Abandoned and Unseen (Branded Packs #2)(42)

“When I turned around, he was already tossing the collar on the ground. A second later, there was the sound of a gun firing and…” Her words faltered, her entire body trembling with pain.

His breath hissed between his teeth. God. What this woman had endured.

It was unbearable.

“Nicole, please don’t.”

“And he was falling to the ground,” she grimly continued.

Grabbing her glass, he set it aside along with his own before gently tugging her into his arms.

“I’m sorry, Nicole.”

Her head fell against his chest as if she couldn’t hold it up any longer.

“There was so much blood.” She trembled, her hands clenching and unclenching in an effort to contain the horror. “It just kept spreading across the snow, no matter what I did to try and stop it.”

He pressed her closer, hoping to use the heat of his body to ease her knotted muscles.

“The shooter was a part of the SAU?” he demanded.

“Yes.” She nodded, and Tucker caught the scent of her wolf’s fury. It wasn’t the sharp tang of a recent injury, but a seasoned, festering wound that no doubt shadowed her entire life. “There were three guards on gate duty. Each of them blamed the other, so no one actually explained why they’d murdered a helpless child.”

His jaw clenched. He knew the SAU were ruthless bastards who would do anything to maintain their control over the shifters, but to murder a baby…someone had to pay.

“The government didn’t do anything?”

“They claimed that Bowe had taken off his collar, so technically, the guards had every right to shoot him.”

“Bastards,” he snarled.

Lifting her head, she arched back to meet his smoldering gaze. “That’s why you have to let me go.”

He ignored her plea, and instead asked the question that still nagged at him.

“What do you want at the headquarters?”

She bit back a curse. “I managed to track down two of the guards.”

His blood ran cold. Shit. Had she been sneaking out of her compound every night to play vigilante for the past seven years?

“Should I ask what happened to them?” he asked.

Her eyes went wolf, revealing the lethal predator beneath her air of fragile femininity.

“No.”

Tucker battled back the male instinct that was telling him to cuff this female to his bed for her own protection.

“And the third?” he pressed.

Her lips flattened. “Both of the other guards claimed he was the one who pulled the trigger, but he disappeared after the shooting.”

She didn’t have to spell it out; he knew that she’d tortured the guards for answers before killing them.

“You believe them?”

“Yes.”

Tucker wasn’t so sure. Torture was always an unreliable way to get information. Still, now wasn’t the time to debate the issue.

“And you assume that he’s hiding at the headquarters?”

“If he isn’t there, then at least there will be the files that they keep on their employees. I can get his name, and maybe an address.” She jutted her chin at a stubborn angle. “That’s all I want.”

He frowned. It wasn’t a bad plan, but it all depended on her being able to shuffle through hundreds—maybe even thousands—of files to find one employee.

“How will you recognize that it’s him?”

“I’ll never forget his face,” she growled. “Now. Are you going to let me finish what I came here to do?”

He held her gaze, well aware that he was about to cause his she-wolf even more pain.

“No.”





Chapter 3


Sinclair paced the cramped hotel room, trying to ignore the disgusting green carpet that hadn’t seen a vacuum for months, and the double bed that was covered by a mustard yellow blanket.

He always chose a random spot to meet with Mira, changing the location each time to make sure no one could predict where they would be. Unfortunately, that meant he hadn’t had a chance to make sure the place wasn’t a dump.

It shouldn’t matter. This wasn’t a date. And he sure the hell wasn’t trying to impress the woman.

After all, Tucker had been right when he accused Sinclair of using the young woman’s vulnerable emotions to manipulate her into helping them. Sinclair had spent years trying to find a way to collect proof that the humans had used shifter blood to create the vaccine that helped to contain the Verona Virus. Then, six months ago, his contact in the CDC had given him the name Mira Reese.

Deliberately, he’d sought her out, pretending to be a human so he could not only judge for himself whether or not she had the skills they needed, but if she could be convinced to help them. For weeks, he’d flirted and seduced Mira until she’d been ripe for the plucking.

But as he glanced around the cramped room, he discovered an unexpected pang of regret that he hadn’t chosen someplace nicer. He didn’t like the thought of Mira being exposed to the sleazy vibe that clung to the hotel like a film of slime.

And even worse, was his nagging concern that she was ten minutes late.

Mira was never late.

Ever.

Scowling at his strange mood, Sinclair forced himself to remain standing in the center of the room when the door was at last pushed open and Mira stepped inside. What he wanted to do was charge forward and…