Catch a Tiger by the Tail (30 page)

As soon as they were dressed, they put on their shoes, and Calvin grabbed his jacket and keys. They locked up and ran downstairs to the Jeep parked at the curb. Shit, it was almost four o’clock in the morning. What the hell was going on? Luckily there was very little traffic at this time, and Calvin sped through the streets trying to get them to Dex’s as quickly yet safely as possible. Ethan was quiet, undoubtedly worried for their friends. Calvin was too. Had Sloane lost control of his Therian form again? That seemed to have stopped after the whole mess with the medication had been cleared up.

In ten minutes they were at Dex’s house. They climbed out of the car and ran up the front steps, where they knocked on the door. Letty answered and stood to one side as they went in. Calvin stopped so suddenly Ethan almost ran into him. The living room had been ransacked. Cushions were torn and scattered around, with the stuffing strewn all over. The shelves were bare, their content strewn all over the floor. Even the furniture had been turned upside down. The rest of the house looked to be in just as bad a state. Cael looked beside himself, and Sloane was pacing while Ash tried to calm him.

“How can I calm down? He’s gone, Ash!”

“What’s going on?” Calvin asked.

“Dex is gone,” Sloane replied, his hands going to his head. “I can’t believe this. Look at this place.”

Wait, that couldn’t be right. Calvin walked over to Cael. “What do you mean he’s gone? Gone where?”

“We don’t know,” Cael replied worriedly. “Sloane woke up, and Dex was gone.”

“Something’s wrong.” Sloane ran a hand through his hair. “I can feel it. In my gut, deep down, like… I just know he’s in trouble. God, what if he’s hurt or….” Sloane shook his head as Ash grabbed hold of his shoulders.

“Stop. We’ll find him. Whatever’s going on, we’ll figure it out.”

“Did you see the guys who did this?” Calvin asked. He didn’t dare touch anything. This whole place had just become a crime scene.

Sloane took a deep breath and released it slowly. “That’s what’s most fucked-up about this. I didn’t hear a thing.” His eyes grew glassy, and he breathed in once again. “I didn’t even feel it when they took him out of our bed. He was in my arms.” Sloane blinked away his tears, anger swiftly taking over. “How is that possible?”

Rosa stepped up to Sloane, looking him over. “My guess is someone injected you with something. How else would they be able to do all this without you waking up?” She inspected his fingers, his arms, then neck, before she motioned for him to lean in. Gently turning his head, she checked behind his ear and cursed under her breath. “They injected you with something.”

Calvin wasn’t sure what scared the shit out of him more, someone managing to get close enough to Sloane to inject him with something without him knowing it, or the feral gleam in Sloane’s amber eyes.

“They took him from my arms, and I didn’t feel a goddamn thing. When I get my hands on whoever did this, they’re going to regret ever stepping foot in this house.”

“You’re going to have to find them first.”

Everyone spun around to find Sparks at the front door. She was dressed in a black leather catsuit with a host of weapons tucked in her thigh rig and utility belt. Was that a crossbow attached to her back?

“What did you do?” Sloane growled as he stormed over to Sparks. “You had something to do with this, didn’t you?”

Sparks serenely walked past Sloane and into the living room, then took a seat on the coffee table. “I had hoped to be further along in his training before this happened, but unfortunately, the timeline seems to have been moved up.”

“What are you talking about?” Sloane demanded. “Where’s Dex?”

“I don’t know.”

Calvin tapped Ethan, letting him know to be ready in case they needed to subdue Sloane. Their Team Leader’s amber eyes were blazing with fury. He knew his mate was in danger. There was no telling what Sloane might do.

Sloane marched over to Sparks and threw out a hand, his fingers closing around her neck. Calvin swallowed hard and waited. He prayed this didn’t get ugly. As pissed off as Sloane was, they all knew Sparks wasn’t to be messed with.

“Don’t lie to me!”

“If I knew, I would tell you. Dex has been taken. I don’t know where or by whom exactly.”

“Exactly? What does that mean? I swear, if you don’t start giving us some fucking answers, I don’t give a shit who you are or who you work for, I’m going to start causing you some pain,” Sloane demanded.

Sparks looked up at Sloane, as if she were searching for something. Everyone waited with bated breath, when Sparks finally spoke up.

“Dex was taken by those responsible for his parents’ murder.”

Calvin stood stunned. The rest of his team was no better off. How was that possible?

“Wait, what?” Calvin shook his head. “Dex’s parents weren’t murdered. They were caught in a shooting that broke out in the movie theater they were at during their date night. Right?” That’s what Dex had told him. Would Dex have lied? No, Dex wouldn’t have lied about something like that.

Sparks tapped Sloane’s hand, and reluctantly Sloane released her.

“That’s what everyone has been led to believe, but the truth is, Gina and John Daley were there to meet with someone. Before the meeting could take place, they were killed.”

Cael sank down onto the floor across from Sparks. “I can’t believe this. They were murdered?”

None of this made any sense to Calvin. “Why would they take Dex now? I mean, his parents were killed when he was just a little kid.”

“That’s a good question. We believe Gina Daley had something in her possession before she was killed. Something important. It was possible she was going to pass this information on to whoever she was meeting. However, there was nothing on her at the time of her death.”

“That doesn’t answer why now,” Ash said. “Why, after all these years, are they making a move on Dex now?”

“We’ll have to ask Shultzon.”

Sloane threw his hands up. “What the hell does Shultzon have to do with any of this?”

Sparks stood, her steel blue eyes meeting Sloane’s. “Shultzon is the one who ordered the hit on Dex’s parents.”

An icy chill went up Calvin’s spine. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. And here he’d hoped they’d heard the last of that son of a bitch. Ethan grabbed Calvin’s hand and squeezed. The entire room was silent.

“I hope your team is ready, Sloane,” Sparks said as she headed for the door. “You’re going to have to be if you want to get Dex back alive.”

THIRDS: Book One

When homicide detective Dexter J. Daley’s testimony helps send his partner away for murder, the consequences—and the media frenzy—aren’t far behind. He soon finds himself sans boyfriend, sans friends, and, after an unpleasant encounter in a parking garage after the trial, he’s lucky he doesn’t find himself sans teeth. Dex fears he’ll get transferred from the Human Police Force’s Sixth Precinct, or worse, get dismissed. Instead, his adoptive father—a sergeant at the Therian-Human Intelligence Recon Defense Squadron otherwise known as the THIRDS—pulls a few strings, and Dex gets recruited as a Defense Agent.

Dex is determined to get his life back on track and eager to get started in his new job. But his first meeting with Team Leader Sloane Brodie, who also happens to be his new jaguar Therian partner, turns disastrous. When the team is called to investigate the murders of three HumaniTherian activists, it soon becomes clear to Dex that getting his partner and the rest of the tightknit team to accept him will be a lot harder than catching the killer—and every bit as dangerous.

Sequel to
Hell & High Water

THIRDS: Book Two

When a series of bombs go off in a Therian youth center, injuring members of THIRDS Team Destructive Delta and causing a rift between agents Dexter J. Daley and Sloane Brodie, peace seems unattainable. Especially when a new and frightening group, the Order of Adrasteia, appears to always be a step ahead. With panic and intolerance spreading and streets becoming littered with the Order’s propaganda, hostility between Humans and Therians grows daily. Dex and Sloane, along with the rest of the team, are determined to take down the Order and restore peace, not to mention settle a personal score. But the deeper the team investigates the bombings, the more they believe there’s a more sinister motive than a desire to shed blood and spread chaos.

Discovering the frightful truth behind the Order’s intent forces Sloane to confront secrets from a past he thought he’d left behind for good, a past that could not only destroy him and his career, but also the reputation of the organization that made him all he is today. Now more than ever, Dex and Sloane need each other, and, along with trust, the strength of their bond will mean the difference between justice and all-out war.

Sequel to
Blood & Thunder

THIRDS: Book Three

New York City’s streets are more dangerous than ever with the leaderless Order of Adrasteia and the Ikelos Coalition, a newly emerged Therian group, at war. Innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire and although the THIRDS round up more and more members of the Order in the hopes of keeping the volatile group from reorganizing, the members of the Coalition continue to escape and wreak havoc in the name of vigilante justice.

Worse yet, someone inside the THIRDS has been feeding the Coalition information. It’s up to Destructive Delta to draw out the mole and put an end to the war before anyone else gets hurt. But to get the job done, the team will have to work through the aftereffects of the Therian Youth Center bombing. A skirmish with Coalition members leads Agent Dexter J. Daley to a shocking discovery and suddenly it becomes clear that the random violence isn’t so random. There’s more going on than Dex and Sloane originally believed, and their fiery partnership is put to the test. As the case takes an explosive turn, Dex and Sloane are in danger of losing more than their relationship.

Sequel to
Rack & Ruin