“No, but I will momentarily,” I assured him.
Spencer was driving like a bat out of hell. Scenery passed us by in a flash, and for once, I wasn’t about to comment on Spencer’s crazy driving. We’d gotten the read on the tracker in Flora’s shoes. It hadn’t moved since landing in its current location. They had to be there. Or Lyle had somehow found it and ditched the tracker elsewhere.
Where are we going?
A lot of the building records for the university were on public records. So looking up the address wasn't difficult. As Iscanned the details, I was both relieved and even more on edge. We weren’t going far, but… it was strange.
“It looks like it’s adormitory,” I said, squinting at the screen, trying my best to read as the car zoomed through the streets. “Not an active one. It’s closed. Became a storage building in the late nineties, according to the blueprints. It’s scheduled to be demolished in the next few years.”
“It’ll be isolated and quiet then,” Spencer muttered.
“Good. If we have to shoot this guy, we won’t risk hurting innocent students,” Bear pointed out.
I suppose that was a silver lining.
“The question is, how do we get to Flora without attracting his attention? She could be on any floor.”
“I doubt he'll be keeping her on the ground floor,” Spencer surmised. “It slows pursuers down if they have to climb all those stairs.”
“We could approach someone he’s working with, put the squeeze on them to let us up,” Bear suggested.
“He's a weedy little teacher’s assistant. There’s no way in hell he has anyone helping with this.” Spencer quickly turned the steering wheel, making us all lean to the side as he took the corner fast. “We just need to make sure he’s not near Flora. Then we can beat his ass from here to high heaven with our pinkies.”
I clenched my jaw. “This isnota plan. I know we need to move quickly.Trustme. But just barge in there? Is that really all we’ve got?”
“It’sFlora, Chase. What more do you want? If we wait too long, that asshole could—” Bear stopped, squeezing his eyes shut as he swallowed hard.
We all knew where his thoughts were going. Lyle had her alone. With everything we knew about him, all the notes andtexts he’d left, he could very well be doing unspeakable things toouromega.
A low growl rumbled out of me just as I noticed the same from Bear and Spencer. We all agreed. We couldn’t let Lyle hurt her,touchher. Flora was ours, and we were all going to take great joy in separating him from his limbs.
“All right. We go in. Trap or not. We go in, and we get Flora.” I nodded, directing Spencer to the next turn.
Spencer flicked his eyes to the sat-nav and then back to the road. “And Lylepaysfor taking what’s ours.”
Chapter 46
Flora
It was still light outside, so I hadn’t been gone for long. But my hope was thin, at best. I was still on that bed. I was still cold and away from my alphas. And I was still at the mercy of an unhinged, psychopathic stalker.
When I tugged at my foot, I winced as the harsh metal of the cuff scraped against my ankle. It was already starting to bruise, and putting weight on it was going to be a nightmare when I could. Standing was still out of reach right now, though.
I knew Lyle would come back. He had been gone for a while, and I wanted to findsomethingto defend myself with. What the hell could I use from the damn bed, though? It wasn’t like I was going to get the drop on him somehow and be able to suffocate him with the blanket.
I doubted I had the stomach for that, anyway.
Looking around, I shifted the covers, lifted the pillow, tried to yank on the slim metal bars of the small bed, but nothing was going to help me. I couldn’t toss the chain at Lyle, and Iwasn’t able to reach the desk across the room, which might have had something I could conceal and use to hit him.
My gaze dropped to the floor, where my shoe sat.
Sighing, I reached for it and held it close to my chest. “It’s better than nothing.”
As soon as I sat against the wall, I heard the click of the lock. My pulse leaped into my throat, and I swallowed down the rising bile. The floor outside creaked under footsteps, and I shoved the shoe under the covers. I was shaking, adrenaline and cold haunted every inch of my body, and I forced myself to act as neutral as possible when the TA strolled in.
“I thought we would try this again.” Lyle held a small plate with a piece of toast on it, and my stomach flip-flopped, growling despite how much I wasnoteating that. “See? You’re hungry. I can take care of you better than those thugs can.”
“I…” But I let my words trail off, thinking of the shoe beneath the covers. So, instead of rejecting the toast outright, I held up a shaky hand, staying quiet.
