Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

S onya woke with a pounding headache. So far, this marriage business had not turned out at all like what they showed on TV. She groaned and twisted sideways, only to realize she was in a cage. The kind of cage they used to control rogue wolves.

Dale sat in a nearby chair, manspreading as usual, watching her. That wasn’t creepy at all.

What was going on? She remembered walking out of the motel after receiving Karim’s text. Something had stung her neck, and then things went dark. “You drugged me,” she said.

“You should have married me. Then none of this would have happened.” Dale stood and paced. “I’m not a bad guy. I’m just doing what’s best for the pack.”

“What are you talking about?”

He stepped closer to the cage. “Karim has to stay in the pack.”

The pain in her head grew worse, and she was so thirsty. “Why?”

“He’s the first natural-born wolf in centuries. Do you have any idea what his genes are worth for shifter fertility research?” Mania glittered in his eyes. “The pack that controls Karim will make millions.” He paced around the space. It looked like they were in some kind of warehouse. Why was there a warehouse in the middle of the woods?

She blinked, trying to make sense of his words. “If he’s so precious, why didn’t anyone want to help me raise him as a proper shifter?”

Dale waved his hand. “Who cares how he grows up? He’s going to spend his life in a research facility. His DNA will unlock shifter domination of this world. Once our birthrate is as high as the human one, we can overpower and eliminate them.”

Her brother locked away in a lab, like some kind of guinea pig? Oh, hell no. Not on her watch.

The deranged alpha checked his watch. “I tried to be nice,” he mumbled. “I tried to marry you, but you made everything complicated. Now I have to kill both you and your new husband to gain custody of Karim.” He sighed. “It gives me no pleasure.” Dale headed toward the back of the facility.

“Wait,” Sonya shouted. “We can work this out. Let’s talk about this.” Her only answer was the slamming of a door.

Bay paced, rubbing his chest. A dull ache throbbed inside, refusing to ease. In combination with his fears for Sonya, the pain undermined his focus. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t figure out what to do next.

Ulf and Karim were out canvassing the neighbors, asking if anyone had seen Sonya.

“Did you bond with Sonya?” Nora asked suddenly.

“What do you mean? You were at the ceremony. You know we’re mated.”

“No.” Nora got up from the couch. “Did you bond with her properly? Has your wolf claimed her?”

Bay stopped in his tracks. “The wolf wants her. I think she’s our true mate.”

Nora nodded. “That’s what I figured. Why else would you marry someone after only knowing them for twenty-four hours?”

Because he’d known he had to have her as soon as he saw her. Because he knew she was his everything when she bossed both her brother and him around in the diner.

That’s why he’d manipulated her into marrying him. And now she had disappeared because he was an asshole who only thought of himself.

Nora twirled a key ring on her finger. “I think I know how to find her.”

“How?”

“Your wolf can track her through the bond.” She headed for the front door. “I’ll drive, and you concentrate on whatever the beast tells you.”

He tapped into his mental connection with brother wolf and received a string of images moving so quickly he couldn’t keep up. Slow down , he told the beast as he slid into the passenger seat of Nora’s rented SUV.

His shifter sister drove at a fast clip. If they could avoid it, most of the Bay Area wolves didn’t ride with Nora. She drove like she fought. With fierce determination and no regard for anyone around her. Bay’s brain displayed a double image of the road that the car traveled on and the journey the wolf was transmitting. He had to close his eyes to keep from throwing up.

The wolf howled. It approved of the hunt to find their mate.

“I’m just taking the main route out of town. You’ll need to tell me when to turn,” Nora said.

The wolf sent Bay smells, sounds, and images. But none of them translated into driving directions. Instructions like right and left had never made sense to him, anyway. He navigated by compass.

The wolf told him they’d chased a rabbit close to where Sonya was. Bay frowned. That had been in the middle of the woods. “Do you have a map?” he asked Nora.

She shook her head. “No, but I have a phone with a map application. Will that work?”

He had his own map application. Why hadn’t he thought of that? “Pull over for a moment,” Bay said.

She did and he unlocked his phone. Bay pulled up a map on the screen. It took him a few seconds to get oriented, but then he found where the bunny had distracted the wolf while they were searching for Karim. He zoomed out.

Nora leaned over and studied the screen. She pointed at a spot. “Looks like that’s the closest access road right there.”

Bay recentered the map on that road. “And there’s a building of some sort at the end,” he said.

“Let’s go.” Nora hit the gas pedal so hard the tires squealed. She made a U-turn, crossing over the solid double line, and raced down the road.

“You’ve been gaming with Ulf too much,” Bay said, clinging to the handle above the door.

Thanks to Nora setting a new land speed record, they drove down the access road ten minutes later. Bay tapped into his wolf again, and this time, the beast sent him emotions.

Sonya’s emotions.

She was furious. And she was close by.

“She’s here,” he told Nora, who stopped the car on the edge of the road.

“Let’s do the rest on foot to avoid alerting Dale, in case this is a trap.” Bay looked at her. She sighed. “I know, of course it’s a trap. Should we shift?”

In wolf shape, they’d be faster and deadlier, but they wouldn’t be able to communicate. “We don’t know what’s in there. Let’s stay human until we know if we need the wolf shape.”

Approaching from downwind, they crept closer to the warehouse. So far, neither he nor his wolf detected any threat. But the wolf was hyper-focused on Sonya. Faster , it growled.

They reached the door of the building, and Bay dragged it open.

Nora produced a hunting knife from behind her back.

Bay stared at her. Did she just happen to have that on her today? Or was she constantly armed? And how did she fly with knives?

“Wolf scout, always prepared,” she whispered and flashed him a peace sign.

He shook his head and stepped into the building.