Hagen, Lynn - Hunter [Zeus's Pack 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting ManLove) (14 page)

Jasper chuckled as he stepped closer to Tristan. “Just a warning. If Sidney starts getting overly excited, get away from him as quickly as possible. You don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.”

Just what kind of bingo hall were they taking him to?

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Sully jogged out into the backyard, catching up to Zeus and his mate, Toby. “I just got a call from Theo. One of his waiters saw a truck abandoned close to our house. Theo said Benny was going on and on about seeing a man walking into the woods with a rifle in his hand.”

“Did he give you a description of this guy?” Zeus asked, his eyes becoming flat, hard, and passionless as he grabbed his mate’s hands and rushed back toward the house.

“Don’t you dare start treating me like I’m too damn fragile for this.” Toby yanked at Zeus’s hand, but the Alpha didn’t let him go.

“He said it was a white male with short brown hair, but he couldn’t see the guy’s face. Kinda tall and stocky was the only other thing he added.”

“That could be half the damn town,” Zeus said with staid calmness. “Get as many soldiers together as you can and search the woods. I’ll join you as soon as I hogtie Jasper.”

“I’m warning you, mate. Blue balls is nothing to take lightly,”

Toby threatened in irritation.

“Then I’ll take my chances. You’re not going,” Zeus said in a low and threatening tone. Sully knew the Alpha would never harm his mate, but the warning in the shifter’s tone made
Sully
want to obey.

Was Toby suicidal?

“That’s it. I’m telling Jasper no home-cooked meals for you until I get over my snit. And you can forget this as well.” Toby smacked his ass and stormed into the house, saying something about keeping Jasper from him as well.

“Glad it’s you and not me.” Sully chuckled.

Zeus just grunted and walked to the foyer. “He’s been around Jasper way too fucking long. He’s starting to act like my redheaded headache does. See who you can find. I want that male found.”

“Yes, Alpha.” Sully got away as quickly as possible. He found Eagle, Rave, and Jaxxon bullshitting in the hallway by his bedroom.

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107

“I need you guys to go down to the foyer with Zeus. Someone is traipsing through the woods with a rifle.”

“Is he Torem and Sidney’s shooter?” Eagle asked as Sully neared them.

He shrugged, lifting his hands up in front of him in a “your guess is as good as mine” gesture. “Theo called Zeus and said Benny spotted an abandoned truck on the side of the road close to here, and that a man was walking into the woods with a rifle in one hand. So now, we go hunting, shifter style.” Sully wiggled his brows, the others growling menacingly. “Wait, I meant,
Sully Style.”

“Let’s go find our
guest
.” Jaxxon’s voice was heavy with sarcasm.

“I second that. All strangers with lethal weapons should have a welcoming committee.” Rave ground the words out between clenched teeth. “I need to go find Taz. He
really
likes welcoming unannounced visitors.”

“Then let’s get a move on it, unless you want to meet said guest at the front door with all the time we’re wasting.” Sully spun on his heel and headed toward the foyer.

Cheyenne watched silently as Eagle joined the others at the door.

He wanted to voice his protest, but what right did he have? Eagle cut him a wide berth, and Chey couldn’t blame him. One touch, one kiss, or even one brush of the hand and Eagle would relive every painful moment in his life in mere hours.
Talk about a big motivator to stay
the hell away from your mate.
Chey leaned against the living room doorframe, wishing life could be different for him and the man he couldn’t have.

Eagle glanced in his direction, his big blue eyes sorrowful, and then just as quickly looked away. God, was he a handsome devil.

Chey hated his
gift
at this moment, more so than ever before. How
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could he be with his mate? Until Eagle was ready, there would be no easy answer.

“We have to find this shooter before he gets too close to the house,” Zeus instructed the shifters. Chey watched how Eagle stood, how he moved, how he nodded, and how he breathed. The longing in him was painful. His hands balled into fists from the need to touch that golden skin.

Eagle glanced once more in Chey’s direction before he walked out with the others. Chey ran to the living room window, placing his gloved hands on the glass as he watched Eagle shift and disappear into the forest. He lifted his hand, using the back of it to wipe away the tear as he prayed Eagle stayed safe.

Tristan stared around the bingo hall, seeing a lot of heads turning in his direction. Was the fedora too much?

“Come on, let’s have a seat.” Sidney led them to a back table, glaring at a few women as he sat. “I haven’t had sugar today.” He growled at a woman shooting daggers at him from the next table over, holding her card to her chest.

“Geez, one little Red Bull and everyone loses their minds.”

Sidney grabbed the nearest yellow neon marker and started stabbing at his first bingo card. In no time at all, he had two markers in his hand, twelve bingo cards on the table before him. He bounced from foot to foot as he waited for the next number to be called out.

His right hand shot toward the card and then pulled back quickly.

“Damn it, almost had it, one number off.”

“B-four.”

Sidney’s left hand shot out and then snapped back to his chest.

“Damn it, will you stop teasing me.” He wiped the thin sheen of sweat from his upper lip.

“Dude, how exactly does this work?” Sammy asked.

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Sidney rolled his eyes. “Newbie.” He stepped over and stared down at Sammy’s two cards. “What a freaking lightweight
.
Every time a number is called out, you mark it with your highlighter. If you get all of the letters and numbers and can connect five spaces, in a straight line or diagonally, then you win.” Sidney swiped each free space on both of Sammy’s cards and the already called numbers.

“Now you’re ready.”

“Like this?” Tristan held up a yellow-dotted card.

Sidney growled as he took the card and checked it against his own cards. “No fucking way!”

“Did I win?” Tristan asked.

“Uh, no, do you want to trade?” Sidney grabbed his nearest card and tossed it at Tristan. “Here you go.”

“If you take his card I’m going to—”

“Bingo!” Tristan shouted, knowing already what Sidney was up to. He grabbed the card and ran from Sidney, who was hot on his heels, threatening him with his yellow markers.

“I told you that if you came in here all hopped up on sugar, you were going to be kicked out,” the caller shouted at Sidney.

Sidney skidded to a halt and held up his markers in surrender. “No you didn’t.”

“Marge, get him out of here.” The caller pointed a boney finger at Sidney. Tristan ran his card up to the front, handing it over before Sidney could swipe it from him.

“No, I swear, I haven’t touched a Red Bull in a week. I have the token in my pocket to prove it. I’m on the wagon!” Sidney turned and ran as the caller and the woman named Marge closed in on him. He ran past the table and stabbed at a few spaces on his card with his marker before he took off toward the bathroom.

“I’ll help you, Sidney,” Jasper shouted and then backed away, laughing his ass off. Tristan stared at the scene, wondering what the hell he’d gotten himself into. Sidney slammed the bathroom door closed as the woman caught up to him.

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“I can hear from in here,” Sidney shouted through the door. “I just need someone to slide my cards under the door.”

Tristan ran to the table and scooped up Sidney’s cards, running to the bathroom door and kneeling down, cards in hand.

“No you don’t.” Marge held her hand out. “Give them over. He can get them back when he’s brave enough to come out of there.”

Tristan wasn’t sure what he should do. How the hell did he end up in the middle of this? “
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
…”

“Hey, my grandson sings that song.” Marge grinned and began to sing along with Tristan.

“Jellybean.”

Tristan spun around to see Quinn, Torem, and Zeus coming through the door. Did they call and tell on Sidney? If they did, that was fast. Relief flooded Tristan as he looked across the hall at Quinn.

“We have to go, now.” Zeus grabbed Jasper around his waist and tossed him over his shoulder.

“I told you no nooky for acting this way. Are you going for indefinitely? Put me down.” Jasper wiggled around as he smacked Zeus on his back.

Torem looked around the hall, his face pulling back in anger.

“Where is Sidney?”

Tristan, the caller, Marge, and even Jasper pointed to the bathroom door. Tristan watched as Sidney shot out of the bathroom, grabbing the cards from his hands, and taking off across the room.

“I’m playing bingo, damn it, and I’m not leaving until I win something.”

“We don’t have time for this.” Torem shot across the room, grabbing for Sidney and missing. “Sidney, stop,” Torem shouted.

Sidney stuck his tongue out and cradled the cards in his arm, stabbing at them as he tossed them aside one by one. “Bingo!”

“How the hell do you have bingo?” Marge shouted at him. “No one’s called anything out.”

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Sidney finally came to a stop, holding the remaining cards in his hands up. “I can call it if I’m being forced out of here.” Sidney shoved the yellow markers in his back pocket and tossed the cards on the nearest table. “Pay up.”

“See you next week.” Marge laughed, shaking her head at him.

“And bring Missy with you. She seems to know how to calm you down.”

“Come on, Sid.” Torem grabbed Sidney around his waist and hauled him up into his arms.

“I object!” Sidney shouted as Torem hit the push bar and exited the hall.

“Is he always like this?” Tristan asked Sammy.

“I have no clue. This was my first time here. And from what I’ve seen, I’ll be back.” Sammy laughed as he walked out.

Quinn slid his hand into Tristan’s. “We have to go, jellybean.

There’s a man out in the forest somewhere with a rifle. Staying here isn’t safe.”

Tristan immediately followed behind Quinn. “Where’s Hunter?”

“He’s at the hardware store, babe. I guess closing up during the day set him behind. We’ll stop by and pick him up.” Quinn gently squeezed his hand.

Quinn pulled his car in front of the hardware store. He became uneasy when he saw the lights were out but Hunter’s truck was parked out front. “Stay in the car, Tristan.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out. There was no one on the street, no noise he could hear. It was eerily quiet. “Lock the door.” Quinn shut the driver’s door and scanned the area as he approached the entrance to Hunter’s hardware store.

Something didn’t feel right. His gut was telling him Hunter was in trouble. Quinn didn’t want to leave his jellybean in the car but didn’t
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want to take him into danger. He cupped his hands to the storefront window and peered in. Nothing was overturned or broken. No struggle was evident.

Quinn tried the handle, jiggling it to no avail. It was locked. He pulled his cell phone out and dialed Hunter’s number, hearing it ringing from inside the store. The counter illuminated, showing off Hunter’s phone. “Fuck.” He cursed as he looked back at Tristan.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He called Dino, desperate for help. If he went into the store, Tristan was at risk with that rifle-carrying man still out there. If he took Tristan with him, he was at risk because Quinn knew in his heart Hunter was in trouble. It was a lose-lose situation.

“Dino Tiziano.”

“It’s Quinn.”

“Like my caller ID didn’t tell me that.” He chuckled.

“I need your help. Something’s wrong at Hunter’s store, and I can’t leave Tristan in the car alone.” Quinn paced back and forth in front of the store.

Dino’s tone changed. It became edgy and deep. “I’ll send Torem.

He just got back with Sidney.”

“Thanks.” Quinn slid his phone into his back pocket and glanced back at his car. He didn’t want to scare Tristan, but the way he was manically pacing, the shifter would soon figure out something was amiss. Tristan may be quirky, unsure, and eager for praise, but he was far from stupid. He could already see Tristan’s eyes following his every move. They were anxious and quizzical as Tristan leaned forward in his seat.

Quinn took a step toward the car, ready to reassure his jellybean when a loud crash came from inside the store.

Tristan jumped out of the car and ran to Quinn’s side. “I heard that. What’s wrong, what’s going on?” Tristan fired the questions off, not waiting for an answer. “Did you try to call him, sir?”

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Fuck, he was back to using that word again. Where the hell was Torem?

“To hell with this.” Quinn ran to his car and popped the trunk, grabbing the tire iron in a tight grip. “I hope you aren’t going to get too pissed about this.” He murmured as he walked back to the door.

“Get back, jellybean.”

Tristan ran over to the car, covering his face as Quinn’s arm swung forward, smashing the glass in the door, the loud shatter echoing all around him. He reached in and fumbled until he found the lock, giving it a twist and then opening the door.

“Get back in the car,” Quinn shouted over his shoulder as he walked into the store. His shoes crunched over broken glass, his determination set as he gripped the tire iron and headed to the back.

Quinn cursed when he saw the back door hanging wide open.

“Hunter!” he shouted, listening for any sign of his shifter mate.

Moving cautiously, Quinn crept to the open door, watching for shadows as he stuck his head out. His hand rose over his head, ready to swing the iron bar down if need be. The back parking lot was clear, no one in sight.