When class was over her belly flip-flopped at the idea of
stepping out into the hallway where whoever was watching her might be waiting.
She grabbed her things and hurried to stay in the middle of the crush of people
leaving the class at one time. She stayed alert and scanned the area ahead of
her but didn’t see anyone looking in her direction. By the time she reached
Dewayne in the parking lot, she was feeling silly, chalking her uneasiness up
to nothing more than nerves.
* * * * *
Mason was in the bedroom, going through the drawers of the
desk in search of his passport. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember where
he put it during his move into the house. He heard the Mustang in the driveway
and then footsteps on the stairs before Laurie came through the door.
“Hi, Angel,” he called. “How was class?”
“Good. I got everything squared away. What are you up to?”
“Looking for my damn passport. Don’t worry, I’ll find it.”
“Okay, I’m just going to make sure I packed everything I
need.” She stepped into the closet and began looking through her clothes.
Frustrated, Mason slammed the drawer of the desk closed and
ran his hands through his hair. He’d hate to ruin all their plans just because
he was an unorganized mover. He racked his brain, trying to recall where he put
it and then he remembered.
“Hey, Angel, check that little blue box on the top shelf,
will you?” he called to Laurie.
She glanced around and spotted the box he was talking about
and opened it.
“Found it,” she said after a moment of rummaging.
He smiled and let out a relieved sigh.
Laurie started to put the lid back on but stopped at the
last second and stared into the box. He watched her, unsure if he was
comfortable with her scrutinizing his box of embarrassing mementos. She reached
inside and pulled out something he was embarrassed to be still holding on to.
“Where did you get this?”
He wasn’t sure if he imagined it but her tone sounded
clipped, as if she was angry. Although he was embarrassed of the trinket, he
decided to tell her where it came from.
“A lady gave it to me a long time ago. Not a girlfriend or
anything like that. It was some weird fortuneteller when I was a kid. She
grabbed me off the street when I was walking by her table at a café.”
He stopped talking when he saw the color drain out of Laurie’s
face. She stared at the little red charm on the beaded chain in her hand and
then looked back at his face.
“You didn’t go through my things?” she asked, looking
bewildered.
Mason frowned and shook his head, feeling almost offended.
Why would she think he’d go through her things?
She dropped his shoebox and grabbed a small box she’d
brought with her when she moved in. He watched her, feeling confused and
concerned as she carried it to the bed. Still holding his charm in one hand,
she opened her box with the other and gasped. She reached inside and pulled out
the mate. The two charms were identical in every way. Mason huffed out a small
laugh and they looked at each other in open-mouth shock. What were the odds?
“She said your soul mate would have the mate?”
“We’re soul mates,” Mason said as he began to smile.
Laurie looked at the charms then at her engagement ring and
finally at his face and smiled as well.
“I didn’t think that stuff was real but deep down, I always
hoped it was. That’s why I came here.” Mason crossed the room to her and cupped
her cheek.
“You came here looking for me?”
He kissed her gently then leaned back, grinning at her. “That’s
why I never left. I stayed here, waiting for you. We found each other, baby.
Miss Agata would be proud of us.”
She grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck as he
lowered his head for another kiss. Pressing her body against his, she deepened
the kiss. Mason kissed her back just as frantically, ready to throw her onto
the bed and ravish her body. He held her close and lifted her off her feet.
Everything finally made sense. Their instant, overpowering
attraction, the possessiveness he felt for her from the second he laid eyes on
her, and why it hurt so goddamn much to be away from her. He felt as if she
belonged to him because she did belong to him. She always had. He wanted her so
badly but his worry for her pulled him out of their cloud of passion.
“We don’t have time for this right now,” he said between
kisses. “We got to get going or we’ll miss our flight. Gotta get you safe,
baby.”
She sighed and rested her forehead against his. “I know. You’re
right.”
With an effort he would call heroic, he set her on her feet
and pulled away from her. She grinned at him and he gave her ass a sound smack.
“You finish getting ready. I’ll go start loading the car. We’re
picking this back up as soon as we get to our hotel room.”
Laurie nodded and he grabbed their bags and left her alone
in the room to change.
He was heading for the front door with their bags to load
into the car when Olivia arrived. She was running late and had an armload of
bathing suits for Laurie to go through. Mason called to Laurie then left Olivia
in the living room and went to work packing the car.
When he came back inside, Laurie was stuffing a few
swimsuits in her carryon bag and thanking Olivia. He took her bag from her and
then ushered her toward the door, taking a moment to stomp on the floor to
signal Dewayne that they were leaving. Dewayne’s answering thump let them know
he understood.
Olivia followed them down the porch steps and toward the
car, sticking close to Laurie and demanding she take lots of pictures of the
beach.
Laurie’s phone rang and she answered it. Mason could tell from
her end of the conversation that it was Mona. After a moment, she called to
him.
“Babe, Mona’s only a few blocks away. Can we spare five
minutes so she can see us off?”
“I guess so, as long as it’s quick.”
He was putting one last armload in the trunk when a loud
screeching sound broke the peace and quiet of the neighborhood and a van came
to a stop at the end of the driveway, blocking them in. Four large men jumped
out. In only a moment, everything spun out of control.
Mason spun around just in time to confront the first
attacker. He knocked the man to the ground, leaving him sputtering blood, but
three of the others soon overtook him.
Watching the scene in horror, Laurie screamed and took a
step toward the scuffle but Olivia grabbed her and pulled her away from the
fray.
She realized too late that Olivia had pulled her toward the
van. When she saw the hard glint in her friend’s eye, Laurie knew she was part
of the attack. She tried to lunge away but strong arms closed over her and then
she was flying through the open door of the van, landing hard on the carpeted
floor. Olivia and two of the men jumped in behind her and she saw the other two
large men punching and kicking Mason.
One of them had a knife and, to her shock, plunged it into
Mason. From her angle, it appeared to have hit him in the chest. She screamed
and the door slid shut, blocking her view of the horrors taking place. Laurie
fought to get at least to her knees but the van peeled out, knocking her flat
as it carried her away from everything she loved.
* * * * *
Mason had felt the blade enter his arm and grunted. He heard
Laurie scream then her voice faded. He continued to fight, knowing if he gave
up, he would never see her again. He heard Dewayne yelling his name from far
off. He figured he was still inside the house, racing to his aid.
All of a sudden, he was only fighting one man. He could
still hear Dewayne yelling, and Mason kicked out, catching his opponent in the
knee, then a tattooed, muscular arm grabbed the man by the neck and he was
gone. Mason was still for a moment, not sure what was happening.
It took a moment for his vision to expand as he stared up,
listening to the sound of his blood rushing through his ears. A hand reached
down to him. He stared at it in confusion for a moment then followed it up an
arm and to a face, and then he was sure he was hallucinating. The bastards had
to have cracked his skull and he was having some trippy dream. The face above
him grinned.
“Gonna lay there all night, little brother?”
Mason reluctantly took the offered hand and used it as
support to get to his feet. He was vaguely aware of Dewayne at his side, his
posture tense and ready to pounce.
“Rowan?” Mason couldn’t seem to make sense of the situation.
His brother was older and harder than Mason remembered but there was no doubt
in his mind—Rowan was standing in Mason’s front yard. But how could that be? It
just didn’t make sense. His big brother smiled at him and ruffed up his hair.
“Hope you don’t mind me stepping in there, kid,” Rowan said.
“Looked like you were getting your ass kicked pretty good.”
Mason frowned for a moment before reality kicked in and he
looked around, making eye contact with Dewayne.
“Laurie? Where’s my girl?” Terror gripped him and his heart
began to pound hard again. “Where the fuck is she?” He already knew the answer
but he was hoping against hope that someone would tell him he was wrong.
“They took her,” Dewayne said, gripping Mason’s injured arm
below the knife wound, the blade still embedded in his flesh.
Before Mason could react, the screeching of tires drew their
attention to the street. Mona’s Cadillac came to a stop in the spot the van had
vacated. She was out of the car in an instant and running toward the group.
“What the hell happened?” she cried. She stopped at the end
of the driveway and picked up Laurie’s phone.
“They fucking took her,” Dewayne growled, running his hands
over his hair and looking completely panicked. “Damn it.”
Mason tried to break free of his brother, who had a tight
grip on his uninjured arm and wouldn’t let go.
“Where you going, little brother?”
“I’ve got to find my girl.” Mason considered punching Rowan
if he didn’t back off.
“Well, you’re going to need help.” He looked at Dewayne and
then motioned to the two men on the ground. “Let’s drag these fuckers in the
house. We’ll have a little talk with them and find out where they took my
brother’s woman.” He looked at Mona and motioned toward the house. “Get the
door, Red.”
They did as Rowan said without question. He turned back to
Mason and looked at the knife embedded in his arm. “We’ve got to take care of
that, little brother.”
* * * * *
“I don’t understand, Rowan,” Mason said once they were
inside. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Rowan gave him a half-smile as he inspected the knife, while
Mason sat in a kitchen chair.
“I got an email about a week ago from some chick named
Laurie Donovan, who said she was looking for a Rowan Pierce who might have a
brother named Mason. I didn’t know who Laurie was so I traced the IP address to
the college library and from there it didn’t take long to track her down.” He
motioned toward Dewayne. “I followed her and your friend over there back here
and I couldn’t believe it when you came out of the house, little brother. Damn,
you’re a big bastard. I was just coming over when that van pulled up and those
meatheads jumped you. That other girl must have been working with them—she pulled
your woman over to the van so they could grab her and then she left with them.”
“That bitch. I knew she was trouble,” Dewayne spat from the
other side of the room, where he and Mona were tying the two men to chairs.
Rowan laid a clean towel over Mason’s shoulder and grabbed
the handle of the knife. “The knife went through the meatiest part here so it
didn’t hit anything vital. I can pull it out. Going to hurt like hell, though.”
Mason nodded and glared at the two men across the room.
“Just fucking do it,” he growled, and steeled himself for
the pain.
Mona came over to help, holding Mason’s shoulder while Rowan
yanked the knife out. Mason groaned then cursed and fought the urge to punch
his brother when he doused the wound with whiskey he found above the sink.
Rowan used a tube of Super Glue to close the wound then set about bandaging it.
Mason fought the wave of dizziness that hit him when he
stood from the chair and moved toward the men.
“This tile’s pretty old,” Rowan commented, kicking a loose
piece with the toe of his boot. “You were planning on replacing it anyway,
right?”
Everyone in the room, including their captives, knew exactly
what he was getting at. They wouldn’t need to worry about keeping it neat if
they were going to rip up the flooring anyway.
“New tiles in the basement, just waiting to be laid,”
Dewayne piped in.
Rowan nodded as he approached the men, carrying the bloody
knife he had pulled out of Mason.
“You boys in the mood to have a little talk?” he asked.
Before he could make a move, Kevin burst through the back
door, making everyone jump. He was still in his police uniform and Rowan
stepped back.
“Sara saw the whole thing,” Kevin said in a panic, grabbing
Mason by the front of the shirt. “She got the license plate number.” He gave
Mason a shake. “We’re going to find her, man, we’re going to find her. I didn’t
report it because it takes too long to go through official channels.”
Mason nodded, grateful for his friend’s quick thinking.
Kevin noticed Rowan and looked from him to Mason, and quickly nodded.
“We cool?” Rowan asked.
“Yeah, man. We’re cool. You don’t have to use that bottle on
me.”
Rowan had grabbed up the whiskey bottle and had a good grip
on it. No doubt, he’d planned to bash poor Kevin over the head and throw him in
a closet until they finished interrogating their captives. Rowan set the bottle
aside and noticeably relaxed.
Kevin gave him a nod and turned toward the two men tied to
chairs in the kitchen. He reached for his utility belt and pulled out his Taser.
“You boys are going to tell us what we want to know right
now or things are going to go very bad for you.”
“You’re not going to do nothin’,” the larger of the two men
cried. “You’re a cop.”
“Maybe I am but these people are my friends, and I will help
them torture and kill both of you if you don’t tell us what we want to know…and
since I am a cop, I know exactly how to get away with it.”
“Fuck you,” the man cried.
Mason growled and shoved past Kevin and Rowan. He grabbed
the man by the collar and started punching him. His panic level made him
frantic and he pummeled the guy. Nobody tried to stop him. The second man
watched the scene and his expression became more fearful by the second.
“I’ll tell you,” he cried. “I know where they took her but
you don’t have much time. They’re going to kill her. It was just a job. I
needed the money. Please, man, don’t kill me.”
Mason dropped the larger man, who was almost unconscious.
Nobody paid any attention to the crash of the man and chair tumbling over on
the floor. He turned his attention to the second man, grabbing his collar with
a bloody fist.
“Start talking.”
* * * * *
Rowan stepped out of the darkness and nodded.
“She’s in there. She looks okay for the moment, just pissed.
The other girl is in there too, and I counted five big guys guarding Laurie.
They ain’t armed that I could tell. They don’t look like anything we can’t
handle.”
Mason stared at the old warehouse and rage stabbed him in
the chest. The idea that his Angel was in that filthy place ripped at him and
he felt homicidal. It took every ounce of restraint he had not to storm in
there the moment they’d arrived. Although it had taken Rowan less than five
minutes to scout the area, it had felt like hours.
They were at an old amusement park, which received so much
damaged during Hurricane Katrina that no one had bothered to reopen it. The
decrepit ruins of giant roller coasters stood dark and silent like the ancient
remains of mammoth creatures that guarded their sacred grounds. The fact that
it was once a place of laughter and excitement but now loomed eerily quiet and
decaying made it seem even more ominous.
Mason looked at his companions, his brothers, and was glad
for their support. Dewayne had sent out a distress signal as soon as he reached
his phone and Rafe was at Mason’s door in a matter of minutes. Luckily, Caleb
and Garrick were in the area, working on an oilrig, and they’d answered the
call as well. Kevin was keeping an ear on his radio and patrolling the area so
he could watch their backs. Mona wanted to come along but all the guys refused
to bring her into the dangerous situation.
She’d started to put up a fight but Dewayne had quickly
ended it by taking her car keys and locking her in the coat closet. She was
going to be pissed and would make Dewayne pay for his actions later, but for
now they were just glad she was safe. Mason called Sara when they were a few
blocks from the house and told her to go over and let Mona out of the closet.
“Holy hell,” Dewayne spat as he scrutinized their surroundings.
“These bastards were trying to make sure there’s no out for Laurie. Even if she
got away, a pretty little thing like our girl wouldn’t make it fifty feet in
this place before the rats were on her.”
Mason thought of the possibility of Laurie being raped and
murdered by the filth that inhabited the area and his hands started to shake.
“We don’t have time to plan out a clever rescue,” Rowan said
after a moment of thought. “That asshole said they weren’t going to waste no
time. If we don’t get in there quick, it’ll be too late for her.”
Mason’s jaw twitched and he made a move toward the building,
but Rafe put a hand on Mason’s arm, stopping him.
“What do you suggest?” Rafe asked, nodding toward Rowan.
Rowan thought about it for a moment and smiled.