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Nick answered on the second ring. “Tarron, what can I do for you?”
“Commander, it seems I’m being forced to ask for your team’s assistance much sooner than I’d planned.”
Instantly, the wolf was on alert. “What’s happened?”
“It’s Calla,” he ground out. “She’s been kidnapped.”
There was a beat of silence. Then, “I’m on my way.”
* * *
Boots thudded on stone, Nick’s entire team on his heels as they marched toward Tarron’s conference room.
The prince had sent his guard for them, and he was grateful. The faster they arrived, the faster he could find Calla. Fear almost overwhelmed him, but he wouldn’t give in. Getting her back was the only thing that mattered. He could fall apart later. When she was safe.
Giving only a cursory knock, he pushed open the door and strode inside. His team filed in and took places around the room, none bothering to sit. The prince’s guards took up the spaces at the large table anyway, not that he cared.
“Nick, all of you, thank you for coming,” Tarron began. His face was taut with stress, mouth pressed into a grim line.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
“I know,” Tarron said softly.
The vampire held his gaze for a moment—and Nick realized he meant that he knew. Tarron knew exactly what Calla was to Nick, though he didn’t say so to the room at large. Now wasn’t the time or place.
Nick got to the crisis at hand. ?
??Has anyone claimed responsibility for her abduction?”
“Not yet.”
“Are you expecting someone to step forward?” he asked.
“It’s possible. Hunters don’t take prisoners, as a rule.”
“How do you know it was hunters?”
Tarron said, “Because one of my guards, Graham, was with her at the time. They were down by the wading pool when the humans surprised them. Just moments ago, he was able to tell this to Dr. Archer, who relayed the information to us.”
“Okay,” Nick said thoughtfully. “If hunters take a prisoner, which they almost never do, then what are they after? Ransom money? Some kind of political leverage?”
“My guess is they’re after money. Not to mention the thrill of having a prominent vampire at their mercy,” Tarron said with anger.
“Money and sheer brutality, then.” He could imagine what they were doing to his beautiful vampire, and shoved the thoughts out of his mind. “We need to move. I’ll take half of my men and we’ll track her scent, as well as the bastards who took her.”
Tarron’s expression was grateful. “In the meantime, I’ll—” On the table, the prince’s phone buzzed. Everyone went quiet as he checked it. “It’s a text, from a blocked number. Looks like the link to a Web site.”
“That’s all?” Nick asked. “May I see?”
Tarron handed him the phone, and Nick clicked on the link, which was just a series of letters and numbers that didn’t spell anything. The device switched over to the Internet browser and the Web site popped up on-screen. He frowned.
“It’s a room that’s empty except for a chair sitting in the middle of the floor.” Turning the device around, Nick showed the screen to the prince.
Tarron stared at the picture for about two seconds, then turned to one of his men. “I’m going to get my laptop from my office. Get Teague in here to record this and run a trace.”
“Yes, Prince.”
The man hurried away and Tarron disappeared. Nick and the others fidgeted restlessly until Tarron returned a couple of minutes later with the laptop. Looking at his phone, Tarron typed the link to the site and pulled it up. The mystery room on the screen was still occupied solely by the chair.
