Warrior (Relentless #4)(68)

Torture took on a new meaning for me as I counted down the miles one by one. In my mind, I replayed every conversation we’d had. I saw her eyes flash in anger when we fought, and the way her face lit up when she smiled. I watched her battle a crocotta, defend a troll, heal a dying werewolf. She was unlike anyone I’d ever met, and within the span of a month, she had become everything to me.

I recognized Maxwell’s truck outside Sara’s apartment when I roared up. I leapt off my bike and took the stairs three at a time, bursting through the front door without knocking.

Sara’s uncle and Maxwell were in the kitchen when I stormed into the apartment, and it was all I could do not to punch the Alpha for not protecting her like he’d promised.

“Who are you?” Nate Grey demanded before I could speak.

“Nikolas Danshov. I’m a friend of Sara’s.”

Recognition dawned in his eyes. “She told me about you.” His voice grew hoarse. “Please, find her.”

“I will. Tell me what happened.”

He cleared his throat. “I had some appointments in Portland, and I was on my way home when two men grabbed me at the grocery store. One was German and the other was Middle Eastern. They took me to an empty building on Crescent Street where a man named Haism Bakr was waiting for us. He told me he had business with Sara, and that if I behaved myself, I’d be home in no time. I asked him what he wanted with Sara, but he wouldn’t say. I knew it had to have something to do with the things she told me last night. She said she had to leave because people were after her.”

His voice cracked. “Now they have her.”

It was little consolation that the sheik’s men had Sara and not the vampire. The sheik wanted her to try to cure him, so he’d keep her alive. If he valued what was left of his life, he’d keep her unharmed.

“What happened next?”

“Haism’s men left and came back a little while later with Sara. Then Sara and Haism talked about his employer. He told her the sheik was angry with her because she stopped him from stealing the young trolls. He yelled at her, but she stood up to him. She was so brave, even when…”

Coldness spread through me. “When what?”

Nate’s voice shook. “When the vampire called. She was frightened, but she never showed it to them. Haism said he was giving us to the vampire to settle a debt.”

Oh God, no.

“That bastard, Haism, wanted to frighten her, to make her suffer,” Nate spat. “He was enjoying himself.”

My Mori roared in my head, and I promised it we would kill that man with our bare hands.

“How did you get away, Nate?” Maxwell asked.

“It was Sara. She made a deal with Haism. If he let us go, she’d give him some troll bile she had stashed away. The German man brought me home, and Sara went with Haism and the other man to get the bile.”

Hope sparked in my chest. I didn’t believe Haism would let Sara go when he got the bile, but she was smart and she knew we’d be looking for her. “How long ago did she leave with him?”

“Less than twenty minutes.”

“They could still be here. She’ll stall him to give us time to find her.” I looked at Maxwell. “We need to block every way out of this town.”

“As soon as Chris called, I sent the pack out. They’re covering all the exits and the harbor. The whole pack knows her scent, and my best trackers are trying to pick up her trail.”

“Good.” I started for the door. “Let me know the second they find something.”

“Where are you going?” Nate called after me.

“To get her back and to kill anyone who touched her,” I vowed coldly.

I called Chris as I jumped on my bike. “Yusri al-Hawwash’s men took her. They haven’t been gone long, so they’re still in New Hastings.”

“How do you know they’re still here?”

“Sara promised them troll bile. They won’t leave town without it.”

“Smart girl,” he said. “I’ll be there in five minutes. We’ll find her, Nikolas.”

I hung up and started my bike.

“Nikolas,” Maxwell called from the top of the stairs. “Francis picked up Sara’s scent on the old mining road south of town. He said it’s fresh.”

“I know where that is.” I peeled away from the building before he could say anything else. I called Chris on the way and told him to meet me there.

I spotted a white Cadillac half a mile down the mining road. Pulling up behind it, I saw Francis crouched beside a body on the ground.

“Vampire got him.” He pointed at the mutilated man as he pulled out a cell phone. “More than one by the look of it. I need to let Maxwell know.”

My stomach turned to ice. Only mature vampires could walk in the daylight, even on an overcast and foggy day like today.

Eli was here.

Moving with demon speed, I donned my harness and swords. “When Chris gets here, send him to the cliffs.”

“How do you know where they went?”

“I just do.”

I ran into the woods. The cliffs were Sara and Remy’s special place, and that was where she’d hidden the damn bile.

It wasn’t hard to follow their trail. I stopped to study the two sets of footprints in the dirt, and my rage grew when I saw the smaller set was made by stockinged feet. A little farther on, I found where she had lain on the ground; the same place she had escaped from her bonds and run.