“Calm the fuck down, Remy. We’ll find her.” Declan came up on them just as Remy nearly lost control of his temper, and his leopard. “They got his license plate and Sasha is already running it. He has to pass through Baton Rogue and I’ve already alerted Ryan Vallier. He’s got his cats out looking for his car. We’ll find them and you’ll get your mate back.”
“Dat fucker raped and beat her; what do you tink he’s gonna do to her to punish her for leavin’ him?” Remy snarled.
“We. Will. Get. Her. Back. Get your ass in your truck and let’s do this. Some of the Pack is already out tracking them too, but everyone knows the bastard who took your mate is yours.”
Remy was shaking with rage, but he forced himself to calm down enough to follow Declan out of the city. When he got his hands on the leopard who dared to touch his mate, he was going to enjoy killing him.
Kylie
Part of her wanted to curl up and die but the other part of her wanted to rage at Ezra. How dare he come down there and force her into his car? She didn’t belong to him. “You’ve made a really big mistake, Ezra. You should have just let me go.”
Ezra’s hand came up and he gripped a fistful of her hair. ‘The one who made a mistake was you. You brought this on yourself. When we get home, you will never set foot out of the house again. You won’t be able to, once I make sure you can never walk again.” He shoved her head against the passenger window hard enough her vision was blurry.
“He’s going to kill you,” she whispered.
“Keep dreaming, sweetheart. If the little fucker you shacked up with tries to come after us, he’ll be the one dying.”
Kylie closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for Remy to catch up to them soon. They’d left New Orleans behind, and she knew Ezra thought he was safe when he slowed down enough to not attract unwanted attention.
She knew that either Lily or Emelise would alert Remy about what happened, but they had such a big head start. She instinctively knew Remy would follow them all the way to Frenchville, if need be, to get her back. Her biggest concern was what would happen to her in the interim. Would Remy be able to catch up to them before Ezra did something more than shove her head against the window?
As the miles flew by, and they put more and more distance between them and New Orleans, Kylie could see Ezra relaxing even further. She kept looking out the side mirror, hoping to see Remy’s truck barreling down on them. As time passed, and the sky began to darken, Kylie tried to keep the doubts at bay, but she couldn’t help but wonder why Remy hadn’t caught up with them, yet.
They neared the turn off to the last rest stop before crossing the state line into Mississippi, and Ezra slowed down. The sun had set, darkness had fallen, and the stars shone brightly overhead. “Still think he’s coming after you?” Ezra sneered. “Don’t even think about trying to run. Your punishment is already going to leave you hurting for days.”
Kylie swallowed but she didn’t respond to his taunt. His words made the doubts surface and she tried to ignore them. When he opened the door for her, she slid out of the car. She kept her head down as he led them toward the bathrooms. He pushed her into the women’s restroom, checked to see if anyone else was in it, and then locked the door.
“Strip.”
Her head snapped up at his words.
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Her hands shook as she removed her clothes. She closed her eyes and tried to block out his touch. When he shoved her so her upper body was leaning against the sink, she bit back a sob. By the time he was done and she was dressed again, Kylie had all but shut down. Her feet dragged as they left the bathroom to head back to his car.
Remy
Remy and Declan had stayed in constant contact as they’d headed north on the I-10, following Ezra’s car. As the sun had set, Remy’s rage had increased. There was no telling what the bastard was doing to do to Kylie. She’d just started to open up to him; she’d just started letting him in. He hoped to hell this didn’t destroy all his hard work.
“Heads up. Sasha said the car isn’t moving. There’s a rest stop up ahead.”
Remy was pulled from his thoughts by Declan’s words. Finally. He couldn’t wait to get his claws in the bastard. He’d watched as two members of the Pack drove to the other end of the rest stop and maneuvered their vehicles to block anyone from leaving. He pulled into a spot, got out of his truck, and stalked toward the car with the Maine license plate. “They’re not in it.” His voice came out a growl.
“Incoming.” Declan nodded toward the bathrooms.
Remy saw red when he saw the male walking next to his mate, hand wrapped around her upper arm. They’d just exited the women’s bathroom and Remy could only imagine what might have transpired in there. Especially considering the way his mate was moving. Kylie’s head was down and it looked like she was having trouble walking. The bastard was practically dragging her beside him.
“We’ll surround them,” Declan said and he and the others moved into the shadows.
Remy didn’t take his eyes off Kylie as he strode toward them. He knew the guy caught his scent seconds before he let his fist fly, catching the guy off guard. “You put your fuckin’ hands on my mate,feet pue tan, you goddamn son of a bitch;you’re a dead man,” he snarled.
Ezra let go of Kylie’s arm and within seconds he and Remy were fighting.
They were roughly similar in size, but Remy had an edge to him. First, he’d been on both the football team and the wrestling team, in high school and college. Second, he’d grown up in the bayou where he’d tangled with alligators a time or two. Ezra charged at Remy, trying to grapple with him, but soon found himself flat on his back. Remy was straddling the other leopard’s waist, pounding his face with his fists, when Declan intervened.
“Not here, Remy. Too many risks. Too many potential witnesses. We’ll take him back to the compound. Your mate needs you right now.”
The haze cleared from Remy’s eyes at those words and he looked to where Kylie was huddled in on herself with Sasha’s arms around her. He backed off and let Declan tie the leopard up. He didn’t think about anything else as he slowly approached his mate. When he was close enough, he smelled the other leopard’s scent and knew the fucker had raped her. He was going to make the leopard suffer for this. “It’s all right, Kitten. You’re safe now,” he crooned and gently took her in his arms.
