Moon Shine (Takhini Wolves) (20 page)

Her phone rang and she answered it cheerfully. “Hey, lover. What’s happening?”

A low rumble sounded in her ear, raising goose bumps all over. “I’ve got everything in the truck, and Shaun tells me I’m allowed to take the rest of the afternoon off.”

“How generous of him.” Amy pulled open another drawer and dumped everything into a box. “I’d take him up on the offer if I were you. He needs the exercise in looking after things, anyway.”

“Ah, he’s got it easy. With the hotel shut down for maintenance and improvements, he gets to sit in state at the pack house. I don’t think he’s suffering too hard.”

Evan was moving in with her. Changes were happening between the Takhini and the Canyon packs. A month ago she never would have dreamed this was where they’d come to, and yet it was real.

“Whenever you get here, I’m ready.” She eyed the pile of boxes stacked against the living room wall. “Sort of. I’ve made room for some of your stuff. We can make decisions about furniture as we go. I know a few people in the pack who could use the stuff we don’t need.”

“Of course you do. I love that about you.”

Another shot of happiness rang through her. “Hurry up and get your ass over here. I miss you,” she confessed.

He hung up, and she went back to her task, nearly delirious at the changes. It didn’t seem right she could be at this point in her life. A mate, a home. A place to belong.

All of it made even better because Evan went out of his way every day to make sure she knew he wanted
her
, not just the pack.

Rapid knocking at the back door dragged her from her task, and she smiled.

“You don’t need to knock. It’s your house too,” she said as she swung the door open.

Laney stood on the back porch, a haunted expression in her eyes. Amy automatically glanced around the yard even as she took in the trembling woman before her. Laney’s hands were clenched, her face gone white, and her entire body shook.

Amy reached for her. “What’s wrong? Come inside—”

“No. I’m so sorry.” Laney jerked her hands free and took a step back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do. You have to help me.”

“Of course I’ll help,” Amy assured her. “What happened?”

Laney motioned over her shoulder to a car in the alleyway, the engine still running. “It’s Mike. He’s got Dexter.”

Fury filled Amy’s veins. “Your ex?”

Laney nodded. “Dexter didn’t come home after school, and I thought he might have missed the bus, but then I got a call. Mike grabbed him.”

Amy reached for her phone. “Let me call—”

“It’s no use. He’s right there.” She pointed again, her face a mask of misery. “Mike said he was sick of your interference. I’m sorry, but he’s got Dexter in the backseat, and I didn’t know what else to do.”

Amy pressed her hands to Laney’s upper arms and offered as much calming reassurance she could. “You did the right thing coming here. I’ll take care of you and Dexter.”

Laney shook her head. “No. Nothing is right. I’m so sorry.”

Something blurred at the edge of Amy’s vision a second before a sharp pain bloomed on the side of her head. Darkness rolled in as her legs gave out.

Chapter Twenty

Coming back to consciousness hurt. Amy rolled onto her hands and knees, bracing herself against the nausea that struck. Complete blackness surrounded her, a low hissing noise the only clue she had to her location.

That, and the familiar scent of the Moonshine Inn.

During the year she’d been tracking Evan, she’d done all sorts of interesting research. Sneaking into the hotel and finding its hidden passageways had become one of her favourite pastimes. There was something fun about avoiding security cameras and casual patrols.

That meant even in the dark she wasn’t totally lost. She was, however, in trouble. The room Mike had trapped her in was one of the least accessible in the entire building.

Amy patted her pockets to see if she’d been lucky enough to be left with her cell phone, or anything she could use to alert Evan.

Nothing. They had left her with nothing but the clothes on her back.

She took a long breath to calm herself. Evan would come. In the meantime, she knew how to escape the room, and it didn’t involve the door.

She did try the door first though, just to be sure. Her fingers slipped over the cold metal of the latch. It was firmly locked, the barrier itself hard and impenetrable.

Moving carefully in the absolute darkness, Amy orientated herself. The room held shelving, once filled with supplies, now mostly empty. The shelves made a dandy ladder to the roof. She pushed blindly on the ceiling tiles until one moved, then she stood on the top shelf and reached into the darkness to find a solid surface.

It was a good thing she wasn’t any bigger. She could shift and change her size slightly, but for the moment she preferred to stay in her human form. Amy crawled up and sideways, inching forward toward a second room where she should be able to escape into the hallway.

It didn’t take long before she had both feet on the ground, the light switch turned on. The second room held part of the mechanical system, and she moved quickly to the electrical box.

Damn. Original wiring. For what she planned, she needed a room that had been renovated recently.

Amy stood with her ear against the door, waiting silently. When two minutes passed with no footsteps or voices, she edged into the passageway and stepped forward.

In the bowels of the hotel, there were a million doors and pathways. From her earlier explorations, she knew which ones to follow, heading directly to where she should find computer access.

She didn’t bother to turn on the lights in the room this time. Just left the door partially open, the hallway lighting giving her enough illumination as she spotted a control panel. She pocketed the keys hanging beside the box, jerked open the door and brought up the security system.

Damn again.

Someone had turned off the master control. Amy pulled the cover off the wall, going for the wiring, but it was too late. Noise rose behind her, and she barely had time to turn before she was struck, smacking into the concrete floor hard.

“I figured you wouldn’t stay put for very long.” Unfamiliar voice, familiar attitude.

Amy turned, preparing to fight. At least until she spotted Dexter trapped in the stranger’s arms. “Don’t hurt him.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” The stranger patted the boy’s head. Dexter squirmed, swinging his fists in a futile attempt to hit the man who held him around the waist. “Stop squirming, you little beast.”

“I’m glad you’re not my dad. I
hate
you.”

So this was Mike. “Let Dexter go,” Amy proposed. “You have a beef with me, we can deal with it all by ourselves.”

She put as much suggestion into the words as possible.

Mike laughed, the noise nasty and dark. “You can’t order me around. I’m strong enough, and I got people on my side supporting me. It’s time for a shakeup in Whitehorse, and I plan to be the one standing at the end of it.”

Amy got to her feet and brushed off her hands, not at all surprised to see Toby and Lance in the group.

She glared at Lance. “I should have ripped your throat out.”

“Maybe you should have. Too late. We’ve had enough of you, and of Evan, and it’s time for a change.” Lance stepped closer to sneer down at her. “You shouldn’t have felt so cocky the other day.”

Amy lifted her knee and caught him between the legs, hard enough he fell to the floor, hands clutching his crotch. “Who’s feeling cocky now?”

“Enough,” Mike ordered. “Take her and the kid, and tie her up in the room we prepared. We only need one more thing, and we’re done.”

“Kidnapping me and Dexter is a declaration of war.” Amy struggled in the grip of four wolves, all of whom seemed wary of getting within knee range.

Mike grinned harder. “That’s exactly what this is. And before the day is over, the war will be over. Whitehorse will have a new Alpha. Me.”

In spite of the hands holding her, she was ready to fight as they were dragged down the hallway. Then Dexter whimpered softly, and the plan changed in a split second. “Hey, Dex. Chin up, buddy, we’re going to be okay.”

“Depends on your definition of
okay
,” Toby joked, a ripple of laughter carrying through the group.

“Give me one minute with you by myself,” Amy offered. “One minute, and you’ll be joking through a set of dentures.”

How could anyone threaten a child? She didn’t care so much about herself, but she could sense Dexter’s terror, and that pissed her off more than the attempt to take over Whitehorse.

They were brought into a room off the mechanical side of the hotel. “This is where I work,” Toby bragged. “I know all the tricks how to make things work. The part that will impress you is that means I know how to make things break. And burn. And explode.”

While he gloated, the others duct-taped her wrists to a chair, her ankles to the sturdy metal legs. “If you start running now, you might make it to the Alaska border before Evan catches you.”

Toby shook his head as he reached for her, twisting his fingers in her hair to hold her still while he pressed a piece of duct tape over her mouth. “Evan? He’s not going to run any direction except straight to you. Which is exactly what Mike wants. So you may as well stop with the threats and think about how much this is going to hurt.”

She should have tried harder to bite him.

A moment later they were alone. She was secured to the chair, unable to speak or get herself free. A few feet away, Dexter was curled up in another chair, his back toward her as he cried softly.

Her only option was nonverbal. Even as she twisted at the bounds around her wrists, she reached out and comforted the boy, filling the room with as much peace as possible. Slowly his crying turned to sniffles, and he faced her, dashing tears from his eyes and lifting his chin.

“I’m sorry I was so scared.” He crawled into her lap, touching the tape over her mouth. “I need to take this off, right?”

Amy nodded.

Dexter carefully peeled back the tape. Amy felt as if she’d been given some kind of horrifying facial. “That’s much better. Thank you for helping me.”

“Are they going to burn us up?” Dexter whispered, terror in his voice.

“They think they’re going to, but they’re not very smart.” Amy tilted her head toward her hands. “They should have tied you up too. You’re a very good ally in a tough situation.”

The little guy worked to untangle the tape from one wrist. “He’s not my daddy.”

The kid might be scared to death, but that statement at least came out loud and clear.

Amy agreed with him. “No, he’s not. He’s a bad man who needs to be taught a lesson. I think someone will be here soon to help us, but until then we have to work together. If that door opens I want you to hide.” She looked around the room trying to spot a suitable place to hide an eight-year-old.

“I can’t shift yet,” Dexter warned.

“That’s okay. There are lots of places for you as a human.”

This room had more possibilities than the first one she had been stuck in, but it still wasn’t a solution. Wolves would sniff Dexter out no matter where she tucked him.

As soon as Dexter got her right hand loose, she went to work on the left. “I think I see something that will help. Let me get my feet free, and I’ll get you set up.”

“Is my mommy okay?”

Amy nodded. “But she’s going to be very happy to see you once we get out of here.”

It was a matter of timing. Out in the hotel, there was a group of wolves she needed to stay away from. She had Dexter, and she needed to get him to safety.

And somewhere out there was Evan who she was certain was doing everything he could to get to her. If she could wait long enough for him to show up, that would make all the difference.

But until he showed up, she would just have to prove she was a worthy leader for the joint packs.

It took Evan five minutes flat to discover Amy was nowhere in her house. He paced the living room, following her most recent tracks, and ended up on the back porch, totally confused.

There was another scent along with hers. Something must have happened.

His phone rang, and he slapped it on.

“I’m so sorry, I had no choice.”

The voice was somewhat familiar, and Evan struggled to place it. “Laney?”

“My ex showed up. He made me grab her, and now I think it’s a trap for you.” Laney’s words increased in speed as her terror became more apparent. “Sam and Dexter are somewhere in the Moonshine Inn. Mike said he’s taking over the pack here in Whitehorse. He said he’s heard you’d lost control. Someone from your pack was helping him, and I’m so sorry.”

Dammit. Evan was back in his truck and headed for the inn. “Don’t panic, just tell me again what happened.”

“We went to the inn. He said he would let Dexter go, but when we got there, they grabbed Sam, and tried to grab me as well. I got away. I think they didn’t expect me to—” her voice broke before she forced herself on, “—they didn’t expect me to leave Dex. But I had to. It was my only choice, and now they have my son, and they have Sam.”

He should have expected something like this to happen. “Laney, I need you to do something. Contact everyone you know in Canyon. Whatever they can do to help, tell them to do it. I’m going to the inn, and I’m going to get your son. But I need backup. Can you do that for me?”

“You would save Dexter for me?”

“You’re pack. Amy and I promised to take care of all of you, and that’s what we’re going to do. I bet right now Amy is looking after Dexter. I want you to remember that.”

Wavering sniffles came over the phone.

“But you have to be brave and help as well. Contact Canyon.”

“I will. Please, save my son.”

Evan hung up and hurriedly made another call. “They’ve made their move,” he told Shaun. “I bet it’s Lance and Toby, but they’ve hooked up with some troublemaker out of Dawson City. I’m headed to the Moonshine Inn. Meet me there, and be ready with emergency services.”

“Do you want me to call them in already?” All Shaun’s usual joking had vanished.

“It’s pack related, so we need to make sure this stays secret, at least for now. But let’s not take chances.” Evan pulled to a stop around the corner from the hotel. “I’m there. Don’t let me down.”

He jammed his phone into his pocket and headed to one of the service entrances. He paused, reconsidered and instead found a fire exit ladder, jumping up and grabbing the bottom rung so he could quickly ascend to the roof.

Stealing into his own hotel. He always figured it would come to this, but he never thought it would be Amy’s life on the line as well. Someone kidnapping her and making a challenge for pack—this was more than discontented rumbles. This was going to end in blood.

Now he had to make sure it wasn’t his or his mate’s.

He eased open a ceiling vent. Sneaking in would be slower than rushing down hallways, but less risky in terms of running into any bad guys. He lowered himself into the dark space and closed the vent to hide his presence.

And then he forced himself to slow down. To sense where he was so he could reach out with the other part of him. The strong mental link between him and Amy had to make a difference. Somehow, he needed to be able to contact her, even from here.

He kicked himself that he’d mucked up so much in the first place that they’d never made it to the point of marking each other. This entire rescue would have been a lot easier if they already had that connection.

There was only so much that he could go on, but somewhere in the building below him she was waiting. A sense of peace came unexpectedly, even in the midst of his blind fury. She was smart, very smart, and he remembered something she’d mentioned about discovering everything there was to know about the inn and the pack house during her
recon
days. That gave him the first inkling of which direction to look for her.

Evan stole his way to the service elevator, using the cables and sidewall to travel. He had to force his way past the actual elevator, grasping hold of the cables with a set of gloves he found tucked into a service box. The heavy leather protected him as he slid downward at a rapid pace.

He reached the bottom floor and pried the door open an inch, freezing as a wolf paced past farther down the hallway. Low conversation carried from beside the elevator before moving farther away.

Evan followed silently, thankful for the lack of air currents that kept his scent from those he was tracking. As soon as he made the main hallway, one deep breath was the only clue he needed, and after a cautious wait he took the first door.

Amy whirled silently to face him, hands up and ready for attack before she straightened and smiled. Fingers going to her lips as he stepped toward her.

He caught her in his arms and squeezed briefly, needing a moment of physical touch to anchor him.

She returned his hug then moved back, gesturing with her head toward an open duct. Dexter stared from the metal boxlike opening, surprise and hope in his eyes.

Amy squatted and pushed the little boy’s bangs from his eyes. “This is my mate, Evan. Do you remember him?” she whispered.

Dexter nodded.

She turned, slipping a hand around the back of Evan’s neck to draw him closer so she could speak quietly. “I need you to get Dexter out of here.”