Alex rubbed at his arm. “Love money. Hate people. You included.”
Tansey utterly ignored the exchange and jabbed a finger at each of them in turn. “Another round? Another round? Another round? Good. Ethan, you’re up. I need those extra hands.”
“Keep your kinks to yourself,” Hunter teased. Wide grins and middle fingers were shot his way.
Just ahead of them, Joyce slid up to the bar alone. Joss flashed her a polite smile and received a glare in return. Okay, then. That smashed any hopes that the woman had finally realized chasing after Hunter wouldn’t get her anywhere. Joss wasn’t about to poke the situation with a stick, though, and turned her attention back to her cowboy.
Hers. The word echoed through her head with the utmost clarity.
He lifted his chin. Gold eyes devoured her where she stood. He crooked a finger and drawled an order. “Come here.”
Butterflies taking off in her stomach, Joss skipped around the table. Strong arms wrapped around her middle and spilled her across his lap. She squeaked with the sudden movement and threw her arms around his neck for balance.
She needn’t have worried. Hunter held her steady and rocked her into place. Rough stubble scratched at her cheek with the press of his face to hers. “You sticking around for the rest of the season?”
She could drown in his scent and die happy. “Maybe longer. Depends if I’m wanted.”
His low growl vibrated through her. “Don’t believe for a second you’re not.”
Joss sucked in a breath when his lips slanted over hers. Her heart seemed to expand in her chest, and her pulse raced. The rest of the bar melted away when Hunter slid his tongue between her lips and deepened the kiss.
He had a past, sure. One she wasn’t entirely comfortable with because it touched too close on her own darkest fears. But that just made him more interesting. He was a strong, sometimes prickly man with a heart of gold and gooey center at his core. He wanted to make a future with her. Each twisting tangle of his tongue convinced her to take another step with him.
“You’d better stop tasting like perfection,” he murmured in a gravelly voice. “I might have to take you to a dark spot outside.”
“And face Tansey’s wrath for skipping out on the party? You’re either very brave or very dumb.” Joss clicked her tongue in teasing disappointment.
Sneaking away threaded excitement through her. The daring and the risk involved weren’t what old, boring Joss would have done.
Hunter nipped her earlobe. “It’s dumb. Absolutely dumb. You picked this idiot, so what does that say about you?”
“That I’m a sucker.” Joss propped her chin on his shoulder and let go of a contented sigh. She didn’t want to let go for even a second.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw Joyce quickly turn away and type something into her phone. A moment later, Andre slipped through the door and took a seat next to her.
Joss snuggled closer to Hunter. At least the noise of the bar gave them cover from any eavesdroppers. “We have company.”
Hunter twisted to follow her look. A simmering smile graced his lips when he turned back.
“Marking your territory?” he murmured in her ear.
“Maybe.” His hand on her thigh tightened and spread warmth through her veins.
Joyce wasn’t a threat. Very upset, very angry, but not someone to fear, especially when Hunter made it abundantly clear how much he wanted her. They’d picked each other and the ghosts of relationships past wouldn’t haunt their decisions.
Still, those two with their heads stuck together didn’t make a lick of sense. She tried to put them out of her mind. Hunter was a good man. He didn’t deserve either Andre or Joyce stirring up trouble.
Tansey and Ethan’s boisterous return with more shots and other drinks put the potential annoyances at the bar fully out of her mind. Joss slipped into the banter of the clan that had come to feel like her own.
An hour, maybe more, certainly about three more shots later, she excused herself to the bathroom. The buzz of music and conversation were muted by the walls, but did nothing to hide the pleasantness of the night simmering in her blood. She could hardly wipe the smile off her face.
Washing her hands, Joss glanced up in the mirror and jumped. Joyce stood not even a foot behind her. “Where did you come from?”
Too close. Much too close. In her head, her badger went nuts. The little beast wanted out—now. Something was wrong, and they needed to get away!
Joss stilled. The urge to move made her fingers tap against her legs. The sly look on Joyce’s face, however, kept her planted. Danger poured off the woman in waves.
“You stuck your nose where it didn’t belong,” Joyce said between clenched teeth. “You made me look like a fool.”
Whoo, boy. There wasn’t so much to pick apart in those statements as there was a need to drop the crazy like a hot potato. One sentence was full of jealousy, while the other was a personal grievance. Joss didn’t know which was more pressing.
She raised her hands, palms up in a plea for calm, rational discussion. “Look, if this is about Hunter, I don’t know what to tell you. The way I hear it, he put the brakes on you two long before I even dreamed of coming to this town. If you want to be mad at someone, go talk to the newspaper editor who jacked up our names.”
Joss inched to the side. Joyce still blocked the door. The last thing she wanted was another hair-pulling, sudden-shifting, drag-out fight. The bathroom stalls wouldn’t survive, and she didn’t want structural damage on her conscience.
“You just don’t get it, do you?” Joyce shook her head. “I could have dealt with Hunter in my own time. But you just had to step in my way. I always get what I want, and I want you gone.”
Apprehension trickled down Joss’s spine. Her badger didn’t like being trapped. The first signs of a change were poking sharp nails into her jeans. Her muscles knotted up and tensed in preparation.
She needed out and away from Joyce.
“I’m not talking about this with you. You’re not going to scare me off. Deal with what you lost in your own way, but leave us out of it.” She shot around Joyce and reached to pull open the door. Joyce slammed her hand against it to keep it closed.
Joss felt a sharp prick on the back of her neck. When she slapped her hand there, a tiny streak of blood came away.
“What did you do?” she growled. Or tried to. Her words slurred and badger disappeared from her mind.
Joss stumbled in her whirl around to face Joyce. The room spun kept on spinning and turned her stomach. She didn’t trust herself to take the five steps into the nearest stall to empty her stomach and prayed she didn’t mess down the front of her shirt.
“I told you. You shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
Darkness closed off her vision down to tiny pinpricks of light. Her knees hurt from her sharp fall to the ground. She struggled to stand and couldn’t make her limbs work. Even her thoughts spun slower together.
“It’s done. Get your people here now.” Something clicked nearby. A rustle of warm air preceded fingers dug into her hair to crane her head back.
“And once you’re out of the picture, well, let’s just say I’m not the only one wanting revenge. Andre wants a word with your man.”
What. No. No!
Joss tried to make her voice work. Not even a squeaked protest made it past her lips.
Hunter. She needed to warn Hunter.
The last pinpricks of light closed off and left her unconscious.
Chapter 20
Minutes slipped by, then ten. Hunter bounced his leg up and down to contain his agitation. Maybe she ate something bad or had some hair emergency. Ladies took longer than men in the bathroom. He didn’t want to pry or be that guy who always needed to know her every move.
Neither Joyce or Andre were at the bar where he’d last seen them.
His bear surged through him. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. Lorne, the nearest to him, slid him a dark look and rubbed his han
d over his chest.
Still, he kept to his seat. He was reacting to nothing. The same blind madness that drove all his mistakes pushed sawing growls from his chest.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Tansey extricated herself from Ethan’s arms and excused herself to the little warrior’s room. Hunter tried to hold back on the ripping instinct driving him into action. Tansey would tell him if Joss was in trouble.
She returned on her own.
Hunter shoved to his feet as soon as she weaved through the crowd without a redheaded companion. He didn’t see any of the dancers he cut through. He didn’t care if he bumped into them or ruined their rhythm. He had one question he needed answered.
He met Tansey halfway between their group and the restrooms. “Was Joss still back there?” he asked over the music.
“Joss?” she repeated. Tansey jerked back, eyebrows shooting together. “No.”
For years he lived his life in eight second increments. He counted them as the news spread like wildfire within the clan.
Eight seconds, and Ethan knew.
Eight more, Jesse tapped Lorne on the shoulder.
Another eight, and Tansey started back toward the bathroom.
Buzzers sounded in his head, but none of them brought his prize back into his life.
She was gone. He knew it even before he reached the bathroom.
He had to see for himself.
“Let me through,” he said gruffly.
Tansey poked her head out of the door. Gold eyes focused on him. Her scent had sharpened into fur and fury. “She’s not in here, Hunter.”
“Let me through,” he repeated. She might be his alpha’s mate, but she stood between him and tracking down his own.
“Tansey,” Ethan said softly. “Let him pass.”
She flicked a glance to her mate, then backed out of the way, swinging the door open with her. Some poor human woman huddled in the corner between the wall and the sink, casting wild eyes on the brooding, hulking figures that’d interrupted her private time.
Hunter ignored her immediately. Too much fear clung to her. She wouldn’t have been strong enough to take Joss.
Bathrooms smells and disinfectant stung his nose. He could almost see the paths women took in and out of the place, layered one over top of the other. He sifted through them, peeling each one back until he found the one he needed.
Joss.
A muscle jumped along his jaw. His bear shoved forward hard enough to drive him to his knees. If her scent weren’t enough, the long red strands of hair on the floor were evidence she’d been there.
She’d been scared and angry in those last moments. His stomach felt like he’d swallowed down cement.
“Joyce. Andre. They did this. I know they did.”
Joyce’s scent was right there with Joss’s. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
Fuck, he should have listened to Joss earlier. He should have known something was cooking when she pointed those two assholes out together. He should have done something to prevent them hurting her to get to him.
She’d asked if she was in danger before. He promised nothing would happen to her.
Fucking oath broken.
He wasn’t worthy of a mate if he couldn’t keep her safe from the problems of his past.
He pushed to his feet and stalked through the clan and others crowding around the door. By then, the music had died down and more eyes watched with degrees of worry shining on their faces.
He wanted to shove them all away. Didn’t they know anything about tracking? There were too many fucking people hiding Joss’s scent with their own.
“You heard the man,” Gideon, the bar’s owner, shouted. He threw his arms wide and herded the onlookers away from the bathroom hallway. “Give him some room.”
Ethan planted a hand on his chest. “Easy. She couldn’t have gone far.”
“Taken,” he snarled. “She couldn’t have been taken far.”
The distinction seemed important to make.
“She came this way,” Lorne said from behind him. “Joyce, too, I think. Too much foot traffic to be sure.”
Lorne stepped aside to give him the lead. Hunter followed the trail down the short hallway and through the exit. Someone behind him pointed to the disconnected alarm.
Eight seconds led him into the night, where he lost track of Joss.
* * *
Hunter stared at the cabin rented in Andre’s name just outside of Bearden. No vehicle rested in the driveway. Not a single light shined indoors. He couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the engines around him, but he was certain the house was cold and empty.
Did that stop him from wanting to search it from top to bottom? Fuck no.
Taking Joss been easy enough, he could see that. Catch her alone, do something to her, and then march her out the back door. Fierce badger probably didn’t even know what hit her. She was bad at being a shifter, still stuck on the behaviors needed to keep hidden around humans.
He hated himself for letting her walk right into trouble. He’d painted a target on her back. Joyce was someone he never should have taken up with in the first place. Andre was his deepest shame. And now they had his mate. They wanted to use her to get to him? Fuck that. He’d make sure she was treated like a queen for the rest of her life.
Just as soon as he flipped the table on those trying to force a losing hand.
Next to him, Ethan’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. He stared straight ahead, too. Of the entire clan, he knew what ran through Hunter’s mind.
As selfish as it was, Hunter was glad they weren’t the same circumstances. This was different. When Tansey had been taken, they were left with no clues aside from a faint trail that led to the road. Viho Valdana and his pack of fuckwits kept themselves secreted away until they were ready to spring their trap. The Black Claw clan hung on during the war by a fingernail.
Hunter had a location on Andre. He knew where Joyce lived and what places she frequented. He had leads. He just needed to follow them to the end of the trail.
Hunter kicked open the truck and dropped to the ground. He stared at the door of the house, gut churning viciously. He’d kill Andre for taking his mate. He wouldn’t feel a lick of guilt over it, either.
His father clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
Hunter couldn’t find any words that fit the hopeless and hopeful hole he found himself in. He felt like he was being buried alive.
So he just nodded.
Lorne and Alex spread out to circle around the cabin. If there were any trails leading away, they’d find them.
“Someone going to break a window?”
Jesse fixed on him with a leveled look. “No need for that.”
He crouched in front of the lock and pulled a small pack from his back pocket. He inserted a slender rod, then wiggled another against it. When that didn’t immediately work, he tried another. The glare he shot over his shoulder kept everyone quiet.
Hunter jumped onto the porch as soon as the door opened. Jesse rocked back on his heels to give him room to enter.
The place was neat and orderly. He trailed through the living room and into the bedroom area. The bed was made up and cold when he placed a hand over the blankets. Small, nicer than a studio apartment, but nowhere to hide anyone important.
“Andre was here. No sign of Joss.”
He inhaled again, then again. Not even a whiff of her scent entered his nose. Even Andre’s scent was faint, like he hadn’t been there in days.
The hair on his arms lifted. His bear watched and listened and sniffed through his senses. Neither of them could pinpoint the feeling of wrong, but it persisted. He’d missed something. Somewhere along the lines, he’d missed—
Glass shattered next to his head.
“Motherfucking cocksore!” Noel roared.
“Away from the windows!” Ethan shouted over him.
Hunter dropped to the ground and cr
awled around the couch. Ethan and his father pressed against the back, heads ducked below window level.
Blood tinged the air. Noel bared his teeth and ripped his shirt open. He’d been shot near his collarbone.
Boots pounded the ground and bodies rustled the foliage on either side of the cabin. Lorne burst through the door with Alex right on his heels. “Up the road. Someone shot from their truck and sped away.”
Alex’s eyes blazed bright as soon as he caught the scent of blood in the air. “Shit. He good?”
“Silver. Hurts like a sonovabitch,” Noel cursed. “Still in there.”
Hunter’s mouth set in a grim line. “At least we know we’re on the right track.”
He cocked his head at noise in the distance.
Lights flashed and wheels squealed on the sharp turn down the driveway. SUV doors flung open before more than two of the clan rushed outside.
“SEA! Everyone on the ground!”
Motherfucker.
Chapter 21
Joss squinted, but the room stayed dark.
And itchy.
She scrunched her nose and felt more scratches there. Through the fog still clouding her mind and turning her stomach, she realized she wore a hood.
She took another long moment to remember why she wore a scratchy, dark hood.
She’d been dosed with something. Joyce stabbed her with a needle and pumped her full of drugs. She couldn’t remember making it out of the bathroom at The Roost to… wherever she’d been taken.
Okay. Time to take stock. Hood, firmly on. Toes and fingers? Wiggling. Arms and legs bound together. Badger? Locked down tight with barely a brush of fur against her mind.
Fudge.
No. Fuck. The word was called for in her current state.
“Are you sure this is the one? She’s as rare as you say?”
Andre. She’d recognize that deep baritone voice anywhere.
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” Joyce snapped. “It’s all over her registration. Plus, I’ve seen her shift. I know what she is.”
Her first kidnapping, and already she was failing. Checking on her captors should have been her first thought.
Spurred Fate: Book Two: Black Claw Ranch Page 15