Her odds weren’t good if they managed to get her into the van. She kicked wildly, more in hopes of attracting attention than hurting the man. All it earned her was a tiny, frustrated sigh, and then she couldn’t move at all.
Sheer animal panic gripped her. Being restrained was one thing, but literally having no control over her body was another. Hot tears streamed out of her eyes, and she tried to scream again.
Nothing.
The other man helped lift her into the van like a doll. A woman sat in the back, and she tilted her head, sending the wild cascade of beads woven into her hair clinking against each other. «Be calm, child. Your family has decided to give you the ultimate gift.»
No. No, please. She had no idea what the witch meant, but her family had never wanted what was best for her. Only what was best for them. No.
The engine rumbled beneath them as the van squealed away from the curb. The hulking man beside her steadied her with a gentle but impersonal hand on her shoulder. The witch waved a hand, and the paralysis gripping her vanished.
If she fought or made too much noise, they’d do it all over again. So Carmen pushed her hair back with shaking hands and tried to still her trembling lips. «My father. Call — call my father. Please.» She’d dropped her phone, but they could find the number.
Something almost like sympathy filled the woman’s eyes. «Where do you think we’re taking you?»
Alec took one step into his office and knew his day was about to go from worse to catastrophic.
Kat sat at her desk, her fingers flying over the keys even though she was looking at Jackson. «—been here an hour ago. I’d just talked to her but now her phone keeps going to voicemail.» She glanced back at the screen, but her gaze shot straight to Alec. «Hey, Carmen’s missing.»
«Missing?» Alec glanced at Jackson. «How missing?»
«Pretty damn missing.» Jackson shoved his wallet and keys into his pocket. «No one’s heard from her, there are no major traffic snarls between her house and here…and I’ve got a real uneasy feeling.»
Protective anger twisted inside Alec too fast to be anything but bad news, and guilt followed hard on its heels. He’d provoked Cesar the previous night and hadn’t bothered to warn Carmen. «What exactly happened, Kat?»
«She called to say she was on her way over, and then she had another call to take. I thought it might be the clinic, an emergency or something…» Kat trailed off and returned her attention to the computer. «She’s not there. She’s not anywhere.»
«What are you looking up?»
«Her cell records.» A frustrated noise escaped her. «I’m trying, but I’ve still got a headache and this is a carrier I’ve never had to hack before.»
«It makes a difference?» He regretted asking when Kat paused long enough to level a scathing glare at him. «Never mind. Do you know where she was when she called?»
«Leaving her house maybe? Jackson’s got the address.»
His partner held up a small square of paper. «Uptown. You coming with me?»
«Yeah. But someone needs to stay».
Kat made an annoyed noise. «If you say with Kat, I’m going to taser your balls.»
The stun gun sitting next to her made it no idle threat, even if it wasn’t an accurate one. Worry for Carmen made him choke back his knee-jerk reminder that Kat didn’t own a taser. «Fine, lock the door behind us, at least.»
Jackson held the door, his usual easy grin conspicuously absent. «How loose do you think old Cesar’s definition of the word suitor is?»
«The usual.» Which should be enough to impress upon Jackson how dangerous their situation might be. «Kidnapping a mate isn’t standard operating procedure, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.»
«How in demand would a woman like Carmen Mendoza be?»
«Hard to say.» Which was a lie. Plenty of wolves would be willing to marry a halfbreed to get a chance at the Mendoza fortune — or a little influence with a council member — but Cesar hadn’t spent decades building the mystique of his psychic niece and nephews just to throw it away on a nobody.
«Maybe something came up and she’s just busy at home.»
It took a few seconds for Alec to figure out why that felt wrong, to put words to what instinct had already decided. «She didn’t seem thoughtless. If you were an empath, would you stand Kat up right now?»
«No, I wouldn’t,» Jackson admitted as he unlocked the car, «but I’m working up to the worst-case scenario.»
«This is shapeshifter politics, Holt. Start at the worst-case scenario, and you’ll already be pretty damn close.» Unless it gets worse.
It got worse.
Alec crouched on the tiny scrap of grass across the street from Carmen’s house and picked up a cell phone with a cracked casing. «Has her scent on it.»
«Skid marks on the street.» Jackson bent and retrieved a set of keys from beneath the front bumper of a late-model navy-blue Camry. A key ring jingled, and he held it up. «Kappa Kappa Gamma. Think our girl’s the sorority type?»
He didn’t have a clue. «Do they go with the Camry?»
When Jackson depressed a button on the black key fob, the car’s locks disengaged. «Yeah, worst-case scenario.»
Tension twisted into anger, and Alec fought a brief, dirty battle with his instincts to keep from stalking to his truck. Cesar Mendoza wasn’t stupid enough to haul a kidnapping victim into the front lobby of Harrah’s, and they didn’t even know if it had been Cesar. Alec straightened and held up the phone. «Between this and the keys, think you have enough to track her?»
«Yeah. I learned a new one. Won’t take a minute.» He didn’t bother with the phone, just walked to the passenger side of the truck and opened the door. He unfolded a map of the city on the seat and clutched the keys in one hand. «Just need to concentrate…»
As Alec watched, Jackson’s hand began to shake and glow slightly. Another hint of light swirled over the paper, growing tighter and brighter until it condensed on a single spot on the map.
The phone in Alec’s hand started to ring.
He flipped open the phone and saw the name Julio Mendoza flash across the screen. Shit. «You found where she is?»
Jackson shook his head. «Somewhere in Algiers, near the ferry. I’ve got to keep trying to pin it down.»
«Get in the truck.» He started toward the driver’s side as he hit the talk button on Carmen’s phone. «Julio Mendoza?»
Silence greeted him, and then a voice growled, «Who the fuck is this, and where’s my sister?»
«Alec Jacobson, and that’s what I’m trying to find out. You know anything about why your father and uncle are in town?»
«In New Orleans?»
«Yeah.» Alec climbed into his truck and shoved the keys into the ignition hard enough to make the dashboard tremble, a clear sign his temper was starting to slip. «I don’t know how fast you can get here, and I might just be riling you up for nothing, but I’m pretty damn sure someone snatched her off the side of the street.»
Julio swore. «I’m already on my way to the airport. She left me a message, said there was something going on and she was worried. Then I heard a scuffle, and the call cut out.»
Dread fisted in Alec’s gut as he pulled away from the curb. «Did she say why she was worried?»
«She didn’t get to that part.» A car door slammed. «Look, if you’re asking about my dad and uncle, then you’re not a cop. I know that much. But who are you?»
It was oddly refreshing to talk to someone who didn’t have a clue who he was. «I’m the unofficial alpha of New Orleans.»
«Okay. Okay.» Julio seemed to be talking to himself. «I have to connect in Charlotte, but I should be down there by five. If you don’t find her before then, I can take over.»