Madison Layle - Falke’s Captive

“Okay. Did you see anything?” Torsten shook his head, but Reidar continued the interrogation.

The others might have heard it all already, but he and Kelan needed the details. “What about noises?

Did you hear anything?”

“Just some tires squeal.”

“When was that?”

“About five minutes after I opened up, but I had a customer at the counter. I didn’t get a chance to look outside.” Torsten was visibly torn with guilt, but Reidar tried his best to soothe the pain.

“It’s not your fault.”

“No, it’s mine,” Kelan said, making Reidar and everyone else look at him. He took a second to look at each person and cat. “It’s not Beth, but if it is someone she’s working with, then we’ll stop them and get Sindre back. We know where they are, but we have to move fast.”

“I’m coming with you,” Torsten said, stepping closer.

“No,” Axel said, putting the full weight of his alpha position behind that one word. “You’re going to get Heidi and go to Dads’ and stay with them until all of this is resolved. They need to be protected too in case this is something more than I think it is. These people might not settle for one cat.” He looked down at Gunnar and then up at him and Kelan. “I’m going to go with you.”

No , Gunnar said at the same instant that Dakota grabbed Axel’s arm again. He placed his hand over hers.

“It’s final. They obviously can’t handle this situation on their own.”

That statement made Kelan and Reidar bristle, but for once Kelan made the wise choice and let someone else do the fighting.

Without raising his voice, Reidar said, “You have to think of Dakota, Ax. You have babies to worry about.”

“Don’t you think that’s what I’m doing?”

“You’d put Dakota through the stress of worrying about you? While she’s carrying your children?”

I’ll go. Gunnar stood up on all four massive paws.

“Like that’s gonna make it any better for Dakota,” Kelan said softly.

“None of this is going to make me feel better,” Dakota said, showing some of the spunk that won the hearts of two Falke men. “Not until Sindre’s back and everyone is safe again. Everyone! So stop all of this damn bickering and go find him.”

“Amen,” Torsten said, giving her a smile.

I’ll go, Gunnar repeated. You may be the family alpha, Ax, but none of you will succeed if you’re at each other’s throats and too busy arguing over this.

After a brief hesitation, Axel nodded, and Gunnar told Kelan, Get me some clothes. Reidar , bring your truck around back.

“Torsten can go get Heidi while Dakota and I lock things up here,” Axel said. “We’ll all meet at Dads’ place.”

Okay.

Reidar nodded and headed back down the alley, but before he turned the corner, he heard Axel tell Kelan, “Finish this.”

“So, now that we’re all dressed like trees, what’s the plan?” Gunnar wanted to know.

They’d changed into camouflage apparel taken from the store’s racks. But Kelan appreciated Gunnar’s willingness to let them take the lead. Axel wouldn’t have done that, but it was best if they worked together. And Kelan and Reidar knew more than all the rest combined. Where the lab was, what it looked like both inside and out. What Beth’s lab partner looked like. And they both were certain that Beth was not involved in this latest incident, but if her lab partner was to blame for Sindre’s kidnapping, that meant she might’ve walked into trouble after leaving them at the hotel.

Kelan continued to stare out the windshield as Reidar weaved his four-wheel drive pickup through the underbrush along the ATV track they’d gone up the day before.

“Sneak in, confirm Sindre is even there, and then rescue him,” Reidar said before glancing at Gunnar and then back to the trail. “You know, he might already have gotten away. I mean, if they leave him alone, he could do what Kelan did and get himself out of this mess.”

“I hope you’re right,” Gunnar said, “but if not…”

It was the not that worried Kelan and kept him silent. He’d tried to call Beth on her cell phone twice already, but she hadn’t answered. His gut told him something was seriously wrong. His fingers curled into tight fists.

When Reidar pulled to a stop at the fence, Kelan was the first to leap from the truck.

“Okay,” he whispered, thinking there was too damn much daylight. “The forestry’s base camp is about a hundred yards west of here, over that fence. We’re going to have to shift to get over it and then change back. We don’t know if they’re at the mobile lab or out scouting the area. Let’s keep it quiet.”

Reidar and Gunnar nodded, both stripping as fast as possible. Reidar was the first over the fence and kept a lookout, with Gunnar following next. Kelan tossed all of their clothes over the fence, shifted and made the leap over while Reidar dressed and Gunnar watched for trouble. Soon, with all three fully dressed in camo once more, Kelan’s brothers fanned out a few feet to either side of him, and they began their trek through the woods to the base camp.

Kelan felt as if he didn’t breathe again until he was close enough to see the lab was still where they’d left it the night before. And there was Beth’s Jeep. He took a second to close his eyes and fill his lungs with fresh air, which he let go with a sigh.

The vehicle’s presence at the base camp didn’t explain why Beth wasn’t answering her phone, and until that mystery was solved, he wouldn’t be able to breathe without the ache in his chest.

He and his brothers ducked down a few feet inside the tree line that surrounded the base camp when the sound of a revved motor echoed through the forest. Seconds later, a man he recognized as Tim came barreling out of the brush and onto the dirt drive, throwing a dust plume into the air as he whipped the ATV into a turn and pulled up to the back of the trailer.

Who’s that? Gunnar asked.

Kelan answered, Tim. He’s another student who’s working on the field project with Beth.

Kelan watched as a second man, the older, heavier one they’d seen last night with Tim, stepped from the side of the trailer, shutting the door behind him.

The professor , Reidar suggested, and Kelan concurred. But where was Beth? The professor met Tim at the end of the trailer as the younger man lined up the ATV to a pair of ramps. From the brothers’ vantage point, Kelan had a clear view of the trailer’s back doors, but they were closed, so he couldn’t see if Beth and Sindre were inside. And unfortunately, without a sight line to Sindre, they couldn’t communicate telepathically.

But Kelan was close enough, hidden in the heavy overgrowth that lined the clearing, to hear the conversation between the two scientists.

“I’ll put up the ATV,” the professor said as he grabbed onto the handlebar. “You go around and hook the trailer to the truck. We need to head back to the university.”

“Why? I thought we were staying here ’til the end of next week.”

The professor frowned. Apparently he didn’t like being questioned. “Plans have changed. There’s some more equipment that’s come in, and I want it installed in the lab. Plus I need to get back to the campus lab where I can do more in-depth tests on some of the research Beth started. After you drop me off, and the equipment’s installed, you can go back to the northernmost point on the map that she marked and begin gathering other samples from the wildlife up there.”

“Oh, okay. Where is Beth? I wanted to tell her—”

“She’s not here.” The professor sat on the ATV and revved the engine once.