The phone rang, and rang, and rang. Flint’s nerves on edge as he waited for it to be answered, but finally it was. Thank fuck.

“Flint! What the hell? It’s the middle of the night here. This better be urgent,” Victor snapped.

“It is. I’m in Scotland and I’m in trouble. I need your help.”

Victor’s voice changed, coming over alert and sharp. “Okay, hold on until I get out of the bedroom. Kimber’s sound asleep.”

Flint waited, impatiently as he heard Victor padding away, a door opening and closing and then he was back, shooting questions at him. “Where are you? Are you hurt? What kind of trouble? Who’s involved? What kind of assistance is required?”

“Victor . . . you’re not going to believe this, you might want to sit down for this first part.”

“Flint! Spit it out!” Victor’s voice rose.

“I’ve found my Bloodmate.” Flint waited, knowing that bombshell would have a host of questions coming at him, and he wasn’t mistaken.

“What? Did you just say what I think you did? Your Bloodmate? Where? What? Who is she? Tell me, now!”

“Yes, I did.” Flint couldn’t stop his lips tugging up, even though their situation was grim. “Edinburgh but I don’t have a name, yet, she’s injured and out cold on my lap right now. We’re heading back to Quinn’s as I speak. We had to rescue her from some scumbags and that’s why I need your help.”

“Who’s we?” Victor asked quickly. “And what scumbags?”

“Talon, he’s the guy who Quinn assigned me as my driver. He’s a Wolf and he helped me rescue her but he’s also told me that the gang we took her from is led by a guy called Kragen Smithson who runs the biggest operation here and is bad news. He says he’ll come after us to get her back and that we’re gonna need help, a lot of help, so that’s why I’m calling you. I’ve no contacts here that I can call on for that kind of back-up on such short notice, Victor, and I have to protect her. What the fuck am I gonna do?”

Victor didn’t hesitate, his voice strong and sure as he rattled off instructions. “Go straight to Quinn’s. I’ll call him right now. He has an army of men and I’m going to call in a few favors he owes me. Trust me, Flint. Trust me to do this for you. I’ll make sure you and your Bloodmate are safe. I’ll also call another friend and get him to send a few of his men as back-up, strictly as a guard for your Bloodmate. They’ll stay at her side until this is over, my brother. I promise you . . . I won’t allow anything to harm her. Now, all I need to do is have the jet fired up, I can have it ready to go in twenty minutes and I can be in Scotland in twelve hours. I won’t bring Kimber though . . . I don’t want to put her in danger, not when she’s carrying our child. She’ll be pissed, but I’m sure she’ll understand.”

Flint could barely keep up as Victor’s words fired out like a machine gun, but he sure as hell heard it loud and clear when he spoke of leaving Kimber and coming to Scotland. That wasn’t something he could allow . . . not happening. No way. “Stop, Victor, just hang on a minute.” He waited to make sure his friend was listening before he carried on. “I’ll accept everything, all you’ve said, except you leaving Kimber. That’s not happening, boss, you stay there. If I need you, I’ll call and let you know. I’ll have Quinn’s men and whoever else it is you’re sending, for fuck’s sake, Victor, you can’t up and leave in the middle of the night. Not on your damn honeymoon . . . she’ll have your balls, and mine. I happen to be attached to them, especially now that I’ve found my own Bloodmate. I’m sure she’ll want mine just where they are, so I don’t want Kimber’s Dragon burning them from my body, thank you very much. Stay there and I’ll keep in touch. Okay?”

He heard Victor snort and chuckle before he relented and he could envision him running a hand through his hair as he answered, “Damn it, Flint, I should be there, by your side. I feel impotent being here. I’ll be worrying like an old mother hen the entire fucking time. You need to keep me updated . . . and I mean all the time, or I’ll hound you, lad. I’ll hound you . . . do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.” Flint’s eyes crinkled at the sides as he smiled, a ton of weight suddenly felt as if it had been lifted from his shoulders. “Now stop blathering like an old woman and make your calls.”

“On it, and, Flint . . . stay fucking safe or I’ll come over there and kill you myself.” Victor ended the call abruptly without saying another word, leaving a great big lump in Flint’s throat.

He knew he wouldn’t let him down. He knew he would come through for him. Now if they could make it back to Quinn’s then, hopefully, things wouldn’t look so fucking bad as they had just minutes earlier. Talon’s gruff voice rumbled back to him, “Shit, must be good to have that kind of friend, Flint. He sure came through for you.”

“You heard?”

“I’m a Wolf. Of course I heard,” Talon said matter-of-factly. “If you want privacy then don’t make calls when I’m around. But I’d love to know what kind of favors he’s cashing in with Mister Alexander, because he’s not the kind of man to grant them easily.”

Flint gave that matter some thought . . . for all of two seconds. “I don’t give a flying fuck. So long as Quinn helps, that’s all I care about.” He paused, leaning forward slightly. “Tell me though, is it true? Does he have an army he can call on? I need to know, Talon, can he keep her safe from this fucker? If not, then I need to know now. And while we’re at it . . . get on the phone and have a Healer at my place as soon as possible.”

Talon bristled, the muscles in his back tensing as he swerved the Range Rover around a large semi and onto the highway, speeding up as soon as he could and taking off. The Wolf huffed out his response gruffly, “Aye, he’s got an army, all right. But he rarely has the need to use it, and it’s rarer still that he’ll use it for the good of someone else. His men are there for everyone else to know just how strong he is and to remind them that he’s not a man to fuck with . . . or if they do then the consequences will be dire. He’s a canny man is Mister Alexander, he doesn’t take kindly to being forced to do anything, Flint, and going up against Kragen Fucking Smithson, well, that’s too dirty for him. He likes to keep his hands clean and far away from shit like that. Fuck it . . . I’m happy for you, laddie, I am. And I’m glad your boss has the pull to get my boss involved and help keep your lassie safe, but I doubt I’ll have a job by the time we get back.”

Flint listened, hearing every word and processing each one. So Quinn liked to keep things on the down low. Not surprising, so did Victor, but it didn’t stop him from getting his hands dirty when the need arose. Also sounded like he didn’t take kindly to being forced into doing anything, again, like Victor . . . or himself, but if Victor was calling in favors then Quinn was being compensated, probably in spades. Quinn wasn’t a man to be fucked with, hmm, who did that remind him of? Again, Victor. Shoot, it sounded like the two men were more alike than they probably cared to admit but it gave him an insight that he could use . . . and manipulate to his advantage. He would also make damn sure that Talon didn’t suffer for his actions.

“I’ll take care of it, Talon,” he assured him. “I’ll tell him you had no idea what was going on tonight and that you were in the car the entire time and had nothing to do with it. And when I appeared back with my Bloodmate, I mentioned the names and only then did you put two and two together and told me of the threat and that’s when I called Victor. You won’t suffer because of what’s happened, trust me.”

“Can you do that?” Talon shot a look of surprise over his shoulder. “Lie?”

Flint chuckled, tipping his head. “Yeah, easily. You stay out of his way though. So he can’t question you about it because he’ll know you’re lying. Or . . . I can compel you. If you’re okay with that? I can compel you before we get back and you won’t know that what I tell you is a lie. That way he won’t know that you’re lying.”

“Fuck!” Talon let out a growl. One that started low in his chest and rumbled all the way up and out as his fist punched the wheel. “I fucking hate the thought of that but . . . aye, it’s the only way he won’t scent the lie on me and I won’t lose my job over this, Flint. I like you, I do, but I’ve known you for less than a day. So as soon as I can I’ll pull over and you do your thing.”

Flint understood the spot he’d put Talon in and if were him, he’d probably be mad as hell. He’d make it so the man could keep his position within Quinn’s employ. That was the least he could do for Talon after what he’d done to help him earlier. He’d make it so he’d explained everything after they’d gotten into the car after he’d rescued his Bloodmate and everything after that was as it happened, including his call to Victor.

“Why are you so sure they’ll find us? They didn’t get a good look at you and I’m not known to them. But you seem certain they’ll get to us . . . why?” Flint had been wondering about that since he’d got into the car and it had been bothering him. Surely they couldn’t track their scents, not through the multitude of others in the city and all the way out and to Quinn’s property. That would take a miracle or someone with pretty damn good magical powers.

“The same way I would do it, or anyone else on Mister Alexander’s team,” Talon shot back quickly. “The city has cameras everywhere and it’s not too difficult to hack into their database, or get someone that’s capable of doing so. Soon as that’s done, it’s a simple case of getting the time right, the area and then looking for vehicles and zooming in and seeing who’s inside. Once that’s done, bingo, we’re caught. Then it’s a case of finding out where that vehicle is registered to. Again, it’s not too hard to get that information. Illegal, yes, difficult, no. I’d give them twelve, maybe twenty-four hours at most and then they’ll have our location.”

“Cameras everywhere?” Flint asked, “I didn’t see any, not in that alley. No way, Talon.”

“Aye, there was. There was one at the beginning, and there are cameras everywhere in Edinburgh. The police use them to help with dealing with drunks, but that’s not all, ordinary folks have them too nowadays to protect their own property and a lot of them use their Wi-Fi and store their stuff in the cloud. If you walk around you can see them and it’s simple to hack in, if you know what you’re doing that is. And every pub, club, hotel, boarding house, parking lot, shop and, hell, I could go on, but they all have them. If you have an area to start it’s easy, really easy, to find a vehicle and they knew we had one . . . they heard us getting away. They had the same hearing as you and me so, there you go, Flint. Easy as fucking pie for them to track us and find out exactly where to come hunting.”

Damn it. He was right and if he hadn’t been so focused on the beauty in his arms he would’ve known it too. His mind was so fixated on his Bloodmate that he wasn’t thinking straight and that had to stop. How he was going to do that he had no fucking clue because he was totally consumed with her. Her scent, her beauty, her perfection . . . but he had to push all that away. Even though all he wanted to do was curl around her body and protect her with his own. Flint knew he had to hand her over to the Healer and the team that Victor was sending and then do the job he was born to do . . . serve and protect. And he’d do it and do it fucking well.

He’d protect her with every last fiber of his being and hell mend anyone who dared cross him because his fury burned brightly in his soul for those that posed a threat to her, and he’d set it free to ignite and obliterate anyone who came near his soulmate, his love, his Bloodmate.