Roan quickly said, “And Ansley and I will follow you guys in my car. Saskia will have my head if I don’t go with you.”
To Jager, it seemed to take a lot more time than was necessary for them to get on the road. But soon Beowulf’s Mercedes Benz was on the highway with Roan’s Lexus following closely behind. Once they crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, Jager gave Beowulf Daylen’s street address. When they pulled onto her street and neared her bungalow, he could see his Camaro parked in the driveway. It made some of the anxiety he was feeling go away, knowing Daylen was still there. As soon as Beowulf stopped the car, Jager jumped out of the back and ran up to the front door. He paused when he saw that it stood slightly ajar.
Pushing open the door, he called, “Daylen?” His gaze landed on the athletic bag that sat in the middle of the entrance hallway. “Daylen? Where are you?”
When she didn’t answer, Jager quickly did a tour of the house. Daylen wasn’t anywhere to be found. His gut was telling him something was very wrong. Returning to the front hall, he saw Beowulf, Roxie, Roan and Ansley had come into the house. “She’s not here,” he said when he met their gazes. He took a deep breath. A low growl left his throat. “I smell the scent of another werewolf.”
Roan nodded. “I smell it too. I don’t recognize it.”
“I do,” Jager said through gritted teeth. “It’s the scent of a lone wolf. The one I fought in the alley. Miles’ man.”
Jager would have barged out of the house and gone looking for Daylen if Roan hadn’t grabbed his arm to stop him. “Hold up. You won’t be able to find him on your own, Jager. He more than likely has a car, which means there won’t be a scent trail to follow. If he is Miles’ man, he’ll probably take Daylen to Miles. There’s a good chance the factory Saskia and the others went to check out is his headquarters. They have to be there already. I’ll call Saskia and let her know what’s going on. They’ll be able to get Daylen back.”
Feeling completely helpless, Jager nodded. As he watched Roan take out his cell phone and call their sister, he felt as if he wanted to kill someone. Without thinking about it, he reached for his sword. When his hand only encountered the material of his jeans, Jager realized, for the first time in his adult life, he’d left his home without taking his sword with him.
Unable to really move since her captor had used another length of rope he had in his car to tie her ankles together, Daylen could only sit in the front seat and watch the streets go by. When busy downtown gave way to industrial buildings, she knew Ted had been right about the factory. It had to be Miles’ new headquarters. That realization also gave her some hope. Saskia and the others who had gone along with her to investigate the factory should be there. Somehow Daylen had to make sure they saw her so they could get her away from the lone wolf.
Worried what Miles would do to her if his man managed to deliver her to him, Daylen also had to deal with the wild emotions going through her the longer she was away from Jager. Jager had been right. There was no way in hell she would be able to keep working as a police officer. A ten hour shift away from him would kill her. She’d been a fool to think she could handle this better than Roxie and Ansley had.
When the lone wolf drove onto the street where the factory was located, and where Saskia and the others were investigating, he slowed as he drove by a black Cadillac Escalade parked at the side of the road about a half block away from the building. He continued on and drove his car around to the back of the factory. After parking the car, he walked around to the passenger side and hefted Daylen over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
He entered the building and took her to the main area of the factory. Outlines of the machinery that had been used at one time still marked the grimy cement floor. Unable to see what was in front of her, Daylen heard the lone wolf talk to someone who was out of her range of sight.
“Miles, I brought you a present. I figured you’d want her sooner rather than later.”
He then put Daylen down on her feet and jerked her around to face Miles.
She found the man standing in front of her to be exactly as Saskia had described her brother. He had almost white blond hair that brushed the tops of his shoulders. His eyes, the same distinctive violet color as his sister’s, stared at the lone wolf with fury. Miles would be considered extremely good-looking, but the cruelty that lurked in his eyes took away from some of his looks.
Miles backhanded the lone wolf. “You idiot. I never gave you permission to abduct Jager’s mate. I wasn’t ready to play that card yet. Now you’ve lost us the upper hand.
With my bitch of a sister and her dumbass Protectors lurking around here, you have put me in a situation I had no wish to be in.” When the lone wolf opened his mouth to speak, Miles backhanded him again. The lone wolf wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. “Get out of here before I do more than bloody your mouth.”
Once the lone wolf walked away, Miles centered his attention on Daylen. She lifted her chin and stared back. “Just let me go. No one has gotten hurt, and no damage has been done yet.”
Miles chuckled. “You are a tough one.” He pulled a knife out of the top of one of the boots he wore and cut the rope around Daylen’s ankles. After he put the knife away and straightened, he roughly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer as he said, “Your presence does throw a wrench in the works, but I can use you to keep the Protectors at bay.”
He jerked her arm to get her moving and took her outside to the front of the building.
Miles then called out, “You all might as well come out of hiding. I know you’re there.
Plus I have something that belongs to you.”
One by one, Saskia and the men with her appeared from different spots on the factory’s property. They all moved to stand at a cautious distance from Miles and Daylen.
Saskia took a step closer before she spoke. “Let her go, Miles. Your beef isn’t with Daylen. Just let her go and you can walk away.”
Miles shook his head. “As if there was ever a chance of you capturing me. You see, sister, you aren’t the only one who inherited some of our grandmother’s gift of sight.
Mine may not be as strong as yours, but twice now, it has allowed me to see when you would be coming. The factory is useless to me now, and you’ll find nothing inside it. I’ll move on, and our little cat and mouse game will continue.”
With a hard shove that sent Daylen sprawling painfully on the ground, Miles turned and took off at a run. Saskia rushed over to her and helped her to stand. When Kye would have gone after Miles, Saskia said, “Let him go, Kye. We have Daylen back.” She then turned to Skylar. “Call Jager and tell him Daylen is safe, and that we’ll get her back to him as soon as we possibly can.” She then used a knife she carried on her to cut the ropes around Daylen’s wrists. “Sorry you had to be introduced to Miles that way. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
Daylen shook her head. “No. The lone wolf had only just brought me here. Miles was more than a little pissed to see me. I guess I didn’t work into his plans for the day.”
“Be grateful for that. Come on. Let’s get you back to Jager. Both of you must be feeling the separation.”
Now that she was no longer a captive the need to be with Jager pressed down on Daylen harder. It almost felt as if her very soul was crying out for him. As she followed Saskia and the men to the Escalade that she’d seen parked on the street, Daylen knew her feelings for her mate were stronger than she had wanted to admit before. The time away from him showed her that even though their relationship had taken off at lightning speed, she really did love Jager. Why else would her soul yearn to be with him so strongly?