Other than being crushed by two-hundred-pounds of alpha?“I’m fine. Thanks.” I peer past him at the door, but all I can see is smoke. “You’re serious? It’s not a gas leak?”
He gives me a sneer that borders on a snarl. “You believe in cock-sucking fairies, too?”
I blink at him, but he suddenly stiffens, his head snapping towards the corridor.“Diana…”
He surges forward, but we only get a couple of steps past the door before we realize the corridor back towards reception is a fireball. Kane now snarls for real, grabbing my arm and dragging me in the opposite direction. “Exit?” he snaps, hauling me along.
“There!” I leap towards a side door, but he jerks me back, plastering me against the wall as he runs his hands over the frame. I gulp as I realize he’s looking for another trap, but then he grunts and thrusts it open. Twilight has settled in, and I stumble out into the half-light, my head ringing and my eyes burning. Smoke is wafting into the sky, but instead of getting the hell out of there, Kane turns and runs towards the source. I stagger after him, my heart dropping into my shoes as I remember the room we left Diana and Dex in.Was there a window? Any way to get out other than the inferno in reception?
Please, please, please let them be okay…
“Wait!” I scream as Kane yanks on the front door, flames licking ominously against the glass. “You can’t go in there!”
“Diana!” He yanks it again and I leap at him, but he shakes me off. “She’s dying! I can smell her!”
“She’s not!” I don’t know if it’s false hope, but him rushing in there will just mean another grisly death. And while he might not be my alpha, he’s pack, or as close to it as I’ve ever known. “Fuck, Kane, it’s not her. It’s just Luscious’ scent candles. The greedy bitch has them all over the place. They must have ignited in the fire.”
“Rowan?”
I’m still clutching Kane’s arm as I spin around and find Dex stumbling up to us. There’s a thick gash on his head and his hands are caked in blood. A whimper rises to my lips as he starts gasping, “I’m s-sorry. I couldn’t… I couldn’t stop the bleeding…”
Kane slams past me like a battering ram, grabbing Dex’s collar and almost yanking him off his feet. “Where the fuck is Diana?”
“They took her.” Dex stares helplessly into his furious face. “Right after you left us. Plan B, or whatever his name is, hit me on the head and shot Lewis.” He waves behind him at acrumpled figure.Oh, fuck.I’m already fumbling for my phone to call Kennedy when he says, “Another guy drove up, and they put Diana in the back of a van. There was a woman in the front seat…”
“Fucking bitch!” Kane roars, dropping Dex and striding over to Lewis. He rolls the man’s limp body, grabbing his keys and gun. “I’m going to rip her fucking head for touching our mate.”
“I’m sorry,” Dex croaks, tears rolling down his bloody face. His whole body is trembling as I grab him, pulling him close. “I should’ve done more. I should’ve stopped them.”
“This was an ambush,” I tell him, fighting to keep my voice steady. “It’s a miracle any of us are alive.”
As I stare past him at the wreckage of the studio, the scale of Luscious’ villainy hits me like a blow. But am I really surprised? The woman is a narcissistic psychopath who’s tormented me for years. The only thing that works in our favor is that her vanity ranks a close second to her immorality.
“She won’t hurt her,” I tell Kane as he strides back towards Lewis’ car. I take one last glance at the burning studio before rushing after him, Dex right at my side. “Luscious isn’t stupid. She’d only burn her supply if she has control of the source. Diana is no use to her dead.”
Kane pops the doors, and we clamber in, Dex collapsing on the back seat. For a long, tense moment, the alpha glares through the windshield at the growing inferno. “You’re right. She’s taking her back to the slick factory. It’s her only move.”
I nod, because that’s my guess, too.
Kane snarls as he props the gun on the dash and reverses out of the parking lot. Grabbing his phone from his jacket, he tosses it my way. “Call the governor.”
“And say what?” I ask as I scroll through his directory for Moore’s number. “Luscious just blew up her studio and kidnapped your scent mate?”
“Something like that,” he growls, squeezing the wheel hard enough to make his knuckles pop. “But stop with the Luscious bullshit, will you? Every time you say the bitch’s name, it tastes like a fart in my mouth.”
I snort, becauseew. “Sure. In my head she’s ‘stinking nasty shitbag’, if that helps.”
“Right.” He gives me a glimmer of a smile. “I just call her Bitch.”
I hum as the line to the governor connects. “Yeah, that works too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The buzzing in my pocket pulls me out of a honey-edged dream. I can taste it with every breath, a moan slipping from my lips as I move uncomfortable on the hard seat beneath me. I’m sitting up, which is weird, but I’m distracted by the blood that has pooled in my groin, my cock throbbing painfully as I try to force my eyes open.
Where the fuck am I?
My next moan is more of a grunt, my bleary eyes taking in the interior of a van. Not my town car, or one of the SUVs I use for day trips. This is stripped down to two bench seats, one of which I’m sprawled on. I’m still in my suit but as my phone buzzes again, I look down and realize my wrists are cuffed in my lap.
