Jayce and her pack were out there. They had her back. Nothing bad was going to happen. At least not to her. They were going to bring down these bastards tonight. She kept repeating the words over and over in her head, until calm surged through her.
“I’m okay,” she whispered, afraid to say more than that. She just wanted Jayce to know she wasn’t harmed. If she was being honest, she knew she was saying the words out loud for herself too, needing to believe them.
Connor had surprised her by pulling her aside earlier and telling her to give Jayce some leeway when he acted possessive and a little crazy about this operation. She knew it would be hard for him, and that was the only thing that had made her question her decision. But she had to do this. The APL was growing and it wasn’t affecting just their part of the world. This group could strengthen if allowed to continue unchecked and she wanted to strike back at them. Maybe she didn’t want revenge anymore, but she sure as hell wanted justice.
* * *
In the back of an SUV, Jayce sat next to Ryan while Connor and Liam sat in the front seat, with the Alpha driving. Jayce’s canines ached and his claws dug into his palms. He didn’t even bother trying to retract them. The pain kept him focused on what needed to be done even though it did nothing to dull the fury coursing through him.
Having to listen to Kat get punched, then to her begging for her life had shredded his insides. When he’d heard the strike against her skin, Liam and Connor had both had to physically restrain him until he could get his wolf under control. It didn’t matter that she was acting, that the fear in her voice wasn’t real—that didn’t soothe his inner wolf at all. It only enraged him. She was his to protect in all situations.
Right now he wanted to draw blood, to rake his claws over every single APL member, tear all their bodies to ribbons, and do the same to anyone who got in his way. He also wanted to kill Fletcher for what he’d pulled, but that was the least of his concerns at the moment.
Kat was the only thing that mattered.
“They’re taking her inside what looks like a warehouse,” Ryan murmured, turning the surveillance screen so that Jayce could see.
In addition to the recording device Ryan had embedded in her clothing, they’d also put two tracking devices on her; one in her boot and one in her watch. Parker’s law enforcement friends had wanted to use their own equipment, but Ryan’s stuff was far superior and Jayce had been willing to compromise only so much. Ryan had three screens pulled up on his laptop. One showed that the recording device was working perfectly; every single word was being transmitted and downloaded. Another showed Kat’s trackers moving, and the third showed an actual map and outline of where the tracker was headed. They were maybe thirty seconds behind her, and if need be he could shift to animal form and race to where she was in ten to fifteen seconds. That had been part of his stipulation in allowing this stupid fucking operation to take place. She would never be separated from him by more than seconds. And as a wolf, he was damn fast. Unfortunately for anyone who got in his way, his beast was usually in charge when he allowed himself to shift.
Jayce knew what to expect next. Fletcher had practically hand-fed the cop as to what he needed to do with Kat. Jayce would be receiving a phone call very soon.
“She needs to do this for herself. After what she went through, this is her way of getting control,” Connor said quietly from the front.
There were male voices coming through the recorder, then Kat begging them not to lock her up. Hearing her saying that killed Jayce inside. The humans ignored her pleas and he listened as a scuffle took place. It sounded as if Kat was struggling. She screamed “No!” and then the sound of metal clanging against metal vibrated over the airwaves.
He growled, his claws extending even more. His beast was so close to the surface. It would be so easy to give in, to let his wolf take over.
To kill everyone who’d hurt Kat.
The sound of shredding fabric jerked him out of his trance. Looking down, he saw that he’d cut straight through the leather of the seat with one hand and broken off part of the door with his other.
“Let me out!” Kat shouted, her cry falling on deaf ears.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” a male voice asked.
“Mayfield is on the way, but I want the enforcer en route by the time Mayfield gets here. Have you subdued the others?”
A short pause, and then a sigh. “Yeah. You sure it’s necessary to kill them? They’re part of the APL.”
“And they’ve all got violent criminal records. We don’t need to be associated with people like that. Besides, it’s an acceptable loss for our cause. Collateral damage.”
“Collateral damage,” the unidentified male echoed.
There was a beeping sound, as if someone was making a phone call. When Jayce’s phone rang and Kat’s number appeared, he realized they’d been scrolling through her contact list.
Ryan plugged earphones into the laptop so the sounds from the recorder wouldn’t echo over their call, then nodded at Jayce.
Taking a deep breath, Jayce forced himself to act natural, as if he wasn’t expecting a call from a psycho. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“We’ve got your woman,” the cop said.
“Who the fuck is this?” Jayce didn’t have to act now. The anger in his voice was real.
“Not important. If you ever want to see her alive again, you will do exactly as I say.” Jayce was pleased to hear a slight tremor in Derrick’s voice.
Even this dumb fucker knew he was messing with the wrong guy. “How do I know she’s even alive? Or how do I know this isn’t some prank?”
There was a clanging sound, then Derrick saying, “Speak into the phone. It’s your boyfriend.”
“Whatever they say, don’t do it, Jayce!” Kat’s fearful shouts were followed by a sharp clang, as if someone had slammed something against metal, likely the door or cage Kat was being held in.
His free hand flexed and he tore into the seat again, needing to hurt something.
“You can hear she’s fine, but she won’t be if you don’t follow my instructions explicitly.” He rattled off an address and told him he had fifteen minutes to get there. When Jayce tried to argue, Derrick snarled, “You’ll be burying your woman if you don’t make it.” Then he ended the call.
Jayce tossed the phone onto the seat next to him so he wouldn’t hurl it against the window or crush it in his hands. Right now he was itching to destroy something.
“We can put a recording device on you,” Ryan said.
“No.” Connor shook his head as he pulled off the highway near the turnoff where they’d taken Kat. He drove until their SUV was hidden behind a cluster of trees.
Jayce nodded in agreement. “They’ll search me.” He glanced at his watch. He didn’t want to show up too early because they might realize he’d been following Kat the whole time.
So he sat with the other three and listened to the APL members bullshit among themselves. They talked about what a stroke of luck it was finding Kat and how they were going to show the world what monsters shifters were. Jayce was going to enjoy hurting them.
The flash of headlights from the opposite direction of the highway swept through the trees as a truck turned down the road leading to the abandoned warehouse where they were keeping Kat. From the screen that Ryan pulled up, it looked like it had once been a textile plant.
“The cop has already admitted to a lot of shit, but if that’s his boss who just drove by and he was involved with Kat’s kidnapping or December’s attempted kidnapping . . .” Connor trailed off, not needing to finish.
Jayce understood perfectly. From what they’d heard through Kat’s wireless bug, it should be Mayfield arriving, a man who had been mentioned more than once by Brianna and Fletcher. From the sound of it, he might be a leader within the organization, and if they could bring him down, so much the better. Jayce just had to keep his wolf in check. If this fucker had been behind Kat’s kidnapping and subsequent torture . . . His canines extended fully, earning a sharp intake of breath from Ryan.
“You sure you’re up for this?” the other shifter asked.
Ignoring him, Jayce divested himself of his weapons, phone, jacket, and belt, then opened the side door. “I’m going in.” If the map was correct he had about half a mile to cover, which would take him no time at all.
He sprinted down the pothole-covered road, reaching the warehouse in time to see a metal roll-up door closing. Whoever had driven up was now inside; the truck was empty. He listened for heartbeats, trying to distinguish how many people were in the warehouse. He counted nine, including Kat’s. Eight heartbeats inside and one much closer. Nothing he couldn’t handle himself.
Considering the backup he had, he wasn’t remotely worried.
“I can smell and hear you,” he said to the human doing a piss-poor job of trying to sneak up behind him.
Without giving the human a chance to respond, Jayce swiveled and struck out with his fist, not bothering to contain his rage. With a crunch, the guy’s jaw broke and the human flew through the air. He landed in the dirt with a thud and lay unmoving, his gun landing a few feet away from him.
One down, seven to go.
Pathetic. Jayce had expected more of an army, but maybe since this was a last-minute deal they weren’t as prepared as they normally would be. Or maybe most of them had scattered after Jayce, Connor, and the Armstrong pack had thinned their ranks a month ago.
Striding up to the metal door, he banged on it. “I’m here, motherfuckers!” He figured the crass announcement would leave no doubt as to who he was.
Moments later the door opened and he found himself staring down the barrel of a revolver. To his right, Derrick also had a bead on him with what looked like a standard-issue nine-millimeter.
To his left stood a distinguished-looking man in a suit. From what Jayce could tell he didn’t have a weapon, although he might have something tucked into the back of his pants or strapped to his ankle. Jayce guessed this was Mayfield. He was the only one who didn’t fit in with the rest of the blue-collar-looking people.