converted warehouse, the driver asked, “You sure this is the right place, lady?”

  Checking the paper and the address, she said, “Looks like the family moved up to the big times, not.”

  Tossing the driver some cash through the window, she turned and looked again at the rundown building. Maybe the medical bills for keeping Kyle up and running while they waited for a cure had gotten too much. The place was definitely a downgrade from the large home outside the city.

  Hesitantly, she walked to the door. She adjusted her clothes and ran her fingers through her hair. There was no way she could let Kyle see her looking like she had just rolled out of bed. Knocking, she heard a soft voice calling to come in. She reached out and tried the knob. The door was unlocked, which was crazy in this neighborhood. Of course, if the neighbors met Major Dad, they wouldn’t exactly be coming over to borrow a cup of sugar. He was a tough man, putting it mildly. She stepped inside and looked around, not seeing anyone.

  “Kyle? Dad? Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

  Everything was quiet. Her heart went to her throat as she thought she was too late. Kyle had promised he would never leave her without at least saying goodbye. She had made him the simple promise not to leave. Period. She knew that her blood transfusions always helped him. He could have as much as he wanted as long as he was okay.

  The place was giving her the major creeps. This was obviously not where they were living. The furniture was shabby and dusty, looking as if no one had bothered to clean in months. It smelled musty, the AC was turned off leaving it stifling hot. It obviously had not been occupied for a long time.

  Turning the corner she felt the blinding pain as her head jerked back with the force of the blow and she fell backwards landing on her ass hard enough that she felt it all the way up her spine. She touched her jaw carefully as her vision cleared. When she looked up, her heart stopped.

  “G.”

  She did a mad scramble back crawl to get away, not taking her eyes off of him, waiting for the gun to appear as her thoughts flashed back. G only looked down and laughed.
Was it just two weeks ago that he had claimed to love her? Now, he stood over her laughing. She turned her head in the direction of another voice. Dark, laughter came from the hall behind her and belonged to a man she had never seen before.

  “Remember, we’re supposed to take her alive again. Difference is, once we find out what she’s been up to, you might get to kill her later.”

  She looked from one man to the other, hoping and praying for a miracle, or that she could bluff her way out of this. “I hope you brought more than just the two of you because it’s gonna take more than that.”

  Flipping around, she began to crawl and almost reached her purse to get her gun. She didn’t quite make it when one of the men grabbed her ankle and pulled her back. She was twisting, fighting, turning, and screeching like a banshee, doing anything she could to get away. She held back a whimper as a hand reached down and grabbed her hair and pulled her up into a standing position. Her scalp felt like it was on fire. One man grabbed her wrists, pulling them behind her back. There was the familiar pain in her wrists as zip ties bit into her skin. She looked into G’s eyes as the guy put a piece of duct tape over her mouth.

  “Do us all a favor, love. Just shut the fuck up.”

  She glared at G, not even trying to hide her hatred. She knew that there was little hope. G had already tried twice to kill her and everyone said that the third time for anything is a charm. She leaned in closer to him as if to place her head against his chest in search of comfort. His laugh became louder, at least until her knee connected with his balls, and she watched him drop. She had one chance and ran for the door as her heartbeat thundered in her ears. She almost made it when she was grabbed from behind and forced to turn around. A fist connected with her already injured jaw and she swore she saw stars shooting across the sky. G’s laughter was the last thing she heard before she hit the ground.

  Chapter Twenty

  When Ryden finally arrived at her apartment, he was on edge. He could feel the tingle, the itch across his skin that signaled the need for his wolf to break free and rip something to shreds. His jaw cramped as he ground his teeth, and his hands ached from gripping the steering wheel.

  The tires squealed as he pulled into the lot, and he had barely gotten the car in park when he was out and racing to her door.

  “Carlee!” He called out but got no answer. He took a deep breath and nearly choked on the stench. Going through the apartment, looking in every room, he saw the chaos. Someone had been here and trashed the place. He was certain Carlee hadn’t done this, so it had to be whoever was after her. He growled at the thought that came to his mind. Even God won’t be able to help them if they hurt her.

  He walked back through, looking for anything that might tell him where she was, sifting through the various piles that had been tossed here and there. Whatever they were looking for, he wondered if they’d found it. About to leave the bedroom, he spotted the corner of the room where the carpet was pulled up. He walked over and knelt down, feeling underneath. Finding the loose floor board, he managed to pry it up then ripped it from the floor. There was an empty space beneath.

  “Carlee, what were you hiding here?”

  He tossed the board back down and got up. Walking back out of the room, he noticed the flashing light on her answering machine. He walked over and pushed play, hearing a few random calls. One was a telemarketer, another from work, yet another that was just an empty message. Then he heard a man’s voice.

  “Carlee? Carlee, if you’re there pick up. Your mother and I have been trying to reach you. Kyle is in bad shape. Carlee, you need to…BEEP.”

  It didn’t take much for Ryden to figure the male voice on the phone was her father. She had rarely spoken of him when they were together. He knew that she had a brother, Kyle, but she never talked about him, and he never pressed her for information on him. She had only said that growing up he had been ill. Father or not, if he harmed a hair on her head, Ryden would tear him apart. Playing it again, he figured Carlee must have been here and picked up the call. At least that’s what he hoped and prayed for. There was nothing else to go on.

  His wolf was so close to the surface, it was a struggle to keep him back. In the blink of an eye, his vision changed. Everything in the room became clearer. He could see the tiny particles of dust that lay on top of the counter, the indents in the carpet where her feet had walked across it. His wolf eyed a note pad that lay on the table near the phone, and he could see across the top where a piece of paper had been ripped, leaving small sliver of it behind, along with the indents on the note pad. A hundred times as a kid, Ryden had seen those cheesy detective shows on television where the guy gets a pencil and uncovers a secret message on the notepad. He figured there was nothing to lose, so in the fashion of Dick Tracy, he angled the pencil just right and rubbed the lead over the pad.

  “Bingo, I’m on my way Carlee. Just don’t do anything stupid...again.” Back on the road, with his GPS locked into the address, Ryden hurried to Carlee. “Just sit tight this time, Buttercup. Let me get to you.”

  Traffic was heavy as Ryden made his way to the address, hoping like hell she would actually be there. He couldn’t lose her. She belonged to him, his mate. He had finally admitted that to himself, but it took seeing her drive away before the human side caught up with the raging wolf.

  “Come on, you fuckers. MOVE!” He beat the steering wheel in frustration and honked his horn so he could get by. His wolf was still at the surface refusing to retreat. Ryden’s reflexes were lightning quick but in Baltimore traffic, there was no rushing, not to mention cameras at every traffic light. Ryden knew he couldn’t afford to draw unwanted attention his way.

  Getting off the expressway, he followed his GPS to the address. The place wasn’t what he was expecting. Hell, he wasn’t sure what he did expect, but an old warehouse was not on the list. This was a rough part of town, thugs on every street corner along with abandoned houses, graffiti and prostitutes trying to get some cash for their next fix. The place was large but seriously run down. There was no one around the building itself, but he circled the block before he made a move to get closer.

  He parked the car down the street, hoping it would still be there when he got back, and moved to the rear entrance of the building. His sidearm was in hand, his nose in the air and he listened for any sudden sounds that might alert him to danger. He eased around the corner to the front door, and his wolf caught a faint whiff of Carlee, not much, but it was enough to tell Ryden she had been here. As he got closer, he could smell the cheap cologne he had smelled before. One of the goons that had been after them was, or had been, here as well, and it was the same scent from her apartment.

  His wolf raged inside him wanting his female, wanting to tear apart anyone who dared to touch her. Ryden’s hands were clenched as he kept himself from shifting. You’ll get your turn when we find her.

  He suppressed a growl and ducked inside, looking around the nearly empty space for Carlee. Her scent didn’t get stronger. Instead, it was weaker the farther he got inside. She’d not made it very far past the front door. But where did they take her? There were a few drops of blood on the floor. He touched the blood drops and brought his fingers to his nose. He knew the blood was hers.

  When she left here, he knew she was still alive. Deep in his soul, he could still feel her. She was his mate. If she was dead, he would know it. That pain he felt when she had been beaten would be nothing compared to the pain that would come with her death.

  He couldn’t go there, couldn’t think of it. His need to find her was primal on the most basic level. But, where did he to go from here? His only thought was to find out where the MedVision labs were and where Carlee’s parents lived. Either one of those two places were the most obvious to start, so with that in mind, he hurried back to his car.

  He rounded the corner to see three guys wearing what were obviously gang colors and sporting gang tats down their arms attempting to steal his Mustang. There was no time for niceties. With the
safety off and one in the chamber, he called out to them.

  “Can I help you guys?” As one, they turned at looked at him, guns raised while Ryden’s remained in his left hand against his left side. He preferred to just shoot all three of them but that would only draw unwanted attention he couldn’t afford.

  “Move ‘long, sucka. Nuttin’ ta see here.” This one was surely the brains of the bunch.

  “Doesn’t look that way to me. Looks like you three are jacking some poor guy’s car.”

  “Are ya deaf? I said move yo’ mutha fuckin’ ass.” He pulled back the hammer on his .38 revolver and pointed it at Ryden’s chest. It was obvious to Ryden the three of them were high on something other than intelligence or they’d realize he was the owner of the car.

  “I can’t do that. You see, that’s my car you’re trying to jack, and I’ve got my girlfriend’s life to save, so I need my wheels. I’m gonna have to ask you nicely to step away from the car and move along. Go bother someone else.” Ryden was itching for a fight; his wolf was itching for blood. They had no clue what they were up against.

  “We ain’t goin’ nowhere wid’out dis car an’ you gonna get yo’ punk-ass shot if ya don’ get lost, mutha’fukah.”

  “Hmm, it seems we’re at a stalemate then. I suggest you come and make me leave.” The punk’s eyes narrowed as Ryden flipped the safety back on and slipped the gun back into the waistband of his jeans. He knew the leader would put his gun away in favor of a fight. He did just that, and signaled his two buddies to come at Ryden.