Enticed (5 page)

Instinct

Eternal

Darkness & Light

Blue Moon

Resonance

Caged

Unnatural

Fated Encounter

Hereditary

Enticed

Make Believe

Cornered

A Holloway Pack
Novel

Coming Winter 2015

“...
from the Shropshire area.
Following Carly McDowd’s disappearance on the fourth, and Andrew
Doherty’s on the seventh, this is the third incident this month
...
”

I turned from the
square-jawed newswoman on TV to Dad, where he sat in his corner
armchair.

His attention remained
on the screen, a frown across his brow.

“...
the duo of friends were first
reported missing late last night by their parents, after they
discovered neither of the teenagers
...”
The newscaster’s voice infiltrated once more.

Images of a couple of
lads flashed side by side on the screen. The one on the left had
the appearance of any late teen, with shaggy overgrown hair and the
twinkle of mischief in his expression.

From the other image,
brilliant blue eyes stared out at me from beneath a shock of pale
blond curls.

“Oh, shit!” I pushed
to my feet, took a step forward. “That’s ...”

“
Nineteen year old Gabriel Lewis was
believed by his mother to be staying at Colum Delaney’s since
Friday evening, whilst Colum’s parents
...”

Dad stood, retracting
his mobile from his jeans pocket, as I worked my own out. He
paused, nodded to me. “Go on. You make the call, Ethan.”

Shelley Lewis’s number
had been saved in my phone book since the beginning of the year,
right after we met for the first time. I hit dial and paced to the
window. September sunshine, of the early morning variety, blinded
me as my phone rang.

It took only a few
trills for her to answer. “Ethan?” Her voice held hope, as well as
a heavy weariness and the thickness of tears.

“Is it true?” I’d
promised to support her—a lone parent, a female no less, raising a
werewolf son with no guidance. So far, I’d delivered on that
promise.

The sob hitting my ear
gave confirmation enough. “Oh, Ethan.”

“Hold tight, Shelley.
I’m on my way.”

“I’ll come with you,”
Dad said, as I hung up and spun to him.

“Shout Sean, too—in
case we need to do any scouting. I think I heard him stir
upstairs.”

“What about Connor’s
lot?” The Larsen’s made up the other half of our eight-wolf pack,
but lived separately to us on the south side of the forest.

Dad shook his head.
“I’ll update Connor whilst you deal with Sean—”

“And Jem?” I asked
with a lifted eyebrow.

Dad’s lips twitched,
but he continued as though he hadn’t noticed my reference to his
buck-passing. “Just the three of us will go. Connor and his boys
can spend the morning here and stay close to Jem and your mother
unless we need them.”

***

“Oh, come on.” Jem
waddled after us down the driveway to the truck, her outstretched
arms doing a crazy windmill dance. “Let me come.” She turned to
Sean, my brother—her mate. “Baby, let me—”

“No, Jem.” He stepped
forward, sweeping a hand across her swollen mound of a stomach.
“Gabe is the seventh werewolf to go missing since middle July.
Seven in seven weeks. You expect me to allow you out in public
whilst this is happening?”

“Jem?” Mum called from
the doorstep. “Let them go.”

The set of Jem’s jaw
clammed her lips together as she turned. “You’re not helping,
Beth.”

“That’s because I
agree with them.” Mum descended the steps. “And don’t think I won’t
be keeping a close watch on you this time.” The previous time Jem
had been left in Mum’s care, she’d snuck out to come find us; Mum
had not been amused. She linked her arm through Jem’s. “Let them
go.”

Jem’s mouth opened and
closed. She went back to Sean and tugged on his arm. “Don’t be
long, okay?” The resignation of losing the battle showed in her
tone.

“I won’t be.”
Something stirred within me, as Sean squatted down and placed a
kiss against her navel. “Take care of our boy.”

“Or girl,” Jem
murmured.

Sean smiled. “Our
bambino.”

***

We arrived at
Shelley’s just before nine a.m.. Like she’d been looking out for
us, the front door to her house opened the moment the truck drew to
a stop. I didn’t have to get close to see the panic in her eyes and
the deep blush of unrelenting emotions in her face.

The slam of my door
drowned out her delicate steps along the path to greet us. Her
hands reached out, as if she considered us her lifeline, before she
pressed her fingers against her lips. “I can’t thank you enough for
coming.” A shiver jerked her tiny shoulders as she spoke; three
singular tears rolled down cheeks still red, probably from an
earlier batch.

“Come on.” I slid my
arm around her and drew her to my side. “Let’s go in.”

Her crown barely
reached my armpit as she leaned into me and allowed me to guide her
toward the house. Behind us, Sean and Dad’s feet hit the path.

The brightness of the
day gleamed through the window, bathing Shelley’s magnolia-coloured
home in warmth and light. Four dirty mugs sat beside her mobile and
house phones on the coffee table. A burgundy throw, which matched
the deep shade of her hair, lay scrunched into a heap on the sofa
as though Shelley had spent the night there on constant vigil.

I walked her across
the room and sat her down, but she pushed back up.

“Please don’t make me
sit.” She worried at the nail on her thumb. “I’m so sick of sitting
and waiting for everyone else to do their job.” Her gaze met mine.
“Do you think it’s like those others?”

“When did you last see
him, Shel?” I asked.

“Friday.” Her
fidgeting feet brushed over the carpet as the two armchairs creaked
beneath Sean and Dad’s weight. “Friday dinnertime. Is it like the
other disappearances?”

I frowned. “Friday was
four days ago.”

“He was staying at his
friend’s. He wants more independence—doesn’t like me hassling him
all the time. I thought he’d be okay.” Her eyes beseeched me as she
tilted up. “He promised they’d be indoors before dark. Col’s
parents were away the weekend—”

“Colum Delaney?”
The other kid from
the news.

Shelley nodded.

“Is he ...” Rubbing a
hand across the crick forming in my neck, I lowered myself onto the
sofa and took Shelley’s arm to draw her down with me. “Is Colum a
wolf, too?”

Her head shook as she
balanced on the cushion’s edge.

“Human?” Brow lifted,
I angled toward Dad, who frowned, and turned back to Shelley. “And
there’s no sign of him either?”

“No. Dave and Lisa ...
Col’s parents—they came back last night from their break. That’s
why Gabe stayed over—they had the house to themselves, had plans to
... I don’t ... but Dave said they came home to the back door wide
open, the coffee table smashed, take out trashed on the carpet ...”
She sucked in a deep shuddering breath, wringing her hands
together.

“So they rang the
police.” My jaw tightened as the scenario formed in my mind.
“Figures they would. Why didn’t you call us?”

“I hoped they’d show
up, I think. It all seemed so definite when the police knocked on
my door and made the report. I was about to call you this morning
... then ... on the news ...” The panic cleared from her eyes a
little as her gaze bored into me. “Is it like the others? Tell me
the truth, Ethan. Is it the same as the other disappearances you
warned me about?”

As much as I wanted to
lie and ease the blow, I couldn’t. “Except for the missing human?”
I gave a small nod. “It looks that way.”

“The others haven’t
been found, have they?” she asked. “They haven’t shown up—”

“Yet,” Dad cut in.
“Doesn’t mean they won’t.”

Shelley turned to each
of us. “How much do you know about the disappearances?”

“Nowhere near enough,”
Dad said.

“You must know
something, or you wouldn’t have called me last week to keep a close
watch on Gabe.”

Dad’s gaze met
mine—Sean’s, too. The worry over how much to tell her seemed to
cross all of our minds.

“You’re not going to
tell me, are you?” she asked.

We all faced
Shelley.

“I get it,” she said
with a small nod. “I’m not part of your pack, so why—”

“I was contacted”—Dad
leaned forward—“the evening before Ethan called you, by Jack
Brosen—he’s the Alpha of a pack who runs here, in Shropshire—to
find out if I’d followed the news, and to ask for the favour that
if I knew anything, I share it.”

Lines creased
Shelley’s brow, but she didn’t say anything.

“His son has gone
missing—just like Gabe,” Dad continued. “But he kept it off the
radar. The ones on the news are the ones officially reported. We
have no idea how many more have been taken. Just as we have no idea
where they’re going, or who’s taking them, or why. Jack’s also
worried it’s more than just werewolves that have gone missing.”

Shelley pushed out her
fringe of blonde-streaked red. “What do you mean, Nathan?”

“Five of the reported
disappearances have been female,” Dad said. “If there were that
many female werewolves nearby?” His shoulders lifted with his
shrug. “Trust me, I’d have heard about it.”

“So
... so, they
are
taking humans, too?” Her brows rose higher with each
word.

Dad shook his head. “I
don’t think they’re human either.”

“
Belfield
hits a grand slam with her latest Holloway Pack novel.
” ~ L.S.
Murphy, author of
Reaper

“
Can any
girl resist Ethan?
” ~ Julie Reece, author of
Crux
and
The Artisans

“
CAGED is
more than just a pretty cover—this book tastes as good as it
looks!
” ~ Carmel, Rabid Reads Blog

“
Trust me,
you’ll be one of the fiending females who wants to get Caged with
Ethan Holloway.
” ~ Keri Lake,
Sons of Wrath
author