Atticus (Were Zoo Book 12) Read online

  “You don’t get to question me. You’re for me or against me, and if you’re against me then I’m going to snuff you out as surely as I will those two females. So which is it?”

  Brandon’s eyes narrowed, the icy blue of his polar bear shining in his eyes. “I’m with you.”

  “Good. Then we won’t be talking anymore about starting a new group or going home, not until those two females are dead, their blood on my hands.”

  “Do you have a plan?” Dorian asked.

  “I do. And I think it’s going to work very, very well.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lori was feeling dually minded—on the one hand, she missed Atticus, feeling like she couldn’t breathe right without him near. On the other hand, she had a strange feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

  As the store opened for the morning and customers trickled in, she alternated between stocking the baby aisle and manning the register. Her boss, Alana, was in the office and the only other person on the floor was Jared who restocked shelves.

  She touched her phone in her front pocket and thought about texting Atticus. But what would she say? That she was crazy about him, already half in love? Missing him so much she didn’t feel right at all? That the park was the first place in the last two decades that actually felt like home, and it was entirely because of him?

  She mused on her train of thought. Was she feeling off because Atticus wasn’t with her? Or was something more going on?

  When he’d rocked her world that morning, when she’d been coming down from the heavens with her voice hoarse from shouting her pleasure, she swore she’d heard him making a grumbling, animal-like sound in his chest as he’d cuddled her close. It had reminded her of the strange sounds that Keir had made. His sounds were grumbly and growly, almost purr-like, and when she’d asked him, he’d said he was simply a “noisy guy,” and she let it drop. It wasn’t like they’d had any long conversations that one night, or any other night.

  But Atticus was different. The rumblings from his chest reminded her of an animal too, but while Keir’s sounds had made her feel wary, Atticus’s had made her feel...loved.

  “I’m going crazy,” she murmured. Maybe the reason she was feeling antsy was because she missed Atticus, not because her old fight-or-flight instincts were kicking in to warn her of danger. She hadn’t seen Keir in three weeks, and the people in the park were careful and watched out for her and Novi. She’d just made a big move forward with Atticus. Not only had they had sex—made love!—but she’d let him stay all night with her, and they’d made plans for later. He was by far the sweetest, sexiest guy she’d ever met. And the odd nerves surfacing were probably just because she was doing something she wasn’t used to. Something she’d denied herself for so long.

  She deserved to have a life and a good relationship. And fucking good orgasms.

  Great ones.

  Toe-numbingly, sore-throat-inducing, make-you-see-stars orgasms.

  She shivered and smiled to herself.

  “Oh no!” Alana came running from the office. “We need to evacuate! I just got a call from the fire department saying there’s a brush fire in the woods and it’s not under control. It’s heading right for us.”

  New Jersey was very wooded. A huge section of it was called the Pinelands for good reason. Pine trees as far as the eye could see. The street where she worked was pretty wooded with clearings for buildings.

  “The fire department called? I didn’t hear sirens.”

  “Yes, they did, now let’s go!”

  That odd, tickling bad feeling crept up her neck and she pulled her phone from her pocket. The call to Atticus connected as she waited at the front door for Alana to grab Jared and the two customers milling around.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” Atticus said, his voice like warm honey.

  “Hey, I...I’m not sure but I think something fishy is going on.”

  “Did something happen?” She could hear the alarm in his voice, hear him moving around like he was walking away from whatever he’d been doing.

  Lori moved down the front of the building, stepping off the sidewalk and looking around. She couldn’t smell smoke from a brush fire, and there were still no sirens. It all just seemed odd.

  “I think Keir’s up to something. We were just told to evacuate, but I don’t know if it’s real or not. Atticus, I’m—” A large hand clamped down over her nose and mouth. She was pulled backward, her heels digging for purchase on the sidewalk. The phone slipped from her grip as her hand banged against the side of the building.

  She screamed against the palm over her face and struggled, flailing her arms and legs to get out of the hard grip of whoever was holding her. Her lungs burned. She scratched at the hand cutting off her oxygen as her vision went spotty and panic set in. She didn’t need to hear anyone speak to know who held her.

  He’d finally gotten his hands on her.

  Keir.

  * * *

  Atticus was in full-blown panic mode as he raced from the maintenance shed to the security office in the park. He called Jupiter while he ran, dodging park visitors. He’d lost the call from Lori. Something had cut her off and the phone sounded like it hit the ground before the call disconnected. He’d known the moment she said something was up that he needed to get to her and had already been rushing from the maintenance shed. He’d called her again and again with no luck.

  “This is Jupiter.”

  “Lori’s been taken!”

  “Where are you?”

  He wrenched open the door to the security office to the surprise of a human couple standing at the counter and talking to Mercer. “I just got to the office, but scratch that, meet me at the employee lot.”

  “You okay?’ Mercer asked.

  “She got taken.”

  “What?” Novi rushed from the office where she put together the VIP tour photo albums.

  He pushed her back into the office and shut the door. Forcing himself to calm down, he said, “She called to say something was fishy and the call got cut off. I’m going now with whoever I can muster.”

  “I’ll get Cael, we’ll join you.”

  “Fuck no.”

  “Excuse me? You can’t tell me what to do, Atticus.”

  “I can and I will,” he said, lowering his voice. “If it’s your father who took her, which it most likely is, then he’s after you as well. The safest place for you is the park. I will get her back.”

  “What should I do? What can I do?” Novi’s eyes glistened with tears.

  “Keep calling her cell. If someone picks up from her work, ask them if they know what happened, try to get details from them, and call me.”

  “I will.” She took her phone from the little desk and swiped her thumb on the screen. “Please save her.”

  He nodded sharply and walked from the office. To Mercer, he said, “Call Cael. Don’t leave Novi alone for any reason.”

  “You got it,” Mercer said.

  Atticus walked from the office and then sprinted at full tilt to the employee lot. His gorilla was pushing him to shift, but aside from being exposed to humans at the moment, he needed to be able to drive.

  At the employee lot, he saw a handful of males, including Joss, Caesar, and Jupiter. He told them quickly what he suspected and the moment he was done, they were on the way to the dollar store. They couldn’t track her with her phone, but he should be able to pick up her scent or feel their connection as soulmates, even if they weren’t fully mated yet.

  Fuck. He’d promised to keep her safe and he’d failed out of the gate.

  Stay alive, Lori. Keep fighting. I’ll find you.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lori startled awake—someone was slapping her cheek repeatedly. She tried to put her hand up to ward another blow, but her hands were tied. She opened her eyes, blinking away the fuzziness around the edges.

  Her memories flooded back swiftly. Keir had kidnapped her, and she’d lost consciousness while she was hauled away from
work.

  She was sitting next to a tree, her hands tied together. She patted her pockets with her bound hands.

  No phone!

  “You’ve caused me a lot of trouble.”

  She held back the shudder at hearing Keir speak to her again after all these years. She lifted her eyes to look at him. He was just like she remembered—handsome in an arrogant sort of way, but now he looked haggard, with stubble on his cheeks and dark circles under his eyes.

  “Let me go.”

  “Nah.”

  Three guys who looked somewhat familiar appeared near them; two looked similar to Keir and one didn’t. They all looked at her with varying degrees of disgust.

  “We didn’t find her phone,” one of the guys said.

  “Damn it,” Keir said. “Well, no matter. Tell me your daughter’s number so I can call her.”

  Alarm filled her. Not just no, but hell no!

  She pressed her lips together and shook her head.

  He squatted in front of her and gripped her chin, his fingers digging painfully into her skin. “You won’t stop me from getting her. There’s too much on the line.”

  “I don’t think she wants to talk,” one of the guys said with a dark chuckle.

  “She will,” Keir said.

  He released his hold on her, and she inhaled sharply. He toyed with his phone. “Tell me her number. This will all be over soon, and you’ll be at peace. But if you make me force the information out of you, you’re going to have a terrible last few hours on this planet.”

  Her eyes stung but she blinked away the tears. Hearing him say for certain he was going to kill her was a new kind of hell. She wished she’d trusted her instincts and called Atticus before things went south. She wished she’d just quit the damn job and stayed safe in the park. Because she knew now that the park was safe from Keir and his goons. They wanted her to draw Novi out of the park so they could kill her too.

  First, she thought she’d try lying and see what that got her.

  “I don’t have her number memorized. If you could find my phone, then I could get it for you. Without it, I can’t tell you.”

  He moved so fast she didn’t see his fist flying at her face, but she sure felt it. Her head smacked back against the tree as pain exploded in her nose and lips. She tasted blood and her vision went wonky for a moment.

  She wheezed out a sound that was half cry and half laugh. Holy fuck that hurt!

  He wrenched a hand into her hair and twisted until she yelped at the sharp pain. She reached for him with her bound hands, but he was out of her reach. “Just tell me what I want to know. You owe it to me to let me end this quickly. It’s been two fucking decades that I’ve been looking for you!”

  She spat out blood and sniffled. Damn her nose hurt. “I don’t owe you anything.”

  He growled. Honest-to-crap growled. His eyes changed color to an icy blue that was just like Novi’s when she got emotional.

  For the last two decades, she’d pushed away the thoughts of how different Keir was from other men. She didn’t want to think about what it meant that he was truly different. Truly other.

  His lips parted and fangs appeared, and another deep growl rumbled from him.

  “You stole my life from me!” He gripped her throat and squeezed. She gasped and clawed at his wrist, but she couldn’t budge him. “You know what I am. You know what your daughter, that abomination, is and you know why you both have to die.”

  “I don’t know anything,” she wheezed, her lungs burning as he squeezed tighter.

  He ripped his hand away with a snarl. “Fucking liar.”

  “Just let me go. Whatever you think I know, I don’t. You’ve been stalking me for twenty years; you know I’ve never told anyone.”

  “What about that animal you’re fucking now?” he said. “You think I believe for a second that you don’t know what he is?”

  Lori frowned. Atticus?

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  But did she?

  “Get me her number or suffer!” Keir let out a roar that made her ears hurt and this time, Lori couldn’t stop the tears.

  She was going to die, somewhere in the woods, and she didn’t get to say goodbye to Novi or Atticus.

  While she wasn’t feeling particularly courageous with the four guys threatening her and Keir on some kind of animal-fueled warpath, she hiked up her big girl panties and went full-on momma bear. “Fuck. You.”

  * * *

  Atticus picked up Lori’s scent at the side of the building and followed it to the back where it abruptly ended.

  “Damn it,” he murmured. He put his hands on his hips and closed his eyes, reaching out to his gorilla and the part of him that felt connected to Lori. While he could feel her in some ways in his heart, he had no idea what direction she was in.

  “Hey, come inside. The manager’s cueing up the video cameras,” Caesar said.

  Atticus hurried to follow the alpha lion inside the store. “I’m Alana, the shift manager. I didn’t see Lori get taken, but I saw her phone on the ground and realized she was gone. You can see the security footage.”

  “Do you have her phone?”

  “Yep, here,” she said. She handed it to Atticus.

  It wouldn’t do him any good because she didn’t have it on her person for tracking, but holding it made him feel a little better.

  They watched the grainy footage of the front and side of the building. A big male caught Lori around the waist and clamped a hand over her mouth and nose. She struggled but couldn’t get free. When she went limp, he hauled her over his shoulder and rushed into the woods with three other males. One of them stopped to spray something into the air, the cloud dispersing quickly.

  “Is that helpful? Do you know who took her?” Alana asked.

  Atticus shook his head. “No.”

  “Should I call the police?” Alana asked, wringing her hands.

  “I’ve already made the call,” Atticus lied. There was no way they were going to involve the human police. “Thank you for your help.”

  “Of course,” ALAN

  Their group left the store and headed toward the woods where Keir had carried off Lori. “I don’t smell her at all,” Atticus said.

  “Whatever they sprayed seems like it masked their scent,” Caesar said. “I don’t smell anything either.”

  “Sorry I’m late,” a male said.

  Atticus looked at Thomas in surprise. Joss clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks for coming. What do you need?”

  “Something of hers.”

  “What’s going on?” Atticus asked.

  “He’s a tracker, the best damn one ever. But we need to get into the woods so he can change,” Joss said.

  “You can find her?” Atticus asked, hope blooming within him.

  “I’m going to do my damnedest,” Thomas said.

  They walked into the woods behind the shop, leaving their vehicles behind. He didn’t smell anything but the woods as they walked. Whatever they’d sprayed, it had effectively covered their scents.

  Thomas stripped. “Keep up with me once I catch a scent.”

  “Good luck,” Atticus said.

  Thomas nodded and shifted into a wolf. Atticus squatted down and let him smell Lori’s phone. He snuffled all over it and then he moved away from the group, lifting his muzzle and inhaling deeply. He moved slowly away, slightly changing direction as he moved. A little to the left, then the right. A little more to the right.

  Then his whole body tensed, his hackles rising, and he took off.

  “Fuck!” Atticus shouted as he raced after the male. He was damn fast.

  He could hear his friends behind him, but he wasn’t worried about whether they could keep up. He just had to keep the wolf in sight.

  He heard a roar echoing in the woods, and it spurred him on. It was definitely the roar of an animal that didn’t live in New Jersey naturally.

  A polar bear.

  Atticus’s goril
la rose to the surface, ready to challenge the male and rescue Lori.

  He would not fail.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Lori’s head whipped to the side with the force of the blow. Keir hauled her up by her hair and she let out a shriek of pain as he pinned her to the tree.

  She kicked at him and yelled out several curses.

  He only smiled at her. Coldly. Like a predator, and she was well and truly caught.

  And then something tackled Keir and she flopped to the ground with a grunt.

  Not something...someone. Atticus!

  She pushed herself up and fell back on her butt. She ached from head to toe, but she’d never been happier to see someone in her life. Men she recognized from the park—Joss who worked in accounting, Caesar and Jupiter who were in security, Cael, and Zane, Atticus’s son, rushed into the clearing. They engaged with the guys who were with Keir, except for Zane, who knelt by her.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I am now,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.

  A wolf trotted into view, and she jerked back with a gasp.

  “It’s okay, he’s a friend,” Zane said.

  She stared at him. “Did I just have a stroke or something?”

  “No,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s hard to explain, but I promise I will. Or my dad will. For now, let’s get you to safety.”

  “I don’t want to leave without him.”

  “Just come back a little ways with me.”

  Atticus and Keir squared off, with the other two guys tangling with Keir’s goons.

  “There’s one missing,” she said.

  “One missing what?” Zane asked.

  “Keir had three guys with him. One of his brothers isn’t here anymore.”

  “We’ll find him.”

  “She’s mine,” Atticus said, his voice deep and angry.

  “She has to die,” Keir said. “Her and the abomination. I’ve paid for my mistake for long enough. It ends tonight!”