Sophie Oak - Siren in Bloom

Not physically he wasn’t. It was interesting.

“Shelley asked them not to kill him, and then she was silent. One of the bad men told another that he had both targets and to fall back to the meeting point.”

Targets. They were organized. Most likely they were all White Acres employees. But both targets?

“Why would they want Ben?” Wolf asked.

Leo shook his head, and then it hit him. “Fucker. Ben is the perfect patsy. He had a relationship with Ada. Holder didn’t know about it. The Navy didn’t know about it. I’m sure somewhere out there Holder has a hacker making sure those photographs look as though Ben had them stashed somewhere. That way if all goes bad, he sets up Ben to be the killer.”

Wolf growled a little. “And then Ben would either kill himself or have a convenient accident. Son of a bitch. We handed that to him. We have to find her. They think she has those files. When they realize she doesn’t, they’ll kill her.”

Kitten nodded, her hand going to her collar. “Yes, find Shelley.”

Leo squeezed her hand in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. “Let’s get you to Finn. You can stay with Finn and Dani tonight. You did very well, Kitten. If you think of anything else, let Finn know, and he’ll tell us.”

“You’ll find Shelley?” Kitten asked.

“I’m going to find her. I’m going to bring her home.” He had to. There was no other acceptable outcome.

Kitten smiled. “Good. Because Kitten’s collar is naked without its charm.”

Leo’s eyes flew to the ring where one of the staff attached a leash on Kitten the nights she was in the dungeon. His heart nearly stopped. Two months before, she’d wandered off while Dane was dealing with a scene gone bad. She’d gotten lost and nearly allowed herself to be taken home by a man she didn’t know. Finn had been deeply worried. Kitten didn’t have limits. It was one of the things they were working on with her. If a true sadist with bad intentions picked her up, it could go very poorly. Her past proved what trouble she could get into.

So Chase had fitted her collar with a GPS tracking system.

Kitten was far smarter than anyone gave her credit for, and in that moment, Leo vowed to figure the young woman out. He would work with Janine. He would find a way to give Kitten the life she deserved. Because if he was right, Kitten had saved his life. He couldn’t live without Shelley.

“Does Shelley have the charm?”

“What’s the charm got to do with anything?” Wolf asked. “We’re wasting time.”

“Kitten made Shelley swallow the charm so the bad men wouldn’t know she had it.” Kitten smiled.

Leo turned to his brother. “The charm is a GPS tracker. We just have to put in the code and we’ll know where she is.”

Wolf’s jaw dropped. He pulled Kitten into a bear hug. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

Kitten was blushing as he put her back on the floor. Her eyes slid away, and she sounded more stable than Leo had ever heard her. “I know the difference between BDSM and real pain, Master Leo. I’m not as crazy as I sound. She was willing to save me. I couldn’t do any less for her.”

“I am very certain Master Julian will have a very nice reward for you.”

“Kitten has been eyeing an overly large anal plug,” she said, following them as they strode out of the closet.

Leo got them to the elevator.

“We’ll find her,” he promised Wolf.

Wolf nodded. They would find her. And then they would never let her go.

Shelley’s head was pounding as she came to consciousness. She tried to move her hands, to ease the ache in her temples, but her wrists held fast. She felt heavy and groggy. Had she overslept? What had happened? Where was Leo? Why wasn’t Wolf close to her? She was cold, and she shouldn’t be cold in between her men.

She forced her eyes to open. She wasn’t in bed. She could make out low florescent lights.

“Welcome to our nightmare, princess,” a deeply sarcastic voice said quietly.

Chase. She remembered. Chase had been taken with her. Where were they? Her eyes wouldn’t seem to focus.

“If you want to pretend to be out for a little while longer, I think we can put off the moment when they decide to cut my balls off and stuff them down my throat.”

“Where are we?” Shelley asked, keeping her voice as quiet as possible. It still seemed like she was screaming.

“Hell,” Chase replied. “Either that or it’s a warehouse somewhere downtown. That would be my guess. I would say we’re roughly three miles from The Club. I was a little out of it, but I think we went north and then west. If by some miracle you get a chance to run, run toward the freeway. Someone will see you. They can’t take you back if there are witnesses.”

Her stomach rolled. She seemed to be duct-taped to a chair. She tried to move her feet. At least she could kick if she had to. She glanced around the large room. She didn’t see anyone but Chase. They were in a huge, industrial-looking space. She tried to find the exits. There were several large windows overhead, but she couldn’t see a door.

“I don’t know if I could run. I feel terrible.”

“Probably ketamine,” Chase explained. He was taped down in a similar fashion. The big Dom looked worse for the wear. His left eye was swollen shut, and he had a fat lip. Silvery tape wrapped around his torso, holding him upright. “It’s a tranquilizer. Veterinary. Easier to get than the human stuff, but it works.”

“It made me sick.”

“Again, it is supposed to be used on horses. And I wouldn’t mind a little of it right about now. I think one of those fuckers didn’t expect much of a fight. Holder seemed pissed as shit that I was damaged goods.”

Her brain was still a foggy mess. She tried to clear it. Holder was the man who had helped her with the robber, and then he’d shown up at Leo’s office with the pictures of Ada. Shelley put two and two together and came up with the fact that Holder was an asshole. “He arranged for my laptop to be stolen. Jerk. What does he want?”

There was an echo of footsteps. Shelley forced her head to turn.

“I want a certain tape that your husband made.” Holder frowned down at her. Any vestige of charm was gone. Holder was dressed in black, the stark color a contrast to his silver-white hair. Icy-gray eyes pinned her. “You can tell me where that tape is and make it easy on yourself, or we can do this the hard way. I’m prepared for either.”

He flicked a hand and another man in black walked up, carrying a small metal tray.

“Is that what I think it is?” Chase asked.

“It’s sodium amytal.” He picked up the hypodermic needle.

“I don’t know anything,” she said. They could give her all the drugs in the world, and she wouldn’t be able to help them.

“God, Shelley, just tell them. The jig is up, sweetheart. Holder knows.” Chase’s voice was gravely. “Time isn’t on our side here, sweetheart.”

He emphasized the word “time.”

He wanted her to stall. God. She had to buy them some time. If Holder decided that she didn’t know anything, there would be zero reason to keep them alive.

“Tell me something, Holder,” Chase was saying. “Why did you kill Ada? Don’t pretend you didn’t. You wouldn’t have had those pictures if you didn’t. I assume you’re planning to pin this whole thing on me.”

A cold smile curved up Holder’s lips. “You’ve been out of the game too long, Ben. You should never have revealed that emotional shit to a roomful of people. I was worried about how I would handle getting rid of Miss McNamara here. I thought I might have to cover it all up, but this is so much easier.”

“You won’t be able to cover anything up,” Shelley said. “Leo and Wolf will look for me. They’ll find me.”