Running Free (Woodland Creek)(37)

“Wolves.”

I gape at him in wonder. “Well, Luca. Winston is a Tiger shifter. A couple are bear-shifters. Several are Wolf shifters including Luca. He’s their pack leader.” My pack leader — but I leave that part off.

“And?” he urges me to continue.

“Suzie is a—”

“Toy poodle.”

Shit. He knows. He somehow knew all along. “Yes. How do you know all of this?”

He flashes me smile that comforts my soul. “I love puzzles, hádanka. I always figure them out.”

My heart flutters but I don’t have time to acknowledge a future with him knowing my deepest, darkest secrets. Instead, I focus on our problem at hand.

“Where are we going?” I ask once he pulls down a gravel road.

“I think I found our suspect. He was weirding me the f*ck out before you called. I thought he reminded me of a bear. It made me think of Luca and Suzie — shit started to click into place. I even heard a dog yapping inside. Can you tell me if he’s a bear? From a distance?”

“I think so but you promised me I could kill him!”

He shakes his head at me. “If he’s a bear, then you shoot the f*ck out of him. But if he’s in the same form I left him, I need to apprehend him. I’m calling for backup too. Now crawl into the back seat and load both of those shotguns.”

I don’t argue and clamber into the back while he radios in his location — that he doesn’t have time to wait for backup. My fingers shake as I load the two guns and just click the second weapon into place when he parks the Tahoe.

“Stay here. I can’t protect you and survey the scene. If you hear shots, get my back if backup hasn’t arrived. Otherwise, stay the hell in here where you’re safe.”

I hand him his bigger gun and a handful of slugs before I scramble into the front seat. “Gun, no. Let me help!”

He jerks his head to me and slides his hand into my hair. His lips briefly kiss mine before he breaks away. “Frankie, baby, I need you. When this all blows over, I don’t care what kind of animal you are… you’re still mine and I love you.”

I’m so stunned by his words that all I can do is gape after him as he exits the truck and creeps along the wood’s edge toward the single cabin.

Stay in the car, Frankie.

Listen to your boyfriend.

Stay in the car…

Oh, who the hell am I kidding? I’m not staying in the f*cking car. Quietly, I slip out of the truck and don’t let the door slam shut. I run in the opposite direction Gun went in to cover more ground.

We’re coming.

The thought is loud and clear in my head. I can feel the words sliding through my veins like liquid. My pack is on their way. Relief rushes through me to know Luca and the boys will be here soon. Howls and growls in the distance reiterate their journey to us.

Yap-yap-yap-yap-yap!

I can hear the yapping of a small dog within the cabin — the one Gun mentioned earlier. It’s a sound I’m extremely familiar with. Suzie! Gun was right. Whoever lives here killed my friends — tried to kill Otis — and has kidnapped my daughter.

Well she’s not technically my daughter… but according to the forged State of Indiana paperwork she is and I’ll die before I let this Bear shifter maniac lay a goddamned claw on her.

I crawl over to an open side window, where light pours out onto the grass and I peek in. Inside, a gigantic man paces the small space. Suzie is safe and alive, trapped in a small crate.

“If he’s a bear, then you shoot the f*ck out of him. But if he’s in the same form I left him, I need to apprehend him.”

Shit. Why couldn’t the f*cker be in his shifter form so I could level his ass? I turn away from the window to think. If I go in guns blazing, that could mean trouble for me. Maybe they’d lock me up for murder. I’d never see Otis or Suzie or Gun again. The thought is crippling. I’ve just decided I’ll climb in and shift to my Doberman form when something grabs me by the hair and hauls me up the side of the house.

I clutch onto the huge wrist and shriek as I wriggle to free myself. But I’m tiny and no match to this behemoth of a man. He easily drags me into the cabin and into his steely clutches.

“Let go of me,” I cry out.

His huge arms encircle my waist and he hugs me to him. I’m still trying to escape when he speaks.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The voice coupled with the familiar stench of body odor stuns me and I freeze. I know this person. This motherf*cker who’s been killing innocent kids.

“Jase?”

He twists me in his arms. Mine are still pinned but I lift my chin to face my attacker. Glowing green eyes pierce mine with their evil glare. “Miss me, Frances?”

Anger flares in my chest. How could the boy who got abused by f*cking Joe Harrison grow up to become a murderer? What a sonofabitch!

“Jase, so help me,” I snarl. “Why in the hell would you do this to me?”

His eyebrows furl into and furious scowl. “You left us, Frances. Fucking left us! Do you know what he did to her after you left? Do you?”

My heart sinks and guilt rips through me. Minnie. I tried hard not to worry about her or think about what became of her or Jase. It wasn’t my problem. I couldn’t burden myself with them when I could barely take care of my own self.