“Since I’m not actually part of your Pack, no, I don’t. But no matter. I think Jacob has somehow learned that you and your child are like me—Shape-shifters. Since he believes these powers came from a demon, he’s on a holy mission to wipe out the evil. He intends to cure your daughter—not of her physical ailment, but her spiritual one. Even if it kills her.”
For a split second, she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think, couldn’t move, couldn’t even swallow. “Then we’ve got to go help her,” she finally managed. “Now.”
Expression grim, he shook his head. “You heard what happened when you tried to call the police. He’s got the entire area in his pocket.”
“Then we’ll go out farther.” Desperate now, she began to pace. “The FBI will help.”
“Not if they talk to the local police and are told you’re a crackpot.”
Stunned, she stared at him. “Are you serious?” she asked. “You really think that’s what will happen?”
He nodded.
This was like something out of a nightmare.
“These people really are crazy,” she said, trying to keep her hands from trembling. “How is that possible? An entire town...”
“He’s a very hypnotic speaker.”
She stared at him, letting him see her disbelief. “Are you saying he hypnotizes people?” Then, before he could even answer, she inhaled sharply. “Hellhounds. Are you saying he hypnotized me?” That explanation would certainly clear up a lot of things.
Lucas grimaced. “To be honest with you, I don’t know. It’s entirely possible.”
She took a deep breath and released it. “It sounds like you think no one is going to help me.”
The wry grimace he made didn’t make her feel any better. “At least no humans will. What about your Pack?”
“I don’t know. I’ll call them.” She grabbed the cell phone and then stared at it in frustration. “I’m not sure I know the number. It’s stored in my cell, which he took from me.”
“So it appears you’re on your own,” he said, without inflection.
His lack of emotion was beginning to get to her. She glared at him, determination and ferocity coursing through her. “Then I’ll do it by myself. I have to get my daughter out. I don’t care if I need to rip out some throats to do it.”
As another Shifter, no matter what his upbringing, she believed Lucas would understand. When in their wolf form, they all retained their human intellect. This made them deadly fighters when they needed to be.
His face a stony mask, he shook his head. “You’re not alone,” he said. “I’ll help you.”
“Look,” she said. “I’m grateful, but you have to understand I don’t trust anyone involved in any way with Jacob Gideon and his Sanctuary.”
“I’m not involved with them.” He glared at her. “I told you, I drove all the way here from Seattle to help you.”
“Assuming I believe you, I have to ask you why. We’re total strangers. Why do you care what happens to us?”
“It’s more than just you. What that man did to me and mine should never be done to anyone else.”
She opened her mouth to respond, and then closed it. The cold fury shimmering in his dark blue eyes made her shiver.
“And to answer your question as to why, it’s time he was stopped. For good. No matter what the cost, I will help you save your daughter. And then, I’ll make sure Jacob Gideon doesn’t hurt any other Shifters. Ever again.”
Oddly enough, this fierce resolve decided her. “All right. Thank you. I accept your offer of help.”
“Good.” Something in his grim tone told her he hadn’t actually given her a choice. “They won’t be expecting two of us. You need to get ready.”
“Get ready?” Incredulous, she could only stare. “I’m chomping at the bit. The sooner I can get Hailey away from that monster, the better.”
“Good. Because we’re going to go in and get her out. No matter what.”
She nodded. “When?”
He glanced at her, his jaw set. “Tonight.”
* * *
As a slow, fierce smile broke out over Blythe’s expressive face, something intense flared inside Lucas. What the hell? Pushing it away, he dragged his gaze away from the hope shining in her emerald-green eyes and forced himself to focus. He wondered if she understood the risks she’d be taking. If caught, and especially if Jacob learned she was also a Shape-shifter, she’d be subjecting not only her daughter, but herself to unspeakable acts of torture.
By the end, she’d be longing for death.
He considered telling her more than the bare bones, but in the end, decided not to. The knowledge would change nothing. Like him, she had no choice.
“What time?” she asked, raising her chin in a way that told him she was a woman of courage, a mother willing to fight tooth and nail for her child.
“We’ll use the darkness to provide cover. Until then, you’re going to have to stay hidden. If I know Jacob, he will have told the locals some preposterous story about you, and they’ll be on the lookout to have you arrested and brought in.”
Her eyes widened in fresh shock, making him inwardly wince. Every truth he had to throw out to her was like feeding a wolf a poisoned bone. But she needed to understand just how much of a monster they were dealing with.
“Arrest me for what?”
Grimly, he ticked the possibilities off on his fingers. “Child abuse, child molestation, attempting to sell your daughter, trying to prostitute her to pedophiles—he’ll come up with the worst possible story and make them believe it.”
She swallowed hard. “But none of that is true. He’d have no proof.”
“It doesn’t make any difference. What does matter is that he will have convinced everyone that he took your daughter away for her own good. That you are a danger to her. I promise you, they will believe him.”
Crossing her arms, her expression radiating darkness, she dropped into the dingy motel chair. “I’ll kill him.”
“No, you won’t.” Though if the truth were to be told, he’d been aching to take the man out himself ever since the news story had aired. But the repercussions would be tremendous. “Making him pay will have to wait. First, we’re going to rescue your kid and get away. After that, I’ll figure out a way to expose him, so he can’t do this to anyone else.”
“Hailey,” she said. “Her name is Hailey.” There was both strength and delicacy in her face. “Inside there, in Sanctuary, they kept trying to depersonalize her and I instinctively kept insisting on giving them her name. At the time, I didn’t understand why. Unfortunately, I do now.”
Eyeing her, he felt it again: the rush of attraction that was not only inappropriate, but dangerous. He wondered if Blythe even realized how beautiful she was. On the heels of that thought came another, one he’d considered earlier and had forgotten.
For as long as Lucas had known him, Jacob had always had a weakness for the ladies. If worst came to worst, there was the possibility that they could use that against him. Lucas decided not to mention it to Blythe yet. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.
Her stomach growled, making him smile, even as she gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry,” she said. “I should have gone hunting earlier.”
“When was the last time you ate?”
She