Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3)

“How can you be sure that wasn’t what happened?” he questioned.

Tanya didn’t hesitate. “Her car is in the garage, and none of her clothes are missing,” she explained with simple logic. “Besides, even if she’d been swept off her feet by some secret Romeo, she would have never left her cat behind.”

Sinclair felt a flare of hope. This woman was clearly intelligent, as well as observant.

It was possible she had noticed something that would give him the clue he needed to track Mira down.

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

Tanya took a second to gather her thoughts, as if she understood just how important it was to give Sinclair the facts as clearly and thoroughly as possible.

“Mira came by early one evening. I think it was thirteen or maybe fourteen days ago,” she said. “She said that she was meeting a friend out of town, and asked if I could watch Sinclair for the night.” She shivered, wrapping her arms around her waist. “When she didn’t come to pick him up the next morning, I used the key she gave me to come in and check on her. I waited another day before I called the cops.”

Sinclair assumed the meeting Mira had been talking about had been with him at the motel. His stomach clenched. He should have insisted then that she travel with him back to Boulder. Instead, he’d ignored his unease and allowed her to return to her home and her damned cat. Oh, he’d covertly followed her to make sure she’d made it to this house, but then he’d driven away.

Why hadn’t he tossed her over his shoulder and taken her to his lair where she belonged?

“She hasn’t called or tried to contact you?” he asked.

“No.” Tanya blinked away sudden tears. “And I’m really worried.”

“Me, too,” he bluntly admitted. “Did you notice anything the night that Mira disappeared?”

The woman wrinkled her nose as she gave a shake of her head. “Not really.”

Sinclair’s wolf pressed beneath his skin, elongating his fangs and making his eyes glow. Thankfully, the house was shadowed enough to hide his reaction.

“Anything,” he said, keeping his face partially turned. “No matter how meaningless it might have seemed.”

Tanya gave a nod, thankfully unaware that she was standing in the presence of a shifter.

“I don’t know if it helps, but the night that she left, I happened to glance out the window and I thought I saw her car going into the garage,” she said. “Then I saw a dark truck drive down the street super slow.”

Sinclair felt a pang of disappointment. He was, no doubt, the one she’d seen driving the truck.

“Anything else?”

She hunched a shoulder. “About ten minutes later, I saw a van parked in front of my house.”

Ah. Now they were getting somewhere. “Did it have a logo?”

Her brow furrowed as she tried to recall what she’d seen. “Yeah, as a matter of fact it did. It looked like three white bullets.” She grimaced. “Or maybe it was rockets.”

Sinclair tried to imagine the logo, something teasing at the edge of his mind.

Three rockets.

He’d seen it before. But where?

“Missiles,” he abruptly breathed, adrenaline exploding through him.

“Do you know who took Mira?” Tanya asked.

“I’m about to find out,” he said, already calculating how long it would take him to drive to the SAU military base just across the border in Wyoming.

Tanya lifted a hand to wipe a tear that was trickling down her cheek.

“How?”

“I have my ways,” he promised. “Take care of Sinclair. Mira’s going to want him.”

“Bring her home,” Tanya said in a whisper. “Please.”

A grim smile touched his lips. “You have my word.”





Chapter 3


Mira Reese tapped on the keyboard, doing her best to ignore the two large men who leaned over her.

It’d been the same thing for the past two weeks.

She would be taken from the small room in the old barracks where she was locked each night and brought to the headquarters of the SAU Air Force Base.

When she’d arrived here two weeks ago, she’d been terrified. The soldiers who’d burst into her house and smacked her hard enough to cause a bloody nose had threatened endless torture if she didn’t give them the information that they wanted.

Thankfully, she’d had the drive to the local SAU building to pick up the Director, and then another hour drive north to consider her limited options. By the time they’d reached the base, she’d managed to convince the bastards that she was on their side. And that her search for information on the Verona Clinic, and who’d actually been responsible for the virus, had been a necessary part of her job with the CDC.

Of course, they hadn’t agreed to let her go.

Instead, they’d demanded that she continue her search for the doctor beneath their watchful eyes. Mira hadn’t minded. If they were anxious to discover the doctor, that meant her suspicion that Dr. Lowman was somehow connected to the original outbreak was right.