I tensed. Was that Geordie? What the hell was he doing back? He never worked after-hours, which was another reason he was a shitty manager. Everyone else had to be on-call, but not him. A scowl tightened my forehead and only worsened the headache I’d been fighting since fleeing... whatever had happened at the Evershaw house. How dare Geordie pitch a fit about the delivery, make me do all the work, then show up after the fact, probably to complain about the way I’d done things?
But... there was definitely more than one flashlight, and who was he talking to? Other male voices answered him, too low and gruff to make out what they said. Boots scuffled through the dirt and into the building reserved for vet check-ups, quarantining the animals when they first arrived, and other special cases. The tiger had been moved in there for a dental cleaning the next day, so the building definitely wasn’t empty.
I craned my neck and made out a large SUV with heavily tinted windows parked on the grounds where only company trucks were supposed to drive. The back gate yawned open, a large tarp on the ground beneath it. A large bundle waited on the tarp, also wrapped up in something like heavy plastic sheeting. I held my breath and didn’t get any closer as the voice grew louder, returning, and four massive guys appeared.
Three of them went to pick up and carry the bundle from the tarp and into the building, while Geordie stood back and did nothing. Typical. They all returned to the vet building, talking loudly and arguing about how heavy it was and who was slacking off. I frowned. Whatever it was they carried, it looked like it weighed a ton. All three men exerted all of their strength and still seemed to struggle.
What the hell were they up to? Were they moving a new animal in while it was still tranquilized? Had they wrapped it up to make it easier to transport, though it meant the poor animal suffered even more? I gritted my teeth and steeled my courage. Whatever Geordie was up to, I needed to know. I didn’t want to keep working at a place that supported shady business and sneaking around in the middle of the night.
I waited until I couldn’t hear their voices before I sneaked closer to the building and the half-open door near the service entrance. It wasn’t difficult to follow their tracks. Whatever they carried dripped something dark and slightly greasy along the halls and corridors, practically leaving a trail to the kitchen part of the building, where the keepers prepared meals for all the animals. The massive fridge and freezer contained sides of beef, antelope, sheep, and other assorted meats for the predators to eat, as well as the fruits and veggies they needed for a balanced diet. The big work tables also had grinders and saws and sharp knives. I’d done a tour through there only once and been impressed with the stainless steel, ultra-modern tools, and large bins filled with assorted meat already chopped into good-sized chunks for tigers and lions and bears.
But it wasn’t particularly conducive to peeking around to find out what people were doing in the only half-lit room. I frowned and edged to the very side of the door in the hall, not quite ready to crane my head around. I strained to hear what they said, but the men seemed to communicate only in grunts and gestures. Nothing useful came through to clue me in on what they were doing.
Something heavy and wet fell to the floor with a squish and a thump, and one of the guys laughed. “Bet he didn’t see that one comin’.”
“He didn’t see none of it comin’,” another voice said, and was answered by chuckles. “Put that over there before more blood gets on the floor. I don’t wanna be here all night cleaning.”
Blood? One of the electric saws buzzed to life and then immediately cut into something firm and possibly bony, grinding as it encountered something harder than just... My stomach turned over. Were they cutting something up?
I steeled my courage and held my breath as I peeked around the corner. I couldn’t see much; the men were out of sight at the far worktable, hidden from me by a large rolling pantry, but the edge of their tarp was visible on the floor.
My hands tightened on the doorjamb as I stared at the tarp and legs. Feet. Most in shoes, but one was bare. Bare and... My heart dropped. I wobbled and sucked in breath to scream, since there didn’t seem like anything else to do. It wasn’t connected to anything. The foot was there and part of a calf and then it just – ended. It just ended with a dull chunk of yellow-white bone and a lot of blood and red meaty bits sticking up.
Bile rose in my throat and I felt hot and flushed all over as panic rose up. They were cutting up a person?
Before I could scream or even think of what to do next, a hand clapped over my mouth and an arm slid around my middle, yanking me back against a hard body. A calm voice said, “Don’t move.”
Chapter 10
Dodge
Dodge waited his twenty-three minutes, and a few extra seconds, just to see whether the meathead down the street would get froggy and take a swing at him. When the big dude looked about ready to make his move, Dodge shoved upright and sauntered across the street to the apartment building. He took the stairs quickly, searching the stairwells and internal halls for signs of trouble, and tried to imagine Persephone taking the elevator to her door after a long day.
It was remarkably easy to pick the lock on her door; it was a standard tumbler, probably the original one from when the apartments were built twenty years prior. He shook his head and made a mental note to tell her to change the damn lock. There was no telling how many people still had keys to it or had made copies and handed them around. Anyone could have walked in at any time, with no warning. He closed the door and surveyed the inside of the apartment.
Of course, it wasn’t his business to advise the architect on basic security principles. She probably wouldn’t even want to hear from him after he dragged her back to Evershaw’s house so Deirdre could try to explain what happened. Dodge frowned as he studied the apartment and searched for a hint of who the architect really was.
It didn’t feel like a home or even particularly lived-in, though available records indicated she’d lived there for at least two years. The furniture looked second-hand and shabby but comfortable and well cared for. It was a two bedroom apartment, so not the smallest floorplan of the buildings that he could find, but it wasn’t the largest. He checked the fridge but didn’t find anything exciting: some frozen meals, takeaway containers, a pint of ice cream, and some sad looking vegetables.
The tour continued into the bedroom, though he stopped in the doorway and bit back a smile. She made her bed perfectly. Not the half-hearted ‘throw back the sheets’ move most people seemed to favor. She’d smoothed down the sheets and the soft pale blue comforter, stacked up the pillows, and put some decorative pillows on top for good measure. It completely fit the architect’s prim and proper outward appearance. Of course she made her bed like that.
He trailed his fingers across the comforter, even though he typically wouldn’t touch anything in someone else’s den, and figured maybe she had second-hand furniture because she paid for the really expensive shit against her skin. Dodge made a thoughtful noise and peeked into the bathroom. Again he was surprised and pleased and a little taken aback. For some reason, her efficient and business-like presence made him assume she’d have used the separate bathtub for storage and showered to save time. Instead, it was surrounded by candles and scented bubble bath containers and luxury towels and all kinds of interesting things.
Which just made him imagine Persephone after a long day, enjoying a hot soak and a good book and... Dodge shook himself as his thoughts spiraled a little too far out from reality. Just because she was exactly his type in every fucking way he’d never imagined, didn’t mean it wasn’t creepy as hell to be sneaking through her apartment.
He turned his attention to the task at hand. If he didn’t find her, she could do something crazy – like go to the police or animal control or the media. Then they would all be in a world of shit and he wouldn’t be able to save her from whatever the fucking alphas decided had to happen. He couldn’t remember what happened the last time a human tried to expose shifters and magic to the rest of the world. It wasn’t good, he had no illusions about that.
And poor Persephone Lawson looked like she could disappear without anyone raising a big fuss. There were no family pictures in the apartment, no letters or cards on the fridge, no knick-knacks or heirlooms or anything that looked like it was treasured. Just a few images of beaches and mountains taken from magazines and pinned up in places, some architecture books and National Geographics on the coffee tables in the small living room, and a framed diploma from some university he probably should have heard of.
Dodge checked the small kitchen table near the single window, and found a scattered sample of draft brochures for an animal sanctuary outside the city. He picked them up and sorted through them. Maybe she went there. He figured she would have fled to safety in her den to hunker down and choose her next move, like any sane animal would, but maybe she continued on with her day?
Damn impressive, if she was that iron-willed. He checked the address for the sanctuary and put together a plan so he could quickly trap her and get her out of there without any witnesses. It was mid-afternoon, so there might have been other workers around. Better for everyone if it wrapped up quickly and he got her safely back to the alpha’s house. Then Evershaw and Deirdre could deal with it.
And Dodge would... He let himself out of the apartment as he tried to figure out why the fuck he got an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought about returning Persephone to the witch’s house and then walking away because she wasn’t his responsibility. His wolf damn well wanted her to be his responsibility, or at least wanted to find out more about her, smell her, see if her skin was as soft as he imagined.
He growled in irritation at himself. He was a grown wolf and wasn’t going to lose his mind over a girl. Even one who smelled as nice as Persephone and who had the finest ass he’d ever seen in his life.
He hadn’t reconciled the urge to protect her with the need to eventually distance himself from a vulnerable human by the time he made it to the animal sanctuary. It wasn’t fair to get humans mixed up in pack business, and even though she’d been thrown in the deep end, that didn’t mean she wanted to take a swim. It had been hell on his parents, mixing worlds like that, and it wasn’t something he’d wish on anyone. Ever.
