Page 47 of Fat Enemy Mate

"Slow down, Fern," he says. "Where are you?"

He listens as she explains, tears obvious; the entire room holds its breath.

"How many?" he asks, signaling for us to follow as he heads for the door. "Stay there. Don't go after them. We're coming."

He hangs up. He looks at me.

"Wilf…" he starts.

"Tell me," I say, already knowing where this is going.

"Lara was on the river path," Connor says. "Skylar and Fern heard her use the voice from inside the clinic. By the time they got out front, they saw that three men had her on the ground. They got her into a van. Skylar and Fern are still on the path; they couldn't catch up to them."

"How long?" I ask.

"Minutes," he tells me.

We're in the trucks within seconds. Nick and I go with Connor, and the others follow behind. The hall yard fills with engine noise. We're out of the gate and cutting across towntoward the river before my brain is even really in gear; my wolf is controlling everything at this point.

The river park is only three minutes from the hall by truck, especially the way Connor’s driving. The town is small, and that’s the thing that bothers me the most—how has this happened in our town, our own backyard? It’s broad daylight. How on earth did they get into town under our noses without someone raising the alarm?

We pull up at the furthest entrance to the river park near the clinic, and I’m out of Connor’s truck and running before he’s even come to a full stop. Skylar and Fern are on the path and run toward us when they see us coming. Fern goes straight to Connor, and I can see she’s shaking. Skylar heads for me.

"Wilf," she says. "We were inside, in the back, and we heard her voice from out here. It felt just the same as in the garden. I felt it, and Fern heard it. We knew straight away that it was Lara. We ran out, but they were too far away."

"Where?" I ask, and she walks me back along the path with Nick and Connor right behind me, and I’m vaguely aware that Caleb, Bryan, and Ethan have joined us.

"Here," Skylar says, stopping. "She'd come from the clinic. We watched her walk back along the path after lunch. We thought she was fine. There were people on the path when we left her…it was just a normal day. They must have been waiting."

"How many?" I ask, feeling a tightness that feels an awful lot like fear settle in my chest.

"Three," Fern says, sounding a bit calmer now that Connor’s here, but her voice still trembles. "Three men. I didn't see any faces. They were already getting her into the back of the van by the time we got out here. She was on the ground. She wasn't moving."

"What van?" I ask.

Fern looks at Skylar. Skylar looks at me.

"It looked like a patrol van," Skylar says.

I stop. We all stop and turn at the same time

"Apatrolvan?" Connor repeats. “One of ours?”

"Yes," Skylar says. "I'm sure of it. We didn’t catch the numbers on the back I didn't catch, but it was one of ours."

"It can't have been one of ours," Connor says, and the calmness in his voice is the sort of calm that Connor gets when he’s actually the opposite of calm. "All my vehicles are accounted for."

"All your vehicles in the lot at headquarters are accounted for," Nick says quietly. "Skylar, you saw the van. You're sure."

"I'm sure," Skylar tells him.

"Alright," Nick says, getting his phone out. "Back to the hall. We work it out there. Wilf…"

"Yeah," I reply.

"We’ll get her back," Nick tells me. "If your wolf needs to run point, just tell me what you need."

I look at him. Nick is my alpha, always in control, and he’s telling me that he will let me run point. HeknowsI need to run point, and my wolf exhales with relief because I don’t think he could be caged at this point.