Destiny of Blood (Love of a Shifter Book 4) Read online

  “What?” She knew that look.

  “Can’t a big brother come and see his little sister?” Larken replied.

  “Only if said big brother isn’t going to give little sister a hard time.”

  “Now would I do that to my favorite sister?” Larken put his arm around her and steered her to his office.

  “You told Meg that last week. She told me so. What do you do, go around and tell us all that separately?” Larken snorted, then laughed back at her.

  “You got it, little sis. You never piss off the sisters.” Lilly shook her head and allowed her brother to escort her into his office.

  “So, I see a mark on you, but I didn’t see one on Sindrid. Did he do something he shouldn’t have? Do I need to kick his ass?” Larken asked.

  She knew her brother would’ve already said something if he really thought Sindrid had done something wrong or that she was being mistreated.

  “No, I’m just not ready yet. He said he couldn’t help himself. I know he thinks that I’m his mate now, but when his people see that he’s mated a wolf, it’s not going to fly with them. You know that as well as I do.”

  “Lilly Wilder? You’re the greatest woman I know, and I can’t believe you just said that. Of course he couldn’t help himself. It’s you, honey. My sister who has all the flair, beauty, smarts, and most of all this ability to make the people around you happy. The man would have to be crazy not to have marked you. And I think you’re wrong about his people. You may have some who’ll object, but most will be so happy that their king has finally found his mate that it won’t be a problem. And before you say it, it doesn’t matter that you’re a wolf and he’s a vampire.” Larken pointed at her, shaking his head. “We don’t live like the Prescotts, and we weren’t raised to believe that. If you let others dictate who you should be with, then sweetie you’ll be alone for the rest of your life. Not my Lilly. Not you.”

  The look in her brother’s eyes said it all. Maybe she did need a swift kick in the ass to get it together. But now Sindrid was gone with the others, and what if something happened to him? She’d never forgive herself for it.

  “You’re right.” Lilly couldn’t even make eye contact with her brother. She’d screwed this all up.

  “Did I just hear correctly? In Jonas’s words, ‘OMG’! Did my baby sister say I was right?” Larken smiled.

  Lilly smiled and shook her head. “But what if I’m too late now? What if something happens to him while they’re gone?””

  “That’s a lot of what-ifs, Lilly, and I don’t think you’re giving your mate enough credit. The man has lived on this earth longer than anyone I know, and he’s been hunted for a long time. Any man who can survive this long has got to be stronger than anyone, so cut him some slack.”

  “I know. I’m just so scared now that something is going to happen to him.”

  “My mate is with him, and your brother and friends. They’ll watch over him the same way he’ll watch over them. I feel better knowing that he’s with them. I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t believe it. But Lilly,” Larken paused and leaned forward, “Your mate has taken on a child now. Gabriel will be his responsibility, and yours too. Have you thought about that? Is that what’s scaring you?”

  A look of shock spread across her face. “Of course not,” she said, exasperated. “I love Gabriel like he was my own child.”

  Larken smiled at her.

  “I figured as much. You’re such a loving person, and he already loves you too, just as I thought he would. Well then, sister, you need to get your head in the game and figure out how you’re feeling, and then make this permanent. Gabriel needs a solid home with a solid pair of parents. That’s you and Sindrid, by the way.”

  Lilly knew her brother was right. She was scared, and that just made her angrier. Gabriel needed parents who were strong and knew how to care for him. Like now—she knew that Gabriel would be starting school soon, and he’d need new clothes and supplies. She knew the store to get them at, too.

  “You’re right, brother. I think that is what I need to do, and first I need to start acting like a mother and get my child some clothes and supplies for school.”

  Lilly got up and hugged her brother, then left him sitting at his desk smiling. She loved her family; they always looked after each other, and she couldn’t be happier about it. But now she had a new life with a mate and a child. He might not be hers by blood, but she’d treat him as her own, and her family would do the same. That’s what she loved about them. It didn’t matter if you were a vampire’s offspring or you couldn’t shift into a wolf. You were simply family.

  Slinging her pocketbook over her shoulder, Lilly walked down the hallway and out the back door, where her car was parked, so she could go buy some clothes and supplies for Gabriel. She knew he needed them; he’d been washing the same two pairs of jeans over and over. Her son would have what he needed. Then it hit her—what if Gabriel didn’t want her as his mother? He had a mother already, so she probably shouldn’t be calling herself that, at least in front of him. She’d just buy the clothes and supplies and then wait until she and Sindrid were fully mated to ask Gabriel what he wanted. God, she hoped he wanted to be part of her family too. She loved him already.

  “Family!” Lilly muttered to herself as she rode the elevator down to the garage where they kept all their vehicles. She was so wrapped up in what she needed to do that she didn’t realize she’d forgotten her new guard, Hank, until she was almost to her car. She felt stupid, and was about to go back up when a horn beeped at her. She’d almost walked right out in front of a van. Stopping, Lilly mouthed to the woman behind the wheel, “Sorry.”

  The woman just waved and continued driving, but then she stopped the van again once it got beside her. The door opened, and a man smiled at her and then shot her. Her last thought was that the woman looked familiar—it was the same van, and the same woman, from Emerson Prescott’s kidnapping. Then blackness took over.

  Chapter 15

  Gabriel was sitting on the couch watching TV when Joseph came into the room. “You want to go to the dining room and get something to eat?”

  “Sure.” He stretched, then looked around the room. “Where’s Lilly?” Joseph frowned because he hadn’t heard anything from her guard lately. The last he’d heard she was in her office, working.

  Joseph went to his phone and called Hank Benson. “Hey, can you find out if Lilly’s ready to eat with Gabriel?”

  “Sure. She must be hard at work, because she hasn’t left her office since we got here.” Joseph could hear Hank walking down the hallway then knocking on Lilly’s door. He waited but didn’t hear anything, so Hank knocked louder.

  “Lilly,” he called out, and then Joseph heard the door open.

  “She’s not in there. Let me check with her brother.” Again he could hear Hank walking down the hall, this time knocking on the Alpha’s door. “Excuse me, sir, but I’m looking for Lilly.”

  “I thought she went shopping. You didn’t go with her?” Joseph could hear the fear in the Alpha’s voice.

  “I thought she was still in her office. She never came out of the hallway,” Hank answered.

  “Put me on the phone with the Alpha,” Joseph demanded. The phone was given to Larken Wilder.

  “Alpha, what did Lilly say exactly? Because apparently she never told Hank that she was going shopping,” Joseph asked in a calm voice.

  “She said that she wanted to get Gabriel some new clothes and school supplies. I thought she would’ve taken her guard. Dammit, she knows better than to do this right now.” Joseph could hear the fear in Larken’s voice.

  “Okay, I’m sending a team out now to try and find her. With Nash gone, who would be in charge of the camera system?” Joseph asked.

  “Peter Ramis. I’m calling him now,” Larken said briskly. Joseph texted Max Pryor to meet him in the king’s suite. Within minutes, Max and Mitch Singleton walked into the room.

  “You rang?” Max teased.

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sp; “Lilly went shopping without Hank and now we’re trying to locate her. Max, stay here with Gabriel—you know the rule about anyone entering or leaving the suite. We’re on lockdown until further notice. Notify all the guards. Mitch, you come with me.” Joseph was about to leave when Gabriel rushed into the room.

  “Lilly? What happened to her?” Joseph could hear and see the boy’s fear.

  “We think she went out shopping, but without her guard. It’s okay, Gabriel, please calm down. She’s fine, I’m sure of it, but I need you to wait here in case she comes back. Don’t you leave, understand?” Despite his words, Joseph knew something was wrong with Lilly, but he couldn’t let Gabriel see his fear.

  “Maybe I can help look for her,” Gabriel protested.

  “No, Gabriel. This is what we do for a living, so just let us do it. Under no circumstances are you to be out of the room until we find her. Look son, I don’t know what’s going on yet. Don’t make my job harder by having to worry about you. I’ve kinda gotten used to you.” Joseph smiled, hoping it would make the boy understand. Lilly was becoming like a mother to him, and if he lost her… Joseph shook his head, trying to rid it of the picture of what Sindrid would do.

  Gabriel lowered his head, and then answered, “Okay, but you have to call and tell me what’s going on. I won’t be left out of this, Joseph.”

  “I will let you know just as soon as I find out something.” Joseph turned around and got into the elevator with Mitch. They rolled down to the bottom floor, where security had their offices and all the camera systems were located. Larken was already in the room talking to his staff.

  “Nobody saw her leave, so she must’ve gone out the back way,” Larken informed Joseph. “I remember it was around eight thirty when she left my office. She said she was going shopping. I’m getting them to back the tapes up to that time period. Both our hallway and the garages have cameras on them.”

  Joseph and Larken watched as Lilly opened her brother’s door and walked out. The camera system followed her out into the garages, where they watched as a van pulled out of a parking space. It was white, and Joseph got a sinking feeling when he remembered that it was a white van that had been used to kidnap Emerson Prescott. This van had a grocery store’s name on the side of it. He knew that those signs were often just magnets, and they could be taken off and on easily with different company names.

  It appeared that Lilly wasn’t paying attention when she walked out in front of the van, which stopped just before hitting her. She grabbed her chest, and then mouthed something to the driver. The van continued, then stopped again once it was beside her. The door opened up and Larken growled as a man held a gun to Lilly and shot a dart at her, and she fell to the floor. Quickly, the man got out and snatched her up and the van left out the garage exit. He wrote down the license number, but it probably wouldn’t make a difference because it was most likely stolen.

  Larken’s anger was obvious as he howled to the ceiling. His shirt broke open, buttons flying off in every direction. Joseph and Mitch both backed up, giving the wolf some time to calm down. This was his sister, but when Sindrid found out that they took his mate, he didn’t know if the lodge could withstand what was going to happen.

  *****

  Lilly listened as one of her captors spoke to someone on the phone. “Yes, I have her. No, the kid wasn’t around. Yes, she’s out. We gave her enough to keep her unconscious for a while. We should be there in a few hours. I understand, sir. We know how to get in the gates and doors. Yes sir, we’ll put her in the locked room until tomorrow.” Lilly could hear the man clear his throat before he hung the phone up.

  “Larry, you need to shut your trap about the women or Mr. D is going to have you shot. This is about money man, not getting your dick fixed,” the female snapped, apparently continuing a conversation from before Lilly had woken up.

  “Nothing wrong in having a little feel here and there. You just drive the car while I go and check on our little wolf. Don’t you worry about the noise back here, she’ll still be nice and pretty when we get her there. None of the staff will be there anyway, except a few of the guards. The place is guarded with magic, so no one’s getting in but us.”

  “Larry, you’re a fucking idiot. You pervert.”

  There was a scuffling noise, and he snapped, “You listen here, bitch, I got you this gig, and if you want to keep it then you’ll keep your mouth shut.” Lilly listened as the man got up from the passenger seat and pulled open the door to the back of the van. The stench from him about knocked her out. All she needed to do was continue to act like she was out cold and wait for him to get closer to her.

  Lilly could feel the man straddling her waist before he tried to take off her shirt. He jerked, but the handcuffs wouldn’t allow him to remove it all the way, so he took them off first and then stripped off her shirt and bra. When he leaned down to kiss her chest, Lilly opened her eyes and smiled, then did what a predator was supposed to do when threatened—she rained hell down onto the human. The man’s face was shocked as she sliced his throat open before he could scream, and then proceeded to cut him open from the bottom up, slicing off his dick and sticking it in his mouth before her wolf went crazy and tore him limb from limb. She wanted the woman to see what she could do before she used her as a way into the facility. This was the opportunity of a lifetime, and she couldn’t pass it up. They might never find another time to get in, and she needed to help the others. She knew she was taking a chance, but she’d overheard the man on the phone tell the hacked-up guy that the facility was short-staffed tonight and they’d need to take care of the female wolf themselves.

  Everyone would be mad, but she was going for it. She just prayed that she’d be able to get out alive, and if she did, then her mate wouldn’t end up killing her for doing it.

  Lilly slammed around in the back of the van, trying to get the woman to pull over. She hit the vehicle again and again, until she heard the woman up front cussing. The van veered over to the side of the road and then stopped. She could easily hear the woman as she went to jerk the door open.

  “Fuck Larry, what did you—” It was clear to Lilly that the woman had just peed all over herself. Her face had turned white as a ghost and her eyes seemed to be rolling into the back of her head.

  “If you do what I tell you then you’ll live, but make no mistake, if you don’t, I will cut you until you scream for me to kill you. Understand?” Lilly was a predator plain and simple. Yes, she wore fancy clothes and acted human, but she was still an animal and right now the woman would only understand fear.

  The woman nodded, but continued to stare at the parts of her partner scattered all over the van. It was a good thing the van’s windows were blacked out or the blood everywhere might give them away.

  “Hey now, focus!” Lilly yelled at the woman, who jerked back and fell against the side of the van, sliding down to the ground. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You want to live, don’t you?” The woman curled her legs up and nodded. She was smart enough not to look Lilly in the eyes; she stared at her chest instead.

  “Good, then do exactly like I say and you’ll live to see another day.” The woman shook from fear, which was a good thing since Lilly’s wolf was ready to kill her. “Here’s the plan. You will continue to drive to the facility and tell me everything you know about what they’re doing and who you’re dealing with. Then when we get there, you’ll check in and we’ll enter as planned. Then you will help me free every single one of those shifters and vampires.”

  The woman’s head jerked up. “I can’t. They’ll kill me. They’ll kill me.” Lilly put her hand on the human’s face and raised it to look her in the eyes. Her wolf came to the surface so the woman could see what she was dealing with. “You see your partner lying all over this van? That’s what I’ll do to you. This isn’t ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ sweetheart. Either you do what I say and you live, or you don’t and you die. And what I do to you will not compare to your bosses shooting you in the head.�
�� To make her point, Lilly leaned over and snapped her vicious jaws at her face. The woman jerked her hands up to protect herself, but Lilly continued to snarl and gnash her teeth as she sobbed.

  “I’ll do it. I’ll do it,” the woman begged.

  Effective, Lilly thought. Must try this on the pack kids.

  “Good, now wipe your eyes and let’s get back on the road. You can tell me all about your job and the adventures you’ve had.” Lilly snarled the last part sarcastically. The woman tried to get up, but Lilly’d done such a good job at scaring her that she just fell back down. Lilly reached down and jerked the woman up, lifting her off the ground and almost banging her head on the ceiling. “Let’s get this show on the road now.”

  Chapter 16

  Sindrid and Jonas watched the workers leaving the facility at the end of their shifts. “Looks like most of the staff is leaving for the night. Wonder what the hell is going on? Why would they leave such a skeleton crew here? You’d think they’d leave staff here at night, too, in case there was trouble,” Jonas commented as he sniffed the air.

  “I don’t think they’re giving it a second thought. They probably have them drugged or behind bars, and most likely they don’t care if they die, either. So why waste the money on staff at night? Plus, nobody knows where this facility is located. It’s listed as a small lab. Nobody will get beyond the front gate if someone comes snooping. Look, they have to turn in their badges at the gate, so nobody gets in or out without security knowing.” Sindrid pointed at the front gate workers.

  “Jonas.” They both turned to look at Nash as he brought the phone over to him.

  Jonas took the phone. “Hello.” Sindrid could hear Larken on the other end. He shook his head, thinking that he couldn’t possibly have heard the Alpha say that his mate had been kidnapped. He jerked the phone away from Jonas and growled, “Who took my mate?” Pure rage radiated from him as he listened to Larken. Jonas and the others could hear as well, as Larken explained about the people in the white van snatching Lilly.