AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sam’s phone.” Hope blossomed inside Jesse. “Can you track it?”
“No.” There was anger and frustration in Fletch’s eyes. “It was left on the seat when he was taken. I have no way to track him until the kidnappers call for ransom. Ian is already on his way to talk to Malcolm Whitlock. We need his cooperation if he gets the call so we can track the person’s location.”
Jesse knew Malcolm was going to want heads for this, but right now he had to focus on finding his mate. His heart ached at the thought of how scared Sam had to be right now. Jesse had failed him, and if anything happened to his little demon, Jesse would carry that guilt for the rest of his life.
“Hey.” Knox gripped Jesse’s shoulder. “Get your head in the game. We need you to focus, not standing there blaming yourself. We’re going to get your mate back, Jesse.”
“Ian knows,” Fletch said, “that Sam is your mate. We had to tell him so he knew how important this was. Not that he wouldn’t have moved mountains anyway, but now he knows how high the stakes are.”
Too high. Jesse knew that if he lost Sam he would go feral. He felt it to the core of his being. The connection he had with his mate was too deep, and he wouldn’t recover from the loss.
Fletch sat at the kitchen table, his laptop in front of him. “I hacked Gloria’s phone, too. So far, it’s off. But if it goes live, I’ll be able to trace where she is.”
“She doesn’t seem the type to ever turn off her phone,” Jesse said.
“Do you think she’s in on this or was used as a pawn to get to Sam?” Knox asked.
“I don’t know. My gut tells me she’s innocent. Her relationship with Sam is too genuine.”
“We’ll find him,” Fletch said.
Jesse knew they were doing all they could, and he appreciated it, but he was also going out of his mind. He’d put Sam in danger by taking him out of the house. He had broken so many rules that he wouldn’t be surprised if Ian fired him. His boss was a stickler for the rules, but Jesse would worry about that later. The only thing on his mind was getting Sam back.
“How long was I out of it?”
The grim look on Knox’s face didn’t bode well. “Three hours.”
Jesse cursed as he went back to the room and dressed before returning to the living room. He couldn’t have stopped himself from shifting to heal even if he’d wanted to. It was a natural instinct for his kind. He would have lain there unconscious until the damage was repaired. Knox was right. Jesse was lucky as hell. Had that bullet pierced his heart, he wouldn’t be standing there. He had no doubt his friends would have gotten Sam back, but his mate would have felt the loss just as deeply as Jesse would if anything happened to Sam.
“So far the kidnappers are silent,” Fletch said. “I’m sure if they called Malcolm, we would have heard something by now.”
Not if Malcolm had wanted to handle the ransom on his own. Ian was going to have a battle on his hands, but at least he would be there if a call came through. Jesse wanted to go to Whitlock Industries so he could be there, too, but Fletch was amazing at his computer skills, and if he had to trace the call, Jesse wanted to be close by so he could jump into action.
The knock on the door startled him. He’d been so deep in thought that he actually jumped then cursed at his reaction. He really was too close to this, and if he didn’t get his head in the game, like his friends were telling him, he would be no good to Sam.
Knox pulled his weapon free as Jesse stepped aside. He wasn’t even sure where his gun was. Had the men taken it off of him when they shot him? Was it in the bedroom where he’d been lying for three fucking hours healing?
Knox looked through the peephole and chuckled, holstering his gun. He opened the door, and Graham Madden walked in. “Ian sent me.”
Another one of Jesse’s coworkers. If Mendez Grant had been there, the team would have been complete, but Mendez had recently left the company.
“He pulled you off your case?” Fletch asked as Knox closed the door.
“Nah, I finished up earlier, and Ian sent the jet to pick me up. When I landed, I had orders to haul ass here. He said this was an all-hands-on-deck situation.”
Ian had more employees, but this was Jesse’s team. Whenever they needed more than one person, these were the guys that were gathered and dispatched. There were times when Jesse really missed Mendez, but the guy was mated to a country music legend, and Mendez took Jack Dane’s safety seriously. He’d quit to be Jack’s full-time bodyguard.
Knox snorted. “He sent you to do what, police some random men in case you feel horny?”
Graham smiled as he flipped Knox off. “I can’t help it I’m so damn good-looking that men can’t resist me.”
Jesse growled.
“Except mates.” Graham gave Jesse a peace sign. “I stay far away from mates. I like breathing out of my mouth, not a hole you want to put in me.”
Jesse paced as Knox and Fletch filled Graham in on what had happened so far.
“How many times did they try to abduct him?” Graham’s eyes were wide. “Holy fuck. Someone is determined as hell.”
