Abby's Heart (Bryant Station Curves) (3 page)

“Abby!” Billy coughed. He pulled his shirt up over his nose to filter out the dust, but the dust was so thick, it did little to help. His eyes watered. “Abby!”

I smell blood, Abby’s blood. Abby is hurt.

Billy paused and sniffed. The shirt blocked most scents, but the sweet tang of blood hung in the air—Abby’s blood.

Find Abby
! Now! T
he wolf inside Billy growled.

“Abby!” Billy pushed the broken boards and bricks aside and pulled himself to his feet. He looked around.

Dust still hung in the air, but it wasn’t as thick as it had been when he first woke up. The wall now had a large hole in it and rubble littered the floor in front of it, but no Abby.

Several bricks in the pile moved. The rubble emitted a low moan.

“Abby!” Billy picked up one brick after another, tossing each one aside.

“Get this stuff off of me.”

“I’ll have it off of you in a couple of minutes. Don’t move.” Billy pushed and tossed the bricks aside until he had Abby uncovered. “Don’t move. I need to make sure you don’t have any broken bones or other serious injuries.”

“I’m fine. I just need to get up.” Abby tried sitting up, but started coughing.

“I told you not to move.” Billy ran his hand down her legs, checking from broken bones.

“Quit that. I don’t have any broken bones.” Abby said between coughs. “Help me up. We need to get out of here.”

“You shouldn’t move.”

“Normally
, I would say you’re right, but we have to get out of here.”

Billy reluctantly helped Abby up.

“Grab the equipment. We need to go through the video.” Abby groaned as she put weight on her legs.

“I don’t think you can even walk.” Billy grabbed the video equipment, Abby’s tablet and picked up Abby.

“Put me down.”

“I will put you down when we get outside. You have several bad cuts.”

“How do you know?” asked Abby. She hurt everywhere.

“I can smell the blood, but I can also see that nasty cut on your forehead.”

“Damn wolf senses. I really hate them. Just put me down.” Abby pushed against Billy, trying to force him to put her down.

Billy held her tighter to him as he climbed the stairs. He used his foot to push the door completely open.

Abby sighed when they stepped into the warm sunshine. “Put me down.”

“You don’t look so good.” Billy gently put Abby down. He kept his arms around her shoulders to make sure she
didn’t fall down.

“Would you get away from me?”

“You need to see a doctor. You don’t exactly have wolf genes,” said Billy. He slowly backed away from his cousin. “Damn, the Alpha is going to kill me.”

“I’m not calling him, are you? Besides, bumps and bruises are to be expected in this line of work.” Abby walked over to the truck and opened the back door. She grabbed the first aid kit.

Billy took it from her. “What do you want out of it?”

“I can get it.” Abby lifted an eyebrow at him, which was not a very smart move. Her forehead started burning
and aching.

“Abby?”

She snorted. “I want the gauze and the saline solution.”

Billy put down the tailgate of the truck and put the first aid kit on it. “I’m going to clean the cut on your forehead and put a bandage on it, and you’re going to sit quietly on the tailgate while I do it.”

“But—”

“Not one word.” Billy raised an eyebrow at Abby.

“Whatever.” She moved to the tailgate but didn’t attempt to hop up onto it.

Billy rolled his eyes as he reached down, picked her up, and carefully put her on the tailgate. He took the gauze out of the plastic wrapper and wet it with the saline solution. As gently as he could, he cleaned the cut on Abby’s forehead. It
wasn’t as deep as he originally feared, but it could use a couple of stitches. Taking out another gauze pad, he pulled a roll of tape out of the open first aid kit. He covered the cut. “You really need a few stitches in this one.”

“I’m okay. That was probably the worst of my injuries. By morning, I’ll be bruised and stiff.” Abby gave him a little grin.

“You’re already bruised, cut, and getting stiff,” said Billy as he pulled out another gauze pad. He poured some of the saline solution on it and started wiping the rest of Abby’s face.

“Would you quit cleaning my face? I’m not a little kid.” Abby pushed away his hand.

“Would you let me see if there are any more cuts under all this blood? You look like someone dumped a bucket of blood on you. You could audition for a part in a horror movie.”

Abby snorted but did not say anything while Billy cleaned the blood
off of her face.

“You’ve got a few minor cuts, but nothing else like the one on your forehead.” Billy gathered the used gauze and put them into a plastic bag.

Abby carefully slid off the tailgate.

“Where are you doing?” asked Billy.

“First, we need to lock the building, then, I need you to get to the hotel and go over all the video we got. I need to know if we caught anything unusual or if this was just typical deterioration.”

Billy looked at her. “You don’t think this was normal, do you?”

Abby shook her head. “Something’s not right. That wall was not on any of the blueprints and not one of the permits was for building a wall in the basement.”

“The building has been empty for about twenty years. Maybe someone has been sneaking into the building and using the basement.”

“It’s possible, but I don’t think so. Did you smell or hear anything odd before we went in?”

“What? Now I’m the police dog?” Billy put his hand over his heart. “Do I look like a police dog?”

“If the snout fits.”

“You’re so funny. Ha. Ha. Ha.”

“Seriously, did you smell or hear anything?”

Billy shook his head.
“Nothing different than from what we already know.”

Abby frowned. She glanced at her watch. “I’ve got to get to the meeting with Theo Willis over at the architect’s office. I’m already about 15 minutes late.”

“Call them and reschedule it. You’ve got a legitimate reason.” Billy put the first aid kit back into the truck.

“You don’t cancel meetings with Theo Willis.”

Billy looked at Abby and raised an eyebrow. “Are you planning on going looking like that?”

Abby looked down at her clothes. Dust and dirt covered her. “I don’t have much choice. There’s no time to go change.”

“I’ll lock up. Are you absolutely sure, you’re okay. I’m not crazy about the idea of you driving.”

“I’m fine.” Abby lied, hoping he
wouldn’t smell it. She really hated wolf sense. Around the pack, it was like living with lie detectors. It really sucked when she was a teenager. “As soon as the meeting is over, I’m going straight to the hotel room.”

“I’ll go over the video. If you need anything, you call. I mean it—anything. All I need is for you to have a wreck. The Alpha will just kill me, but he will lock you in your bedroom
until your old and gray haired.”

“Do you really think mom will let dad do that?” Abby grinned at Billy as she got in the truck.

“I’ll start a preliminary list too.” Billy picked up the digital recorders and closed the tailgate. He walked to the driver’s door and handed Abby her tablet. “You be careful kiddo.”

Abby waved as she drove off. Glancing in the rearview mirror, she saw Billy open the passenger door of his truck and put the video equipment inside.

Abby frowned as she bit back a groan. She really needed some painkillers. Her adrenaline levels were dropping, and she was feeling the aches and bruise, but the cut on her forehead was the worse. The pain throbbed in time with her heartbeat. It would surprise if she didn’t have a concussion.

She sighed. The sooner she
finished with the meeting the sooner she could get to the hotel, take a shower, and lie down. She would have to call her dad, aka the Alpha, and let him know what had happened, but it could wait until morning. She needed to look at the video. Hopefully, Billy had caught something that would shed some light on what had happened. Drilling a hole into the wall should not have made it crumbled. Over the years, both she and Billy had drilled numerous holes into walls in worse condition than that one. None of the walls had ever fallen on her like that one.

Abby pulled into the parking lot across the street from the building where the architect’s office was. She quickly found a parking space and pulled into it. Abby pulled her purse out of the storage compartment between the seats, and put the tablet into it. She
didn’t think she would need it, but it was better to take it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Abby opened the door and slid out of the truck. Black spots danced in front of her eyes. A groan escaped her lips. Her muscles threatened to drop her to the ground. Grasping the doorframe, Abby fought through the pain and dizziness. She was the Alpha’s daughter. She
couldn’t show weakness. After a few minutes the dizziness passed. The pain was still there, but it was manageable—at least for now, and she was able to walk across the street.

The front entry of the building led directly into and open foyer. There was a desk to her left, but no one was there. Abby shrugged her shoul
ders, which caused her to wince. She moved to the elevators and punched the up button to summon the elevator. Theo Willis had told her to go to the suite 201 on the second floor. A chime dinged and the elevator doors opened. Abby stepped in and punched the second floor button. The doors closed with an ominous hiss.

The ride was short and the walk to suite 201 was even shorter.

Abby stared at the name etched into the door.

DAVID ANDERSON

Architect

She frowned. Anderson was a common name. Just because someone in this town was
named Anderson didn’t mean he was here too. Abby opened the door and went inside.

“May I help you?”

Abby stared at the woman behind the desk. The woman was fair looking, though most of her face was hidden behind dark rimmed glasses. Abby wasn’t sure what color her hair was because it was striped and frosted in various shades of brown and blond. “I have a meeting with Theo Willis and his architect.”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “And you are?”

“Abby Wolfe of Wolfe Renovations.”

“I’ll let them know you are here.”

Abby listened only half-heartedly to the secretary speaking on the phone.

“If you will go in through that door, they are expecting you.” The woman gestured toward a door to Abby’s right.

Abby nodded and walked over to the door, and went into the other room. “Sorry, I’m late, but we had a slight problem,” she said as she entered the room.

Theo Willis paled slightly when he turned around and looked at Abby. “What happened? Are you all right?” He moved across the room to her.

“I’m fine, but I’m barring anyone else from going into either building until we have structural bracing in place.” Abby focused her attention on Theo Willis.

“You don’t look like you’re okay.”

“Sorry, I know I look a bad, but I didn’t have time to go change. We found a wall in the basement that wasn’t on any of the blueprints. We drilled a hole in it and were putting a pen camera in when the wall came down.”

The scent of honey and vanilla filled the room, causing Skylar’s cock to stir to life. Slowly, he turned around to get a look at the woman who had entered the room.  His eyes widened, and he was glad he was sitting down because he felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. Even covered in dirt she was beautiful. The jeans she wore clung to her generous curves. The dark green shirt tucked in at her waist
, emphasized her gorgeous hourglass figure. Skylar’s cock grew painfully hard. She was here. His lost mate was standing just a few feet from him. “Abby.”

Abby turned toward
the sound of her name. Her eyes widened for a couple of seconds, before they narrow. “What are you doing here?” She couldn’t decide if she wanted to scream or cry. Her worst nightmare and secret fantasy sat staring at her. She wanted to jump into his lap and snuggle against him. She wanted to beat the crap out of him for the pain he was causing her. She wanted him to kiss and caress her body.

Skylar saw a flicker of desire and pain in Abby’s eyes before a masked of cold anger replaced them. He saw the bandage on her forehead and the cuts on her check. Bruises were already forming on her face, and he knew she had more hidden by her clothing. Under the honey and vanilla scents, he smelled the sour odors of pain and fear.

Our mate is hurt.

I know.
Skylar felt his bear stand up.

We must take care of our mate, and keep her safe.

She is not happy to see us.

She is not happy to see you.