Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Riff

"Morgaine, I respect the fuck out of you," I said, surging out of my seat, "but I can't just sit here. She's been gone too long. What if she's out there upset and alone?" I asked.

Before I even got an answer from her, though, I was grabbing the keys to the car, and rushing outside, not even giving the poor, old thing a chance to warm up before I was driving out of the lot, and around the town, looking for any sign of her.

But seeing no one.

Something was wrong, I could feel it in the way my guts felt twisted.

I parked illegally out front of Dr. Swift's office, not even turning the car off as I threw open the door and rushed inside, everything inside of me screaming that something was not right.

"Hey, you can't go in there!" the secretary shrieked, trying to get out of her seat to stop me, but I was already throwing open the door and rushing inside.

"Riff," Dr. Swift said, brows raised.

"Was she here? Where is she?" I asked, hearing the borderline fucking hysterical hitch in my voice.

"Vienna isn't here," she said, waving around the room. But something about her posture said she wouldn't give me more.

"Was she here?"

"I can't—"

"Respectfully, Doc," I cut her off, the alarm bells in my head going off too loudly to watch my tone, "we both know you can't pull that confidentiality shit with me. She's not even your patient on paper. So cut the crap. Was she here? I need to know. I think… something feels wrong."

Either intimidated by my position in this town, or responding to the desperation in my voice, Dr. Swift took a deep breath. "She was here, yes."

"When? How long ago?"

"Ten minutes, maybe? I saw her walking back toward the clubhouse," she said.

No.

No, if she'd been on her way back to the clubhouse, I would have seen her. Especially if it was just ten minutes ago. There was nowhere she could have disappeared to, not without her wallet to buy anything. And that was on the dresser in my bedroom along with her cell phone.

Panic, raw and undiluted, spread through my system.

"Riff…" she called as I rushed back out of her office, reaching for my own phone blindly, stabbing my finger into my brother's contact.

"What's—"

"Vienna is missing. She was at her therapist, but then she was walking home, and she's… nowhere."

"Okay," Raff said, tone serious but calm. "Maybe she is just browsing—"

"Browsing what?" I cut him off. "The fucking grocery store? There's nothing in this goddamn town to browse."

"Okay, alright. We're coming," he said, and I could hear the flurry of movement in the clubhouse.

This couldn't be fucking happening.

I couldn't lose her after just fucking finding her.

I ended the call when I heard the roar of the bike engines firing up, knowing they were all of five minutes away.

"Hey," I called to some random man walking down the street. "Did you see a woman? Small? Redhead? Wearing an oversized jacket with bison on it?"

"No, man, sorry," he said, shaking his head.

Rook arrived first, flying off his bike, and reaching for his keys to Nyx's studio. "I'm plugged into the town's traffic cameras," he said, anxious to get to the computer and get us something useful to work with as everyone else fanned out through town, some on foot, the others on their bikes or, in the women's cases, their cars.

There were only so many places she could be.

It was a small fucking town.

And I just… stood there.

Too panicked to move, adrenaline surging through my system stronger than I'd ever experienced before. It was a rushing feeling in my veins, a shaky sensation in my organs, and a tightness around my throat that was making me feel more lightheaded with each passing second.

"Riff!" Rook's voice called, making my heart surge up into my throat as I whipped around to face him, finding his gaze frantic, his hair messy from running his hands through it.

"What? Did you see her?"

"Maroon van cut her off in the alley," he said, pointing. "It blocked the camera. But she was there before the van pulled out, and she was gone after."

Maroon van.

That was the same way she'd described the van that had taken her from her hometown.

Those motherfuckers.

Vienna .

I knew what had happened to her in that van. He hadn't even waited until he got her back to the shed.

"Where? Where did it go?" I barked as I ran into the street, raising my arms to get the attention of the guys on bikes who wouldn't hear me if I yelled.

"I don't know. But it didn't go out of town. It's still in Shady Valley somewhere."

"Get in a car," I barked to Rook. "Stay near the exit of the town, so they can't get past," I told him as the others came back, drawing the attention from those who were in the stores, everyone rushing toward me at once.

"It's them," I told them, watching Raff's face fall. "Maroon van. Rook said it didn't leave town. Find it," I snapped, turning, and rushing back to my still-running car, slamming the door, and peeling off.

It hadn't been that long , I tried to remind myself as my anxiety reached a fever pitch that was making my very fucking vision shaky.

It didn't need to be that long , another voice replied.

And, goddamnit, if she hadn't been upset with me, if she hadn't left the clubhouse in such a hurry, she would have grabbed her weapons. She always had them on her, earrings included, if she was going out. Even if she was with a bunch of us. She liked the feeling of being able to protect herself even if she didn't need to.

And because of me, she had none of that.

"Fuck," I snapped, slamming my hands on the steering wheel, the pain clearing my mind a bit, allowing me to think past the anxiety.

There were only so many places in town you could hide a van.

My brother would be checking the alleys and the lots behind the buildings.

I saw Murphy and Sway turn down toward the suburbs, even though there was nowhere easy to wrangle around a kidnapped woman. In that direction, they could also check the mobile home park.

Colter and Detroit headed toward Millionaire's Row. And they'd be able to check out the apartment buildings too.

Crow and Coach took off toward the farms and toward the mountains, the more remote areas in town.

Which only really left one direction to check out.

Toward the prison.

There was nowhere near the actual prison to hide a van. The area was wide open, allowing the guards in the towers to easily see if someone managed to escape.

The gas station was too much a hub of activity.

But that left… the motel.

It was always quiet during the day.

Not many people stayed at the motel. It was busier on prison visiting days, with out-of-town family members looking for a place to stay to come see their locked-up loved ones.

The only other people who frequented the place were ex-cons who needed short-term housing, the men who were on the outs with their wives, and the Johns who used the place to hook up with sex workers.

It was a very… quiet place in the daylight, with a lot more activity at night.

The lot out front that lined along the rooms was nearly empty, but I knew because we'd all been living at the place temporarily, that there was an area behind the building where there were no doors. And the only windows that looked out were the small ones in the bathrooms, the glass frosted so you couldn't see out if you did think you heard something going down. There was nothing back there besides the dumpsters way off in the back of the lot.

A perfect sort of privacy to park temporarily.

Especially if they figured we would immediately start looking outside of town, which would leave Shady Valley unprotected and allow them to head out and take off to… wherever the hell they were living now.

I pushed the pedal to the floor, flying into the lot so fast that I risked rolling the car as I pulled a quick turn to the back of the building.

And, like some fucking miracle, there was the van.