“Thank you, so much,” I reply, tucking the envelope inside my bag and standing to shake her hand. “Could you tell me where the restroom is?” I have to make a stop by the grocery store before going home and can’t wait any longer.
Pointing toward a long hallway across the main lobby, she gives me directions and we quickly say our goodbyes. Not wanting to keep the guys waiting any longer than necessary, I hurry to take care of business. Just as I start to push the bathroom door open, I’m grabbed from behind and something covers my mouth. Panic sets in as I feel the fear inside whomever it is that has me.
“Don’t fight me or I’ll have to hurt you,” my attacker warns, causing my survival instincts to kick in. I’ve never taken any self-defense classes, but I use my animal’s natural responses and try biting the hand over my mouth.
“Shit,” he curses. I immediately feel an unbearable pain in my head as my vision goes black.
356
Hacker
"Burson Industries and Development,” I repeat for the umpteenth time. “Where have I heard that name?” I’m thumbing through the file I have containing all I can find on one Henri Dupree.
Lark’s supposed fiancé showing up a few weeks ago has my instincts screaming in my head that he’s up to something. The feelings she gets from being around him only encourage my need to deal with him on a more personal level so that he will never pose a threat to her again. His continuing pursuit of her, the latest attempt an ultimatum delivered with a vase of roses, has pushed me over the edge and my animal wants him removed from the planet.
My cell’s ringing breaks my train of thought and I answer while rubbing my burning eyes.
“Yo.”
“Brother.” It’s Trick. “How fuckin’ long does it take to sign a few papers?”
“What are you bitchin’ about, asshole?” I toss the file on my desk and lean back in my chair.
“Your woman went into the bank to sign a few papers and hasn’t come out yet. We’ve been waiting on her ass for nearly an hour,” he complains with a rumble in his voice.
“She isn’t done?” I know her appointment was at one-thirty but that shouldn’t have taken any more than twenty minutes at the most. It’s twenty after two.
“That’s what I fuckin’ said,” he snarls in irritation. Leopards don’t appreciate being questioned on their word, and I did exactly that.
“Shit,” I curse in a rush to pull up the outside surveillance footage. “Hold on.” I quickly scan through the recordings for any sign of where she could possibly be. Between a currency delivery and regular customers, there hasn’t been anything suspicious going in or out of the bank in the last hour and a half.
“She has to be in the building,” I argue even though my gut tells me differently and my leopard is suddenly on edge.
Something’s wrong. She’s in danger.
“Did you try calling her?” I snap, quickly filling with dread.
“I’m not an amateur,” he throws back. “Do a location check on her phone.” My inner beast hisses in offense at being told what to do even as I pull up the locator app.
“Fuck, something’s not right. It shows she’s still inside. Check it out, I’m on my way,” I end the call bolting out of my office, across the club, and outside to my bike.
“Need to find her. Now!” my leopard demands. His unease grows stronger the closer we get to town. I have to get to her before he takes over and slaughters everyone in our path.
Driving like a demon possessed, I make it to the bank just as my cell rings. Seeing me, Trick removes the cell from his ear and slides it into his pocket.
“That was fast,” he mumbles as I park beside them. “Eliot checked inside and no one’s seen her since she left Janie’s desk. She asked for directions to the bathroom and that’s the last time anyone saw her. Phone was in the bathroom trash can.”
A low growl rumbles through me as I grab Trick by his leather vest, giving him a glimpse of my growing fangs as I shake him.
“Are you telling me you let her go in there alone?”
“Relax, man,” Trick growls, his own fangs beginning to show, “it’s a fucking bank.”
“That has a fucking back door!”
The roaring of a bike interrupts us as X pulls up and stops beside us.
“What the fuck’s goin’ on?” he asks, scrambling off his bike to step between us.
“Lark’s missing.” Those two words nearly break me and I’m dangerously close to losing my shit. She’s the other half of my soul and if I lose her, I won’t survive.
“It has to be Billingsworth,” Trick declares. We go over everything, filling X in and making a call to Roark.
“Have you gone inside, checked for yourself?” X asks, clamping a hand on my shoulder in effort to calm me.
“No.”
“He was too worried about trying to bite my head off,” Trick grumbles.
“Man, shut your fucking mouth,” X says, clearly annoyed. Trick's been a prospect the longest and should know better. With a final glare at him, X squeezes my shoulder. “Let’s go inside and see if you can catch her scent.”
“This had better give us something,” I mutter when we enter the bank.
X taps me on the back and says, “Keep cool, brother.”
“Easier said than done, asshole,” I mutter, nudging him in the side. As soon as we enter, I catch Lark’s scent, which has my entire body vibrating from the pull of it. My leopard is clawing to break free and a light sheen of sweat breaks out over my body as I try to keep him at bay.
“Keep it together, brother,” X tells me as I begin to charge forward to follow my mate’s scent. I can see
