Dreaming of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #8)(26)

Before he’d even reached the lot where her car was parked in the back of the inn, though, he began to have a bad feeling. He wasn’t sure why he was feeling so uneasy until he realized that Alicia’s red car was gone.

He parked, and with his heart beating furiously, he headed for her room. He didn’t have a key card and just pounded on the door. When there was no answer, he wasn’t surprised. She had to have run into town for something. Even though he knew she had to be all right and was just running an errand, he couldn’t help the foreboding that said something more was wrong. If he’d thought about it and not been in such a rush to get to the gallery, he would have given her his cell number. He considered using the lock picks that he carried like most lupus garous, but because of the gnawing worry that something more had happened, he went to the front desk instead. There, he broke in on a conversation the clerk was having on the phone.

“Excuse me, did Alicia Greiston leave a message for me, Jake Silver?” he asked the scrawny suited man with slightly balding temples.

The clerk shot an annoyed look at him, shook his head, and then continued to talk to the person on the phone.

“Are you certain?” Jake persisted, leaning against the counter, ready to climb over it and force the clerk to answer him immediately.

The clerk said to the person on the phone, “Excuse me for a second.” With his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and a peeved look on his face, he turned his full attention to Jake. “She had a couple of messages, one delivered to her room and the other here at the counter.”

“Who delivered them?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Jake ground his teeth. “She could be in danger.”

The man raised his brows as if he thought Jake was giving him a line.

“She’s a bounty hunter tracking some real criminals. They’ve threatened her once already, and I had to intervene to protect her earlier in the day. I have to make sure she’s not heading into danger.”

The clerk looked unmoved by the comment and said nothing.

“Can I see her room? Make sure it doesn’t show signs that she was coerced into leaving?”

“I’m sorry, sir. Our policy is—”

“Have someone go with me. If there’s been any sign of force, you’ll have to call the police. If foul play has occurred and you don’t do your part to see that she was safe in a timely manner, your job could very well be on the line.”

The man’s steely gaze narrowed even more. But he took an annoyed breath and said to the person on the phone, “Let me have your number, and we’ll get back to you.” Then he scribbled the number down, said good-bye, and spoke to another clerk in an office. “I’m checking out a guest’s room. I’ll be right back.”

“All right,” a woman said.

Then the clerk escorted Jake to Alicia’s room. “I waited on her when she was checking out, and she seemed in a rush. She was looking over her shoulder, but it didn’t seem that anyone was with her.”

“She looked anxious, though?”

“Yes. She was in a real hurry. I was on the phone at the time, but I could see she was really apprehensive. She kept looking over her shoulder as if someone might arrive at any moment and stop her.” He glanced at Jake, implying he might have been the one she was trying to avoid.

The clerk opened the door to her room and led the way. Nothing was amiss. The bed was still unmade, but her bags were gone. Jake glanced around the room, looking for anything else that might give him a clue as to why she left so abruptly. While the clerk checked out the bathroom, Jake noticed a note on the dresser, saw her name and room number on it, and opened it. Someone had warned Alicia not to stay with Jake or Jake would die, damn the perpetrator’s soul who had written the note.

“Was that something important?” the clerk asked, pointing to the paper in Jake’s hand as he rejoined him.

“Yeah, the perp threatened that if she took me with her, I’d be dead. I told you this was serious.”

The man’s eyes widened. “Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“Yeah. That’s what you need to do. Tell them she’s a bounty hunter trying to catch Mario Constantino and Danny Massaro, who are bail bond jumpers. And they’ve made a death threat against me.” He handed the clerk the slip of paper. “I’m going to look for her and see if I can catch sight of her car anywhere. It’s a red Neon. Not sure of the license plate number, but you probably already have it when she signed in.”

The clerk pulled at his tie as if it was suddenly strangling him. “We would. Shouldn’t you wait here until the police arrive?”

“Not if I’m going to try to locate her before she comes to harm. Here’s my cell phone number. The name is Jake Silver,” he reminded the clerk. “I can’t wait until it’s too late.”

His heart beating a million miles a minute, Jake left the clerk standing in the middle of the hotel room and stalked back out of the building into the parking lot. Within seconds, Jake was driving his truck back into town. As much as he hated that Alicia had left without word to him, he figured she’d been misguided into thinking she could keep him safe. He couldn’t help but admire her for worrying about him, if that was the case. But the thought of her tangling with these men on her own nearly gave him heart palpitations.