Chapter Twenty-one

“We start close, then make our way out,” Cade told them as they piled into the Jeep.

Mira and Tristan were in the front. It was bigger than hers, off-roading seemed to be what it was made for. Ven, Dre, and Cade were in the back. Ven refused to be in the second wave.

They were going first with everyone else including Jax and Lea in the two Jeeps following them. They would keep a safe distance away until they located the spot her kittens were being held in.

The first location was close to their house. No one was surprised when it was empty.

“I don’t like this,” Mira told them as she got closer to the abandoned house. It was large reminding her of a farmhouse as opposed to something she would associate with the city.

“I don’t like it either, but I’m just human and don’t sprout fur or claws,” Dre muttered even though he knew they could hear him.

“Can we keep him?” Ven asked.

“Ven, we can’t just keep people. He’s a man, not a toy!” Tristan hissed.

“He’s young like me. We can be best friends.” Ven and Dre fist bumped like it was all the rage.

Mira rolled her eyes. “I had to get involved with teens.”

“I’m twenty or twenty-one,” Ven said with pride.

She turned her head before her eyes fell out, or she burst out in laughter. Being young was a miracle, no wonder she loved being around them.

“This is it.” They were standing about one hundred yards away from the abandoned house. She could see it, but this was where any emotions ended.

“They never went into the house. I don’t think they brought all the teens out here, maybe one or two. They wanted to make an emotional imprint to draw our attention. I think they wanted us to go into the house.”

“Why would they think that would work?” Dre asked. He was swamped with Ven on one side and Cade on the other. They were making sure he was safe, and he didn’t run off on his own.

“Although I’ve been dealing with being an empath my whole life, I now realize my control was marginal at best. It wasn’t until I mated Tristan that I understood how much power I have.”

Dre frowned. “Do we have to talk about your mating?” His eyes glittered. Mira refrained from picking up a handful of small rocks and tossing them at him.

Tristan turned around trying to control his laughter.

“Let’s go; we have to check out the next location.” Ven got them turned around and walking back to the Jeep.

“Why do you think they tried to lure us to that abandoned property?” Dre asked.

“It was a trap,” Ven told him after he climbed into the back seat.

No one questioned Ven’s statement as they headed for the second location. Cade called Locke to tell them that the first one was a bust and have them follow to the second one.

“Why three different locations?” Dre asked as he left the car walking through dense trees to get to the second house.

“I wish I knew,” Mira told him. “You ever have this feeling that revelation was on the other side of your fingertips, but you couldn’t reach far enough to touch it?”

They grinned at each other.

“Maybe it’s a human condition,” Dre said with a little snark. Cade and Ven laughed.

Once again, they stopped about a hundred yards from the house when Mira shook her head no.

Dre had already told them Meghan wasn’t there. They wanted to follow the connection to see where it stopped.

They weren’t as cheerful when they piled into the Jeep this time.

“Locke we’re going to the last location. This one was a bust.” Cade stopped to listen. “I know, but I don’t know what their final move will be. Stay alert.”

“Cade?” Mira turned around in her seat to look at him.

“They’re pulling us around like… like one of your bulls with a ring through its nose. They are planning something. We can’t even guess because we have no idea who they are or what they want.”

“Then what do we know about them?”

“We know that they are in more than one state,” Tristan told her. The others nodded. Seeing the dead teens in Texas had brought home the fact that this was more serious than any of them thought.

“We know that they are feeding off them,” Ven said.

“What? Why would you say that?” Mira asked him.

“Why do you kill animals?” he asked.

“For sport.”

“Or?”

“Or food.” All the blood rushed out of her face as she gripped her stomach bending over.

“They live on our emotions?” Dre asked looking around the Jeep.

“It’s just a theory, but what I think Ven is saying is that they find nourishment from high levels of extrasensory perception,” Mira said quietly.

“Now we’re being treated like animals?” Dre said his voice going high with signs that he hadn’t completed his transition from teen to man.

“Why does this surprise you?” Cade asked. “Your society is filled with tales of cannibals. The most famous happening not too long ago. Jeffrey Dahmer had no problem eating others like himself.”

“He was a sick son of a bitch,” Dre shouted before he slumped back into his seat. “How do we escape a group of people who now see us as food?” He closed his eyes; it was just one more trial for a black man in America.

“We’re here.” Tristan pulled into the warehouse district. They weren’t that far from Mira’s warehouse.

“This is too close for comfort,” she told them.

Dre opened the door and almost fell out. “Meghan’s here, I can feel her; she's crying.”

Ven wrapped an arm around him preventing him from sprinting off on his own.

Cade answered his phone. “We have it surrounded?” There was a response. “Stay out of sight we’re going in. Catch anyone who comes out.”

“Locke and Jax have the place surrounded, they’re waiting on us,” Cade told them.

“How do you want to do this?” Ven asked Tristan and Mira.

“They know we are here. The longer we delay, the more the captives will suffer.” She told Tristan waiting for his decision.

“Mira’s right, we don’t have surprise on our side. It’s a full-frontal attack. Make sure the back is looking for runners.”

She loved the way they bulked up. They were still in humanoid shape, but traps and pecs were bigger, thicker. If she didn’t need to rescue people, she would be thinking of ways to get Tristan back in bed. Shoot her, she could always multi-task and right now part of her mind was undressing her sexy mate.

They walked up to the door and kicked it open. Hell yeah, she was going to be wet for at least a week thinking about that. Her eyes flicked to Cade and Ven. They were nice looking too. If she had the time, she would have laughed at how she thought they were just nice looking, but Tristan was seriously hot.

There was no time. The sound of wailing hit her when the door flew off its hinges. The emotions that she had been keeping at bay swamped her. The pain she felt almost floored her. It was Dre whispering in her ear telling her she could do it that kept her on her feet.

Ven wouldn’t let them in until the warehouse was cleared.

“Come in, no one is here except the captives,” Cade called out.

Dre moved lightning fast as he entered the building looking for his sister.

They were all strung up in the middle of the room. Alive, but worse for wear.

“Meghan,” Dre screamed running towards her. Tristan caught him and handed him off to Ven as he and Cade cut them down.

“Dre, we need to get them out of here. Then you can hold her close.” Mira shouted at him as they began moving them to the Jeeps.

“Take them to the warehouse and start getting them processed to leave the city. Do we need a doctor? Call Jinx anyway, I want them looked at to make sure they can travel.”

She watched as they loaded everyone up. None of the girls could stand much less walk, but they all seemed to be cognizant enough to know what was happening.

“We’ll walk,” she told Lea when she asked what was taking them so long. “Go make them welcome.”

When everyone except Tristan and Ven were gone, she folded into Tristan’s arms. She was shaking, but she couldn’t stop.

“Mira?” Tristan held her tight running his hand up and down her back.

“This makes no sense. They just leave them here for us to find. If they were truly using them as a food source why didn’t they finish them off?”

“I have an idea, but you won’t like it,” Ven told them.

Tristan shook his head. He looked at Ven certain they had both reached the same conclusion.

“If you’re starving, and someone offered you a hotdog you would take it, but what if you were offered a steak or an all you could eat buffet?”

“I’d take it,” Mira said. “In fact, I wouldn’t stop until I got it.”

Her phone rang interrupting her thought about buffets and what that had to so with the situation.

“Eve?” It was her ring tone. “Calm down I can’t understand you.”

The hysterical voice came from the other side of the phone loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Anna’s gone!” There was a sob, then sniffles as if she was trying not to cry. “She was feeling sick. I told her I would go get the ingredients for homemade chicken noodle soup. When I came back, the door was open. There are signs of a struggle. She’s gone.” Whatever restraint she had left. She sobbed on the phone begging Mira to help her.

“Eve listen, Eve!” The sound of Mira’s loud voice interrupted her tears. “I need you to stay in the apartment, in case she comes back. I’m going to find her.” She hung up the phone before she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.

“I’m the all you can eat buffet?”

“I think so,” Tristan told her.

All of this was a trap, a sophisticated lure to get the one person they wanted, her.