“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.”