Quinn’s entire being was enveloped in a sorrow like he’d never before encountered, deep down in the marrow of his bones, in his heart, his very soul the grief spread throughout him like a sickness overtaking him rapidly. Within seconds he felt as if he would collapse from the weight of it bearing down on him, his head falling back, his mouth opening as a roar filled with his immense misery tore free, shattering the silence around him and Thorne. His legs shaking, weak, and he felt them giving out . . . he would’ve dropped like a stone if it weren’t for his friend’s strong arms catching him and keeping him upright.

“I’ve got you, Q, I’ve got you.”

“She’s gone, Thorne, they’ve taken her,” he whispered softly, not recognizing the weak voice that slipped from his lips, full of torment and anguish.

The thought of not having Amaya in his arms, safe and sound, tore at him in ways he couldn’t even voice. It was beyond comprehension that he hadn’t saved her. He should’ve acted sooner. He cursed himself for delaying. He shouldn’t have waited. He should’ve acted as soon as they arrived . . . maybe then she’d be safe and not in the hands of that Russian ogre.

“Don’t,” Thorne said firmly, shaking him. “I know what’s going through that head of yours and just don’t. There was no right or wrong course of action, Q. No matter what we did the outcome could have gone South. We must focus on how to get her back . . . come on. There might be one of his men out there we can capture and question.”

His friend’s words made it through the angst in his mind. He was right. Of course, he was. He had to act. Now. Before it was too late and Amaya was lost to him forever. First thing he needed to do was get rid of the damn silver in his shoulder. Concentrating, briefly, he focused on the pesky piece of metal in his flesh, forcing the damn thing from him and it took less than a few breaths for it to drop free and clink onto the floor. As soon as it was out of him, his skin was already healing, knitting together as if it had never been injured.

“You’re right, let’s go.” He turned around, speeding back the way they’d come, Thorne on his heels.

When they stepped back outside he realized that although it had seemed like a lifetime to him, in truth, they’d only been inside the building for a few minutes. The warring factions were still in the throes of battle, blood was everywhere, running free on the ground as well as body parts that the massive Bear Shifter was wreaking havoc on anything it could get its teeth and claws into. And that’s where Quinn’s focus went. The Bear had appeared to be the Russian’s right-hand man and if he could get any answers it would be from him.

“The Bear. I want him alive. I’m going to get answers from that fucker . . . any damn way I can,” Quinn spat out coldly.

Thorne cracked his neck. “Fine, but we’ll need to take him together. That ass is huge and he’s deadly, Q.”

They watched as their target closed in on two men, a Vampire and a Wolf. His massive paws swiping out to send the Wolf sprawling with a gaping wound along its flank, insides spilling free and the beast howling in pain as it rolled over and over leaving its guts on the ground in its wake. With the Bear’s attention fully on the Vampire in front of it, Quinn sped forward, gathering his power as he went. He was determined to take this shit down, fast and clean, and hoped the rest of the team arrived soon so they could get him shackled in silver and subdued.

Then he wanted to get him alone and start his interrogation. One he would not stop until he got answers . . . one he would use any means necessary to get those damn answers.

The closer they got, his blood pumped through him so fast he could hear it crashing in his ears, his fangs dropping in his mouth, and his anger rising even further. This was one of the team responsible for Amaya’s capture and he wanted to tear his heart out. But he couldn’t. He had to restrain himself . . . but he could inflict some pain on the asshole. That was the least he could do to the fucker.

Just as the Bear was ready to attack the Vampire in front of him, Quinn leaped high into the air, sweeping down onto him with lightning speed, his hands clasped together in a two-handed fist. He pounded on the beast’s head, the blow one of the hardest he’d ever delivered, pushing every last part of his strength into his arms, and he felt it reverberate up and through his shoulders and down his back. At the same moment Thorne attacked too, his friend sliding along the ground and slashing at the Achilles tendon of the Bear’s legs, crippling it and sending it crashing to the ground with Quinn following.

He did a quick tuck and roll, landing on his feet next to the Bear’s intended victim who stared wide-eyed at him briefly before turning tail and running hell-bent for leather in the opposite direction. When he stood up, straightening his clothes, he heard shouts and boots hitting the ground as they stampeded toward them from two different directions. Thorne wiped his blades on the fur of the downed beast, smirking.

“Better late than never, I guess.” He shook his head as Jana and her team careened out of the alley to their left and Delia, Ace and their team came in from their right.

“What the goddamn fuck?” Jana skidded to a stop next to the downed Bear, looking at it and then up at Quinn. “What’s happened here and who the hell are these people?”

Delia and Ace reacted as a couple of the stragglers attempted to flee, stopping them and ensuring they didn’t escape. Delia’s voice firm as she introduced herself as a member of The Directive and placing silver handcuffs on them to subdue them before leaving Ace and his men to keep watch on them then coming to join him and Jana.

“We don’t have time so I’ll keep it short. My Bloodmate was here and when we arrived she had one gang of assholes around her. Then another arrived . . . apparently a local gang who she’d stolen from. A fight ensued and she was hauled away into that building over there.” Quinn’s stomach cramped when he thought of what had transpired . . . he had her right there and then he’d lost her. The one and only thing in this world that was important to him and he’d fucking lost her. The look in her eyes as she’d been dragged away would haunt him forever. No words would come out of his mouth. He’d completely lost the ability to speak as his throat closed and his heart tore into a million pieces in his chest. Agony tore through him at the thought of what she was going through in the hands of that evil bastard and he was powerless to stop it. Powerless.

Thorne came over, his hand landing on his shoulder. “The upshot is that she was taken and the Bear here is part of that gang. We need to get him somewhere that he can be interrogated. Fast. But you need to know that they knew she was a Bloodmate and he said his boss would be in touch. It sounded like they were after her because she’s a Bloodmate and I get the feeling they’re going to use her for blackmail. He went so far as to ask Quinn for his name when he found out she was his.”

Quinn’s voice returned, his jaw clenching as he spat out, “Not she . . . Amaya. Her name is Amaya. She was aware of me as much as I was of her. Amaya looked me right in the eyes and told me her name as she was taken. She knows what we are to each other and I need to find her. I have to fucking find her. So, can we stop talking and get this beast somewhere I can get the information I need to do that?”

Jana looked around at the carnage left behind by the battle, shaking her head. “I’ll make a call and get a clean-up crew here to deal with this. And we’ll head over to the local office and take him with us where we can question him. But we can’t haul him through the streets like that. He needs to transform.”

Delia sneered down at the Bear, reaching into one of the many pockets in her combat pants and coming out with a small syringe. “This will do the trick.”

“What’s that?” Thorne asked, eying the contents with unease.

Quinn didn’t blame him. The green liquid looked more like it would be at home in Doctor Frankenstein’s Lab than anywhere else. Delia stepped to the fallen beast, exhaling as she plunged the needle into its neck and depositing the contents into the Bear quickly. “Trade secret,” she said as she straightened up, motioning Ace forward. “Find something to cover him up and get some cuffs on him. As soon as he’s transformed we’re moving out, we’ll pick up Henry on our way back to the vehicles.”

Ace ordered two of his men to locate something to cover their prisoner before returning to stand guard over him, his focus on the downed beast as was all of theirs. They waited, watching with bated breath and it wasn’t long before whatever Delia had injected took effect. The beast’s body jerking uncontrollably in a forced transformation, the Italian tugging out a pair of silver handcuffs and tossing them to Ace.

“Get these on him as soon as possible. If he is conscious when the transformation is complete he will be extremely aggressive. Unfortunately, it is a side-effect of the drug so it is best if he is subdued right away.”

Quinn stepped closer, ready to deal with the Russian in case of trouble. The truth was he was looking forward to causing him more pain and he’d take any excuse to do so. However, when the body of the man lay before them, he appeared to be groggy and not fully awake. Ace tugging his arms behind him and slapping the cuffs on quickly as his men arrived with a filthy sheet that they wrapped around him once they’d hauled him upright. A man each side, their arms looped around him and started on their way back to the vehicles, leaving a couple of men to stand guard on the injured that lay on the ground.

Jana wanted nobody to escape. She wanted every last person to be arrested by her crew when they arrived and assured them that they’d be there shortly. Quinn was eager to ensure that happened just in case any of them had any pertinent information that could help in locating Amaya. That was his only concern and on their walk back to the vehicles his anger started to grow inside him, questions rolling around inside his head, his fury boiling like hot lava until he was like a volcano ready to erupt as he sat in the back with Jana, Delia, Mac, and Thorne with the Russian lying on the floor at their feet. Ace and two of his men up front.

As soon as they set off to an address that Jana gave them, Quinn could hold it in no longer, turning to the women he ground out through clenched teeth, “Where the fuck were you? Why did it take you so long to reach us? If you’d gotten there . . . even just a few minutes sooner, then my Bloodmate wouldn’t have been taken. She would be here, with me, and safe.”

Mac growled, teeth showing as he sat forward opposite him, Jana holding a hand up to halt his obvious anger as she leaned forward. “Hold it, Quinn, right damn there!”

Delia tutted, shaking her head. “If I remember correctly, Signore, it was you that took off on your own without alerting us that you did so. If you’d bothered to let us know what you were doing . . . precious time would not have been lost. As it was, it took us some time to realize you were gone, but as soon as we did we retraced our steps to locate you.”

Her haughty tone only inflamed his anger, his fists bunched in his lap and for the first time in his life he wanted to hit a woman. Hell, he wanted to wipe the smug look that was on her face as she lifted her head and glared back at him. This was the leader of the group tasked with keeping Bloodmates safe and she’d failed Amaya. Yet she sat in his vehicle, with his men helping her, and still she thought she was in the right.

“The gunshots didn’t give you an idea that something was afoot?” he fired back at her, using a tone that told everyone present just what he thought of her and her team’s carelessness in their task so far.

Once again Mac sat forward, growling viciously. “Show some respect, asshole, or I might have to make you.”

Quinn smirked at the man, which appeared to enrage him further, his light golden eyes darkening as his beast began to appear. “Be quiet, Wolf, you’re as bad as your boss, with your enhanced abilities you should’ve known there was trouble and gotten the team there quicker.”

Mac lunged for him, but he was expecting it, his hands already up and grabbing the man around the throat, crushing it fiercely with his immense power. Thorne leapt up, attempting to separate them in the confines of the cabin but Quinn’s fury was in full flow. His Bloodmate had been taken from him and he had to release the rage that had built up inside him . . . and Mac had attacked him.

Jana joined in, her voice cold as steel as her claws raked down Quinn’s hands, almost to the bone. “Release him now, Quinn, or I’ll handcuff you and throw you into a cell until this is over. I’m not fucking joking . . . if you want to remain part of this then you let him go. Now!”

Her words struck him far more than any physical blow. Not being part of the search for Amaya would kill him. He couldn’t possibly allow that to happen . . . not even when he wanted to crush the insolent man in his grip. Delia now joined in, her tone calm and almost conciliatory.

“Signore, please release Mac, we can work together to find Amaya but not if you harm my Second in Command. That is not something that can be overlooked.”

Thorne continued to fight to pry them apart and Quinn now allowed him to do so, Mac coughing and spluttering as he fell back onto his seat. His eyes glowing with anger as he glowered over at him. “Don’t ever lay a hand on me again or I’ll rip your throat out.”

“Mac.” Delia leaned over. “Are you all right?”

“Aye.” Mac nodded. “I’m fine.”

Jana sighed, shook her head and sat back. “I understand you’re upset and, I suspect, the Thirst is going to take its toll on you now that you’ve found, and been separated from, your Bloodmate. We’ve seen this, Quinn, it’s not pretty and can result in the affected becoming increasingly unstable and ill. We need to be careful and I’m afraid we have to keep a close eye on you, and it goes without saying, that you must keep a supply of blood nearby at all times. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

He didn’t. Not really. All he knew was that he felt a thousand times worse than he had before. The Thirst was still there, only worse, but now he was filled with so many other emotions it was difficult to think and process things. It was as if he’d been thrown back to a baser level with him filled with anger and a wrath so huge that it was those that were governing his actions and not his usual cool common sense. It was strange and unsettling to feel like this but he wasn’t about to admit it. Not to the Second in Command of the damn Directive.

Hell, not to anyone. He’d barely acknowledged it to himself.

“I hear you,” was all he replied. “How much longer? We need to get this fucker awake and ready to talk.”

He prodded their prisoner with his foot and got a grumble in response. Good. It sounded like the man was coming out of his unconscious state. That meant he could get to work and get the answers he needed to find Amaya.

“Just a few more minutes.” Jana looked out the window. “We’ll have him set up and ready to go soon, Quinn.”

“You are aware that I’ll be in the room, Jana?” he stated firmly, leaning forward so he could look her in the eyes, showing her he wouldn’t take no for an answer on this.

“It’s highly irregular but I’ll concede this time, Quinn.” Jana looked to Delia. “I’m aware that you’re not usually present either but if you want to sit in, then you’re welcome.”

“Sì, I’d welcome the opportunity to question him.” Delia turned to Quinn. “I’ll do everything in my power to get you answers, Signore.”

“I plan on doing that myself,” Quinn replied coldly. “And I’ll do whatever it takes to get them.”