Sassy Ever After: Mate of Honor (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

“You’re back now. And if Forrest Blackthorn has his way, you won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.”

“My weird and whacky not-really-a-love-life aside, we should be concentrating on you. Tomorrow is the wedding. Are you ready?”

“Hell yes,” Lara sighed. “I’ve been ready my whole life to be Evan’s bride.”

“I get it.” Bailey couldn’t believe all the time she’d wasted pining for Evan. She couldn’t have loved him, not truly, if she could forget about him with one look at his brother Forrest. So why had she built such a fantasy in her mind? It had prevented her from creating any real relationships with other men.

Fate? Maybe Lara was right, and she needed to carry a torch for one brother so she could be free when the other one arrived in her life. Was she being a fantasist again? Even if Forrest was serious about wanting to mate with her, could he really hold his alpha position if choosing her meant constant challenges against his authority?

She was a lawyer. She understood the difference between a sympathetic jury and hostile one. If she gave herself to Forrest, they would have the odds stacked against them from the get-go.

Bailey had some serious thinking to do between now and Lara’s wedding. Forrest didn’t seem like the kind of man who would take no for an answer, and she had to decide if she cared enough, maybe even loved him enough, if love this soon was possible, to let him go.

Lara also insisted on paying the lunch tab, so Bailey waited for her outside while she handled the check. She hoped the fresh air would clear her head, but all it did was increase her awareness of Forrest’s scent. Damn that man. Damn his piercing eyes, his chiseled jawline, his wide kissable lips. Damn his wide sexy shoulders and his eight-pack abs. Damn his…she thought of his rock hard cock and the way it felt to have him inside her. Her stomach fluttered as she swore, “Damn him.”

Her preoccupation with all things Forrest blinded her to the van that pulled up next to the curb, and to the two men who jumped out of the cargo door, snatched her from the sidewalk and yanked her inside.

Forrest paced in
his bedroom,--the only solace he could find in this God forsaken mansion. He didn’t care what his mother or father thought. The only person whose opinion mattered was Bailey’s. She would be at the wedding tomorrow, that much was a given. Even if she wanted to avoid Forrest, she wouldn’t let her friend down.

Yes, he would take her aside after the ceremony was over and he would say and do whatever was necessary to win her heart. Bailey Corsac would be his mate, even if he had to give up everything to make it happen.

His phone rang. Lara Hout? Why was she calling him? He considered ignoring the call, but his soon to be sister-in-law was also one of Bailey’s best friends. She might have some information he could turn to his favor.

He put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“Forrest!” Lara shouted, her breath quick and frantic. “Oh my God, Forrest.”

The alarm in her voice raised the hairs on the back of his neck. “What’s wrong? Has something happened to Evan?”

“Bailey,” she said and choked back a sob. “She’s been taken.”

“I don’t understand.” His mind raced to make sense out of the nonsense coming from Lara. “Who took her?”

“I don’t know! I was paying for lunch, and a van pulled up. Two guys grabbed her off the sidewalk. They took off before I could get outside.”

“Why?”

“How would I know?” The rise in her voice told him she was on the verge of panic.

His own heart was pounding his chest. He took a deep breath. Losing his shit now wouldn’t help Bailey. “Where are you?”

“I’m in town at the Hound’s Tooth Restaurant, just two blocks from the Wolfe’s Den in Blue Creek.”

“I know where that’s at. Call my brothers and let them know what’s going on.”

“I called Evan first. He’s on his way here.”

It irritated Forrest that she’d wasted precious minutes calling Evan. Minutes that would have put him that much closer to tracking Bailey’s kidnappers.

He fought to hold his temper. “I’ll be right there.”

****

Bailey felt like
she’d been playing Road Trip, a game she’d played with Lara when they were teenagers. Each intersection they would flip a coin to determine if they would go right or left. The game had been an adventure every time, never knowing where they would end up by evening.

This wasn’t quite the same adventure. The men who’d snatched her smelled like wolf, but they wore ski masks, so she had no idea who they were. There were three of them two in the windowless back with her and the driver up front. There was a wire mesh door between them, and she couldn’t see anything but sky and some of the taller buildings.

“What do you want with me?”

“Shut up,” one of the men said. They were about the same build as most wolf shifters, broad-shouldered and tall. The guy who’d told her to shut up had brown eyes.

Could it be the creepo from the rehearsal dinner? Bailey shook her head. Maybe. Maybe not. Lots of people had brown eyes. If she asked him if he was Dale Comfry, she’d probably get a kick to the face.

The van made a sharp right, throwing her into the metal wall. She cried out as an exposed seam cut into her arm. Brown Eyes slammed her to the floor of the van and put a knee on her back. With her hands and feet bound, she couldn’t brace herself up, and it was hard to breathe. The van stopped suddenly. They couldn’t have been driving more than five or ten minutes. Was this it? Was this where they planned to kill her?

The cargo door opened. Without a word, the man yanked her up by her shirt and dragged Bailey out of the van and into the back of a building. She screamed, and he brought his other hand around, smacking her face. Pain blossomed across her cheek and mouth. “Shut the fuck up. I won’t tell you again.”

Once inside, the men in masks grabbed her by the arms and hauled through a dusty storage area. Cobwebs laced across empty racks, and mouse urine and droppings scented the air. The thugs hauled her through an open door and into a hallway with open ceiling tiles and exposed wiring. Peeling paint, graffiti marks, and holes decorated the walls.

Bailey tried to concentrate on shifting, but the two men holding her sensed her intention and wrenched her shoulders back and up. She cried out, the pain making transformation impossible.

“Try to turn here, little fox, and I’ll be wearing your tail as a souvenir.”

At the end of the hall, they took her through double doors into a kitchen of some kind. Large, too big for a regular restaurant. Greasy smudges across the smooth, stainless steel work surfaces smelled like old blood. The sinks were filled with soiled rags and refuse. The sour scent of mold and rot made her gag. Was this some kind of torture chamber? A kill room?

One of them let her go and opened a walk-in freezer door, while the other shoved her past some crates and tossed her in like a rag doll. She landed on someone sitting up against the back wall.

“Oh God,” the guy said. “It’s you.”

“You.” Bailey scrambled off him. His face was swollen. His left eye looked like someone had sewn a ripe plum over the top and his bottom lip was split wide. Blood had dried to his cheek, chin, and neck. But she recognized the pale blond hair. It was Dale Comfry. Not one of the kidnappers. Just another victim. “You look terrible. Are you okay?”

“How did you…?”

“Find you?” She shook her head and rubbed her arms to ward off the shivering cold of the small room. “I was kidnapped. I have no idea what going on.”

Bailey couldn’t see any ropes or ties holding Dale in place, and she wondered why he was just sitting here and not trying to figure out a way to get out. “Is there some other exit to this freezer? It seems like it’s a safety hazard not to have some kind of backup in case someone is…”

“Kidnapped and locked inside. I don’t think the manufacturers thought that would be a problem restaurant owners would come up against.”

“Don’t be a smart-ass.”

“Lady, I’ve been locked up in this place since last night. My balls are as cold as a polar bear’s nose. Don’t you think I’ve tried to find a fucking way out?”

“Shit.”

He widened his eyes and said, “Exactly.” Then followed with, “Christ, you stink of Forrest Blackthorn.”

Bailey blushed. “Mind your own business.” She could still smell him as well. He’d marked her, Lara had said. She inhaled deeply. His earthy scent calmed her.

“If I knew how to mind my own business, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Why are we here? Do you know?”

“I’m here because I had the stupid notion that it’s wrong to steal from the poor so that the rich can keep getting richer. Idealistic, I know. If you hadn’t stalked me to the Blackthorns last night none of this would be happening.”

“Again, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was there for Lara Hout. I’m her maid of honor. I don’t have a clue as to who you are or why you think I’d want to hunt you down.”

His expression blanked. “You’re serious?”

“As serious as this kidnapping.”

“I’m the whistleblower for your lawsuit against the state. I called you last week.”

“And hung up. Why in the world would you think I’d know you from Adam?”

Things were starting to make some sense for Bailey, but she still didn’t understand why they’d taken her and Dale. He hadn’t given her any information. She couldn’t hurt anyone at this point. So if they had the source of the leak, then why come for her?

“I don’t have the drive, so why am I here?”

Dale bit his lower lip. “I was buying time.”

Bailey smacked him on the arm. “Asshole!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think they’d grab you.” He shook his head. “I passed it off to that other lawyer. Your partner before she left last night. Right before I was grabbed. I thought if I gave you the information, you’d leave me alone.”

“Tory has the drive?”

“Yes.”

“And these thugs think I have it.”

“Yes. Unfortunate, but yes.”

“Shit.” Bailey fought against the rising panic. All it would do is cloud her ability to think.

“I thought they would let me go if I told them I’d already let the cat out of the bag. I mean they can’t stop shit getting out now, right?”

“That’s naïve.” Bailey had worked enough human rights cases to know that people who had no compunction ruining other people’s lives wouldn’t hesitate to hurt or kill someone who got in their way.

The guy who’d dragged her in opened the freezer door. He balled his hands into fists. “Where’s the USB drive?”

Bailey shrugged. “I don’t have it.”

“A few hours in the cooler will loosen your tongue, isn’t that right, Dale?” He slammed the door. The freezer motors kicked in as even colder air began to pump into the room.

“That guy a friend of yours?” she asked.

“Used to be. He’s not really a bad guy. Just stupid.”

“I think smacking me in the face and throwing me in here makes him a pretty bad guy.”

“Not considering he could have just killed you and easily disposed of your body.”

A shock a fear jolted Bailey. “Uhm, well, when you put it that way…”

Dale closed his eyes for a second. “I’m sorry I got you into this.”

It was too late for apologies. “I’m going to look for a way out.” The freezer door was locked, no surprise, and she searched around the cold storage for some glimmer of escape. “What information did you have?” Thinking about work might keep her mind off of the fact that she was scared shitless. “Who were you working for?”

“I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

“Who?” she asked again.

“I worked for SIP,” he said. “In their development department.”

Bailey shook her head. “Sip? What is that?” One of the wire racks against the wall was loose. Bailey worked at it, tugging and kicking until the bottom bar broke off. It was lightweight, but she thought it might do for a weapon.

“Silverback Investment Properties.”

“I met Maxine Silverback. It doesn’t surprise me that she’d be involved in stomping on the poor.”

“Not her,” Dale said. “She--” He put his face in his hands and rubbed his cheeks. “Damn, it’s getting cold in here.”

“Shift. You’ll be much warmer in wolf form.” She was debating letting her fox out, but when she would have to change back, she’d be naked.

“He told me they’d kill me if I took animal form.” His eyes were stark. “I believe him. Actually, I think he’ll kill me no matter what happens.”

She bounced a pipe against her palms, probably less than a pound. “What do you think? I’ll stand by the door and when your friend comes back…” Bailey pulled her arms back then swung the pipe down over her head. “Whamo!”

“Unless you have a machete, I think you’re just going to piss him off.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

The freezer door rattled. Bailey opened her mouth, but Dale shushed her. “Don’t move.”

“Screw that,” she whispered. “I’m not going down without a fight.”

The man who stepped in had a tri-colored beard and short blond hair. His eyes held a look of pure satisfaction. Like that cat that caught the canary. The enforcer who’d smacked her around stood behind him.

“This is perfect,” he said. “I can smell the new Blackthorn alpha all over you, sweet cheeks. This is like killing two problems for the price of one.”

His presence was heavy, and Bailey could feel power roll from him like an unnatural tide. She held up the useless pipe as if it would be any real defense. “Who…who are you?”

“Victor,” he said. “Victor Silverback.” He smirked. “You and I are going to get to know each other real well, vixen. Then I’ll let me friend have what’s left over.”

Behind him, the man with the brown eyes pulled his ski mask off. Bailey gasped. “Mach Larson.”

He bared his teeth. Anger and hatred colored his face. “I’m going to enjoy this more than I can say, you fat bitch. The fact that it will hurt Forrest Blackthorn is icing on the cake.”

“After all these years, you are still a big, fucking douche-nozzle.” The two large men occupied most of the door space. Bailey’s only hope was to shift and run. No way she could best an alpha and an enforcer, but she was not going to let them use her to get to Forrest. “You can have me, assholes,” she said, surprised by her own ferocity, “over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged,” the Silverback Alpha said.

Bailey flipped Victor the bird. She threw the aluminum bar at him. He blocked it easily and advanced on her. Even as she began to shift into her fox, she knew her chances of escaping Silverback was slim, but she had to try. For Forrest’s sake, she had to fight. Unfortunately, her clothes made a quick shift impossible. Victor actually laughed as she struggled to get out of her top.

A howl from behind her startled her when she finally got herself free. Dale Comfry had transformed into a large gray wolf. He lunged at Victor, giving Bailey the opportunity to skirt around him.

Mach Larson kicked out, his boot connecting with Bailey’s side. Pain rocketed through her little body, but she managed to skirt the next kick and get out the door. The sickening crunch of bone, the high-pitched yelp of pain, and the deafening silence that followed wrenched Bailey’s gut. Dale had given his life to give her this chance. She wouldn’t waste it.