In the meantime, she’d pretend that she’d accepted her fate, so they might relax their vigilance. “So what happens once you deliver me to this penthouse?”
“You live in the lap of luxury—that’s what,” Karl said. “Great view, terrific food, luxurious surroundings.”
“What’s the catch?”
“The usual thing. You can never leave.”
Panic threatened to close her throat and make her choke. She couldn’t be confined like that. Maybe someone, a Howard Hughes type, would be thrilled with such a setup. But for her, it would be like being dead.
As a prisoner in a penthouse, she wouldn’t be able to work. She’d be cut off from her family and friends. She’d have life, but nothing worth living for. Considering that, she might as well be in a dungeon where she was fed maggot-infested bread.
But she wouldn’t end up in this penthouse. By now, Lionel would have come over and found her missing. He’d sound the alarm. Maybe not right away, because he might think she was over at Jake’s, but eventually he’d try to find out where she was.
She cleared her throat. “You realize that people will come looking for me. I have friends and family. I have wealthy clients. They’ll try to find me.” And that wasn’t counting Jake. But before she tried to summon him telepathically, she wanted more info. “This isn’t going to work the way you think it will.”
“Yeah, it will,” said Mitch, the driver. “It seems you left a note saying you were headed off to Idaho and a new life with Jake Hunter. You turned your place and your workshop over to Lionel.”
“What note? I didn’t write a note!”
“No, but the note is in your handwriting,” Karl said.
Mitch glanced at his traveling companion. “I’m not sure you should be telling her all that. Especially after the phone call we got a little while ago regarding you know who.”
“Look, the note bought us time. All we needed was a chance to get the hell out of Dodge.”
“I guess.”
“We have a head start. You and I are the only ones who were told the ultimate destination, so we’re golden.” Karl turned toward the backseat. “Your future is in Vancouver, sweetheart. Just accept that and move on.”
Rachel wasn’t accepting a damned thing, but fighting with Karl and Mitch would waste precious energy. She was beginning to get the picture now. The Hunters were more than emissaries who wanted to recruit Jake as their new alpha. That might have been one of their goals, but the other was getting her out of the way.
The sample of her handwriting had probably been her original note to Jake. The Hunters had gotten hold of it somehow. Then she had a horrible thought, the worst one yet.
Had Jake known about this plan? No, surely not. She couldn’t believe that he would have agreed to it. If he’d betrayed her so completely, then . . . He wouldn’t have. She refused to think he was capable of such treachery.
And if he hadn’t known about this, then it was time she told him. Naturally the werewolves had taken away her cell phone, but she had a secret weapon, one they wouldn’t even know she was using.
• • •
“You might think I’ve gone off the deep end,” Jake said to Lionel. “But I’m going to—”
“Listen, if you have to take your clothes off for this, then okay, but I’ll have to leave while you do that.”
“No, I’m not planning to get nak*d.”
“Good.” Lionel pushed his hair off his forehead. “That’s a relief, Mr. Hunter.”
“I’m going into the cabin to get that wolf carving off her mantel.”
“Oh, yeah.” Lionel followed him out of the workshop. “You mean the carving you ditched. I thought that was the craziest move I’d ever heard of. Do you know what that thing is probably worth?”
“If touching it focuses my thoughts on her and we can connect easier, then it’s priceless.”
“You have a point there.”
Jake took the steps to her deck two at a time. Ever since deciding to connect with her, he’d been trying to get the same sense he’d had earlier this morning, when they’d sent their thoughts to each other with such perfect clarity. He was relieved that something seemed to be happening now. When he thought of her, he didn’t get the feeling of dead air between them, thank God. But he was picking up a lot of static.
Thinking the piece of wood might make a difference was possibly both corny and wrong, but he felt the urge to do it, and under the circumstances, he was going with his gut. The carving had been their first link. Maybe it would come through for him now and cut through that static.
Inside the cabin, he made himself ignore all the things that threatened to get him choked up, like the untidy kitchen, which he could see by looking through the pocket door. He’d been an ass this morning, raving on about werewolf superiority, but he couldn’t let himself be swamped with regret right now.
He had a job to do. Taking the carving from the mantel, he sat down on her sofa and put it in his lap. Instantly he felt closer to her, as he had all those times when he’d stood beside his own mantel and gazed at her work.
“She’s a great artist.” Lionel settled himself in an easy chair next to the sofa. “Nobody carves wolves the way she does.”
“She has a gift, all right.” Jake looked over at him. “I don’t know how long this will take. You don’t have to sit here unless you—”
“I’ll sit here.” Lionel’s dark gaze was troubled. “The minute you figure out where she is, we’re leaving.”
“That’s if I find out.”
“You will. You have to.”
Jake looked at the kid, whose every muscle was tense with worry. “I know.” Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and spread his hands over the remembered grooves of the wolf carving. Rachel, where are you?
At first he got nothing except a fuzzy transmission that could have been his own thoughts ricocheting around in his brain. He was easily as tense as Lionel. He forced himself to relax and try again. Rachel, where are you?
Jake! I’m in an SUV.
He sucked in a breath. Where?
Alaskan Highway going south.
The bastards had taken her! He gripped the wood. How long?
About fifty minutes.
Color?
Black.
Hang on, Rachel. We’re coming. Watch for my truck.
Hurry, Jake.
I damn well will. Opening his eyes, he stood and carefully laid the carving on the sofa. “Let’s roll.”
“Where is she?”
Jake filled him in as he headed for the front door.
“Should I bring my gun, then?” Lionel followed close behind. “It’s in my truck. I have ammunition.”
Jake debated for a second. He wasn’t a fan of guns, especially the exact rifle that had wounded him a short time ago. He would never shoot any creature. But tires . . . that was a different matter. “Yeah,” he said. “Bring your gun.” He walked out the front door with Lionel right behind him.
“How about my red emergency light?”
“Your what?” Jake had no idea what the kid was talking about, so he continued out the door and down the path to the parking area, moving fast.
“Just an old one, the bubblegum kind.”
“Why do you have it in the first place?”
“Oh, you know. Something I picked up for fun, to scare my friends.” Lionel hurried to keep up. “You can stick it on the top of your vehicle, and when you turn it on, at first glance you look like a cop.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“Well, yeah, but you can get away with stuff like that out here. Not too many cops to catch you doing it. Me and my friends, we play tricks on each other all the time.”
“Okay. That might come in handy.” They reached the parking area and Jake started toward his truck.
“I have a siren, too.”
Jake looked at him and shrugged. “What the hell? Bring everything.” He didn’t know how this would all shake out, but he’d use whatever tools presented themselves. An emergency light and a siren might be just what he needed as a distraction.
Moments later, they were heading toward the highway, going way over the speed limit.
Lionel glanced over at the speedometer. “See, here’s my thought. If we put the bubble light on top, we can fool anybody on the road into thinking we have a right to speed.”
“Except a cop.”
“Which is why I brought my fuzz buster.” Lionel stuck it on the dash. “And my converter plug so we can run everything.”
“Good Lord.” Jake kept his eyes on the road because he really was going way too fast, but with all of Lionel’s paraphernalia, they might get away with racing along like maniacs.
Fortunately, the SUV they were pursuing would be driving at a very sedate pace. Whoever was in the car with Rachel wouldn’t want to be pulled over with a kidnap victim on board. But by the time Jake finished with them, they might wish it had been the real cops who pulled them over.
As they raced along, Jake tried not to worry about Lionel hanging out the window while he used his long arms to slap the bubble light on the roof of the cab. “Don’t fall out, okay?”
“Hey, this is nothing! You should see me doing it while I’m driving!”
“No, thanks!” That was the moment Jake realized he would have to work hard not to be an overprotective father when the time came. Maybe Rachel could help him with that and remind him that all kids, werewolf and human alike, needed space to grow.
Lionel got the light working, and Jake took full advantage of the fact that cars pulled over to let him by. The emergency light was a brilliant concept. They were making excellent time.
“Want me to crank up the siren, Mr. Hunter?”
Jake glanced over at him and recognized the light of battle in the kid’s eyes. “Sure. Let’s give ’em all we’ve got.”
“Awesome.” Lionel added the siren to the mix, and cars pulled over even quicker.
Jake slammed the pedal down and turned the big V8 loose. The truck screamed down the highway. Apparently luck was smiling on them, because they didn’t pass a single cop car as they hurtled along. Jake factored in the speed of the SUV compared with his speed, and when he thought they might be getting close, he told Lionel to keep an eye out for a black SUV.
“We might see more than one, you know,” Lionel said.
“I guess.” Jake thought about that. “But I have a feeling I’m going to know it when we see it.” He couldn’t explain the emotion burning in his chest, but the closer he got to Rachel, the hotter the flame. Those bastards had Rachel. He would stop at nothing to get her back.
Chapter 25
From the moment Rachel had made telepathic contact with Jake, she’d had trouble sitting still. She knew he was coming for her. She could feel it.
She almost felt sorry for the two werewolves in the front seat. They had no idea what they were dealing with. Their pursuer had faced down a grizzly to keep her safe. Taking on a couple of thugs like them would be a piece of cake.
When she heard the siren and turned to see the flashing light on the top of Jake’s black truck, she had to clap her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing and shouting for joy. Now, this was what she called a rescue!
Mitch glanced in his side-view mirror. “What the f**k is that idiot doing?”
He’s coming for you, Rachel thought with barely controlled glee. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
“Just pull over and let him go by,” Karl said. “He’s probably drunk.”
“Yeah, probably is,” Mitch said. “These backcountry types love to tie one on, don’t they?” He swung the SUV to the side of the road. “Go around, idiot!”
The black truck didn’t go around. Instead it pulled up behind the SUV, its big engine rumbling. The siren stopped screeching and the emergency light switched off.
“Mitch,” Karl said in a low voice. “I think you’d be wise to get the hell out of here. I smell a Were in that truck.”
“When you’re right, you’re right.” Mitch gunned it, but the SUV didn’t get very far. Two shots rang out. Mitch started swearing as the car swerved, its two rear tires blown out.
Mitch pulled the SUV to the shoulder and looked over at Karl. “You ready to fight Jake Hunter?”
“Was that in the contract?”
“Not the one I read.”
Rachel unlatched her seat belt and turned to watch Jake and Lionel get out of the truck. Maybe it was her imagination, but they seemed to radiate power as they approached the SUV, like a couple of gunslingers from the Old West.
Karl turned to look, too. “One’s human.”
“Yeah, and he’s carrying a rifle. That’s not good.”
“You armed, Mitch?”
“Not me. How about you, Karl?”
“You know I hate the things.”
Mitch sighed. “Then how about we give them the woman and call a towing service?”
“That’s not going to make us very popular.”
Mitch glanced in the side-view mirror one more time. “Hey, their plan didn’t work! Is that our fault? You know the rap sheet on Hunter. He challenged a grizz not long ago. And won. Personally, I don’t care to tangle with him.”
“Me, either.” Karl unsnapped his seat belt and opened his door. “Hey, don’t shoot! You can have her! We surrender!”
As Rachel scrambled out of the car, she realized two things. All Weres weren’t as courageous as Jake, and from this moment on, he’d have to pry her away from his side with a crowbar. Whether he wanted her or not, she was his forever.
“Put your hands over your heads!” Lionel shouted, pointing his rifle alternately at Mitch and Karl. “This gun’s loaded, and I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot you.”