Loving Their Vixen Mate (Pack Wars Book 4) (8 page)

Brandon smiled. “That’s not how it works, darlin’. You tell me what you know first.”

Typical man. So much for trust, though to be honest, all they knew about her was that she’d been arrested for protesting. That probably didn’t instill a lot of confidence in them. “Fine. My cousin is my mother’s niece. Cheryl has no shifter blood in her, so I didn’t think the Colters had a hand in her disappearance. From what you’ve told me, I was wrong.”

“Yes.”

“Okay. You know everything I do. Now it’s your turn.”

S
am rotated his beer on the table, like she often did. He leaned back and looked deep into her eyes. From the way he was tapping his glass, he was stalling. “Here’s what we know. An eyewitness spoke with Cheryl. Her name is Elena Sanchez. She told us that Cheryl told her that when she arrived at the office on Seaside Drive, a brunette stabbed her in the arm with a needle. When she woke up, she was in a cage next to Elena.” Sam’s lip actually curled, as if he was experiencing the same horror she was. “I’m sorry.”

The information churned her stomach. A second later, his words sunk in. “You don’t believe in breaking bad news slowly, do you?”

“I didn’t know how to soften the blow.”

She’d wanted to truth, and she got it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the news she’d hoped for.

Brandon clasped her shoulder. “You look pale. Why don’t you come sit in the living room? The seats are more comfortable. It could be a long night.”

“Okay.” Brandon led her over to the sofa and sat next to her. She twisted toward him, her thoughts scattered. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner about this eye witness? I thought you said you didn’t know where she was.” Her words rushed out too fast.

“Easy there. We don’t know where Cheryl is now. If we did, we’d have rescued her already,” Brandon said.

Sam moved to the chair across from them. “Gulfside is a port city. As such, ships go in and out of here all the time. As much as the customs officials try to check every crate, sometimes drugs are smuggled in, and sometimes people are brought in and others taken out.”

If he was trying to scare her, he was succeeding. “Why don’t you stop them?”

“We’re trying. In fact, we recently caught the two who were responsible for bringing women into the country and then selling them.”

Mac was both outraged and excited at the same time. “So you know who sold Cheryl?” If Mac had the information, she might be able to trace the sale and find out who’d purchased her. It gave her hope that her cousin was still alive.

“We think we do. The man’s name was John Hood. It was Elena’s disappearance that set us on the road to finding these men. When we learned about Elena never having arrived at her destination in Costa Rica, we searched for her. Eventually, we found out that she’d been drugged and held captive. She was being prepped for an auction where women were sold. In order to rescue her, we sent in an undercover team to pose as potential buyers. At the time, we were only aware of that one woman. These men, Clay and Dirk, purchased Elena, and then set her free.”

As horrifying as this sounded, at least they were getting somewhere. “You said this Elena woman spoke with Cheryl?”

“Yes.”

Before Mac could ask about her cousin’s condition, Brandon raised a finger. “We need to back up here. Elena worked for a man named Harvey Couch who ran what appeared to be a legitimate company that paired nannies with American families. The problem was that he’d bring over more women than there were jobs.”

She could fill in the blanks. “Those not employed were sold to this John Hood.”

“Precisely.”

She felt sick and sipped her beer. “What else?”

Brandon slipped the glass from her fingers, set it down, and then held her hands. “Are you sure you want to hear the rest?”

No.
“Yes. I need to.”

He nodded. “Elena had been held captive for two or three weeks before two other girls were brought into this warehouse by the docks.”

Two? “One was Cheryl, right?”

“Yes.”

Her stomach sickened. “Was she okay? Had they…” She couldn’t even say the word raped.

Brandon squeezed her hands. “Assaulted? No. Cheryl was as fine as she could be under the circumstances. She been drugged but that was all. Apparently, she wasn’t there long before some men came and escorted the girls someplace else. Or rather Elena and Cheryl were led elsewhere. The other girl, Barbie Lassiter, had mouthed off to the guard, and was never seen from again.”

“Until they found her body…” Mac’s words trailed off.

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

Tears streamed down her face. As much as she suspected something bad happened to Cheryl, she hadn’t really pictured it being this horrible. “Do you think I could speak with Elena?”

Brandon glanced at Sam. “I don’t see why not. I’ll arrange a meeting,” Sam said.

“Thank you.”

Sam stood. “Will you excuse us for a moment?”

“Sure.” She didn’t even want to know what was so important that they had to discuss in private.

The men headed down the hall. She leaned back on the sofa and covered her face. How was she going to tell her aunt that Cheryl could be all the way to China by now?

*     *     *

“We can’t let her go back to Jay,” Sam said.

Brandon paced. “He hasn’t hurt her yet.”

“Yet, being the operative word. The man has his orders. It’s a matter of time before he fulfills it.” Sam had seen what happened to a Colter when he didn’t do as requested.

Brandon faced him, anguish written all over it. “Given her fragile mental state right now, what do you think would happen if we tell her that her cousin is a Colter? Mackenzie seemed determined to find Cheryl. I don’t see hopping on a plane tonight because we say we don’t like Jay. She’ll want proof, and we don’t have any.”

This was bad. “As much as I think it would be wise, she won’t stay here. We did win her confidence somewhat when she found out I was a deputy, but she’s still leery of us.”

“She has good reason to be upset. We could always tell her we’re Pack members and that Jay works for Statler. But again, we can’t prove it.”

Sam stabbed a hand through his hair. “If we say something bad about Jay, she’ll probably stalk off. I’m not sure anyone could handle a second blow. Hell, it nearly killed me to tell her that Cheryl had been held captive in a cage. If she learned her trusted family member not only might have had a hand in Cheryl’s capture, but had been tasked with taking Mackenzie out, she might crack.”

“Right. We should wait until she’s had a chance to process everything. It’s not like we can lock her in our house. That would be more traumatic.”

Sam had to do something. “I got it. Give me a minute, and then call me on my cell. I’ll pretend it’s the sheriff, and then head over to Jay’s. I’ll station myself so I can hear what’s going on inside. When Mackenzie returns home, I’ll make sure nothing happens to her.”

Brandon stuffed his hands in his pockets. His lips twisted. “That might work. I’ll keep her here as long as possible. Maybe Jay will be asleep when she gets home.”

“Good thinking.” Sam turned to leave.

“Wait.”

He spun around. “What?”

“Shouldn’t we tell her we’re her mates? It might help clear up why she feels this attraction to us, and help her trust us more. That way when we do tell her about Jay, she might believe us.”

Sam shook his head. “You don’t know that she feels any attraction. With all that’s going on in her head, she probably doesn’t know what to think. It’s too big a risk.”

“You’re wrong. I could tell she felt something when I was in the bar. I really think that if she knows we’re her allies, she’ll do what we ask.”

Sam felt so sorry for her. “Just call me, okay?”

“Roger that. But she might already suspect we’re her mates. Her dad was a werewolf.”

“Let’s hope so.” Sam headed out to Mackenzie. He prayed they weren’t making a mistake by letting her go back to Jay, and then telling her she basically was tied to them for the rest of her life.

*     *     *

Mac thought it was a bit strange for the men to jump up and go into another room, especially after dropping the bombshell about Cheryl. All she could think of was that they wanted to give her time to grieve and pull herself together. Her eyes were probably bloodshot and her face bloated.

As she pulled a tissue from her purse to blow her nose, she spotted her gun. Now she saw how pathetic she’d been pointing her weapon at those two. Not only couldn’t she kill a man, taking out two werewolves before they could charge was preposterous. Thank God, they were who they said they were or she might be stuffed in a cage like Cheryl.

She blew her nose and forced back her pain.

“You okay?”

Mac jumped at Sam’s presence. She hadn’t even heard him come back down the hall. Given his boots probably smacked against the wood, she should have. “Yes. Well, as good as I can be.”

Sam slipped next to her on the sofa, shooting her pulse into the danger zone. What the hell was going on? She never reacted to a man like this before. She needed to focus on facts instead of on her body’s betrayal.

“I’m sorry I was blunt. If you’d feel better staying here for the night, it would be cool. We have a spare bedroom.”

He was a sweet man. “I’m good. Really. Besides, Jay would worry if I didn’t come back.”

She probably should go. They’d already been so nice. Her heart turned even heavier knowing she might not see them again. That was a shame on so many levels. Not only did she believe they could provide her with more information about Cheryl, she was drawn to these men, more so than she had been to anyone before. It was totally crazy. Here she’d been told her worst nightmare, yet she wanted to get close to them. It was as if they could heal her woes.

“Out of curiosity, how much do women go for these days?” If she knew the amount, she might be able to narrow down the list of possible buyers by hacking into their bank accounts and searching for such a sum.

“Depends,” Sam said. “I’ve heard anywhere from ten to twenty thousand dollars.”

Her breath caught. “That’s a lot.”

“True, but sad to say there are a lot of men out there who are willing to pay.” Just then Sam’s cell rang. “Shit.” He plucked it from his pants pocket and glanced at the screen. “It’s work. Damn.” He swiped his finger across the screen. “Crenshaw. Yeah. Where? I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He disconnected the call and stuffed the phone back in his pocket. “I am really sorry. It’s work.”

“I understand. The men I work with would get calls at all hours of the night.” She stood and hugged him. “Thank you so much for telling me everything.”

“Maybe we’ll see you around.” He opened the drawer in the coffee table, pulled out a card, and scribbled a number on the back. “Call if you learn anything. Or if you need to talk.”

She stuffed it in her purse. “I will.”

Sam grabbed his jacket and headed toward the back. Voices sounded. Brandon came into view, and once more her body vibrated with need.

He sat next to her. “Sorry about ducking out on you like that. How are you holding up?”

She appreciated the apology and his concern. If he was in law enforcement, too, he’d probably seen people under the worst of conditions. “As well as can be expected.

He lifted up her hands, like he had before. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

Her body shook and a sharp pain seemed to materialize in her chest. “I don’t think I can take much more. Is it about Cheryl?”

Brandon winced. “No. This is actually a kind of a good thing, I think.” He let go of his grip.

She leaned back. “I could use some good news.”

Brandon ran a finger across Mac’s wrist, causing a desire stronger than the pull of the moon on the earth. “You feel that?” he asked.

Her throat turned dry. “Feel what?”

“The attraction, the dizziness, the racing heart. I know you’ve been through a lot, but I can see it in your eyes that you feel a connection to us. It can be overwhelming if you don’t know what it means.”

“You have the same reaction to me?” She wasn’t ready to divulge her feelings yet. Her insides were too raw.

“I do.”

Those two words were such a balm to her soul. All she wanted to do was crawl in his arms, and let him hold her and tell her everything would be okay.
Be truthful
. She desired something more; something that would blot out all the horrors that were beating against her.

Brandon drew her close, and it was as if some erotic being had invaded her body.

“It’s okay to let loose, PI-girl. You deserve it.”

The nickname spoke of affection. She glanced down at his crotch. “So do you.”

“That’s because you’re our mate.”

She bolted upright, and an eerie sounding laugh burst out of her. “I’m your mate? Are you kidding me?” She was incapable of understanding anything right now.

“Yes, Sam and I are your mates.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “You really believe in that destiny shit? Who’s been filling your head?” If it were true, her father would have told her.

Brandon grinned. “Come here, and I’ll prove it to you.”