Lori

 

 

I grunt and shove another weed back into the dirt as the brewing skies grumble and crackle above me, my hopes for this garden truly dead when I see not one seed sprouting amidst the overgrowth of weeds I can’t keep at bay.

“Stupid fucking plants,” I mutter, swiping the mud from my knees as I trudge inside, dropping my clothes into the washer, underwear and all, before stalking naked to my bedroom.

Everything in my life is on track, mostly, well…

Dammit! It’s not on track, and we all know it. I’ve been with Wolf for two months now, two glorious, amazing months of a relationship that has grown and grown and just…stopped.

We’re in a holding pattern here, and I think even he knows it. We don’t talk about marriage or anything serious because he knows that I won’t consider moving forward with the really serious stuff until he says what I need him to say—and mean it.

So, he doesn’t ask, and I pretend that I don’t need him to, and…and now we’re stuck. He practically lives with me now. His clothes are in my closet, his manly stuff taking up space in the bathroom, and I even stock the beer he likes.

We’re together in every sense of the word, and it’s all good and perfect but for one thing. He still doesn’t love me. Oh, he cares, and it’s a lot more than what we had before because he really cares and shows me that he does every day.

He’s affectionate and the perfect man. God help me is he perfect, especially in bed, or in the kitchen, or laundry room, or—

You get the message.

But we’re now just stagnating in this cycle, and while I’m not rearing and ready to get married, because it’s just not that important right now, I want to move on to…more.

Grunting as the too warm water hits my skin, I scrub myself thoroughly and dry off with a hiss.

That man is driving me nuts. Yesterday was not great. We had this argument that had me hissing accusations at him while all he could do was apologize. I feel like shit for what I said, and even worse because I know it’s not true, but I wasn’t capable of controlling the anger I felt.

And I can’t even explain why I was angry! That’s the worst part. One minute, I was sitting across the table, laughing at the story he told me about the mission he just went on—yeah, because my guy is some really hot recovery specialist who rescues people from the bad guys, ooohlala.

The next, I was angry because, because…I have no idea why. But I can tell ya that having the man you love sit silently and take your verbal poop show with nothing more than a somber look and silence is not good.

He didn’t even make love to me last night, just held me and kissed my hair every once in a while, letting me know he’s there.

Crying now, because I can’t not cry, I pull on underwear just as the phone rings.

“I’m so sorry I was a bitch last night, and I swear I’ll make it up to you tonight. No phone sex though!” I tack on with a giggle because Wolf likes calling me in the middle of the day with some really erotic content, and I don’t have the balls to hear it when I should be apologizing.

With my body!

“That’s too bad, Lorianna, because I would have enjoyed that.”

The dark rasp isn’t Wolf, and I blush scarlet, gasping an apology to whoever this is.

“My God, I am so sorry. It was just a…um…joke. I was expecting a friend,” I lie, trying not to giggle nervously.

“I understand, and I applaud your bravery for answering this way, but I have called to enquire about your parents.”

Alarm bells start ringing for many reasons. One, it just occurred to me that only a few people have this number. The Wylders and Danny, my shop manager, Clyde, and the good Dr. Morris.

I want to panic, especially when I hear the slight accent, but I keep it together. I’m the girlfriend of a trained professional. I will not have a panic attack and go crazy.

“Uh, I haven’t talked to them this week. But they’re okay, I guess.”

I play it safe, not wanting to let him know that I’m anxious and feel my skin ice when he chuckles and tsks at me softly.

“But you know I am not asking you, Lorianna, since you haven’t spoken to your dear mama in over three weeks now. Is that not right?”

Yes! Yes, that is true, but only because I had an argument with Mom when she wanted money I didn’t have to give. Paying their bills with my savings hasn’t been easy, and I tried to explain to her that what I have in the bank is profits from the businesses I just opened, not money I can just give away.

How does this man know Mom hasn’t talked to me in that long, and who is he?

“Y-yes. Who is this?” I stammer, chilling further when he laughs huskily and a muffled scream meets my ears.

“I would like for you to come to them, as a good daughter should, and trade places with them, Lori. I can call you Lori? Good. You see, I wanted you, little Lori, but you have been very protected, with your Wylder men watching your every move until recently.”

His accent and the way he structures his sentences is slightly off, though I get the impression he’s trying to sound American.

“Look, man, is this a joke? Larry! Is this you, because I told you to stop calling me. I don’t want a date.”

I slam the phone down before he can reply and dive for my cell phone, dialing the number for Libby Jones even while I’m hopping into sweats and a vest.

“Howdy, girl, long time no hear from you—”

“Libby, has Dad been in today? Was he working at all in the last two or three days?” I yell, cutting her off when she goes to start yapping.

I’m panicking like crazy and trying not to hyperventilate as I shove my feet into sneakers, no socks, and rustle through my drawer for the gun Lyon gave me.

“Uh, I didn’t see him recently, honey, but I’ve been in the office. Hang on and let me check with Tyrell.”

She’s gone for a beat, and then I feel my stomach drop when she confirms my suspicions, and worse.

“He was supposed to be in today to make up for a shift he missed last week, but Tyrell hasn’t seen him. Is everything okay, honey?”

I don’t answer, ending the call with shaking hands as I think frantically about what to do. The phone keeps ringing though, and I almost scream my head off when my cell buzzes, an unknown number. I don’t answer that either, not until I get a text seconds later.

“Answer or I take one of their fingers.”

Oh my God.

“You will not call your boyfriend. You will not call another number on your cell or your landline or I will cut something from your mother first and then move on to your father. Do you understand?”

Bile rises in my throat, and I’m already crying when I answer yes, my whole body shaking violently when he chuckles.

“Good. Now, you listen and you obey. I want you to come outside. A car will be there to pick you up. Do not struggle or my man will hurt you.”

“W-why? Why are you d-doing this?” I ask tearfully as my mind races.

“You will bring me what I want.”

“What—”

“Shut up! Just do as I say.”

“Not if you don’t tell me who you are.”

“Oh, really? Mrs. Staneslovsky, tell your daughter that you don’t need ten fingers but you would like to keep them.”

I hear a muffled shriek and start sobbing at the implication.

“Okay! Okay, just please…I’ll do what you want.”

“The car will be there shortly. I am monitoring your phones, so be smart.”

The call ends, and I’m up, shaking like a leaf as I dive for my dresser. The first thing I pull out is the little gun Lyon gave me. It goes in my waistband, and the knife goes in my shoe, Danny’s tactics almost making me smile.

The next thing I do is run to the fridge where a pad is hanging. The message I scribble to Wolf is a scrawled mess because my hands are shaking violently, but I manage to get it down and dive for the kitchen drawer just as gravel crunches outside.

I can’t take my phone. It would be too obvious, and the gun…that’s a decoy for the knife, but I do have another ace. Wolf’s paranoid and has these little tracker thingies that he’s always trying to get me to wear.

I haven’t as of yet, but I thank him silently as I grab the little disk and shove it into my sock, praying that I activated it right.

Once that’s done, I have to walk out onto the porch, and trust me, I am barely on my feet as I stumble out and down the porch steps, my legs like spaghetti when I see the huge behemoth waiting for me.

The punch I receive comes out of the blue and knocks me out instantly. I don’t even feel pain when my vision winks out and I fall into him.

 

 

Wolf

 

The house is quiet and dark when I pull up, the storm battering my truck making it hard to see anything as I bail out and rush for the porch. God, I hope the power hasn’t been down long, because Lori is not good in the dark.

“Babe?” I call out as I unlock the door.

The place is like a tomb, and my senses start tingling when I flick a light switch and everything illuminates around me. I’m running for the bedroom before I can think, and I know immediately something’s wrong when the place is empty.

“Lori!” Her car is outside, so I know she’s not running late, and a search of her little vegetable garden in the pouring rain is my last-ditch hope, my mind shrinking away from but hoping she’s out there for some reason. Maybe she fell and passed out or—

“Lori!”

I’m at my wits’ end when I skid into the kitchen and feel my heart stop when my eye just happens to catch the pad hanging on the fridge.

The message is nothing but a scrawl, and I can almost see her fear as she scribbled. Someone has her and her parents.

“Lyon! Someone took Lori and her folks. Call the men.”

They arrive en masse in under thirty minutes, Lyon the first to rush in and grab me where I’m still standing by the fridge, staring sightlessly at the message.

“What the hell?”

“I found it just now, after I looked for her and didn’t find her. She’s not here, man. She’s gone,” I wheeze, the fear hitting me like a hammer blow.

Lyon grabs my neck when I go to run outside, his own clothes soaking into me when he grabs me.

“Stop! Think. You know it won’t do you any good to go running out of here without a clue as to where she is. We need info. Jake! Search the house. Lynx, I want eyes outside. The rain’s washed away tracks, possible clues, but if someone has her and they’re out there, I want warning first. Bear, call your pal at the phone company. I want to know if anyone called her in the last two days.”

Things go full speed from there, and I feel useless when Lyon shoves me down into a chair and forces me to stay.

“Text! We got a text on her cell. She hid it under the pillow, but I found it. Shit.”

The words make my blood run cold. Someone does have her parents. And now her, and not knowing makes me want to run out there and tear the world apart looking for her.

“We have a call logged at around four sixteen! The number is a burner phone, but I have Brass on it. If it’s at all traceable, we’ll find it,” Jake says, striding in with a scowl.

Traceable—

Jumping up, I rush for the drawer where Lori has thrown every tracker I tried to sneak onto her. I’ve tried to hide one on her for the last three weeks, the last one she found under her phone cover making it a total of six.

“She took a tracker. That’s my girl!” I yell triumphantly, the guys already running as I hit the porch and dive for my truck.

My adrenalin is pumping, and I may not have a clue what the hell is going on, but I swear to God I will kill whoever laid hands on my woman. The computer in my truck is set up to ping the trackers—yeah, I know I sound like a stalker boyfriend, but give me a break. It’s a fucking good thing I’m this crazy.

“Lafayette?” Bear asks slowly, his face going hard as I pull out, reversing with mud flying all around us. “Jesus Christ. I know who took her.”

“Bear, this can’t be—”

“At the debriefing, you told them it was you who took Noni out, because you didn’t want Danny to face an enquiry. I know who this is, Wolf. I’ve had my eye on him for a while, and it’s a good thing too. Why do you think I called the teams back from the job in Switzerland? I got a hit on Noni’s nephew, Grant, when he slipped into New Orleans earlier in the month.”

Shit! Fuck.

“He’d better hope she’s not hurt, because I will kill him,” I snarl, taking turns at breakneck speed despite the slick roads.

We’re all crammed into my truck, and I ignore their curses when they slam together with every twist of the wheel, Lyon gritting his teeth and holding on beside me.

“You all armed?”

Bear’s question is foolish. We go everywhere armed. Hell, Lyon sleeps with his gun, the paranoid fuck.

“And ready,” Lyon snarls, his affection for Lori making him just as dangerous, if not more than, anyone else in the truck.

Except me. I’m a raging beast inside, and I pity anyone who gets in my way.

They have a head start on us, and with the rain, I finally have to slow down or risk killing us all, making the journey slower than I would like.

I’m seething, afraid, almost numb with the overload when I feel a kernel of something take root inside my chest, almost crippling me. It hurts to breathe, seriously hurts, and I have to dig deep for strength when the need to cry makes my eyes burn.

“We’re gonna get her back, Wolf.”

“I know, Lyon, but in what condition?” I ask, choking at the thought of my baby hurt and all alone.

She must be freaking out by now. I know she’s doing better after therapy, and I know she’s strong, but Lori’s still dealing with a lot of the old angst her trauma caused, and I’ve seen her freak out.

It’s another element of danger added to a situation that is already up shit creek. If she goes numb and lame, she can’t fight, and if she can’t fight, they could kill her.

“She just started sleeping properly and stopped having the nightmares every night! This is bullshit!” I yell, slamming my fist into the wheel so hard it makes a crunching sound.

“Calm down. Don’t go nuts on us or I will tranq your ass. I don’t need you fucking things up by losing your temper. Lori’s life depends on you keeping things level and being the cold hard-ass you have always been. She’ll be okay, but you can’t help her if you get yourself killed running off half-cocked,” Bear shouts, the rain pouring down so hard it’s all we hear in the cab of the truck.

He’s right, and I know he is. I need to dig deep and find that cold I’ve lived with for years. I need it now, now when I feel, now when the thought of going back to the numbness is almost too hard to bear.

I do find it though. I have no choice, and when I feel it settle inside me, I know that I pity anyone who has laid a hand on her.