32. Steff

THIRTY-TWO

STEFF

"April!" There was only silence after the last, deafening gunshot. My stomach heaved, and I forced down the bile that rose to my throat. I threw the phone to the floor. "Goddamn it, hurry, Miles."

I was in the passenger seat. Miles already had the truck going as fast as it would go, but it still seemed like we were sitting still. In the rearview, I could see Tate's truck right behind us with Blayne in the passenger seat. We were maybe three minutes away from Kellan's neighborhood. It might as well have been a thousand miles.

The initial phone call had come in while I'd been at the office with the guys. At first I didn't understand what was going on. When what was happening had become clear, I panicked. The sound of April questioning Kellan had sent me into a frenzy. I'd told her to stay home with her family, to not to leave the house. It had been confusing to hear her talking to Kellan.

I understood my mistake as we drove. I'd assumed April's parents would simply stay at her house. They must have taken her for a visit to Kellan's. Maybe to see Aiden. All I'd told April was to stay with family. Being too afraid to tell her more, I never told her to stay away from Kellan. How could I have without telling her what we'd found? I'd been an idiot. I should have told her the minute we knew he had a part in it. The very fucking second I saw Kellan's face on the screen. Now I was paying for that stupidity. Maybe paying for it with April's life.

I shook my head violently, trying to throw that thought out of my mind. Unable to do anything while we drove, I slammed my shoulder into the door in frustration.

"Bro, I'm going as fast as I can," Miles said. "It's going to be okay."

He couldn't know that. He wasn't the one who'd heard the gunshots like fireworks going off through the phone speaker. He hadn't listened to April and Kellan screaming. He couldn't know what I was going through. It wasn't his fault, but I still wanted to slug him for saying everything would be okay. What if they weren't? What if?

Miles rounded the corner, barely staying on four wheels. Up ahead, I saw the flashing lights of police cars and an ambulance. My breath caught in my throat. The neighbors must have called the cops as soon as they heard the gunshots. The front of Kellan's house looked like Swiss cheese. Dozens of bullet holes peppered the siding and windows. I leapt from the truck before Miles had even slowed down. The only thing keeping me from falling face first into the pavement was my shifter speed and balance.

I sprinted across the lawn toward the house. I glimpsed one of Kellan's neighbors pointing down the street. The woman had tears in her eyes as she spoke to a police officer. I was near the front steps when a deputy grabbed me by my shoulder, stopping me.

"Hey, pal, you can't go in there. Crime scene."

"Let go," I growled, and I was sure my eyes must have shifted, because the cop released me and stepped back like I'd burned him.

Once I turned back to the porch, I froze in horror. There were multiple footprints on the steps leading down. Red prints. Feet that had walked through blood. My skin felt like it was on fire. My bear was losing its mind, trying to rip free. It was everything I could do to prevent it from shifting spontaneously. Tearing my eyes away from the bloody footprints, I leaped onto the porch and ran into the house.

My knees nearly gave way. So much blood. Oh, God, there was so much blood. It looked like a grenade had gone off inside the room. Holes were all over the wall, lamps had been shattered and overturned, feathers had exploded out of the sofa and had stuck in the blood on the floor.

April's name exploded from my mouth. I screamed for her over and over, my throat going hoarse. Two deputies rushed from the kitchen, and the familiar Detective Duggan grabbed me from behind. My body and mind were too shocked by what I saw to fight back.

"Damn it, Steffen, you can't be here." Duggan grunted as he tugged me toward the door.

Finding my voice, I yelled into his face. "My girlfriend was here when this happened. Where is she? Fucking tell me!"

Before the detective could say anything, another set of hands was pulling me down the stairs. These hands were stronger, easily pulling me from Duggan's grasp and dragging me across the yard. I spun, raising my fist to fight whoever it was off, but it was only Miles.

"Let's go," he said, glancing over his shoulder.

"No, I have to find April."

"That's what we're doing." We got to the truck, and he finally let me go. "I heard the neighbor over there giving a statement. She saw three men come out of the house. One guy was pulling a pretty redhead, who was trying to beat the shit out of the guy holding her. Another guy was carrying a limp body covered in blood. Last dude was carrying some kind of machine gun."

I grabbed Miles by his jacket, taking a handful of fabric, and jerked him toward me. My canines were elongating, the bear trying to break through. "Where? Where did they go?"

"Neighbor saw them get loaded into a white van and taken off that way." Miles nodded down the street. "Blayne's got his laptop, pulling up the same security feeds he accessed the other day, trying to find which way they went."

April was safe. She hadn't been hurt when they'd put her in the van. The knowledge that she was okay almost sent me to the ground in relief. That was short-lived when I heard the screaming voice from behind me. I spun and saw April's parents had pulled up to the curb. Her father had grabbed an EMT and was yelling in his face for answers. April's mom was on the other side of the car, cradling Aiden in her arms. The boy looked shell-shocked and white as a sheet.

"I got them," Blayne called from Tate's truck. He leaned out the window, waving at me. "Found a white van running a red light about five minutes ago. We need to fucking move."

Miles slapped me on the shoulder. "Go. I'll talk to April's folks. Hurry, bro. Now."

Without another word, I sprinted to the truck and jumped in the back. Tate peeled away from the house, following Blayne's directions. I gripped the armrest like it was the only thing keeping me alive. I wanted to be the one driving, but I was in no state to do that. Instead, I let Tate fly through town, trying to catch up to the hunters.

Blayne typed at his laptop furiously, pulling up camera after camera, scrolling for sightings of the van. Anytime he saw it flying through an intersection or turning onto a street, he'd call out the location, and Tate would slam the gas and rocket us onward. My eyes stayed glued to the windshield, willing the van to show itself, desperate to see it.

I almost yelped when my phone rang. It was Miles. I pulled it out and answered. "Yeah?"

"April's parents are settled with the cops. I left them with Detective Duggan. They aren't doing great. The kid is freaked, but I couldn't do anything else for them. Where are you guys? I'm going to meet up with you."

"Where the hell are we, Blayne?" I asked.

He called out the latest spot he'd seen the van, and I relayed it to Miles. He promised to meet us as soon as he could. Leaving him on speaker, I set the phone down and put my face in my hands as my mind began to spiral. Everything that had happened today was my fucking fault. I'd waited too long. Our plan had been solid, but I kept putting it off. I'd been so consumed with waiting for the right moment, I'd forgotten how much danger we were all in. If I'd talked to Kellan sooner, this may have all been avoided. I'd screwed everything up with my indecision.

My head was hung low, my face in my hands, and I kept repeating the same words. "My fault, my fault, my fault…"

"Stop that shit," Tate growled. "You didn't do anything. Ryland and the hunters did it. We don't have time for self-fucking-pity. We need to get this shit done. Save April and end this."

I clamped my teeth onto my lower lip, biting until I drew blood. He was right. I couldn't wallow in what might have been. I had to get my mind right for what was coming. If I was going to save April, I had to be in control. "I'm good, I'm fine. Let's do this."

"Shit!" Blayne hissed. "They just took the on-ramp to the interstate. There won't be cameras for miles. It's the only way to get out of town."

"How far are we?" Tate asked.

Blayne glanced around at street signs. "We made up a lot of ground. Maybe a minute or two from where they got on the interstate."

The truck's engine was already roaring, but Tate pressed the pedal as far as it would go, and we careened down the road. He passed several cars by swerving around onto the shoulder. It was some of the most dangerous driving I'd ever seen in my life, but all I cared about was getting to April.

"What's our plan when we find April?" Miles asked, still on speaker phone.

"Rip every one of their fucking heads off," I said.

Blayne chuckled, and Tate agreed. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

"But first we have to get answers from Ryland. Answers first, blood second," Miles reminded us.

I nodded, knowing it was what had to happen, but my bear wanted to revolt. All it wanted was blood. It craved the hunt, the fight, and the kill. It would take everything I had to hold it back when I came face to face with Ryland.

We'd been on the interstate less than five minutes when Blayne pointed ahead of us. "Van. Right there."

"Shit. They ditched it," Tate said as he swerved the truck onto the breakdown lane and slammed it into park.

I opened the door and leaped out. The first thing I noticed was the tangy smell of blood. I ran toward the van, terrified of what I'd find. I could hear Blayne and Tate screaming for me to stop. I knew there was a chance the hunters had set a trap, but all I could think about was my friend. Whatever Kellan had done, he was still my friend.

I yanked the back doors of the van open and cursed. Kellan lay on the steel floor of the van. There was so much blood. The vehicle reeked of it, making me want to gag. I climbed inside and screamed over my shoulder, "Call 911!"

I pressed my fingers under Kellan's chin, checking for a pulse. It was there, but my God, it was weak. Kellan's eyes fluttered open, and he saw my face. As weak as he was, he was somehow still able to look surprised. He opened his mouth and mumbled something, but I couldn't make it out.

"It's okay, brother. Rest, we've got help on the way," I said, trying to tell myself things would be okay, even though he was losing a shit-ton of blood.

Ignoring me, Kellan spoke again, louder this time. "I'm sorry… Ryland… he came to me." He pulled in a long painful breath. "After the kidnapping… said he'd take Aiden… again. Kill him." Kellan coughed, and blood sprayed out across his lips, making me flinch. "Said I had to… do what they said. No one was supposed to get hurt. I… had to help… get April away from you." Kellan's face crinkled as he began to cry. "I'm sorry."

"Stop talking. Save your strength, Kellan. Stay strong, man." I said the words, but my own eyes had started to tear up.

Tate stood next to the van, I could hear him talking to the emergency operator, giving them a description of our location. I prayed that they'd get here soon.

Kellan regained control and gripped my hand. As weak as he was, his grip was like a steel band on my fingers. "They changed cars. Left…me for dead." He coughed and tried to catch his breath. "Put April into a black SUV. It had Illinois tags." He took a deep inhale of air, and I could hear an awful wheezing sound in his chest. "Heard them say it was a safe house…an hour away." Kellan coughed again, and blood gurgled out of his mouth, "I… oh, fuck, it hurts… I did the… only thing I could think. My watch… put it in April's pocket… when they weren't looking."

My eyes widened and I glanced at his wrist. The tan line above his hand was visible. The smart watch I'd seen him wear everyday was missing. A smart watch? Blayne could track that. My head snapped around, and I saw Tate's eyes light with understanding.

"I'll get Blayne on it," Tate said, sprinting back to his truck.

I looked back at Kellan to tell him he'd done a good job, but saw his lifeless eyes looking back at me. "NO!" I scrambled to my knees and started CPR. I pumped at his chest, over and over, screaming at him to come back.

"Don't you fucking do it," I sobbed as I attempted to pump his heart back to life. "Don't you motherfucking do it. I need you, bro. I need you."

Tires squealed outside. Taking a moment to glance up, I saw Miles was running up to the van. He slid to a stop, his eyes widening at Kellan's body and the sight of all the blood. To his credit, Miles didn't take long to jump in. He leaned forward and pressed his fingers to Kellan's neck.

I was getting angrier by the second. It had been less than thirty seconds since his heart stopped, but it felt like I'd been there for years. As I continued pressing his chest, I screamed in his face. "You can't leave your son. Don't leave him like his mother did, you asshole."

Miles gasped. "Pulse. He's got a pulse."

Maybe he had heard me. Maybe not. Either way, I relaxed, and I let out an explosive sigh. Miles touched me on the shoulder. "This is starting to be a pattern, but let me stay with him until the ambulance gets here. Go get April. I'll catch up again if I can. You need Tate and Blayne more than me right now."

I looked at Kellan's chest rising and falling in shallow, weak breaths. Miles was right, but it was still painful to climb out of the van. I ran to the truck, giving Kellan and Miles an anxious glance as I climbed in. Miles waved and nodded to me. He looked more confident than I felt.

Tate had the truck moving down the road before I even had the door closed. I spared one last glance at the van as we sped by. Red-and-white flashing lights caught my eye in the distance. I let out a sigh of relief. The ambulance must have been close. Kellan might stand a chance if they got there soon. I prayed they did.

"Got it," Blayne said. "Kellan's account on his smart watch. The fucking GPS is even on. We can follow them right to whatever hole they crawled in."

I leaned over the seat and watched Blayne pull up a map and zoom in. He pointed at a red dot moving slowly north. "Got. Those. Assholes." He grinned at me triumphantly. "For a dude with a bullet in him, your buddy still had a good head on his shoulders."

I nodded and gripped Blayne's shoulder. "Yeah. Yeah, he does."

"Where are they now?" Tate asked.

Blayne glanced at the screen for a few seconds. "Looks like they've stopped. It's a fairly decent-sized building from the look of the satellite images I pulled. Give me a second."

Miles called again. I snatched the phone up, terrified of what he was going to tell me.

"Miles? How's Kellan?"

"EMTs just pulled away with him. Had him on an IV. They looked worried, but he was still breathing when they took him. What do you want me to do?"

"Shit, go to the hospital. Stay there and update me on his condition. Let April's parents and brother know what's going on, tell them to head to the hospital."

"On it. You guys be careful. You hear me?"

"I hear you." I hung up and slid the phone back into my pocket. "What did you find on the building?" I asked Blayne.

He nodded. "It was built in the seventies as a homeless shelter but transitioned to a warehouse in the late eighties. Then in the nineties, the company that owned it went under. Now the lease is to a guy named Dominic Olivera. I figure that's an alias, but I'll look into it and see what I can find."

As we got closer to the location, I started to realize where we were going. This area was known to be pretty rough. It was rural, poor, and known to have a significant drug problem. It was the polar opposite to Lilly Valley. It was the kind of place where people looked the other way when bad things went down. It was not anywhere I wanted April to be, even if hunters weren't involved.

Tate pulled the truck into the parking lot of an abandoned fast-food place. We were still a quarter mile from where the GPS said they'd taken April. It would take a little longer, but going on foot was better than trying to plow in with Tate's giant truck. The three of us got out and moved toward the warehouse.

I looked at my friends and took a deep breath. "Are you ready?" When they nodded, I turned and walked toward the warehouse. Their footsteps followed me. It was exactly what I'd do for them. If there was one thing we weren't afraid to do, it was going into battle with each other.