Chuck pushed the door open and then paused for a minute to let his eyes adjust to the gloom. “Here.” Shoving a duffel bag that I knew contained clothes at me, Chuck walked further into the room. “Paul? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, thanks to Sylas.” Paul’s voice was strong as he shoved himself up to a sitting position on the bed with his back to the wall. “How’d you know where to find us?”
Chuck shot me an amused glance but glossed over the truth. “Sy texted me.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not keeping secrets from him,” I huffed in annoyance as I pulled on the elastic-waist track pants that were balled up in the bag. “I did text him,” I told Paul as I shook out the t-shirt. “But he actually found our location by following my microchip.”
Paul’s mouth dropped open. “Like, a real microchip?”
I nodded. “Yup. The kind people implant in their pets,” I confirmed. “It has a tracking app for cell phones, so he can always tell exactly where I am.”
“That’s…wow.” Paul shook his head.
I chuckled. “It might seem invasive, but it comes in handy,” I explained. “When I track a scent, I can end up hundreds of miles from where I started and in a time like this, if there’s someone else involved, I need a way to get everyone safely back to civilization.”
“So, he’s kind of a giant snake Uber?” Paul teased with a lopsided grin that made me laugh harder.
“Exactly,” I agreed before turning back to Chuck. “What’s with the entourage?”
Chuck’s jaw tightened as he glanced at Paul from the corner of his eye, but when I nodded, he started to speak. “Rafael and a few of his men.”
Thatcaught my attention. “Rafael Borrero? The Blood Valley wolf?”
Chuck snorted. “I’m not sure that that would be his first choice for how to be referred to,” he pointed out. “He’s also a senior investigator with the Council of Packs, you know.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, but no one involved in this is a shifter except me and I’m exempt from Council of Packs law, so what does any of this have to do with him?”
“It doesn’t,’ Chuck confirmed. “They were at the compound following up on a lead for a case when I got your text and Rafe offered to ride along. I figured backup never hurts.”
“True,” I agreed. “They don’t want to wait inside?”
Chuck shook his head. “They’re going to keep an eye out, make sure no one tries to get the drop on us.”
Since there was no polite way to say I was going to be disappointed if the Senator didn’t try to double cross me, I just nodded. “Have a seat and I’ll fill you in.”
I’d just finished outlining my plan when the sound of tires spitting gravel came from the half-open door.
“Shit, I need to grab my partner,” I huffed, ignoring Chuck’s raised eyebrow. “You want to make yourself scarce?”
Chuck rose from the chair he was straddling and made his way over to slip into the small coat closet, a muffled laugh before the closet door closed announcing he’d found my victim. Ignoring him, I dragged Rosemary back out and placed her in a chair at the table, ignoring the venomous look in her eyes as I propped her in the seat.
Paul was already in his place at the table, the gag loosely fitted over his mouth when I draped the zip cuffs around his wrist. “If anything goes wrong, run,” I cautioned him. “Go around back and yell for help. You can trust the guys that Chuck brought, okay?”
He nodded and drew in a deep breath right as the Senator burst in through the door, a black revolver clutched in his fist. He skidded to a stop, his eyes bouncing around the room wildly. “Rosemary, get over here!”
When his wife didn’t move, the Senator began to wave the gun. “Rosemary!” he snapped, his voice rising several octaves. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“I thought we had an agreement, Stewie,” I huffed, drawing his attention to me. “What the fuck is the deal with the gun?”
“You wanted me to get rid of the kid,” he snarled, spinning to point the gun in Paul’s direction. “This is much faster than a fucking court case.”
With his gun arm out of my line of sight, I was helpless to do anything but charge the man and hope I could get to him before he pulled the trigger.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Paul
Fiery pain sliced through my shoulder as the roar of the gun echoed through the room. A split second later, Sylas was dragging my father to the ground, their bodies tangled in a life or death struggle for control of the revolver.
