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“Did they seem competent in what they were doing when they were working with her? Did they seem like real therapists?” he asked more firmly.
“I didn’t see them working with her, but they had all the equipment needed and had on the right clothes and name tags with the company’s name. That’s why I didn’t even question who they were.” Her voice trailed off at that last part.
“I know I should have asked more questions anyway. I should have called the office to confirm who they were.” She was beginning to ramble. “This would have never happened if I had just put my feelings aside and not been so distracted. I’m so stupid…”
“Hey!” Hudson interrupted her tirade sharply.
She was startled and looked at him with wide eyes. Fresh tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.
“You are not stupid. This is not your fault,” he told her firmly, leaving no room for argument. “There’s no way you would ever just let someone take her.”
As he talked, he felt a swelling guilt. Nora could not possibly have known better, but he had, and he had not been prepared. He hadn’t even warned Nora of the danger Hannah could be facing because, in the back of his mind, he had always assumed he was the target as an alpha shifter.
“You love and care for that little girl, and you would never do anything to hurt her. And you were right when we were talking over the phone about not letting anyone in. I should have been more open with you. I should have told you more about who I was and what was going on.”
Nora wrapped her arms around herself. “You being open with me about who you are wouldn’t have helped Hannah. Just because I was angry with you didn’t mean I had to be distracted.”
Hudson shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. I’ve been investigating the plane crash that killed her parents for a while now. I don’t think it was an accident, and I think they might be the ones going after Hannah now.”
The nurse’s eyes went wide. “What?”
Hudson felt another stab of guilt. If only he’d told her, maybe then she’d have been more on her guard. She would have known there was a threat to Hannah and kept a closer eye on her. Nora was as sharp as they came. She could have helped protect Hannah if she’d only known.
“You should have been told,” he murmured. “It’s not your fault she’s gone, it’s mine. I should have trusted you with the truth, and I didn’t, and now we’re all paying the price.”
Nora studied him for a moment before clenching her jaw. Hudson braced himself for the insults. The screaming, the anger, the accusations. And she would be right.
But instead, her voice came out calm and slow. “What was all that you just said to me about loving and caring for the girl? That I’d never have just let something like this happen to her. That goes for you also.”
Her arms came down to her sides, and she drew herself up to her full height. “You renovated your house the moment you realized she needed that. You took off early from your business trips just to be with her. You learned to laugh and play with her even though you didn’t have that as a child.”
She shook her head. “If I thought for one moment that you were going to endanger that girl, I’d have let you know. I have before. Even if I had known there really was someone after her, I still might not have been able to stop them. You’ve made mistakes, sure, but you’ve always learned from them.”
His relief at her not being angry with him was short-lived. Hannah was still missing, and there was no telling where they had taken her.
That wasn’t about to stop him from finding out. It only pushed his bear to want to go out there and rip someone to shreds.
“Take me to where they were working with her. I should still be able to pick up a trail.”
She nodded and took him to where they had been.
“Stand back,” he told her. And then he pulled off his clothes, handing them to Nora to carry, and shifted.
Using his now-enhanced senses, he sniffed out for unfamiliar scents.
Nora’s and Hannah’s scents were the strongest in the room since they’d been here the most. Usually, their scents calmed him. But the fact that Hannah was no longer here only fueled his anger.
Then, he caught a few unfamiliar scents. He’d smelled the doctors before who came here. They always smelled of sterilized hospitals and freshness. There was that same sterilized scent, but there was a sickening metallic edge to it. It made his bear growl angrily.
That was them.
He moved through the house, following their scent. Hudson couldn’t focus on just Hannah since her scent was everywhere in the house. The fake therapists, on the other hand, had a much clearer trail.
Their scent moved out the door and into the driveway, where they must have driven away. But the fumes from their diesel vehicle still lingered enough in the air for him to follow.
He had their trail. They were not going to get away so easily.
If these were the same people who had gotten his best friend killed, they were in for a world of trouble. Especially now that they’d taken his little girl.
