But it wasn’t okay.
It wouldn’t be okay. Not for a very long time.
Chapter 24
Kat would be proud. Over the next couple of days, I didn’t bum-rush the warehouse. I could be a huge, impulsive asshole, but I wasn’t stupid. Once the anger and the adrenaline faded, I knew I had to stay away for a bit. Freaking killed me to, but with the two officers on guard now missing, more eyes than normal would be on the place.
And the officers had definitely been reported as missing, according to the headline on the Charleston Gazette.
Two Department of Defense Officers Missing After Last Seen Near Petersburg.
Officer Robert McConnell and Officer James Richardson were their names—the names of two men I’d mowed down without hesitation. That was something I still hadn’t allowed myself to really focus on. Guilt accomplished nothing.
So instead of razing the warehouse to the ground and getting myself caged in the process, I focused my attention on William Michaels, a potential link. The only way it would make sense was if Will was what Blake had called an implant. Major coincidence though, if he was.
Stranger shit had happened.
A quick search of the good doctor revealed that he’d once been diagnosed with leukemia, and while that sucked, all it confirmed was what we found in Bethany’s house. Maybe he was writing himself prescriptions to deal with the pain or the treatment. Couldn’t blame the guy for that. The walker and cane also made sense, along with the Ensure. I wondered if she or her mom knew, considering how her father had died. Nothing shady could be found on the internet, so I ended up tailing him. Other than going to the hospital or out with Kat’s mom, he kept a low profile and a residence in a new subdivision with large, overpriced homes.
He’d been at Kat’s house earlier, and when he’d left, I followed him on foot back to his house. Then I patrolled until it was close to midnight. Not going to the warehouse was making me stir-crazy. Tomorrow, I was going to check it out. See what the activity was around it. I couldn’t wait any longer.
Snow was starting to come down heavier, and since I hadn’t sensed any nearby Arum, I headed back. I got home a little after midnight, I saw that Kat’s car was gone. What the hell? It had been there when I’d left. Where would she…?
It suddenly hit me.
Would Kat have gone to stake out Vaughn’s house alone? Where else would she be? Dee was inside with Adam. Blake the Douche Bag was still off visiting family, hopefully never to return. There was nowhere else she could’ve gone. Fear punched a fist-sized hole in my gut.
Instead of staying on foot, I fished the car keys out of my pocket and walked my ass over to the SUV. I climbed in, cursing up a storm. Halfway to Vaughn’s house, I saw Kat driving along as the snow started to fall in sheets. Yanking on the wheel, the SUV’s tires squealed as I spun it around, rushing up behind her.
I followed her back to the house and the moment she parked the car, I was out of mine and opening up the driver’s door on hers. “Where in the hell were you coming back from?”
She climbed out of the car. “Where were you going?”
Glaring down at her, I resisted the urge to shake her. “I have a feeling it was the same place you were coming back from, but I’m telling myself that you can’t be that stupid.”
Her eyes narrowed as she stomped past me and walked up the porch steps. “Well, since that’s where you were going, I guess that means you’re stupid, too.”
“You seriously went there, didn’t you?” Even though I’d suspected it, I couldn’t really believe it. “Please tell me that’s not where you were. That you were just out for a midnight drive.”
She shot me a bland look over her shoulder as we walked inside. Heat immediately melted the dusting of snow that had gathered in her dark hair. “I went to Vaughn’s,” she said.
I stared at her for several moments. “You’re insane.”
Tugging off her wet sweatshirt, she shot me a dark look as a rush of tiny bumps spread across her bare arms. “So are you,” she said, straightening her tank top.
“I can take care of myself, Kitten.”
“And I can, too.” She tugged her hair back. “I’m not helpless, Daemon.”
All the terrible things that could’ve happened to her rolled through my mind in vibrant, horrifying clarity. I shuddered and then snapped forward, clasping her chilled cheeks in my hands. “I know you aren’t helpless, but there are things I would do that you won’t. Things I know you could never live with, but I can. What would you have done if someone saw you? What would I have done if you were captured or…”