Lang, Chloe - Wilde Love [The Brothers of Wilde, Nevada 6] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (3 page)

Austin’s intensity and will had blown her away. She’d willingly surrendered everything to him—except for one thing. She would not, could not, concede to his request to make the impossible choice between him and his brothers. He’d won, but so had she.

Hope sprang up in her like a fountain. No matter how long it took, she would have her five men. Austin’s stubbornness would be his final downfall. He wouldn’t stop trying to convince her. But Jessie had her own brand of stubbornness, too. In time, he
would
come around. Female stubbornness always trumped male stubbornness when it was something that really mattered. And her future with the five Wilde brothers did just that.

As the ties were removed, Austin massaged her wrists and ankles. Then he lowered her to the ground, kissing her as he did. “I’m going to blindfold you, pet.”

Jessie nodded.

He smiled, then placed the blindfold on her. “Sweetheart, concentrate on what is going on in your body.”

She felt Austin slide down beside her. He pulled her in tight into a perfect spooning position.

Little sparks of heat and trembles popped up and down her flesh and deep in her womb. Even her toes continued to curl and uncurl. The aftershocks of the orgasms he’d given her continued to fire.

“What are you doing here?” She felt Austin’s body tense and instantly fear wrapped itself around her like a noose.

Who could it be? Maybe her four cowboys? By Austin’s protective reaction, she knew the answer was someone else? The intruder had crept up silently.
Paul King?

Her heartbeat pounded like a jackhammer in her chest. She waited for the uninvited person to answer. Nothing.

Austin stood up.

Then, she heard a gunshot.

* * * *

“Fuck this. Why the hell did we agree to midnight?” Jackson paced around the living room of Denver’s house. His eldest brother needed his head examined or his jaw busted. Jackson wouldn’t mind delivering the latter.

“Because Jessie asked.” Denver looked at his cell. “The wait is almost over. It’s ten after eleven.”

“I wish you’d stop giving us the countdown every five minutes, bro. It’s driving me batshit crazy.” Jackson hated how things were turning out. He’d already given up on his eldest brother. No matter what Austin finally decided, it didn’t change what he would do. Jackson would have a life with Jessie.

He looked at his other three brothers. Dallas had not stopped pacing in a circle since Jessie had left. Phoenix stood by the window, looking out, as if he could see all the way to Austin’s house. He couldn’t, of course. And Denver had kept giving the countdown. His other three brothers had made it clear they desired the same kind of life with Jessie that their dads had chosen with their mother. Austin’s denial of their family way would crush all of them, including Jessie. But in time, they would all heal. Together.

Denver’s cell went off. “It’s the sheriff.”

Dallas stopped pacing, and Phoenix turned from the window. Jackson expected to hear that Paul King had been arrested.
The motherfucker better hope to be sent away for life.
If the asshole came within an inch of Jessie ever again, his next job would be pushing up daisies from his dirt bed.

“Hello, Sheriff.” Denver’s face darkened as he listened to the man on the other end of the call. Jackson knew whatever he was learning couldn’t be good. Denver continued, “Got it. She’s at Austin’s, and we’re headed there now.” He clicked the phone off.

“Did they find Paul King?” Dallas asked.

“He’s dead, but he wasn’t the real killer.” Denver violently punched some numbers on his phone. “No answer at Austin’s.”

“Fuck!” Phoenix yelled.

Dallas’s hands curled into fists. He spoke through gritted teeth. “Try your cell, Denver? You gave it to Jessie, remember?”

Jackson went to Denver’s gun cabinet and started pulling out pistols and rifles, handing them to his brothers. With an unknown killer still on the loose, he knew they had to act fast.

“No answer on my phone either.”

“Let’s go.” Dallas rushed to the door. “We’ll take my truck.”

He followed, anxious to get to Jessie.

Fully armed, the four brothers bolted out the door to go protect the woman they loved.

* * * *

“If you want to live, bitch, do exactly what I say.” The voice was male and firm.

“Fuck you!” Jessie screamed. “Austin, talk to me. Are you all right?” No answer. She’d heard Austin fall to the ground after the gunshot. “Did you…k–kill him?”

“He’s alive, but he won’t be if you don’t do exactly what I say.”

The blindfold, meant to enhance her pleasure, now trapped her in darkness. She needed to see Austin for herself. She reached up to remove the scrap of material.

“Stop. Leave it on.”

She froze in place. The voice sounded oddly familiar to her, but it wasn’t Paul King’s.

“Good,” the monster stated. “Stand up, Ms. Greene.”

And then she recognized the voice. It was from the teenager who’d been injured in the old mine—Paul’s nephew. His accident was one of the reasons she’d come to Wilde in the first place. “No. I won’t, Rich.”

“Goddamn it.”

She felt his hand on her, and then a sting on her left arm. “Ouch. What was that?”

“I gave you a shot of Ketamine mixed with a bit of Valium.”

“What does it do?” But she felt its effects almost immediately. Her body went numb, and she couldn’t move or speak another word. Jessie tried to focus on Austin, but her mind felt foggy and terrifyingly very far way.

Chapter Four

Phoenix checked the pistol Jackson had handed him at Denver’s house—a Magnum .357 Desert Eagle. The weapon had a good weight and sleek lines with fluted barrels. Phoenix had never killed anything on two legs, but he wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet between the eyes of the person trying to harm Jessie.

He looked at Jackson and Denver in the backseat. They, too, were studying their weapons.

Jackson held a twelve-gauge pump-action shotgun, great for hunting small game and for taking down a killer.

Of course Denver had brought his trusty Winchester rifle that Pappy Jack had given him on his fifteenth birthday. Phoenix knew Denver to be the best shot of the five of them, and with “Smoke Pole,” as he liked to call the weapon, Denver could shoot the wings off of a fly from across the room.

Dallas kept one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the sidearm strapped to his leg, a menacing-looking Glock.

Phoenix’s anger boiled inside him. If they did find the bastard near Jessie, they’d rain a shower of bullets into the fucker until he was nothing more than a slick spot on the ground.

Phoenix looked over at the speedometer as it hit 120 and was reminded of when he’d chased Jessie’s car down Suicide Hill to save her. He clenched his jaw, praying the killer hadn’t gotten to her yet.

Dallas hit the brakes, screeching the truck to a halt in front of Austin’s property. Phoenix felt a tinge of relief when he saw Denver’s truck, which Jessie had parked next to Austin’s.

They all jumped from the cab and ran through his gates with guns ready.

Phoenix scanned the grounds but found nothing alarming.

Denver ran through the front door, not bothering to knock. “Jessie? Austin?”

Jackson, Dallas, and Phoenix were right behind him. They all froze in the doorway, waiting for an answer.

None came.

They quickly went through every inch of Austin’s home, even his dungeon. There was no sign of Jessie or Austin.

“Let’s check the tree,” Denver said.

They all shot out the back door and up the hill. When Phoenix saw Austin on the ground, dread filled him.

Dallas was the first to their eldest brother. He knelt down and placed two fingers to his neck. Phoenix didn’t see any blood on the ground. “He’s alive. Pulse is good.”

“We’re late.” Jackson held up an orange dart for them to see. “Our brother was drugged.”

Phoenix felt his jaw clench as he scanned the tree line. He and his brothers had all used darts on their property to tag endangered wildlife on their expansive ranch or to relocate bears and wolves to the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. This was common practice with all the ranching families in the county. The dart Jackson had found hadn’t gotten them any closer to figuring out who might have Jessie now, but instead it had lengthened their list of suspects.

Dallas lifted Austin, who was still unconscious, off the ground. “You guys work the perimeter and see if she’s close. I’ll get him to the hospital. If she’s not, take his truck and find her.”

Without a word, Phoenix, Jackson, and Denver moved out.

* * * *

Jessie tried to beat down her panic as she struggled to focus. Her mind was still a bit muddled, but she was regaining the feeling in her arms and legs. She knew if she had any chance of surviving this evil, she needed to forget the recent horror and keep her head. She could fall apart later.

Taking a deep breath, she prayed that Austin would be okay. If Rich had drugged him, too, the other brothers might arrive in time to save him.

Jessie didn’t remember getting into a car, but hearing the engine and feeling the vibration of the road, she knew she had.

“Please, let me take the blindfold off,” Jessie pleaded. Her mouth felt desert dry.

As her mind cleared, Jessie became more aware of her surroundings. She was sitting up.
Front seat or back seat?
She wasn’t sure. When the car’s AC hit her unclothed body, she knew she was in the front seat. Jessie wrapped her arms around her chest and crossed her legs, trying to create a protective barrier.

“No,” Rich stated firmly.

“I already know who you are. Why keep me in the dark?”

“Please, shut up. I need to think.”

“Okay. Don’t get excited. Did Paul put you up to this?”

“No.”

“Someone else, then.”

He didn’t answer.

She knew she was getting close to something. The kid was too anxious to be a coldhearted killer. “Then it’s not too late to fix this mess.”

“Really? How?”

“Let me take this blindfold off and I’ll tell you.”

“Fine. But remember, I have a gun. I’m not afraid to use it on you.”

She reached to the back of her head and untied the strip of Austin’s clothing that prevented her from seeing her kidnapper. The first thing she saw was the time readout on the dash panel—12:10 a.m.
The brothers are together. They’ll make sure Austin is cared for.
She knew they’d come looking for her immediately.

“So, you know how to fix things for me? Tell me, Ms. Greene.”

“Turn yourself in. Tell the sheriff who put you up to this.”

Rich snorted. “Right. Not happening.” He looked over at her, leaving his left hand on the steering wheel and his other on the gun in his lap. The teenager’s lips curled up into a lurid grin as he scanned her naked body.

“Stop looking at me.”

His head snapped to the road, though he didn’t stop grinning.