Chapter 14

Fire flows through my veins as I race toward the silver Mercedes. The owner isn"t in sight, but one well-placed shove of my boot sets off the alarm. My eyes dart around every doorway of the main street area until I see Brad"s weaselly face poking out of the hardware store.

The second I start to stride purposefully toward him, his irritated expression turns wide-eyed. Rounding on his designer heel, he takes off, running full tilt away from me. I follow at a brisk jog, confident that he won"t get far.

Sure enough, a large man steps out of the fruit market, causing Brad to nearly collide with him. The man"s chin jerks up to see me in hot pursuit. In a flash, his shopping bag is on the ground with apples tumbling out the top and my old friend Riggs has Brad in a headlock.

As I approach, Riggs is chuckling darkly. "If a Wolfe is chasing you, you"ve done something wrong, buddy."

"Let me go!" Brad screeches, trying to squirm out from under the thick arm around his throat, twisting and jerking. "I don"t even know him."

My hand lands heavily on Brad"s shoulder as Riggs releases his hold just enough to let the rat"s head turn toward me. "Why are you after Kara?" I growl into his dark, beady eyes.

His already pale face goes even whiter. "H-how do you know her?"

Riggs shakes him roughly. "You only get to answer questions, not ask them, asshole."

To his credit, Brad seems to realize that he"s completely out-gunned, and the only chance of getting out of this in one piece is to be agreeable.

"Kara was working for me. When the project was almost finished, she changed all the passwords and ran off. She"s obviously going to sell the app to the highest bidder, and screw me out of some important connections."

"Funny, that"s not the version I heard. The way she tells it, you lied to her and changed the project. She didn"t want to be involved anymore, so she took her proprietary information and left." My fingers dig roughly into his scrawny shoulder. "Then you threatened her. And before you try to deny it, I saw all of your emails to her." Brad"s eyes almost bug out of his head.

Riggs shakes him again. "You"re threatening a woman, you pathetic son of a bitch?"

"This is assault," he whines. "You can"t do this to me."

Riggs and I both chuckle, and I lean in closer. "Dude, it"s not assault when your family owns most of the mountain. It"s more like smacking a bug away. You get my drift?" Wow. I think I can actually hear his teeth chattering.

"Jace is basically the forest ranger out this way," Riggs says casually. "He has jurisdiction. He keeps everything natural, keeps everything safe…"

"Including people under my protection." My finger stabs into the center of Brad"s chest. "Especially from assholes who try to terrify a young woman into giving up her business so that you can use it for illegal purposes."

"It"s not exactly illegal as such, it"s?—"

He"s cut off by Riggs tightening his arm. "Buddy, just stop talking. I don"t even know what the hell you"ve done, and I don"t care. Around here, we don"t treat women like that. Ever."

Brad blinks harder, and I actually begin to wonder if Riggs is cutting off his air. Then he releases him slightly, and his captive sputters with relief.

I nod. "Let"s get him to my truck."

The two of us march Brad to my pickup, then I grab some zip ties from the glove box. Once his hands are secured behind his back, I fashion ankle cuffs linked by two ties, so he can"t shuffle more than an inch and a half at a time. Nice work, if I do say so myself.

"Sorry," Riggs says to me, checking his watch. "I have a flight, so I need to get going."

"No problem. Thanks for your help."

I clap him on the back, then Riggs gives Brad"s face a dainty slap. "You behave." He nods to me, then heads for his truck.

I shove Brad onto a bench, using more zip ties to attach his hands and one ankle to the steel bars. "I"ll be calling the police to officially run you out of town once I check on Kara."

"You can"t leave me like this! I"ll?—"

One lightning-fast backhand across his cheekbone silences him. "You"ll what? Be held by the police for who knows long while I show them evidence that you"ve been threatening an innocent young girl? They won"t even have time to process you before my family lawyers step in."

I lean down, looming into his face. I never bring up my family name with strangers, but just this once, it feels appropriate. "You"ve seen the signs all over this mountain for businesses with the name Wolfe?"

He nods miserably.

"That"s my family. We"ve been here as long as the trees. And everyone…everyone who lives here is very protective of our own." I hope that I"m not speaking out of turn, but I have to say it because I desperately need it to be true. "Kara is now one of us."

A few people have gathered around, and I see James, the lone policeman in town, coming our way.

"My family"s lawyers can be vicious when it"s called for," I mutter in a low voice that only Brad can hear. "You will be charged with everything under the sun. They will make it very clear that you are never to come to this area again. If you leave and never return to Wolfe Mountain, you"ll just lose this one business. But if you ever come within a few hundred miles of this place ever again, or harm Kara in any way, even attempt to contact her, you"ll lose everything."

My growl comes from the depths of my soul. "And, asshole… I do mean everything."

When I draw myself up to my full height, Brad blanches and his eyes go wide.

James strolls over, coffee in hand, and claps me on the shoulder. "Is there a problem here?"

"This piece of shit has been threatening my girlfriend. Claiming to have mafia connections, and wanting to use her app for money laundering purposes. I need to go find her before the storm moves in."

"Right." James nods without a second thought. "I"ll throw him in the closet until I hear from your lawyers."

"Appreciate it."

Brad"s chin trembles at the mention of the closet, which makes me chuckle inwardly as I jog to my truck. The police facilities in Old Hemlock Valley are housed in a corner of the City Hall building, and consist of just a handful of rooms. There was no budget for a proper jail, and nobody wanted to destroy the historic building, so they simply reinforced a small walk-in closet and put in a bench.

I drive past the spot where Kara ran into the forest, thinking. She"s probably headed to my house, but how good would her sense of direction be without a map or compass, or even her phone?

I"m sure she"s smart enough to head to Maple Trail. Once she"s on one of those paths, she can find her way to the trailhead. I hope.

Looking up, my heart sinks when I see that thick clouds are gathering fast. I"m a bit of a loner, but quick to help others. I can"t think of the last time I called on my friends to help me out in return, but this is definitely an "all hands on deck" situation.

The thought of Kara out alone in the woods, scared and cold, turns my blood to ice. We need to find her.

And the second I do, I need to tell her the truth.

She"s mine. I"m hers. And I"m going to make sure that she"s never afraid of anyone or anything ever again.