“Mason,” Owen bit out. “Where’s your sister?”
Mason looked up at his father and frowned, as if surprised that he seemed to be taking Ramon’s side, but he recovered quickly, his gaze returning to Ramon.
“If you come with me, I’ll take you to her.”
“Why, so you and your friends can kick the shit out of me?” Ramon said. “You don’t think you could take me on your own?” He shrugged and released him. “Bring it on, I’m not afraid of any of you.”
Mason grinned and was just about to turn to head back down the pathway when his father caught his attention.
“Just how much have you had to drink today?” he asked.
“Hardly anything,” Mason said.
Ramon knew it was a lie, not only because of what his mate had told him on the phone earlier but because Mason smelled like a brewery. Alcohol was seeping out of his every pore, and that was without the glazed expression and the red, rheumy eyes. Ramon started to follow Mason down the pathway when Owen said, “Wait up, I’m coming too.”
Mason spun around. “What the hell?”
Owen’s face turned a surprising shade of red. “Don’t youdarespeak to me like that,” he snapped. “I am your father and your dominant. I want to know why Saffy was upset earlier, and I want to hear what she’s got to say about you scaring her customers at the salon today.”
Mason’s face blanched, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. He did, however, glare at Ramon for ratting him out before he headed on his way. Ramon started to breathe a sigh of relief. Saffy had to be okay if Mason was prepared to take his father to where he was keeping her, but if she was okay, why hadn’t she called him back? He’d left her several messages and a dozen missed calls.
Of course, it could all have been a ruse so that Mason, his friends, plus Owen could attack him when they got to wherever they were going, but Ramon didn’t think it likely. Owen Brown had risen to the rank of dominant and held it for a lot of years. He didn’t strike Ramon as the type of man who needed anyone else to do his dirty work for him. If he had wanted to attack him, he would have done it on his doorstep earlier when Ramon had been shouting at him. Ramon could only assume he hadn’t because he was Saffy’s mate. Perhaps it meant there was some hope that Owen might be able to accept their relationship, one day in the not-too-distant future. But first, Ramon had to get his mate back.
They headed along the sidewalk, far too slowly for Ramon’s liking. It was all he could do to keep from tracking Mason’s scent back to the house at a sprint, and kicking down the door to wherever he’d taken her.
If Mason kept dragging his feet, Ramon was going to throttle him. And he didn’t imagine his father would have much to say about it either, based on the glares Owen kept throwing his son. It seemed to take hours to reach a house about half a block away from the Brown household.
“You brought her to Leon’s house?” Owen said, narrowing his eyes. Mason grunted a reply. “Where’s the rest of the family—I assume they didn’t go along with this?”
“Fort Lauderdale.”
Ramon bit down hard on his tongue as fury boiled in his stomach. Mason had left her alone with his loser friends. Saffy hadn’t had to spell it out, he’d seen her around them at the party and it was obvious they made her uncomfortable. If she didn’t trust them, he didn’t, either, and it took all his self-control to keep himself from shouting at Mason to hurry the hell up and get in the house so that he could see his mate. Perhaps Mason wouldn’t have hurt his sister, but could the same be said about his friends?
The front door to the house was unlocked. Mason opened it then led the way inside. Ramon followed him in with Owen bringing up the rear. Mason stopped dead just inside the living room, blocking the doorway so Ramon couldn’t get inside.
“What the hell?” Mason asked.
“Mason,” one of his friends said. Ramon thought it was Leon. “I…I can explain. She wouldn’t fucking sh—”
Ramon gave Mason a shove that sent him flying into the room and burst in after him. Then it was his turn to come to a standstill as he tried to process what he was seeing. Saffy was lying prone on the floor, her lip split open. A bruise was forming on her cheek. But the worst thing was how still she was lying. Completely unmoving. She didn’t even appear to be breathing. Was she d—? He couldn’t even think the word.
Ramon let out an unearthly roar then charged into the room, flying at Mason’s friends. He punched Jason with an uppercut that sent him flying back into a cabinet, the glass in the front of it exploding as he crashed into it, and then crumpled to the floor in a heap.
Without even pausing to draw breath, Ramon rounded on Leon, who was still standing over Saffy’s body. The lion shifter paled and stared to raise his hands, either to defend himself or fight back, but Ramon didn’t give him the chance. He slammed his fist into Leon’s face then did it again. Leon fell back against the wall and Ramon rounded on him. He hit him again. After he heard the man’s nose breaking, he drew his fist back and punched him again.
“Ramon!” someone called.
Ramon didn’t listen. There was no room in his mind for anything else other than the knowledge that this man had hurt his mate. For that he would suffer, as she had.
Oh God, was she—? He swallowed, and then bared his teeth, his hawk urging him on.
“Ramon!” someone called again. “Jesus, Mason, help me grab him.”
It was only when Ramon was dragged back that he realized it was only his repeated punches that had been keeping Leon upright. As soon as he was pulled away, the lion shifter who’d dared tough his mate hit the floor like a ton of bricks. Ramon was turned around by the hands hold him to stare into the face of Owen Brown.
“See to your mate,” Owen ordered.
The words brought some sort of semblance of sanity back to Ramon’s mind and he looked down to where Saffy was lying, looking so fragile and still. He choked out a sob and fell to his knees beside her. Then, some of his FBI training kicked in and he checked her vitals. It was the longest second of his life before he felt her lifeforce pressing back against his fingers. She was alive and her pulse was strong.
