“Please…” The pathetic man sobbed through rapidly swelling eyes. “I swear, I’ve told you everything I know. I’m sorry.” He started up with a choked noise that seemed to be crying, but it just made me want to hurt him more. Filthy fucking human trafficker, dealing in the flesh of stolen girls. He deserved a lot worse.
“Cole, man. Ease up,” Caleb interjected as I was about to land another blow. Instead, I whirled on Caleb, my killer face securely in place, and I saw him visibly flinch.
“Cole! Step outside for a minute and catch a breath,” River commanded me in a tone that brooked no arguments, so I cracked my knuckles in anger and did as I was told.
I felt a bit bad for giving Caleb my killer face. It was the same face I had tried to use when I first met Kit, with the noble idea that maybe I could scare her off me, but for some goddamn reason, I couldn’t seem to make myself follow through.
Despite my best efforts to show her the death and destruction hiding behind my eyes, that damn girl just kept dragging me back in. I’d found myself deliberately seeking out her company, watching her when she spoke or moved, even flirting. Fuck, she made me care about her, and it wasn’t an emotion I knew how to handle.
The time spent training her in combat had been the longest weeks of my entire life—being so close to her, touching her and not acting on my primal desires when I wasn’t sure she was even interested. Until that night in the gym, after the break-in at Blood Moon, I had genuinely thought I hadn’t stood a chance. Fuck, how wrong I’d been.
When she initiated, when she made the first move, I was a total goner. River had joked afterwards that I was acting like a man in love, and although I had hit him to shut him up, a small part of me wondered if maybe he was right. Then again, he was hardly one to throw stones about being under my Vixen’s spell.
Huh, that had a nice sound to it… my Vixen.
I knew that she wasn’t solely mine; Caleb has been going nuts over her for months, and we all knew River had already staked his claim. Wesley watched her constantly like a lovesick puppy, not that she had ever noticed, poor guy. Hell, even Austin was falling for her, although he would rather cut off an arm than admit it, thanks to his fucking stupid hang-ups. That Peyton bitch had really pulled a number on him.
In all honesty, I didn’t mind the idea of sharing Kit with my team. I loved them all like brothers, better than brothers, and with all the trouble she seemed to attract, it was not a bad thing to know she would always have someone around to protect her.
A stupid smile crept over my lips at the thought of what she would say if she heard that. Kit had a spine of steel, and despite her fun and flirty mask, she was sporting a shell almost as hard as my own. If she thought for even a second that we were all trying to protect her, I hated to think what stupid ass move she’d pull to prove us wrong.
I paced the dark, damp corridor a couple of times, trying to get a hold on my emotions before going back in there so that I didn’t accidentally end up killing that sweaty heap of garbage before getting my answers. Even though he deserved it. Director Pierre wouldn’t buy it as an accident though, not with my history. I couldn’t afford to be taken off active duty while my Vixen was still missing, so I needed to pull myself together.
Before I could barge back into the disused supply room where we were holding Sergei prisoner, my team filtered back out, and Austin silently handed me a rag to wipe the blood off my hands.
“We’re done.” River told me sternly, shutting the door tightly behind him and blocking it with his body.
“Like hell we are,” I snarled at him, “Move. He still hasn’t told us where she is.”
“No, mate. I am telling you, as your team leader, that we are done here. I’m satisfied that he has told us everything he knows. Wesley has just made the call to HQ to come and collect him for processing.” River didn’t often pull rank against me, and he knew I wouldn’t fight him on it in front of the team. I ground my teeth hard, the creak of it echoing into the tense silence as my fucking dickhead British best friend stared me down.
“Fine,” I growled. “One of these other leads had better turn something up soon though, or I’m coming back to bleed more answers out of that shithead.” I stabbed a finger towards the door behind River.
“With my full support,” River accepted, and from the corner of my eye I saw the other boys nod their agreement. “You forget, Cole, you’re not the only one who is worried. We all care about her. We all would do anything to get her back.”
Austin, the fuckwad, made a noise as though he disagreed, and Caleb punched him in the chest. No one was buying his crap any more, not after seeing his pity party when Kit went missing.
I nodded understanding at River’s sincerity, and I saw his sharp gaze check my hands. It always annoyed the crap out of me that he could read my tells so well. He had figured out years ago that when my thumbs released from the outside of my fists then I was no longer such a danger to those around me.
“I’m sure one of our leads will find our Kit soon,” Wesley contributed, looking a touch pale. He was not usually physically present for interrogations, but for some reason today he had insisted on coming along. I’d bet he hadn’t even noticed he just called her our Kit.
“We have all put the word out to our black market contacts, as have the rest of Omega Group. One of us will turn up her location sooner or later; it’s just the law of averages.” He tugged at his blond hair in a nervous tick. I grunted once more, leading the way back out of the abandoned warehouse we were in.
As I stalked through the building’s rubbish, I thought over Wesley’s words. He was right, of course; there was no way they could keep her hidden for long. My whole body thrummed with anticipation for what I would do to the people who had taken her when we found them. Because she may be our Kit, but she was my Vixen. And no one fucks with what’s mine.
10
KIT
I woke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright and staring around me in panic and confusion. Where the fuck was I now? Definitely no longer on the absurdly luxurious aircraft, as I was halfway drowned by a heavy feather comforter and surrounded by pillows in a king-size bed. I crawled out of the cozy nest and raked a hand through my wild hair. It was bone dry, whereas it had been still dripping wet when I had succumbed to drugged sleep on the plane, so more than several hours must have passed while I was out.
Padding over to the bedroom window, I tried to work out where the hell I might be. The scenery was barren and rocky, but with no snow, so we must have flown south from… wherever.
This isn't off to a good start; we could literally be anywhere in the world.
It was daylight, so there were no lights to indicate a city might be nearby, and the room I was in seemed to be directly above a sheer cliff face overlooking a sandy valley. My perusal of the possible routes down the cliff was interrupted by a polite knock on the bedroom door, which piqued my curiosity. Vali didn't exactly strike me as the type to knock politely.