Caged Read online

  Jack’s attention flittered to me for a split second before reengaging with Dad. “Let’s take a walk. Just the two of us.”

  My shoulders stiffened as it took every effort not to intervene, to allow Dad to speak for himself. Let him wonder off on his own with an unfamiliar wolf? Only a moron would consider it. I caught the alteration to Sean’s stance in my periphery—a sign he shared my concerns.

  “If I come, they come,” Dad said like he’d sensed our distrust. “Otherwise, we walk away, and this discussion will never take place.”

  “That many of us together will draw attention,” Jack said.

  “Not as much as continuing to argue about it outside the coffee shop. Besides,”—Dad shrugged—“with everything that’s going on, I’d rather keep my sons where I can see them.”

  Tension tightened Jack’s jaw as though he tried to work out if Dad’s words had been a personal insult. I knew they hadn’t been—Dad had more class than that—but it took Jack a couple of seconds to nod and push up from his perch.

  He inclined his head to the left. “We’ll take the path. Should be quiet at this time of day.”

  Sean fell into step behind the two Alphas, hanging back a little. My personal minder matched each of my strides, which kept him as a permanent side fixture in my view span.

  Branches from trees on our right embraced those of their neighbours on the left, creating a green hued tunnel of shadow that dappled the ground. I caught the twitch of Sean’s shoulder muscles beneath his shirt as ‘Odd and Odder’ took positions left and right, boxing him in from all sides. As I created one of those barriers, and Dad half of another, I decided the situation could have been worse and tuned into the conversation up ahead.

  “Which of the names from the news wasn’t human?” Jack asked.

  “Gabriel Lewis.”

  “Race?”

  “Werewolf.”

  Jack’s steady pace faltered for a moment as he turned to Dad. “With which pack, as he’s living on my territory?” A hint of outrage underlay his tone.

  “None,” Dad said. “Kid’s not with a pack … yet.”

  “Yet?”

  “We made him an offer.”

  I’d made the offer and confessed to Dad two days after the event, but that titbit got omitted.

  “He’s thinking it over,” Dad said.

  “You crossed the border to my county and poached on the locals?” The outrage became more than a hint.

  “I had my reasons.” Dad’s tone of indifference dismissed the discussion. “What did you mean when you said it escalated weeks ago, Jack?”

  A brief pause ensued, as though Jack warred with the urge to continue his pride-primping. “The twelve that have been reported?”

  “Twelve?” Dad’s steps ceased as he turned to his companion.

  I halted, too, but jerked forward as my shadow knocked my shoulder. My lips drew back with the low snarl I sent his way.

  The mouth of the brown-haired wolf curved up at the corners.

  “You like me,” I murmured. “I get it.” As the two leaders continued their walk, I resumed mine, saying, “It’s an effect I have on all the ladies.” My lips twitched at the quiet growl that followed.

  “… two females in Yorkshire as well as two males were reported,” Jack said. “I think those were the earliest ones. If there were others, before Yorkshire, they’ve escaped my notice, or stayed below the media radar. Then disappearances started in Lincolnshire. Only two reported there, but I’ve heard there were at least double that. From there, they moved into Derbyshire—”

  “They?” Dad cut in at the mention of our patch. “There’s a team?”

  “Stands to reason. Races are still going missing in one county when they begin in the next.”

  Dad nodded as though that made sense to him. “We only had one go missing on my territory, and I haven’t a clue what he is, just what the news said.”

  “Only one was reported,” Jack said. “Doesn’t mean it was the only one.”

  The disadvantage, I guessed, of isolating ourselves as a pack had finally caught up with us.

  “From your domain, they moved across to Worcestershire. Two females from there—neither of them wolves, to my knowledge.”

  “Then how do we know they’re connected?” Dad asked.

  “Because they were taken on the same evening, with the same disrupted signs left behind, as two pack wolves from the area. The wolves didn’t make the news.”

  “And now?”

  “Now they’re here.” Jack stopped walking, rubbing a hand across his face before settling it upon his hip. “They took another of mine two days ago.”

  Dad mirrored his stationary pose, bringing the rest of us to a standstill. “Besides your son? Why haven’t I heard about this, Jack?”

  “Because I hoped he’d turn out to be with his mate. But he didn’t, and with the blood traces we found at his home, it doesn’t look promising.”

  Dad blew out a slow breath. “Name?”

  “Samuel Toulsen.”

  A few moments of quiet followed as though they both needed the gap to absorb all the information.

  “I’d like your permission to search in Shropshire,” Dad said.

  “We have no idea where they are. They could be anywhere.”

  “But this is where they’re currently hunting. So this is the best place to hunt for them right now. I don’t want to trespass, Jack, but I will if I have to. Do I have your permission?”

  He met Dad’s stare, held it for seconds before he gave a slight nod. “I’ll let my boys know.”

  3

  Dad and Jack shook hands for the first time since our arrival.

  “It might be a good idea for us to have a picture of your son and your missing pack member,” Dad said. “That way, we’ll know who they are if we stumble upon anything.”

  “And the missing pup who’s spurred you to sit up and take notice?”

  “I’ll get you one of him in return,”—Dad folded his arms over his chest, hardening his stare—“for the purpose of identifying him only.”

  Jack matched his expression before a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “You’re invested in him?”

  What did he mean by that? Though, I had grown close to Gabe over the eight or so months since meeting Shelley.

  Dad didn’t answer.

  I twisted to peer at my assigned muscle who still hadn’t removed his attention from me. “You’ve taken a real shine to me, haven’t you?”

  Nondescript-brown stayed mute but continued to smile.

  “Sorry, pal.” My shoulders and palms lifted. “You’re just not my type.”

  “You’ll hear from me if I get any news,” Jack said.

  “I’ll be in touch.” Dad’s footsteps hit the path, drawing me back.

  He collected Sean on his way past, and when they reached me, I turned to follow.

  “It’s Ethan, right?” my new best friend said.

  Hesitating, I twisted back to him with brow arched.

  “I’ve heard a lot of stuff about you.”

  I gave a slow nod. “Good.” A deep chuckle rumbled at my rear as I stalked away.

  • • •

  “Do we have a plan?” I asked as we pulled out of the Battleground onto the A-road.

  “Not really,” Dad said. “We search until there are no more places left to look.”

  “And you’re starting in Shropshire?” Sean asked.

  I glanced in my mirror at him. “You ask that like you won’t be with us.”

  “He won’t be,” Dad said. “He’ll be no use if he’s constantly worried about Jem at home. Best all around if he just stays there with her.”

  “You made this request yourself, Sean?
”

  He met my reflected eyes, nodded, and glanced away as if to disguise his discomfort at asking to step down from the action. His need to protect his mate would far outweigh any responsibility he may have felt toward Gabe, and I couldn’t have agreed more.

  “Good move, I think. Keeping Jem happy and relaxed will also keep Mum happy and relaxed.”

  “And leave you with no one to watch your back,” he said.

  “The Larsen’s are more than capable, Sean. You’ll be a father soon. It won’t hurt to get used to your shift in priorities. I’d be exactly the same in your shoes. Especially with all this shit going on.” I thought about Jem and Mum, about the short time they’d been around, about how—badly—I’d cope if they got swept up in the issue at hand. I glanced across at Dad. “He’ll have backup, right? Cover all angles. Those at home need—”

  “I agree,” Dad said. “Already considered and arranged. Josh and Danny are taking the first home-watch with Sean. He’ll be too distracted”—he pointed a thumb over his shoulder—“and, as I don’t think any of us should do anything without at least one backup, he can have them both. That should leave the females more than adequately supervised, and will leave us with even numbers for doubling up to search.”

  • • •

  Mundane tasks devoured another four hours. Home had been our first stop, where we swapped Sean for Connor and Kyle, much to Jem’s relief. Josh and Danny hadn’t even complained when they learned our plans involved minor exploits, and we left them all with Jem’s barrage of questions and an update from Sean.

  From there, we’d driven the familiar route back to Shelley’s.

  “You have a couple pictures of Gabe?” I asked, once we’d told her how little we’d learned.

  “Sure.” She nodded. “The printed ones are old, but the digies …”

  “If you send them to my phone, I can call in somewhere and get them printed.”

  Her hands wrung as much as they had that morning, and her eyes looked no less swollen. “What do you plan to do?”

  “At the moment?” I brushed a hand across my hair. “Canvassing and searching like crazy is all we can do.”

  She nodded, though her harried stare intensified.

  “And I need the address for Gabe’s friend. If we circle out from there …” I shrugged. “Who knows? We might get lucky enough to pick up a trail—depending how far they took them on foot.”

  • • •

  We didn’t get lucky—hadn’t really expected to when we’d only been clutching at straws. We caught Gabe’s scent leading up to, or from, his friend’s house. Other than that, any others’ we picked up held only traits of human odour. As I doubted anyone without abilities could take down the amount of werewolves that had gone missing, we dismissed them as Colum and his family.

  The nearest A-road to their home took us as far as the M54, where we spun off to the left to circle back around. Our lack of knowledge of the area meant we had to rely on an atlas and Sat-Nav to mark out a grid to work from. It would, however, take some time to produce, so the road coverage kept us mobile until then.

  Back at Brickton Heath—Shelley’s town—we parked up and climbed from the truck. Dad sent me and Kyle off in one direction, taking himself and Connor in the other, both teams armed with images of the missing ‘people’.

  We stepped into the paths of one passerby after another, showed the pictures, and asked, “Have you seen this kid?”

  The answers remained a consistent ‘no’, except for the odd one who recognised Gabe from the news before saying he couldn’t help.

  My stomach grumbled, with good reason, when eight p.m. arrived along with the dulling of daylight. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

  At the ring of my mobile, I hit the connect button and held it to my ear. “Dad?”

  “Wrap it up. Meet us back at the pickup.”

  I glanced ahead, spotted Kyle’s auburn hair as he showed yet another pedestrian the photograph, and strode toward him.

  The woman’s perfume hit me harder than her knock-‘em-dead looks. Flowery nastiness had me wondering how Kyle could stand to remain so close. Her head lifted as I reached them, introducing me to the darkest eyes I’d ever seen—eyes that widened when they focused on me.

  I paused in my step and held up my palms in the hope of easing her alarm. “Kyle?”

  He turned, inclining his head to the stiletto-footed blonde beside him. “Thinks she might have seen something.”

  My brows lifted as I perked up. “Really? That’s … great.”

  “It’s not much.” She averted her gaze. “Just, I thought I saw the blond kid with some guy. Only remember the teen because of the picture, but the guy with him?” Her toned shoulders shrugged, drawing my eyes to the defined lines of her collarbone and the low cut of her dress. “I didn’t take that much notice of him, if I’m honest. Sorry I can’t be more help.”

  “You mind if I give you my number?” Kyle asked.

  Her eyebrow twitched. Mine, too—at Kyle’s smoothness.

  He shook his head and breathed out a chuckle. “I meant in case you remember anything else about the guy you saw him with.”

  “’Course you did,” I muttered beneath my breath.

  “Oh.” Her quiet laugh arrived as a mellifluous tinkle of music. “Sure, I’ll take your number.” The flip of her hand at the wrist pumped out more of her artificial scent.

  I rubbed at the tickle in my scrunched-up nose, taking a step back as Kyle handed over one of the construction company’s business cards he’d had personalised.

  “That’s my mobile.” He pointed to the number like she couldn’t figure it out on her own.

  I refrained from rolling my eyes and gave him a nudge to his shoulder. “We really need to get going.”

  “I’ll call you.” The woman’s lips curved into an impressive pink-framed smile as she started walking away. “If I remember anything,” she added over her shoulder with a wink.

  Kyle’s grin almost split his face in half as we stared after the sashay of her slender hips in her figure-hugging dress. “She’s … really … hot.”

  “And Dad’s going to be … really … pissed … if we don’t get a move on. He rounded us up five minutes ago.”

  Kyle glanced at me, cocked his head for us to turn, and we started the trek back to the truck. “Think she’ll call?” he asked as our long strides carried us.

  I smirked. “Sure she will.”

  4

  With a couple of pizza boxes balancing on my left palm, I knocked on Shelley’s front door. A backward glance showed Dad and the other two watching me like they had nothing better to do. I shrugged my shoulder, as if to say, ‘Why the hell you all just sitting there? Leave already’, but they didn’t move.

  I understood Dad’s insistence. If one of them had asked to be dropped off elsewhere, no way would I pull off until they’d entered the building.

  Didn’t stop their presence irking me, though.

  A door closed somewhere upstairs within the house, followed by the descent of footsteps. I turned back at the catch twisting from the inside.

  The front door swung inward, and Shelley blinked up at me, frowning when her gaze shifted toward the pizza boxes. “I’m not really that hungry.”

  “Maybe not.” My head ducked down to hers. “But I am.”

  Confusion moved into her eyes.

  “You shouldn’t be alone, Shel. You going to let me in, or leave me to keep an eye on you from the doorstep, where I’ll have to eat my pizza like some homeless person?”

  She breathed out a sigh and took a step back, widening the gap between door and frame.

  As I spun to wave my faithful observers on their way, Dad’s hand lifted in salute, and my truck rolled away as I entered the hall.

  “Y
ou didn’t have to do this,” Shelley said as she closed the door.

  “Try telling that to Gabe.”

  The TV showed one of the regular soaps as I ducked into the living room. More empty coffee mugs littered the tabletop, once again with Shelley’s phones set amongst them. My eyes fell on a third phone—one that hadn’t been there before.

  I opened my mouth to ask, but closed it again at an approach from upstairs.

  Shelley’s eyes darted toward the door as it burst open into the living room, and a young girl with raven black hair slipped inside.

  “Who was it, Shel—” The girl halted; her eyes widened.

  “Ethan, this is—”

  “Mia,” I said, realising how idiotic I’d been to believe Shelley would have no one around without me. I nodded to her. “Nice to meet you.”

  Her eyebrows winged up. “You know who I am?”

  “Sure. You’re Gabe’s …” Mate?

  Her lips curved a little, warmth pushing aside the consternation in her expression. “He tell you about me?”

  “All the … um … time …” My hand brushed across my hair as it dawned I’d probably said more than Gabe would have liked. “Pizza?” I lifted my food offering toward her.

  She pointed to the box. “Pepperoni?”

  I smiled. “Of course.”

  “Sweet.”

  “I’ll get you some plates.” Shelley turned for the kitchen.

  “Make sure you get yourself one, too, Shel.” Mia lifted the top box from my hand and rounded the sofa with it. “Woman has to eat sometime, right?”

  In that one statement, I saw what attracted Gabe.

  • • •

  Not much conversation passed during our meal. Even if the air of despondency hadn’t sullied the mood, the fullness of my mouth would have hindered my chatter. I almost couldn’t get the damn pizza in fast enough—until I caught the two females staring at me, remembered my manners, and made a mental note to slow down.

  Mia hopped up the moment I aimed the last slice toward my mouth, and cleared away the plates. The easy way she moved about the house, from room to room, without an ounce of discomfort, led me to believe she stayed over a lot. She cut back through the living room and disappeared into the hall, the stairs creaking as she headed up.