Page 31 of Desire Him

“Stop what you’re doing now.” Logan’s tone is urgent, and Wayne is immediately on alert.

“What?” Wayne looks around as if Logan is there and watching their every move. “Why?”

He hears a car door open and shut on Logan’s end. “Someone took the girls.”

Wayne’s blood runs cold, and his heart skips a beat. He clutches the phone tighter as he asks, “Rogues?”

“I followed their trail to the bathroom and then back out to the parking lot where it disappeared. They have them, Wayne.”

Wayne’s nostrils flare. He’s pissed. Super pissed. And he wants to rip something apart. Not only is his alpha kidnapped, but so is his girl. “What do you need from me?”

“Do you have somewhere we can meet?”

“Yeah.” Wayne gives him the address of the bar they were just at. Logan says he’ll be there in ten minutes and to be ready to hunt them down. Wayne ends the call with him, and his anger drips into a panic. “Fuck!” he yells. What the fuck is he going to do? He starts pacing as the room remains silent for a moment. They’re all shifters. They could hear that it was Logan.

“What’s going on?” Draven asks. Wayne tells him exactly what Logan said, and when he’s finished, Draven curses.

“I told you this place wasn’t safe,” Becca chimes in, in a sing-song voice.

“Shut the fuck up,” Wayne barks. He had a bad feeling when they left, too. Val shouldn’t be here in the city. He should have ripped her out of the car and carried her back to her house. He should have . . .

Wayne stops pacing and hangs his head. There are a lot of things he should have done, especially last night. He should have told her exactly what he was feeling right now, right in the throws of panic. He has feelings for her. It’s more than just an attraction, he knows this now.

“Calm down, Wayne,” Draven calls softly. “We’ll get them back.”

“I should have never let her come.”

“Who?” Draven asks.

“Val!”

“Oh my god,” Becca says behind her hand. “You love Val.”

“I do not.” Wayne defends.

“Who is Val?” Sammi asks, confused.

“The girl who has loved him for years now,” Becca tells her. She looks back to Wayne and crosses her arms. “Everyone knows how she feels about you. And I’m guessing you feel the same by how panicked you are.”

Wayne pauses and stares at her. She’s right. Wayne has never felt love before, but this . . . this situation has forced him to confront his feelings for her. What was wrong with him that he couldn’t face them last night? Jesus, this is fucked up. Instead of admitting anything though, he says, “It doesn’t matter. What matters now is finding her. Finding them.”

He turns to Sammi. “It’ll help your case if you can tell me where a couple of rogue shifters might have taken my alpha and my . . . friend.”

Sammi looks at her feet, and Wayne almost snaps at her silence. Draven bends down and lifts her chin.

“I said no touching,” Wayne barks.

Draven growls at him and then softens for Sammi when he says, “Please. Help us find them.”

Sammi chews on the inside of her lip for a moment. “I know a place. Maybe.”

“Details,” Wayne grinds out. They’re wasting time while they’re sitting here, trying to convince her to help find the shifters her people had taken.

“Someone has started to organize the rogues just yesterday. Some new guy who swooped in. I’ve only met him once. If they took them . . .” She rattles off an address. “But you won’t get in without help. And they may not even be there.”

“Then you’re going to check,” Wayne says, crossing his arms over his chest.

“What?” Draven looks up at him sternly. “You can’t send her in there.”

“Do they trust you?” Wayne asks Sammi, ignoring Draven completely.

She nods her head. “Yes.”

Wayne steps forward challengingly and says to Draven, “Then she’s doing it. End of story.”

“Wayne!” Draven exclaims.

“Enough. She may be your fated mate, but I outrank you. If you want the girls back, we will use every tool at our disposal.”

Draven’s top lip curls as he thinks it over. Sammi touches his thigh. “I’ll be fine, you know. They know me. It won’t be odd that I’m there.”

“I don’t like this,” Draven whispers to her.

“Yeah, well.” She shrugs. “I’m your only shot.”

“This could be a trap,” Becca chimes in.

“Oh, shut up,” Draven growls at her.