Trouble Comes in Threes (29 page)

Dolf pulled his cell out of his pocket, first calling his dad, then the other betas. “Okay, they’re on their way here.”

“Shit.” Aidric ran his hands through his hair. “Dolf, we need to look for Heller.”

“We will, but not without backup. I have a feeling this is a trap.” Dolf paced from one end of the room to the other. “We run outside in a panic, and the attacker picks us off one at a time. I don’t think so.”

“So we just sit here? Dolf, Heller might be seriously hurt.”

Dolf jerked back to face Aidric, his face a mask of fury. “Do you think I’m not aware of that? That it doesn’t bother me a man I’ve known since we were kits may be out there, hurting? Dying? But what good will it do for us to go charging out there and end up hurt too? What does that solve?”

“It might be just what this fucker wants.” I glanced out the windows.

“And that would leave just me to defend Kirk,” Tal said. “We all know I’m not the best bet in a fight.”

I harrumphed. “I wouldn’t say that. When you’re fighting for something important… well, I wouldn’t count you out, cutie.”

“And you are very important to me, Kirk.” Tal spoke softly.

“Me too,” Dolf added, his voice slightly hoarse.

“I-I….”

“What in nine hells is going on here!” Monty strode into the living area, his power spreading out in front of him like a wave. “One of my betas is missing?” Brier and Remi followed Monty inside.

Dolf stared at me for a moment, emotions racing across his face, and then he turned to his dad. “Something is fishy with the whole damn deal.”

“I agree, but what else do we do? We can’t leave Heller out there,” Aidric said.

“So, any suggestions?” Brier said.

“I don’t like this, but I don’t see we have a choice. We go look for him,” Remi said.

“But… what about Kirk? He… can’t shift and go with us,” Tal said. “Is it safe to leave him here?”

“That’s actually what I’m afraid of.” Dolf walked over to stand in from of me. “Someone is trying to arrange it so you aren’t well protected, sexy.”

“Are you sure it’s me they’re after?” I asked. “You’ve been attacked too.”

“You got a room with no windows, Dolf?” Brier butted in. “We could lock him in there.”

I narrowed my eyes at the beta. “Let me just say… fuck you, man.”

Aidric slapped Brier upside the head. “Fat lot of good that’d do if they tried to burn down the house.”

I stared at the two, then turned to Dolf. “Jesus, are you
sure
they’re on our side?”

“Enough. Aidric and Remi, you stay with Kirk. Dolf, Brier, Tal, and I will look for Heller.” Monty growled. “Kirk’s life is in your hands. Guard him well.”

“I will, I give my word,” Aidric swore. “Kirk, I wasn’t wild about them mating you because you were human, and I regret that. Dolf is right. We need to change our attitudes.”

Remi slapped me on the back. “He’s a pretty cool guy, trust me.”

“I like my ribs where they are, Remi.”

Remi snorted.

“Do not leave this house, understand?” Dolf asked. “The last thing I want is to have to hunt you three down too.”

“Got it.”

They piled their clothes on the couches as everyone but Remi and Aidric shifted. It was the first time I’d seen cat shifters in a group. That many of them together? They could do some real damage.

“So, now what?” I asked after everyone left.

“Got any sweats Aidric can borrow? I’m tired of looking at his pasty-white ass.”

Aidric rolled his eyes. “I’d tell you to suck my dick, but you’d enjoy it too much.”

Remi waggled his eyebrows. “I’m telling you, man, once you go Remi, you never go back.”

“That has got to be the lamest thing I’ve heard out of your mouth yet,” Aidric griped. “And I’ve heard plenty.”

“So….” Remi’s grin was downright nasty. “What I got out of that was you’ve been… admiring my mouth. Now why would a supposedly straight guy be interested in what I can do with my mouth?”

“Fuck you, Remi, that’s not what I said.”

“Wow, strain any brain cells coming up with that?”

“Ooookay, I’ll be right back.” I nearly tripped in my rush to leave. I did
not
want to be caught in the underlying currents in that room. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but it seemed to be ongoing with them.

I hurried to the laundry room. I was sure I’d find something Aidric could wear in there. Now I understood why Dolf had so many sweatpants and other clothes stuck all over the house. I found some sweats and returned to the living area.

“Here you—” A sudden blast of music rose from the couch. “What the hell?”

“It’s one of their cell phones.” Aidric pulled on the sweats.

“But whose?” I asked.

“Oh man, that’s Alpha Monty’s ringtone. He just changed to that a few days ago.” Remi glared at the clothes.

“Should we answer it?” I stared down at the clothes too.

“I… I’m not sure he’d like that. We don’t know who’s calling him,” Remi said.

The ringing stopped.

“Well, that answers—” Aidric growled at the clothes as the cell started ringing again. “Shit.”

“I’m answering the damn thing.” I started throwing clothes everywhere, looking for the phone. “Yes! There we go!”

“Um, I’m not sure—”

“It might be clowder business, and—”

“I’m mated to his son, so they can just get over themselves.” I snatched up the phone and answered it.

“Alpha Armonty! Oh… oh goddess, you’re not going to believe what I just saw! It was just… I couldn’t believe he did that! And right out there in front of everyone. You
have
to do something. I tried to help, I did, but Heller’s stumbling down the side of the highway. I can’t just leave here. And… and he’s covered in blood!”

“Who the hell is this?” I demanded.

“Who the hell is
this
? Why are you answering this phone?
Where’s the Alpha
? What’s going on?”

“Tell me who this is!” I nearly yelled. Remi and Aidric moved closer to me.

“It’s Kent. From the Double Circle gas station. Now who is this on the Alpha’s phone?”

“It’s Kirk. Tal and Dolf’s mate.”

“
What?
”

“Long story, but Monty’s cell is here and he isn’t. Where exactly did you see Heller?”

“Like… nearly in front of the gas station. I tried to do something, but… damn, man, he snarled at me, then
shifted
. Shifted, you hear me? Right there out in the open! I-I couldn’t believe it.”

“Shit. You said he was covered in blood?”

“Yes. All over him. He looked bad. I can’t leave the gas station for long, so I called you. Well, not you, Kirk… I mean the Alpha you. I mean…. I don’t know what I mean. I just knew I had to call.”

“Okay. It’s good that you did. They’re looking for him. Thanks, Kent. Thanks a lot. I promise we’ll see that the Alpha knows. We’ll take care of it.”

“Good luck. Tell them to hurry, Kirk. Like, seriously.”

I hung up.

“What the hell?” Remi demanded.

“That was Kent. He works at the Double Circle gas station. Do you guys know him?”

“Ah….” Remi paused. “Oh yeah, yeah. Skinny guy. Brown hair, brown eyes, and young looking.”

“He just kind of blends into the background,” Aidric said.

“Bingo. Anyway, he’s freaking because he saw Heller walking down the side of the road covered in blood. When he approached, Heller shifted. Right out in the open.”

“Oh… hell,” Aidric whispered. “What is he thinking? He’s going to expose us all.”

“We have to go. We
have
to,” I insisted. “We have no way to let Dolf and the others know.”

“Kirk, what if this is also a trap?”

“You think that Kent is behind this?” I shook my head. “He’s not. Dolf checked his story, Aidric, and he was telling the truth. Tal also said he didn’t smell any lies when Kent told us why he was late that day. He was cleared.”

“He’s right,” Remi said. “Dolf said Kent had an alibi.” Then Remi wrinkled his nose. “It’s just… Dolf said not to leave.”

“What if a human sees Heller shift?” I asked.

“
Shit.
We have to go.” Remi glanced at me. “Can you dig out a shirt and shoes for Aidric?”

“Sure, be right back.”

I found something for Aidric to wear, and we were ready to go. I strode to the back door, Aidric and Remi hot on my heels.

“Hey, hey, hey, hold up there.” Remi grabbed the back of my shirt.

“I thought grabbing ahold of clothes and tugging was a dog thing.”

“You did not just…. Man, that’s wrong. Felines don’t…. We don’t…. Know what? Bite me. Now, listen—Aidric goes first, you stay in the middle, and I bring up the rear.”

“Seriously?”

“Absolutely, or we don’t leave this house.”

“I agree,” Aidric said.

“Fine! Just… let’s go, already.”

We barely got off the front porch when suddenly, Aidric froze. In the silence of the night, I heard a “huph” sound. Soon after, there was another “huph.”

“Oh, shit,” Aidric breathed. He turned, and a dart was sticking out from his left shoulder.

“W-what—” I reached for Aidric.

Remi fell against me, and I stumbled. Holding on to Aidric, I glanced back at Remi. Another feathered dart stuck out from his pec.

“Oh… my God.” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Those were darts. From a blowgun. I’d seen shows on TV where the hunters used those, and I was afraid to remove the dart. Some had barbs so they would stay in the animal that had been darted. Those had to be removed carefully. Whatever the attacker used was working fast. Despite my best efforts, both men went down, taking me with them.

Oh shit, oh shit. What do I do?

“Hide,” Remi whispered, eyelashes fluttering. “Kirk…
hide!
”

But hiding means leaving them out here totally unprotected. What if… what if….

“You… must… must go…,” Remi stuttered, then passed out.

Grabbing the keys he still clutched, I ran for his car. It was there in the driveway, not that far, but the damn thing seemed like it was miles from me. Panting, I ran, every step a torture.

“Please, please, please.” I prayed to every divine being to keep Remi and Aidric safe. God, it would be so easy to slit their throats.

Five feet… four feet… I was almost to the car, so close I could practically feel the door handle under my fingers, when something whistled past my ear. I didn’t have time to react to the fact that this bastard was firing at me now. I just kept running. Darting me was
not
an option.

Two feet… and a shrill laugh echoed across the yard. That creepy shit was not funny! One foot… and finally, my hand clutched the handle.
Thank you, sweet baby Jesus, Remi didn’t lock it.
Jerking open the door, I all but dove inside, then hurriedly slammed it shut.
Snick
. Okay, got the driver’s door locked, and then I lunged across the car and locked the passenger side. My hand was shaking so bad, it took two tries to get the key in the ignition. Another creepy laugh that was entirely too close froze the air in my lungs. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blurry shape standing by the door, holding a long-ass dart gun.

Tap, tap, tap.

Really? This asshole was tapping on the driver’s side window? Slowly, I turned to face whoever was standing there… and my mouth hit the ground. There stood Kent, naked as a jaybird. It couldn’t be, but there he was, leering at me in all his batshit crazy glory. I thrust the key in the ignition, turned it… and nothing. Fucking car didn’t even turn over.

Grinning maniacally, he point at the hood of the car and slowly shook his head. “You don’t really think it’s going to be that easy, do you?”

Of course not.

“I popped the hood and just started pulling stuff. Remi should really lock his car door. You’d think he’d know that in this day and age.”

Bet he will now.

“Now, why don’t you come on out of there and make this easy on yourself? I’ll even dart you, and you won’t feel a thing when I slit your throat. These darts are mixed according to shifters’ metabolism, so that alone would probably kill you.”

I stared.
How
could it be him? “Ah… I’m good, thanks all the same.”

He pouted. “You won’t come out?”

Fucking loony tune.
“Got it in one.”

Rage flashed over his face, and he slammed his fist against the window. The sound of cracking glass made me nauseous. I was so fucked. He was going to bust the window and drag me out. What the hell was I going to do?

“No. No, that’s too easy. You don’t deserve easy, not after what you did. I’ll be right back.” He sneered at me. “One way or the other, you’re coming out of that car.”

What I did? What did I do?
He strolled off toward the garage, holding the dart gun. Dammit, one of the doors was open, and he strolled right on inside. What was he doing in there? He wasn’t paying attention to me, so if I was going to run, now was the time. My hand fell to the door handle, but I didn’t open it. Could I make it to the house? He had the blowgun, though. Right. And in the house that was full of windows, I could… what? Use baking sheets as chest and back plates? A colander for head protection?
Right, that’ll work. He’ll probably dart me in the ass.

On second thought, maybe I’d better stay here.
Fucking insane cat shifter.
Where’s a damn mouse when I need one?
He did say the darts were mixed for shifters. That meant the dose must be ungodly high. If he darted me… it would kill me from an overdose. How many darts did he have? I knew some dart guns had kits that could carry lots of darts. Lovely.

God, where was Dolf and the rest of them?

The son of a bitch came back to the car with a gas can and a big grin. We used that one for the lawn mower, and it was full. Oh… shit, he planned to set the car on fire. With me in it. He laid the dart gun down on the ground.

Maybe I could get him to… I don’t know, waste some time while I prayed Dolf came home. “Kent, why are you doing this?”