Chapter 19
Mark was in Tonya’s squad car and speeding north within two minutes of hearing Julie’s voice.
Tonya sat beside him, coordinating with local law enforcement while Becca and Carl followed.
Even with sirens and lights, it would take too damn long to get up there, but at least he could hear Julie’s voice as she talked to Alan.
Jesus. They had Alan, too, and no one had even known.
Only one good thing came out of the drive.
By the time they were within thirty miles of their destination, Mark’s grizzly stretched, yawned, and came back to life with an audible growl.
He didn’t know if it was the adrenaline or just time for the drug to wear off.
Either way, he was beyond grateful to have his normal body and brain back.
Even if his grizzly hated being cooped up in a damned car with the siren piercing his ears.
Meanwhile, Tonya shot him a dangerous look.
“You’re back,” she said.
He nodded.
“You’re not going grizzly once we get there. Last thing we need is to put you down, too, because you can’t shift back.”
“I can’t shift at all,” he growled at her.
That’s why he’d convinced Carl to give him a pistol before they’d left.
Without his grizzly, all he could do was glare really hard at people.
Or punch them into the next county because even without grizzly strength, he was still a big guy.
That would be satisfying, but it wouldn’t be much help against a shotgun or their tranquilizer darts.
“Medical’s on the way. Ambulance and a doc, all shifters.” Her voice cracked a bit, but otherwise her gaze was on her gun as she slammed the clip back in.
“Good.” He didn’t want to think about what the bastards had done to Julie.
He hadn’t been able to tell from her screaming.
Just that it had been awful and mercifully fast. Probably something medical, which terrified him even more.
Because what the hell had they done to Alan that he needed a bond to stabilize?
“Can’t you go any faster?” Tonya asked.
Not without killing innocent bystanders or wrecking the car. He didn’t have his grizzly reflexes, and he was pushing the boundary of what he could do. And in the background, all he could hear was Julie pleading with Alan to stay calm. To hold on.
Her every word settled into his chest making it harder to breathe.
The need to protect her was pounding behind his eyes, pulsing his vision and making him insane.
Plus his mind still spun with horrible scenarios.
What if he didn’t get there in time? What if she died and she never knew how much he loved her? What if she thought she was alone?
Sweat made his hands slick. He glared at the dashboard GPS. Thirteen minutes to destination. Jesus, all the things that could happen to her in thirteen fucking minutes. Hold on! He didn’t know if he was talking to himself or her, but the words kept forming on his lips. Hold on! Hold on!
Then Tonya killed the sirens and suddenly the traffic thickened around him. Mark growled in fury, but Tonya was equally keyed up.
“We have to be quiet!” she snarled. “We can’t risk them killing the hostages.”
He didn’t have the focus to respond. He was busy spinning around a corner. Ten minutes to destination.
Hold on!
The wheels spun again as he turned into vacation cabin suburbia. Large cabins around a lake, and every one filled with families. And then suddenly he saw a local PD car parked directly ahead.
He slammed on the brakes and was out of the car before the engine fully died down. Tonya carried the laptop that was still broadcasting Julie. He wanted to storm the place now, but Tonya shoved him backward with a curse.
“Wait! We’re doing this smart,” she snarled.
He nodded, though it was a lie. No way was he waiting on anything.
But he stayed in place long enough to get introduced to the cops and to hear the details of the plan.
Search warrant obtained, and thanks to Google Maps and GPS, they knew exactly where she was—in some sort of backyard structure—but they still needed to keep the innocents out of the way. And not everyone had gotten here yet.
Enough. Mark started moving out, except he couldn’t escape Carl. Damn it. He hadn’t even noticed the man arriving, but his alpha knew exactly what Mark intended and he held out a restraining arm.
Mark whipped. “Get the fuck—”
“Shut up and listen. I’m going with you, but we’re doing it as men, got that?” He paused long enough to smile and wave nice and friendly at the cops. They didn’t have jurisdiction here, not even Tonya, so it behooved everyone to play nice with the locals.
“I can’t shift,” Mark snapped, but even as he said the words, he wondered if it were true. His senses were perking up. He could smell the trees and the acrid scent of adrenaline wafting off everyone here.
“Get on a vest, then,” Carl said. He hadn’t put one on.
A closer look showed him that Carl had on his tear-away stripper pants and a tee so thin it was nearly see through.
That meant he was fully prepared to go grizzly and rip through his clothes if needed.
By comparison, Mark was in what he’d been wearing at the hospital: dirty khakis and a hospital scrub for a shirt.
Bowing to necessity, he grabbed the vest Becca held out for him.
He hated the weight and restriction, but he couldn’t help Julie if he got shot.
Then Tonya joined them, keeping her voice low as she jerked her chin toward the pair of local cops.
“These guys don’t know shit about shifters.
They’re going to freak if Alan’s anything like the guys who attacked Julie’s cabin.
So go in, go fast, and get him out. Shifter ambulance and doc are already here, up that way around the bend. ” She pointed up the lane.
Mark nodded and headed out with Carl while Tonya and Becca distracted the cops. It wasn’t the smartest way to handle this, but sometimes that’s what happened when combining normal with the paranormal. Mark didn’t care so long as it got him to Julie right away.
They slipped into the trees. There wasn’t much coverage, but it would do for now.
As far as he could tell, the bastards were relying on anonymity rather than real defenses.
That was good, but he stayed on the alert and tried to keep his gun hand steady.
He wasn’t the best with a pistol, and he was twitchy from not being able to hear Julie’s voice anymore.
He hadn’t realized how much reassurance he’d taken from her steady words.
She was alive. She wasn’t being attacked.
But now that he couldn’t hear her, he wanted to rip every building apart until he found her.
Instead, he stuck to the shadows as he recruited all his senses.
Senses that were getting crisper by the second. About fucking time.
And then Julie started screaming.