Primal Possession (30 page)

Silently Liam prayed they’d find Kat soon. They didn’t know nearly enough about the APL, and the fact that they had no issues targeting women was terrifying. And after what William had just told them…he fought back the thoughts.

They would find her. They had to.

December closed the register and handed change back to her twentieth customer of the morning. They’d been unusually busy and she shouldn’t have had time to think about anything, but unfortunately that’s all she could do. She was lost in her head.

Worried about Parker. Scared out of her mind for Kat. And confused about Liam. She knew that should be the last thing on her mind, but after the way he’d acted this morning, she wasn’t sure what was going on. The cold, distant side of Liam wasn’t something she ever wanted to get used to.

While she understood they were both stressed, she wanted to lean on him. And she wanted him to do the same with her. If they were going to take the next step in this relationship, she couldn’t deal with someone who didn’t see her as an equal. As the bell above the door jingled behind the last customer, she strode toward the front door and locked it.

Then she turned the
OPEN
sign to
CLOSED
.

“What are you doing?” Erin came out from behind one of the aisles. Her red hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and December couldn’t be sure, but she thought the petite she-wolf had some kind of weapons underneath her thick down jacket. She hadn’t taken her coat off all morning and December knew that shifters weren’t as affected by the cold as humans.

She lifted an eyebrow at the she-wolf. “What does it look like?”

Erin’s eyes narrowed. “You’re supposed to keep your shop open.”

She began turning off the front lights. “Yeah, well, things change. I can’t stay here working while my brother is in the hospital and my best friend is missing. This is insane.” She’d already gotten more than a few comments from locals who’d stopped by to see why she had her shop open. And they were right. She shouldn’t be here. Her brother was recovering from a gunshot wound and everyone now knew that Kat had been taken. Of course no one
knew by whom or why except Liam’s pack. The cops were doing all they could, but they had no leads either.

“Liam’s going to be pissed.” Erin’s voice was wary.

“I don’t really care. He’s not here.” And he’d seen fit to keep her in the dark about a lot of stuff.

Erin shrugged, then sighed. “What do you need to do to close up?”

She nodded to the line of lights on the far wall. “Turn those off and I’m going to run my daily report.”

The shifter who had been watching the store all morning from outside knocked on the front door, so Erin let him in. December glanced up from the cash register but ignored the curious look he gave her and Erin. Let the she-wolf explain it.

As December finished running her report, she vaguely heard Erin telling the other shifter what was going on. When she finished, she set the alarm and locked up. The moment she slid into the passenger seat of Erin’s truck, she called Liam.

“What’s wrong?” His deep voice was concerned.

“Nothing, but we’re coming back to the ranch.”

“Why?”

“Because being here is stupid. Whoever took Kat got what they want. They’re not going to be hanging around town. I want to help. And if I can’t, I’m going back to the hospital. I’ll just wait around until Parker decides to pull his head out of his ass.” The words spilled from her like a waterfall.

Liam cursed but quickly acquiesced. Probably because he knew he had no choice. “Fine, but I won’t be here when you get back.”

“Where are you going?”

He hesitated, then said, “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” This whole secrecy stuff would never fly with her. Not with important stuff.

“It’s better that you don’t know. We might have a lead on where they took Kat.”

“I can help
search
at least.” She might not have his capabilities, but she wasn’t helpless. And more than once she’d helped in county searches for missing kids who’d simply gotten lost in the woods or mountains.

“This isn’t up for discussion. As soon as we leave, we’re going dark. No communication. Nothing. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone.” He sounded so matter-of-fact it was maddening.

“Liam—”

“I’m sorry, December, but I’ve got to go.” Then he disconnected.

She seethed as she stared at her silent cell phone. For a moment she thought about calling him back but knew it was pointless.

“He’s just trying to protect you.” Erin’s soft voice cut through the quiet interior of the vehicle.

December waited a moment to see if the male shifter sitting in the back would finally speak, but he was wisely silent. “Yeah, well, he has a dumb way of showing it.”

She snorted softly. “Don’t they all.”

Liam hated the way he’d ended the phone conversation with December, but he didn’t have time to explain anything. Ryan had finally cracked part of the flash drive and they had to take immediate action. So far they had two pages of names and addresses of active APL members. Including active safe houses.

He wasn’t sure why the Taylor guy living in the trailer park had this information, but if he had to guess, he’d probably planned to use it as blackmail. He was likely
dead now, though. Liam hoped he was. It would save him the trouble later. Since that bastard had tried to attack December after their date, he’d fallen off the radar. No credit card activity whatsoever. He might have another alias, but so far Ryan hadn’t been able to find one.

Connor zipped up his coat as he stepped out onto the front porch, where Liam and Jayce waited. “Are your phones off?” he asked.

Liam nodded. “And batteries taken out.”

“Same here,” Jayce said.

His brother nodded approvingly. “Good.”

When they went on a mission of this sort, it was standard practice to disable their phones. They weren’t so naive to think the government didn’t keep tabs on them. Not always of course, and probably not even that often, since their pack didn’t get into trouble, but right now they couldn’t take the chance of being tracked. Today they were likely going to kill some APL members. There didn’t need to be any proof they were in the same vicinity at the time.

Connor pulled out the keys to his truck as they strode across the yard. “I’ve sent Noah and Jacob to check out the houses in town.”

When Jayce started to interrupt, Connor cut him off. “They’ve got Kat’s scent and they’re trained. They know what they’re looking for. I think it’s unlikely they’re keeping her at a house in town anyway, but we have to check it.”

Which was why they were checking out a farmhouse a few miles on the outskirts of Fontana. It was listed under the name of a man who’d died twenty years ago and there had been two asterisks next to the address. But nothing else. They might not know what that meant, but they all thought it was important.

And it lined up with what the guy William had told them that morning. The place was to the east of town and surrounded by about a hundred acres.

As they headed there, a light dusting of snow began to fall. It would hurt their abilities to track people, but it would also cover their tracks if necessary. They were all silent until they neared the designated turnoff on the two-lane highway.

A small wooden sign on a post said
DOGWOOD HOUSE
. If they hadn’t been looking for it, they’d have definitely missed it. The dirt road was full of potholes, but from the recent tire tracks in the snow, someone was home.

The road was lined with dogwood and pine trees and when they neared an opening, Connor backed into the small gap as far as he could go.

Quietly, they got out and covered most of the truck with underbrush. It wasn’t completely hidden, but if someone was driving by and not looking for it, he wouldn’t be likely to see it. And the falling snow would hurt anyone’s visibility. According to the information on the flash drive, they had less than a mile to trek to the house.

Sticking to the cover of the trees, they paralleled the dirt road until they reached a clearing. A combination wire and wood fence surrounded a two-story brick house. Despite the unpaved, bumpy driving path, the house itself was in good shape and all the bushes surrounding it were neat and trimmed. Smoke drifted from the chimney and two trucks and one car sat in the paved driveway. Someone was definitely home.

From their side view, they could see a balcony on the second story that likely led to a bedroom. And the light was on.

“I’ll go in through the balcony. Liam, you and Jayce
figure out how to take the downstairs.” Connor’s voice was quiet even though they were about forty yards from the house.

Liam nodded in agreement and Jayce did the same. The falling snow gave them some cover, but there were a few brief moments where they were all exposed. Luckily, they were a hell of a lot faster than humans and made it to the house unseen.

As Connor climbed the side of the house toward the balcony, Liam and Jayce split up, each taking different sides of the house. When Liam spotted a man through the kitchen window, his heart rate sped up. The guy was making what looked like a grilled cheese sandwich on the stove. A gun was tucked into the back of his pants, but that looked like his only weapon.

Testing the side door, Liam was surprised when it opened. Picking the lock would have been child’s play, but leaving it unlocked was stupid practice for anyone. As he stepped inside, he tried to home in on Kat’s presence but couldn’t get anything. No subtle roses.

As a rule he preferred to fight in animal form, but it didn’t make sense right now. He didn’t feel threatened and if he didn’t have to kill this guy, he wasn’t going to. Withdrawing his pistol, he crossed the kitchen in complete silence.

The guy still stood at the sizzling stove humming a Christmas song. Liam pressed the gun to the back of his skull and withdrew the man’s weapon with his free hand. “How many people are in the house?” he murmured.

“Fuck you,” the blond-haired man said, his voice just as low.

A burst of fear exploded off him, so Liam took a step back. “Keep your hands up and turn around slowly.”

When he did as he said, Liam motioned with his gun
for him to move toward the small round table in the corner of the room. As the guy moved, he flipped off the stove and moved the pan off the hot burner. Now Liam scented two other distinctive males in the house along with Connor and Jayce. There were traces of other people, but they weren’t as strong, as if they’d left recently. “Where’s the girl?”

Awareness flared in his eyes and a slight metal tang flowed off him, but the man shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I can smell the lie coming off you. Where. Is. The. Girl.” Not a question.

He shrugged. “Probably dead by now.”

Liam could tell he was lying again. He took another step forward. “Don’t be stupid. We both know your little group doesn’t want her dead. They need her alive as a bargaining chip. If you tell me where she is, I’ll let you live.”

“I’m not going to tell you one thing, you fucking animal,” he spat.

Liam tucked his own gun away and bared his teeth. Unlike vampires’, all his teeth could protract on command, not just his canines. He knew it was a frightening sight. Right now he was in control of his inner wolf, but the beast was threatening to take over each second that passed. As he snarled at the man, the fear that rolled off him fed his wolf. He liked the scent and he wanted more of it.

“I’d rather die than tell you anything!” The man lunged up, grabbed one of the chairs, and threw it at him.

Liam easily ducked as it sailed toward his head. When he did, the human withdrew a gun from under the table.

Instead of shifting, he kicked out at the man. The other gun flew through the air, but that didn’t stop the
human. He threw a punch meant to hit him in the face, but Liam ducked. Liam knew his own strength and knew this wasn’t going to be a fair fight.

Right now he didn’t care much about fair. He only cared about finding Kat. As he dodged to the side, he threw a punch of his own.

When his fist connected with the guy’s jaw, he grunted in satisfaction. The man stumbled back but didn’t lose his footing.

Cursing, he came at Liam again, but this time he protected his face. Kicking out, he connected with Liam’s inner thigh.

As Liam struck him in the stomach, the man punched his face. The pain was minimal but pissed Liam off. He growled low, and using his leg and upper-body strength, he threw a hard left hook.

The instant he connected with the man’s jaw, he knew he’d broken it.

The man cried out as he fell back to the table. His body sprawled onto it, then slid to the tile floor. As Liam bent to check for a pulse, a movement behind him had him drawing his gun.

He stopped when he saw Connor and Jayce. “What did you find?”

“No Kat,” Jayce’s voice was low and filled with anger.

“I sensed two other guys. Where are they?”

Stone-faced, Connor flicked a quick glance at Jayce, then back to Liam. “Both dead.”

Jayce killed them both before I could stop him. Broke their necks,
Connor projected to him.

“Did you get any information from either of them?” Liam asked.

Jayce and Connor both shook their heads; then Jayce spoke. “I spotted snowmobile tracks leading away from
the house when I came in through the garage. They’re fresh, but if we don’t hurry, the snow will cover them.”

“We’ll follow them, but we don’t indiscriminately kill anyone.” Connor’s attention was solely on Jayce as he spoke.

Jayce just shrugged, but the raw rage in his eyes gave him away. “You’ve got your rules, I’ve got mine. They’re APL, they die. My orders from the Council are clear.”

Liam knew his brother well enough to know that this conversation wasn’t over—and he somehow doubted the Council had ordered Jayce to kill all APL members—but now wasn’t the time to argue with him. If there were fresh tracks, it could lead them to a safe house.

That could lead them to Kat.

D
ecember tried to blend into the background as Ryan clicked away on his computer. He’d said she wasn’t bugging him and she believed him, but she also didn’t know him well enough to know for sure.