Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Frankie
“Where do you need us, boss?” Zeke’s voice rings out from the cell speakers, it’s flat monotone enough to keep me from shifting and going on a rampage.
I have to think logically about this. The only way to find Seth is to figure out where he was taken.
But my mind is running a million miles an hour, the ‘what-if’ scenarios making me feel close to vomiting.
“Boss!” I jerk at Lirael’s voice shouts from the phone, reminding me that I need to focus.
“I’ve triangulated his location to a conservation area north of the city.” Gio’s smooth voice floats from the speaker. Zeke immediately chimes in, demanding to know the coordinates, while Lirael mumbles something that has Gio letting out a derisive snort.
My heart warms at their concern. The moment I got hold of Lirael and let him know what happened, he rallied his crew and met me at Seth’s apartment. Without the scent disrupter, Seth will be easily tracked, and having the others know his scent meant a higher likelihood of finding him.
And I desperately have to find him.
It’s been over an hour since I walked into Meryl’s restaurant to find Seth gone. Absolutely anything could have happened in that time frame.
My phone chimes with an incoming message, and I open it to find the coordinates Gio found.
I was honestly surprised when Gio stepped up and offered his tech skills to help find Seth.
While Giovanni is only a few years older than me, he’s the most stoic of my brothers.
We aren’t close, and I have almost no knowledge of his personal life outside of our family organization, but I suspect he’s helping because he lost a lover of his own.
“Got the location, Gio. Keep track of it and make sure it doesn’t move,” I say as I pull out of the parking lot. Gio hums an acknowledgment, and I can faintly hear typing from his end of the line.
“It’s not an exact location, Frankie. And there’s no guarantee the phone didn’t get tossed.”
“Seth doesn’t have his scent disrupter. If he’s anywhere close to where his phone is, I’ll find him.” I have to believe the jamook is stupid enough to have left the phone in Seth’s pocket or, at the very least, in his car.
“Zeke just headed out,” Lirael informs me. “Go find your mate, Frankie. Gio and I will keep an eye on things.”
Gio gives a disgruntled sigh, “So long as you don’t start rubbing up on me again. I’ll neuter you if you do.” Lirael’s laugh floats over the line before the call disconnects, and I’m left in the silence of my vehicle as I race north.
My palms are sweating so badly that it’s difficult to keep my grip on the steering wheel as I swerve around slower traffic. I’m lucky it’s the middle of the night on a workday and the traffic itself is light, but it’s still taking far too long.
Within fifteen minutes, I’m on a narrow, windy road on the outer limits of the city. A ranch-style house or trailer pops up here and there, but most of my surroundings are rural. The only reason I even slow down is because I don’t want to total my car by hitting a deer.
The GPS alerts me to an upcoming turn, and I slow to a crawl as an abandoned road appears on my left, my headlights illuminating a very familiar figure leaning against the trunk of an oak.
Pulling onto the abandoned road, I kill the engine and step out, making sure the door doesn’t slam when I close it.
Zeke steps away from the tree, an unreadable expression crossing his face.
“GPS still has them a little over a mile up this road.” Zeke’s face is back to his normal bored expression, but the fact he’s out here with me speaks volumes.
He’s dressed in his usual dark jeans and t-shirt, his leather jacket slung over one shoulder.
I can just make out the taillight of his motorcycle hidden behind some brush.
“How do you want to do this?” I ask, staring down the abandoned road.
My wolf howls, demanding I go after Seth and bring him home, but we have no idea if Jake has anything up his sleeve for us. Is he waiting for us down that road? Does he have allies? Are there any traps waiting for us?
“We need to see what’s happening from above.” Zeke stares up at the sky, his hands already unbuttoning his black overshirt. A scream echoes through the dark forest, and my heart shatters.
We are out of time to talk it through.
A low growl rumbles from Zeke’s chest, making my wolf’s hackles rise instinctively. I didn’t think that single meeting left such a deep impact, but clearly I’m wrong. Another scream has both of us tearing at our clothes.
The shift is brutal when it happens, my terror and fury pushing the shift faster than I normally allow. The breaking of bone and tearing of muscle is nothing compared to the agony of being too late to save Seth. If I can’t…
I fall to my front legs, shaking my body as my fur sprouts swiftly, a full-body itch that is gone as soon as I feel it.
“I’ll come from the sky,” Zeke growls out in a low bass voice that I can feel in my bones.
An eight-foot-long wyvern stands where Zeke had just been, its deep green scales the exact color his hair had been a moment ago.
Now, they are thin spines that flow back from his head, before turning into short spines along the center of his back.
His arms have turned into powerful wings, the front claws digging furrows into the crumbling pavement.
Without another word, Zeke launches himself into the sky, his giant wings almost knocking me off my feet from the backwash of air.
I take off after him, racing down the abandoned road.
I don’t aim for caution or stealth, only speed.
I don’t care if Jake hears me. Let him know I’m coming.
Let him know he’s about to die. I just need to get to Seth.
The trees flash past me, the local wildlife rummaging in this section of forest going quiet as I run. I force myself to run faster, ignoring the sharp corners of broken rock against my paw pads or the brambles clawing at my fur.
Moments later, I pick up the sound of an idling engine, but what has me pushing myself even faster, is the smell of blood. The trees fall away from the road, giving way to a parking lot that probably hasn’t been maintained since the first Bush administration.
I skid to a stop, my stomach revolting at the scene before me. On the pavement, illuminated by the headlights, is Seth, eyes closed tightly, cheeks wet with tears and snot, and on top of him, is the undulating body of Jake in his snake form.
A roar reverberates overhead, and Jake’s serpentine head jerks upward with a hiss. Zeke’s wyvern form glides by, almost invisible against the inky blackness of the sky.
Jake arches upward, his snake body curling possessively around Seth’s legs. Seth lets out a choked sob at the movement, and I can clearly see why. Jake is buried inside of Seth, smears of blood along his shaft as he continues to pump his hips.
The snarl that erupts from my chest has the few brave frogs and insects falling silent.
Jake’s attention snaps to me, his torso curling forward until the palms of his hands are braced against the ground.
A hiss falls from his mouth that has my hackles rising.
Seth whimpers, eyes blinking open, letting out another choked sob as soon as he sees me.
I don’t know if he even knows it’s me, or if he’s just relieved that anyone is here to rescue him, but he reaches out to me. In that moment, the certainty that I will burn this whole fucking world to the ground for him solidifies.
“So, this is the flea-bitten dog you whored yourself out for?” Jake’s raspy voice is like nails on a chalkboard, and I flatten my ears against my skull. His yellow eyes narrow as he leans over Seth, giving a vicious thrust that has Seth crying out.
The whistle of wind above has me giving Jake a smile, my tongue lolling over my bottom fangs. “Do you like to fly?” I growl out. Jake tilts his head in confusion, before those yellow eyes widen and he jerks his head back up to the sky.
Zeke dives down, his sixteen-foot wingspan no more than a whisper on the wind as he swoops over our heads. Jake smirks, the sneer twisting his strange serpentine features, making him look fucking weirder. The idiot thinks he missed. But then Zeke’s tail slashes him across his scaled chest.
I’m already launching myself forward as Jake is thrown away from Seth.
My mate screams again, and as much as I want to stop and whisk him away, I need to end all this.
Now! I hurl myself over the abused body of my mate, the smell of his blood and pain ripping my heart in two, and my wolf snaps his jaws in fury.
Jake coils in on himself, his clawed hands clenching rhythmically as I pace in front of him.
Unlike the various cat shifters, I don’t have the speed or agility to dodge a snake strike, and if it were just me here fighting him, I have no doubt we’d be at a stalemate pretty quickly. But I’m not alone.
Jake doesn’t let himself be a standing target for long. With a hiss, he darts for the trees as I rush him. If he gets into the forest, he will have an advantage, his snake form allowing him to reach up into the trees quickly.
He’s fast, far faster than I anticipated, but I manage to trap his tail under one paw. It’s a half-assed method to immobilize him as he immediately begins wiggling like a fucking worm on a hook. He slashes at me with his claws, and I barely manage to avoid getting blinded.
Jake’s muscular snake body loops around itself, writhing and twisting to the point I lose my footing. Against my better judgment, I lunge forward, my jaws clamping onto Jake’s tail, teeth sinking deep into the muscle.
He screams, a hissing screech that has my ears flattening against my skull from how shrill it is. Fucking Christ, it’s loud and at a frequency that makes me want to whimper from pain. Instead, I give the tail a vicious shake, the copper taste of blood filling my mouth as I rip through the meat.