59. Tanner

Iwasn't accustomed to being the rational one in a tricky situation. Cole shifting had taken me by surprise. Yeah, I got he was mad about being shot at… again. Despite that, of the three of us, he was typically the calm one who liked to do risk assessments before breaking a few bones.

Losing Eva had fucked him up. We were all on the edge. Knowing she was likely going through all kinds of hell did nothing to tamp down my need for bloodshed and violence.

The bar brawl had helped ease some of my tension, but it wasn't enough. I wanted blood. Pain. To hear men scream as I disemboweled them for touching what didn't belong to them.

"I hear you are looking for shifters." I gestured at Cole's wolf. "Congrats, you found one."

"You must have got it wrong," King blustered, having recovered some of his equilibrium. I guessed he preferred doing the beating. His hand slowly drifted down to the left, out of sight. Before he could grab the gun he likely had hidden behind the bar, Cole's wolf lunged.

There was a satisfying crunch followed by a high-pitched scream. Blood spurted from King's arm, creating a pleasing mess. The brunette stirred.

"I don't think so. Start talking before you become Cole's favorite new chew toy."

Silas snorted from behind me. "He wouldn't last long."

"There's an underground club where people bet on fights between shifters and humans." Cole released King's arm. Blood dripped down onto the stone floor, mixing with spilled booze, dirt, and all manner of unmentionable things.

King grabbed a filthy bar towel, wrapping it around the ragged wound. It was a staph infection waiting to happen.

"Some of the local cops run it," he continued.

If there was a shifter-human fight club, I'd have happily gotten involved. Nothing pleased me more than beating on idiots with more ego than brains.

"If that's so, then why is this the first time we've heard about it?" Silas asked. Like me, he was skeptical.

"It's being kept on the down-low. They're using shifter girls and then selling them on."

My blood ran cold. "Just to be clear, your cop friends are kidnapping shifter females and forcing them to fight in the ring before selling them to sex traffickers?"

He shrugged, apparently not seeing the problem. "Shifters heal fast and are strong. It's a fair fight."

"And how does Eva fit into this?" I asked, almost to myself.

He looked at me blankly. "Eva? Is she a shifter?"

"No, she's human. Petite with blond hair. Her guardian is a cop, Brent Michaels."

"Oh her, the little bitch who ran away…"

My fist was around his throat before he had a chance to spew any more bile. "Tell me exactly what you know before Cole rips your dick off." Cole's wolf snarled at me in disgust. I got the impression he wasn't pleased at the idea of touching King's dick.

Well, tough. If it got the asshole talking, nothing was off the table.

The brunette groaned again, and half sat up, rubbing her head. Cole growled in her direction, just in case she felt like causing a problem. The woman squeaked, her eyes rolled back in her head, and then she was out for the count for a second time.

"Michaels was pissed that the girl ran away. He had plans for her, and her disappearing caused him problems." Rage unfurled in my chest. I tightened my grip on his throat and his eyes began to bulge.

"Tanner, don't kill him yet," Silas advised with an eye roll.

He had a point. My grip loosened, and King heaved in a lungful of air. I stepped back and folded my arms across my chest. King gulped, rubbed his throat, and continued.

"He used the traffic cameras to pick up her trail. Said she crashed on the mountain but when he found the wreck, something spooked him and he left. He went back a couple of hours later expecting to find a body, but she was gone."

Thank fuck Silas had found her.

"He's had a tracker searching for weeks. I'm guessing the tracker found her if she's gone missing." I didn't like the faint smirk on his face, but I decided to ignore it for now. It was obvious he knew a lot more than he'd admitted so far.

"Where's she been taken?"

King shrugged. "How would I know?"

I turned to Cole. "Feel like a snack, dude?"

Cole's wolfy lips curled back to reveal massive canines. Drool dripped down and pooled on the floor. His huge furry body edged forward, golden eyes fixed on King's legs like they were the finest sirloin. Rage simmered in his eyes.

Don't eat him yet. We need more information.

I'm not dumb, asshole.

"OK! Don't let the wolf bite me!" King tried to get away from the slavering predator huffing around his calf, but he had nowhere to go. We had the only exits blocked. Shame.

"Then start talking," Silas snarled. Cole's wolf snapped threateningly, tearing a strip of denim, and King yelped with fear. Jesus Christ. Once this conversation was over, Cole was welcome to him. The prick was pathetic.

"He's probably taken the girl to the Carelli Estate. That's where the shifters are kept before and after fights until they're sold on."

"Carlos is behind this?"

King nodded. "He'll fucking lynch me if he finds out I've spilled," he muttered.

"Who's more dangerous right now, King?" I asked. "Us or Carlos?"

King's eyes slid over to Cole's wolf and he trembled.

"Exactly. Where do the fights take place?"

"The old winery. The next one is tomorrow night."

The Pine Hill Winery had been closed for years, after the original owner passed away and the estate was caught up in some kind of inter-family inheritance dispute. By the time the family dispute was settled, the vines had withered, and the house had fallen into disrepair.

It wasn't surprising someone had commandeered it as a venue for illegal underground fights, given it was nestled deep in the valley, miles from the nearest town, with only one road in and out. It also shared a boundary with Carlos's vast property, which made it a convenient spot if, as King claimed, he was involved.

King had no reason to lie, not with the threat of being eaten, which meant we needed some help if we were to go on the offensive in search of Eva. Carlos was no fool. He knew I would eventually find out. And since he'd employed me on and off for years, he was well aware of my capabilities.

I could probably take on a bunch of his men, but Eva was the priority. We needed to get inside without attracting too much attention. Cole wasn't 100% recovered from the gunshot wound and Silas was more of a ‘make love not war' kind of guy. Yes, he could hold his own, but he lacked the raw violence of some of our ilk.

"What time tomorrow night?"

King was a bit slow to reply, so I punched him for motivational purposes. The sound of his cheekbone shattering was music to my ears.

The guy wasn't used to being on the wrong end of a beating and he turned gray as pain dug its claws deep into him. "11 PM. They have security though, it's invite only."

I snorted. Carlos's men were disciplined and well-armed, but they were no match for a pack of vicious and highly motivated shifters. And besides, if we moved fast enough, we could rescue the girls before they were moved.

If half of Carlos's men were at the fight ring rather than his estate, we stood a better chance of taking down Carlos and retrieving the girls. I just needed to make some phone calls.