We both stiffened at this revelation. Everything that had happened was connected. We just needed to find out how.
Landon nodded his head to the phone I held. “If we give that to my people, they might be able to track where your sister was calling from.”
I passed it over without reservations.
Finally, we were getting somewhere. The phone, the flight, the new direction. Satisfaction hummed through both of us, two companion emotions echoing each other in perfect harmony. We were going to make this work—us, our relationship, everything. We could live at my cabin, here in Van, or in Detroit. It didn’t matter, because wherever we went or whatever we did, it would be side by side.
And we were on the road to finding Sabrina. No matter what obstacles we saw before us, we would conquer them together.
EPILOGUE
SABRINA
Back to the beginning…
Flood lights litup the building all around the perimeter. An eight-foot, chain link fence went around the whole thing, a twelve-foot swath of grass between it and any building. Nowhere to hide and only one way to get in, through the gate manned by a guard house and two guards. Other guards walked around the perimeter.
I lowered my binoculars, contemplating. It was like a mini prison. Was it keeping people in or out?
How the hell was I supposed to get inside? There was no hint as to the happenings within. If that missing couple was inside, then I had no idea how to get them out. If I contacted the police at this point, would they even be useful? I’d only run into roadblocks with them ever since those two went missing in my park.
As a park ranger, I’d tracked many hikers who’d gotten lost on the trails and led them back to their campsites. But the disappearance of this particular couple was completely different. For one, they were bobcat shifters like me. Shifters didn’t get lost. Not when we could follow our scents back home. And two, when I’d followed their trail, it had disappeared at the highway. All their belongings had remained at the campsite. I couldn’t believe they’d hitchhiked and moved on. They’d been snatched.
Without a lead, the police had stopped looking. Without a lead, I had started digging into their lives, trying to figure out the reason behind their abduction. They’d been missing for two weeks now. If it was a random act of violence, then I would have hit a dead end. Instead, my off-the-books investigation had brought me here, to the Fort Knox of warehouses on the outskirts of Detroit. The woman had worked for the company that owned the place. What did they do here?
A twig snapped behind me and I spun around. The next instant, a hand clamped around my throat. The binoculars dropped to the ground as I pawed at the fingers gripping my windpipe.
I smelled shifter, predator, as I tried to take a breath.
Shrouded in darkness, a man’s face took up my vision. His features were veiled by the shadow of his cowboy hat. “Look what I’ve caught,” he said with a Texas accent. “Another kitty for the hunters to skin. You’ve been poking where you shouldn’t. Have you told anyone where you are? Your sister or mom perhaps?”
I wanted to shift, but with the lack of air came the lack of energy. I needed to break free first.
Something moved behind him. Another guy. No, two more. They were all shifters. Their scents overwhelmed me. They were feline, but not a bobcat. They had a heavier scent, maybe mountain lions.
My brain told me this as my vision blackened. He was choking me to death. I put all my energy into shifting my hands, clawing at him, trying desperately to make him release me.
Something streaked through the night, ripping the hand away from my throat. A brutal, feline scream rent the air, followed by another. The sounds of a full-on brawl came at me through the dark.
I couldn’t see anything but moving shadows, but what I heard made me back away. I didn’t know who any of these shifters were. The urge to flee overrode everything else.
Without a backward glance, I ran.
Twigs and bushes scraped at me as I took off. I ignored the twinges of pain and pushed on. I needed to get as far away from here as possible. They knew about my mom and sister. I needed to warn them. Stumbling toward where I parked my car on the highway, I grabbed my phone.
By the time I tumbled into the front seat of my car, my mother’s number was already ringing. It went to voice mail. “Call me. It’s important.”
I hung up as I careened onto the highway in a spray of dirt. Then I texted Brooke knowing she didn’t usually answer calls.Where are you?
I kept driving toward the city limits, waiting for my sister to respond, my heart racing more and more when she didn’t. Finally, my phone dinged with a text.Blackguards!
Relief that my sister was okay made my hands shake on the steering wheel. It was a Friday night, and it didn’t surprise me that Brooke had named one of her favorite dancing spots. Another text dinged.
Are you off work for the weekend? Join me! There are so many hot guys here. You’d have your pick!
Being invited to go dancing grated on my nerves more than usual after almost having the life choked out of me. I didn’t know what I’d stumbled onto, but those shifters meant business. They would have killed me without thinking twice about it. My fear for that missing couple grew.
I needed to get Brooke to safety. I texted back.
On my way.
* * *
