“Julie?” he repeated as he looked around. There were spilled groceries on the ground, bags he’d dropped when he fell. Focusing toward the cabin, he saw Julie’s father sitting on the step looking haggard. Beside him stood a middle-aged woman clenching her fists. Her eyes had the crazy intensity of someone barely holding it together, and he knew he was looking at Julie’s mother. “Where the hell is Julie?” he said, his voice growing stronger.
“We don’t know,” Carl said, his voice low but with that steady patience that made him a great alpha. “What do you remember?”
“Groceries,” he said. “We went grocery shopping and she bought…” Oh, crap. “Garlic and oregano.”
“Why does that matter?” Julie’s mother asked, her voice tight with worry.
It didn’t matter except that it explained why he hadn’t smelled the bastards first thing. He’d been carrying the groceries and the spices had masked any other smell. “Stupid,” he muttered. He’d been so damned stupid. He’d been relaxed and happy as hadn’t happened ever. “So damned?—”
“Yeah, stupid. Whatever,” Tonya said as she squatted down beside him. “Because everyone expects to be attacked by guys with dart guns. Get your head out of your guilt and start helping.”
Tactless, thy name is Tonya. But it worked. He pulled his focus together and looked to the car. Unfortunately, the quick shift made his brain and vision slosh about, and he had to grip Carl’s arm as a wave of dizziness rolled through him. But even fighting the nausea, he was able to grit out, “Tablet. Car.”
Tonya held it out. “Already got it, but it’s password protected.”
Right. And why the hell hadn’t he noticed it was in her hand the whole time? He needed to get it together. “Give it here,” he said, trying to hold out his hand. Tonya didn’t even blink.
“Password?”
“Fine.” He rattled it off, wondering if any of them would realize his password was Julie plus the date they’d gotten together when they were sixteen. Tonya’s eyebrows rose, but she keyed it in. Carl just squeezed Mark’s hand.
“We’ll find her,” he said softly.
And there it was, the information he’d already known. He’d been knocked out. Julie had been taken. If she’d been killed, Tonya wouldn’t be so keyed up about him helping because there was nothing he could do. But with Julie missing, he had to get up. He had to find her.
“Slow down, big guy,” the paramedic said. “You conked your head pretty good and we don’t know what was in those darts.”
“So analyze the darts,” he growled as he struggled to his feet. Thankfully Carl knew better than to stop him and he kept the petite redhead back.
“We need to get you to a hospital.”
“Not happen?—”
“Mark!” Carl interrupted. “There’s nothing you can do here. Get yourself?—”
“Got ya!” Tonya crowed, silencing everyone.
Everyone shifted, trying to look over her shoulder at the tablet. Even Julie’s parents came off the porch. Fortunately, Mark was the largest and the closest. He reached around and angled the tablet so he could see the replay of the recordings.
And there was Julie laughing as she fumbled with the front-door lock. Rusty piece of shit. He should have upgraded that when he put in all the surveillance equipment. But in his stupid mind, he’d thought that anything that delayed bad guys from entering the house was a good thing. He hadn’t thought that she’d be slowed down.
There wasn’t any audio on the feed so he couldn’t hear the pops. His memory supplied them, though, the sound of multiple guns going off almost simultaneously. Then a heavy dart appeared in her back and Julie crumpled like a rag doll.
He released a sound, half growl, half whine. It was low and feral, but it came from the man in him, not the grizzly who was still bizarrely quiet. In his peripheral vision, he saw Carl glance nervously in his direction, but he didn’t say anything. His gaze was still glued to the tablet screen as two guys in hoodies and baseball caps trotted up the front steps. One continued inside the house. The other leaned over Julie, roughly checking her for weapons. She was unconscious, but it still pissed him off to see how the bastard manhandled her, lingering too long, feeling up her breasts.
“Keep it together,” Carl murmured in his ear.
Mark didn’t move his gaze. “Leave it alone. My grizzly is asleep.”
Tonya and Carl both reacted to that, their heads snapping up at almost the same instant. Mark only cared because it destabilized the viewing screen. So he grabbed the tablet, watching intently as the one bastard flipped Julie over his shoulder. Thoughts spun through his brain without restraint. The guy was shifter strong, barely winded as he lifted her. He had a torn Levi’s on, and why the hell did that matter? Julie looked gorgeous, even upside down and unconscious. Bastard patted her behind as he headed down the porch step. Think of something! No fucking clue anywhere. The other one emerged from the house. Also with the same kind of Levi’s on. Front porch needed a good sanding and water-resistant stain treatment. Jerk number two was carrying all their research including Carl’s older-than-shit spell book. Perched precariously on top of the book was the magic potion, experiment seven. It was a near duplicate of number six but with the proportions shifted.
“Damn,” murmured Carl while Tonya twisted the tablet so she could see better.
“What is that?” she asked. “Why would they take it?”
Did Tonya always ask questions in pairs? And WTF was wrong with him? His mind was spinning out of control. He couldn’t focus!
“Mark!” Tonya snapped. “What is that?”
