Rhys waited until Elizabeth was in the car and they’d pulled out of the driveway before he spoke. He’d tempered his reaction because he wanted to support her in this endeavor, but damn it, she was going to get herself killed.
“Do you realize who you’ve just pissed off?” He glanced her way, the grip on the wheel tightening as he tried to control his bear clawing just below the surface. He’d wanted to roar with pride at the way she’d stood up for herself, but on the other hand, he wanted to throw her over his shoulder and get her the hell out of there before she put a bigger bull’s-eye on her back. Shit.
“A crappy politician that doesn’t deserve to be in office,” she answered matter-of-factly before glancing out of the passenger window.
“But he is in office.” He glanced at her.
“I know his secret. He won’t come after me.”
“Dead people can’t tell secrets. He might not personally come after you, but you knowing his secret is exactly why he will.”
She let out a long sigh as she turned toward him. “I’m not here to make friends, Rhys. I’m here to find the missing girls.”
“Yeah?” he answered sarcastically. “And how is that working out for you? You’re alienating everyone you’re talking to. You already have more than one target on your back. How many more, baby, before you start to take this shit seriously?”
She snapped her gaze to his. “I want justice.”
“For who? The girls? Or for what happened to you in the past? Or maybe from the father who gave you to his brother to raise? Did you see a little bit of your situation in Rebecca? You have a lot of anger to deal with, baby.”
He reached over, trying to hold her hand, but she yanked it away, balling her fingers into a tight fist and resting it in her lap.
“Lizzie, I care about you. You are my mate, and it’s my job to protect you and make you happy, but right now I don’t know how to do either.”
He pulled the car over onto the side of the road and put it in park before he turned to her. “Tell me how to fix your anger and take away your pain. Just tell me, and I’ll do it.”
Her angry eyes watered as she turned away from him to stare out the window again. He was starting to understand her, even if she didn’t understand herself. She had two tactics when people pissed her off, two different reactions. She either withdrew by running away or turned into a ticking time bomb set to explode. Fuck. He ran a hand through his hair.
She needed help, and as much as it pained him to think it, she needed more than he could give her.
He got out of the SUV, rounded to her side, and pulled her door open. He unhooked her belt and pulled her into his arms. She was stiff beneath his touch, her face was red and blotchy, and it was a miracle she hadn’t shifted into something that could beat his bear’s ass or eat him.
“I’m sorry.” He used the crook of his finger to raise her chin to look at him. Her watery eyes stared back at him, cutting his anger off. “I’m just worried about you, Lizzie. I’ve just found you, and I’m not ready to lose you.”
He was a dick. A mate didn’t talk to the woman they were falling for like a total prick, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. At the rate he was going, she’d dump his butt and go to Evan, and what would he say to stop her? Beg for her to forgive him? Sometimes the truth was painful and even harder to bear coming from someone you cared about, but it needed to be said. After how she’d come back to the hotel last night, and after what he’d just witnessed, he was amazed her strong-headed ass was still alive. Shit.
She looked up at him with sadness in her eyes, and his gut clenched tight. He’d caused that look, and he was ready to kick his own ass because he was the one person who was never supposed to hurt her.
“I’m not perfect, Rhys. I never claimed to be. If those girls are going through what I went through…” She closed her eyes, dropped her head and gave it a little shake. “I have to find them,” she said with more conviction. “And more than that, I have to find what’s driving these assholes to continue. If I just knew, I could stop it. I could stop them from hurting anyone else.” She glanced up at him. “I have to stop them.”
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. He kissed her hair, unwilling to let her go. “You’re a survivor, baby. No one can take that away from you. Not the guys who abducted you, not the senator, not any of the shifters that want you dead, not even your father or Evan. You’ve survived all of this time without their help, without mine.” He leaned back to look down at her face. “You will catch these guys. I just need to know that you will live through this because if you don’t….it will destroy me.”
She relaxed into his arms, and he felt some of her anger dissipating with each breath. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips before releasing her and tapping her on her fine butt. “Come on. We have work to do,” he announced as he rounded the car, slid back inside and waited for her to shut her door. “Let’s review. So what do we know for sure?”
“Emily Fisher is dead; Sadie and Maria are missing; Jennifer was reported missing, yet she wasn’t.”
“Who reported her?” he asked.
“No one is taking credit for it, so I’ll have to review the tapes to see when it was called in.”
He gave a slow nod. “What else do we know?”
“Jennifer hated her fox, but her DNA was somehow altered.”
“Okay, and no one is taking credit for that little surprise, but we have to be looking for the mastermind behind that alteration. What else?”
“Evan is neck deep in this crap and was meeting with the senator and the guy I saw at the lab who was scowling at me from the top floor.”
“Okay.” He glanced at her. “Let’s take each one separate.”
“The senator has a bill up for passing that is going to piss off a lot of shifters. He’s also the father of a cub that isn’t his, which might be why he’s involved.”
“I don’t follow.”
She shrugged. “A man trying to hide a secret, especially when he’ll be running for re-election? Maybe he wanted to hide the proof that his wife cheated on him.”
“I’ll work that angle.” He slid his fingers through hers. “Drunks tend to talk…a lot. I’ll ask around and see what I can find out from the bar and some of the shifters in the Glade. They might be more willing to talk to me than you since I don’t carry a badge.”
She turned to him and smiled. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course.” He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed the inside of her palm. “So now you know what you need to check into. The missing person report, background on the people at the lab, and the man who was meeting with the senator.”
He pulled into a parking space in the SID lot and turned off the ignition. He turned to her. “I need you to trust me.”
She tilted her head. “You’re the only person I do trust.”
He gave a slow, knowing nod. “You might not like what I have planned, but I need you to know that I’d never hurt you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing to worry about.” He leaned over and kissed her lips. “Meet me at the bar later.”
She held his face and pulled him in for another kiss, letting her lips linger against his. “Okay.” She opened the door and was about to get out when he stopped her and placed his SUV keys into her hands. “You’re going to need wheels.” He winked. “I’ll call Max to come get me. He should still be in town.” He leaned in once more and kissed her. “Watch your back, Lizzie. They’re gunning for you.”
She gave him a mock salute. “Yes, sir.”
She got out of the car and met him around the back. She clicked the lock button with his fob and leaned up, resting her arms around his neck. She pulled him down and pressed a tender kiss to his lips. “You’re not half bad at being a mate.”
He grinned. “Is that your way of saying you approve?”
She chuckled as she turned to walk off, and he smacked her ass.
I hope she still thinks so after tonight. Rhys pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Max to come pick him up. He hung up and then dialed the one man who was sure to help. “Cousin, you owe me, and I’m calling in my favor.”
He walked toward the road and paced the lot. “I want you or one of your guys to follow her today if she leaves the building.”
“She’s not going to be happy,” Colton argued.
“She may not be happy, but she’ll be alive. I also need you to text me her number and Evan’s.”
“Why do you need to talk to Evan?”
“It doesn’t matter why. I just need this.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Lizzie needs this.”
“Fine, I hope you’re right.”
He hoped his plan was the right thing to do too. His life and his mate’s happiness hung in the balance. Rhys hung up the phone and waited for the text. He took a deep breath, trying to loosen his shoulders. He dialed the number and waited for Evan to answer.
“What the fuck are you trying to do, get her killed?” Evan growled in greeting, keeping his voice low
“We need to talk. Be at the bar in an hour.”
“I’m in the middle of something.”
“If you really want to help her, then be there. She needs something only you can give her.” Rhys shook his head, not believing that he’d just said those words and disconnected the call. He texted Elizabeth with his number and grinned when she texted him back with a heart.
****
Elizabeth sauntered into the dispatch room and straight up to the supervising department head. Mark smiled up at her, guided her into his office, and shut the door.
“Well, this is a pleasant surprise, Hanson. What brings you to my little corner of the world?”
“My case.” She took a seat across from his desk. “Someone reported a woman missing, and she wasn’t. I need to know who called in the report, and I figured coming straight to the top would streamline my efforts.”
“Depends on how the report was given to us.” He tilted his head. “All of our audio is recorded, so if it was an anonymous caller, you’d be able to hear the person’s voice, but they probably wouldn’t have given a name. If it was called in by a relative, they’d have given us the information, or…they could have just come into the office to file the report, which means you’d be able to see exactly who it is on our security cameras.” He poised his hands above his computer keyboard and waited. “Let’s take a look. Who’s your missing person?”
“Jennifer Smith. Someone reported her missing four days ago; the same day we were notified about the death of Emily Fisher.”
His brow rose. “Two women?”
“Actually, four.”
“It may take a few minutes to get you the exact information.” He started clicking away, and his brows dipped in concentration.
Elizabeth leaned forward, resting her elbows on his desk as she watched him work.
“Jennifer Smith was called in at three-twenty in the morning.” A few more clicks, and he turned up the speakers in his computer. A crackling sound came to life.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“Jennifer Smith has been kidnapped,” a familiar male voice said.
“Sir, what’s your name?”
Elizabeth leaned closer, closing her eyes to make sure she was hearing him correctly.
“My name is of no concern,” the caller said. “You need to find Mrs. Smith. Her life is in danger.”
Her brows dipped as she opened her eyes. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. She knew that voice as well as she knew her own. It hit her like a ton of bricks in the chest. Evan had made the call, but why was a question only he’d be able to answer. “Can you send me a copy of that audio clip?”
“Sure.” A few clicks later, and it arrived at her phone.
He continued pounding on the keyboard as she got up to leave. He glanced up at her, “Don’t you want to know who called in Mrs. Fisher’s death?”
“Absolutely.” She eased back down into the chair.
He hit play and leaned back in his chair. “Oh god, send an ambulance to 15th Street. She’s dying.” A woman panted into the phone as if she was out of breath. “He promised to turn her, and he killed her, and now he’s going to come after me.”
The phone disconnected, and Mark met her gaze. “Does she sound familiar?”
Elizabeth shook her head slowly. “Play it back.”
Matt hit play again, and Elizabeth closed her eyes to see if she recognized the voice or could pick up anything else in the background besides the woman’s heavy pants. She leaned in closer to the computer. In the background, she heard what sounded like a car door slam closed before the phone clicked off.
She opened her eyes. “Can you send me that one, too?”
A few clicks later, and that one arrived at her phone. “Anything else I can do for you, Elizabeth?”
“No. Thanks for your help.” She gave him a kind nod and left the office, more confused than when she’d arrived. The woman had to be one of Emily’s friends, yet she could rule out Jennifer. She’d heard her voice and knew her lies. It wasn’t Jennifer who had called in Emily’s death. No, this woman was scared, and from the sound of it, running.
Elizabeth stopped by her desk, pulled a couple of paralyzing darts from her drawer, and eased them into her pocket. After checking the clip in her gun, she shoved it back into the chamber and stuffed it in the back of her jeans. A copy of the school picture of Jennifer as the gangly sixteen-year-old with the crooked teeth caught her eye, and she grabbed it, too. She stared down into the girl’s blue gaze before sliding it in her other back pocket. She headed toward the doors and stepped out of the office, lifting her face up toward the afternoon sun. The warm caress was a gentle reminder she’d lived another day. Rhys was right about one thing. She was a survivor, and today wasn’t going to be any different.
Sliding behind the wheel of the SUV, Elizabeth tried to process the woman’s phone call she’d just listened to. Her heavy pants, the shutting of a door.
Elizabeth drove to the ritzy part of town. She knocked on the door of the ritzy brownstone. She needed answers and knew exactly where to get them.
Jennifer pulled the door open. She looked better. The color had returned to her face, not to mention that she was much more awake and dressed for the day.
“Detective?”
“Mrs. Smith.” Elizabeth smiled. “I have a couple more questions for you.”
“Sure.” She stepped back, allowing Elizabeth to enter her house.
The house was quiet. The smell of coffee clung in the air as she stopped in the living room. Elizabeth pulled out her phone and pulled up the sound bite of the woman’s phone call. “Do you recognize this voice?”
She hit play.
The color in Jennifer’s cheeks drained, and her eyes bulged as she listened to the frightened woman. “Yes,” she whispered. “That’s Maria.”
Elizabeth nodded. That’s who she’d thought the caller might be, but she’d still needed validation.
“Thanks.” Elizabeth didn’t hesitate to pull out the picture of Jennifer when she’d been sixteen. “And this is you?”
Jennifer pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes, unable to mask her surprise. “Where did you get that?”
“Your mother.” Elizabeth sighed. “What happened to your fox?”
Jennifer’s shoulders deflated, and she dropped her gaze. “No one was supposed to know.” She looked up, her eyes begging Elizabeth to understand. “He hates shifters. He never would have married me if he’d known.”
“Jennifer, what did you do?”
Jennifer sat down on the couch and rested her head in her palms. “I never asked to be a shifter.” She looked up as a tear slipped from her eyes. “I only ever wanted to be normal.”
Elizabeth shoved the picture back in her pocket.
“What did you do?” Elizabeth asked again with a bit more authority, knowing that Jennifer’s answer was important.
Jennifer cleared her throat. “When I found out I was an animal, I ran away from my parents. It was their fault I’d never be normal.” She rose from her spot on the couch. “I lived on the streets for years, just barely surviving while I searched for a cure, anything that would make the fox go away.”
Jennifer lifted her chin. “I met a man.” She shook her head. “He said he could help me. He said that he’d already helped others just like me.”
“And you believed him?”
“Detective, I was on the verge of suicide, ready to end my own life. You don’t know what it’s like to get picked on for being the runt of the group. When you add in that I’m a fox, that knowledge just made things worse. So, yes…I believed him.”
“And he killed the fox?”
Another wet tear slipped down over her cheek. “Yes.” Her words came out a whisper.
“How?”
She didn’t answer.
“Jennifer, I need to know how he did it.”
“He gave me an injection.”
“What did it do?” Elizabeth softened her voice.
“I didn’t think it worked at first. I was lying on a bed with an IV hooked in my arm. He pushed the liquid in, and it wasn’t until about fifteen minutes later when I felt the effect. I screamed in agony. My insides were on fire; I felt like I was dying, and then I blacked out. That was all I remembered.” Jennifer visibly swallowed. “He killed the fox inside of me that day, and I’ve silently mourned every day since.”
Fresh tears slid down her cheeks before she cupped her face. Her shoulders trembled with her silent sobs.
“Jennifer.” Elizabeth laid her palm on her arm. “I need to know the man’s name. Who did this to you?”
She swiped at her tears and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose. “I never knew his name. He never told me. Everyone on the street just called him Raw.”
“Will you meet with a sketch artist at my office?”
She started shaking her head quickly, and fear struck her eyes. “No, no, no. I can’t let my husband find out.”
Elizabeth touched her arm in reassurance. “Your husband doesn’t need to be involved, but if we can put a face to the name, it might help us find your friends.”
“I can’t do it now.” Her voice trembled. “I’m about to meet him for lunch, but I can come by after.”
“That would be great.” Elizabeth gave Jennifer’s shoulder a gentle squeeze before heading to the door. “I’ll call ahead and tell them to be expecting you later today.”
Jennifer hugged her waist. “I hope you catch him. I may have asked to kill my fox, but I was only a kid. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“We’ll find him.” Elizabeth gave a slight nod, walked out, and jogged down the steps toward the SUV. She repeated the name to herself as anger swept through her body, “Raw.”
Elizabeth drove on autopilot to the alley where they’d found Emily. She parked on a side street and walked to the mouth of the alley and turned in place. The road was mainly deserted with only a few buildings nearby, including the club. A few cars sat in the parking lot but not many. She scanned up and down the street, her mind working to imagine the scene when Maria’s call had taken place and where she might have run.
Unable to determine where the woman might have run, Elizabeth walked farther into the alley. The tall, old brick buildings around her blocked the afternoon sun from her eyes, casting dark shadows on the pavement. The stench of rotten food from the dumpsters and cans drifted to her nose. Flies swirled around, attracted by the potential feast. Scanning the ground and everything she passed, she continued walking, looking for something that the crime scene unit could have missed or overlooked. There was nothing.
As she reached the end of the alley, Elizabeth shielded her eyes from the sun and scanned the small street where delivery drivers could park to offload shipments. Beyond the asphalt was an open field leading to an outcrop of trees that ran the length of the entire block. The trees were the outer edge of the jogging path that circled the nearby park. “This is where she ran.”
She sniffed the air and smelled Colton before she saw him. She spun around to find him leaning against a brick wall in the alley. “I was wondering how long it was going to take before you realized I was behind you.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked, frozen.
“Same thing you are.” He shrugged and straightened. “Looking to see if we missed anything.” He stepped up beside her. They scanned the same trees she’d been looking at.
“I listened to the 911 calls. The woman that called in about Emily was running as she made the call. She was out of breath.” Lizzie nodded toward the trees. “Care to take a walk?”
Colton smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”
There was an awkward silence between them as they crossed the open field. Colton spoke first. “I should have told you about Evan.”
“Yep.” She continued walking beside him. “You’re half human.” She gave him a sideways glance and grinned. “You’re allowed to make a mistake or two. Just don’t let it happen again. Not when it’s something important, like that.”
She bumped his shoulder, and he bumped her back, making her giggle for the first time in a long time. She loved Colton like a brother, and while she’d been angry at him, it made her feel as though a part of her was missing. He was not only her boss but also her friend; the only friend she’d had for a long time, and giving that up wasn’t something she could easily accept. He’d screwed up, but they all did. It was an inevitable part of life.
She loved Colton like a friend, nothing compared to the love she felt for Rhys. Her eyes widened, and she tripped over her own feet, righting herself before she fell.
She couldn’t love Rhys? It was too soon. No. She pushed the thought aside.
“What’s the matter? Forget how to walk?”
She gave him a little shove with her hand. “Hardly.”
They walked slowly through the trees, stopping to check anything that looked remotely out of place. A few soda cans and trash was all they found. Colton rested his palm on her arm, stopping her from taking another step. He inhaled a deep breath sniffing the air, prompting her to do the same. A very faint scent of wolf drifted to her nose. When she opened her eyes, she could see the pack of wolves in the distance. They were coming at them from all angles. She glanced behind her. The street was free and clear.
“What the….”
Colton spun her around the nearest tree and pulled her to a crouch. “Shift or run?”
She peeked back out from the tree and still hadn’t spotted the one wolf that was the bane of her existence. The only wolf brave enough to threaten her. Horace was nowhere to be seen. “I’m going to shift.” She placed a hand on his arm. “There’s too many of them for you. You need to go back.”
“Like hell.” He growled and rose, tearing off his clothes.
She jumped up from the spot and hurried to remove hers. If they were going to fight, she needed whatever advantage she could get.
She let the magic take her over, feeling its pull and push over her body. Her teeth lengthened and sharpened, yet her body didn’t shift. She felt stronger and sharper than any of her other animals. Her vision turned red.
“Shift,” he growled as if waiting for her to take her form.
“I did,” she replied and looked down at her human arms. “The only thing that changed was my vision…and I feel stronger.”
“Evan,” he whispered. Grabbing her arms, he swung her around to face him. “Lizzie, you’re immortal like a vampire. He should have told you, but we don’t have time to argue. Your body is recognizing your vampire traits. You’re fast, and your strength will break bones. They won’t see you coming.”
“No.” She shook her head. “That’s not possible.”
He lowered his head to meet her gaze. “He bit you and willed you to survive because he’s dead. He imposed his will for you to live because he could. He has a direct link to you.”
“They aren’t real,” she argued back, yanking her arms free. “I don’t drink blood, and what about the sun?”
“I don’t have time to explain. Just trust me.” He glanced back around the tree. “Shit. Twenty yards and closing.”
He took her arm again. “He can hear you if you call to him in your mind. That’s how he knows when you’re in trouble. You’ve been doing it all along.”
Within seconds, Colton shifted into his grizzly and lifted to stand on his hind legs. His roar shook the ground, pulling her back into the coming fight.
“I’m going to kill you, Evan,” she screamed in her mind, hoping to hell that she gave the asshole a headache.
Elizabeth balled her fist when the first wolf took flight, jumping to attack Colton head-on. She sprang into a run and caught him mid-air, squeezing his mid-section. She heard his bones crack before she tossed him to the side. Fast was an understatement. She’d barely just blinked and had the wolf between her arms. Her strength rivaled that of her dragon, and better yet, she had arms instead of wings. She didn’t see the downside of being a vamp, at least not yet.
The others snarled, the saliva dripping from sharp teeth as they paced, looking for an opening to attack. She watched them, keeping her back to Colton. They wouldn’t get to him, not if she had anything to say about it.
In a choreographed move, all five of the assholes but one jumped on her at once. Mouths clamped down on her skin as she yanked one away, throwing it into a tree, and the rest were tearing at her skin. She screamed. Using all of her strength to yank and pull, breaking two of the mutt’s jaws, she tossed them aside. Blood covered her body, oozing from her wounds. Her strength was failing, and she fell to her knees, and that’s when she saw Horace step out in his wolf form from behind the nearest tree. His yellow eyes glared at her, his snout shaped into a growl, giving her a menacing glimpse of his fangs. He leapt at her at the same time as the others, and Colton barreled into him, swatting him to the ground.