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Moments later, he was in his car, gripping the steering wheel and angling for the highway. If he was super lucky, he’d be in Jasper in the early morning hours and poised outside the apartment Evan had located before that bastard Damon left again for work. And then he’d move in.

He drove on autopilot, knowing how to get to Highway Fifty-Five South without thinking.

His mind swam. He spent the first several hours flitting back and forth between thoughts of his mate and thoughts of his sister.

No way could he have grown too tired to drive. Not with this much adrenaline pumping through him.

Samantha was a gem. Memories filled his mind of her eyes all watery and her mouth quivering as she remained strong and shooed him out the door. She may have been tiny, but she wasn’t weak. How could she be? She was a lawyer. He couldn’t wait to see her in action. He visualized her in high heels, her hair in a bun, marching into a court room. How did that sweet sexy face transform when she faced a jury?

He shook his head to clear his mind. Ashley. His sweet innocent sister. She’d been twenty when she and Damon had snuck away from The Gathering and left town. She’d always been a wild, fun-loving child and teen. What had happened to that girl? Was she still out there somewhere? And if he found her, would she be anything more than a shell of her former self?

Why? He’d never understood why Damon had taken her. Why not wait for a true mate? And Josh was never more certain Ashley wasn’t Damon’s mate. No way in hell. Not after the feeling evoked by meeting Samantha today.

He cringed. “Fuck.” Even shouting the word did nothing to make him feel better. Why hadn’t he gone after her four years ago?

Because you were barely more than a kid yourself
. He’d been twenty-six, just out of med school. His brain had still been foggy from years of lacking sleep. At the time, he’d simply stood back confused, his concern not nearly what it had grown to over the years.

If Ashley said she was mated, who had he been to argue the fact?

And his poor parents. As Ashley’s contact had grown sparser, they’d made up every excuse in the book for their only daughter. At the time, Josh hadn’t understood why.

“She’s busy,” his mother would say. Or, “Give her time to adjust.”

His father often just grunted and left the room.

Josh had decided they couldn’t face the possibility Ashley was unhappy or had been led from The Gathering against her will. So, he’d launched into this wild goose chase, trying to locate his sister without alerting his parents.

That had been a year ago. The first thing he’d learned after hiring Evan had been that he wasn’t the only person hunting for her. When Josh first met with Evan, the man had furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. “This story sounds very familiar. Are you sure someone isn’t already looking for Ashley?”

Josh had been stunned. He couldn’t imagine who else would be hunting for his sister.

But Evan figured it out. A buddy of his in the office had discussed the case with him long before Josh arrived. His memory had been impeccable. In minutes, it was determined their father, Paul Rice, had been searching for his daughter all this time. Neither of Josh’s parents had told him of their concern because they’d wanted to spare Josh the anguish. They hadn’t wanted him to know how worried they were. They’d been trying to protect him.

Hell, his father had gone to the police on numerous occasions, only to be sent away. There was no law against women running off with their boyfriends, and there was no evidence to suggest that wasn’t exactly what had happened. She was not a missing person.

So, Paul had hired Evan’s coworker and launched his own investigation. When the father and son realized they were both on the same path, the job had been given to Evan. Perhaps a new set of eyes could crack the case. And Evan had had more success recently than his coworker before him. Although they would probably never know if that was a result of Damon growing lax and sloppy in his movements as opposed to Evan having some superpowers his friend hadn’t had.

For the first time, Josh had hope.
Please, God, let today be the day I find my sister. And let her be alive.

If he found Ashley alive, he’d do everything in his power to get her home. If not, he’d at least be the first to know and could handle the difficult task of telling his parents himself.

His fingers shook as he squeezed the steering wheel again. Anything but alive was unacceptable. He kept repeating that to himself, though he knew it wasn’t true. He’d spent enough time in the ER during his residency to know sometimes dead was a better choice for some people. He’d seen plenty of abuse victims come in, lying to anyone who would listen about how they fell down the stairs—again. Or how they burnt themselves cooking. The number of reasons women could list for bruising all over their bodies was long and bone-chillingly detailed.

Amazing creatures, abuse victims.

Josh’s biggest fear wasn’t finding Ashley dead. It was actually finding her alive and abused and unwilling to leave.

He knew in his heart his sister was not in a normal relationship. Now he had to convince her. He doubted he would be able to keep himself from removing her by force if push came to shove.

After almost a year with no contact at all, the shit was deep. Nothing she could possibly say would convince him she truly was too busy to call her family.

No.

Ashley Rice Parkfield was coming home as soon as possible. One way or the other.

Samantha entered the courtroom at eight thirty in the morning, her briefcase in one hand and her cell phone in the other. She hadn’t been able to set the device down since Josh had walked out the door. She’d slept fitfully when she’d finally finished working. At least once an hour she’d called to make sure he wasn’t growing sleepy and had his head on. She was worried about him. His eyes did weird things when he spoke of Ashley.

The last thing she wanted was for him to commit a crime himself in his anger. Anything was possible, from breaking and entering to… She couldn’t bring herself to ponder further.

She glanced at the phone’s screen for the millionth time. She didn’t dare call him now. He was positioned outside the apartment where Damon had been seen and didn’t need the distraction. Plus, Samantha was about to walk into the court room.

She slumped her shoulders and ducked into the nearest restroom. She had twenty minutes to pull herself together. After spending the night in Josh’s bed, his scent and that of their claiming surrounding her, she was exhausted and not nearly as on top of her game as she liked to be.

Hell, she had to keep reminding herself what the case was even about. And she prayed she wouldn’t fuck this up royally in her distraction. The client deserved better and so did the judge.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror for several minutes, and then Samantha pushed off the counter, pulled her shoulders back, and stepped into the busy hallway.

In less than a minute, she was headed down the center aisle of the courtroom toward the table on the front left where her client sat anxiously waiting.

“Ms. Eden.” Samantha nodded and smiled at her client as she took her seat.

The woman visibly shook. “Have you seen him?”

“Who?”

“My ex. The bastard we’re here to prosecute.” Her brow furrowed.

Samantha shook her head. “Not yet. He wasn’t in the hall anyway.” She hadn’t seen Jeff Eden or his lawyer. That wasn’t unusual though. They might come in the back way or at the last second. She’d seen all sorts of things happen when the defendant was a guilty son of a bitch.

Once Samantha started a case, she focused on the plaintiff and lost sight of whether she was being paid or not. In this case, which was pro bono, she hadn’t thought of that fact in a week. This woman might not have money, but she deserved all the legal services she could get to ensure she got her fair share of the wealth and property her ex-husband was denying her after the divorce.

Even though the divorce had been final for over a year, the man had not relinquished possession of the home that rightly belonged to Lucy. He insisted he had paid her for her half, though there was no evidence it had ever occurred. As far as Samantha was concerned, the bastard was lying.

A commotion in the rear had both Samantha and Lucy swirling in their chairs to see what was going on. A few people stood arguing near the entrance, none of whom Samantha remembered meeting before.

“All rise.” The voice coming from the bailiff diverted Samantha’s attention back to the front. It accompanied the entrance of the judge, a middle-aged man with a stern face and graying hair at his temples.

Samantha swallowed as she stood. No matter how many times she did this, it always made her squirm inside when the judge entered, as though she’d been caught doing something naughty. Which was absurd. Judges had that effect on her.

Judge Macintyre hit his gavel twice on the podium to silence the lingering noise in the back of the room. He didn’t take his seat. “Counselors, in my office please.” With that, he turned and left the room through the door behind him.

Samantha glanced to her left at Lucy’s confused face. Lucy’s mouth hung open and her eyes were wide. Samantha patted her hand. “I’ll be right back.”

“But. . .”

Samantha pointed at the desk as she rose to indicate Lucy should stay right there.

Jeff Eden’s attorney, whom Samantha had yet to meet, was nowhere in sight. No one sat at the opposite table where the defense should have been.

As she followed the judge’s swaying robe through the back door into the hall where his chambers were located, she still didn’t spot anyone who seemed to be on the same journey. She realized she hadn’t seen Jeff Eden yet, but where was his lawyer?

Judge Macintyre held his door open for her to pass and then rounded his desk. “I’m going to give your opponent in this waste of time about two seconds and then I’m going to have his ass for lunch.”

Samantha sucked in a breath and held it. She remained standing as the judge was. What the hell was going on? Where was the defense attorney?

Luckily it was only about two seconds before the door behind her flew open and a frazzled man stepped in, adjusting his tie. “Judge Macintyre, I’m terribly sorry for my tardiness.” He was out of breath and heaving for oxygen.

Samantha stared at him, feeling sorry for him for some unknown reason. She wanted to adjust his suit jacket and tell him to relax. He was tall, not as tall as Josh, but still much taller than her. His darker skin indicated he was either middle-eastern or perhaps he had some African American in him. Sexy as hell. And what the fuck was she doing thinking something like that when she’d been claimed less than twenty-four hours ago?

The man ran one hand through his thick black hair while he set his briefcase on the empty chair with the other. Still gasping, he suddenly jerked his attention from the judge to Samantha. His eyes went wide and he froze in his place.

What the hell?

Samantha exhaled when she realized she hadn’t breathed since he’d entered the room.

On her next breath, she became the exact matching statue as her opponent.
Fuck
.

The man was a wolf shifter. But that wasn’t the reason for his surprise or her own. He elicited the exact same reaction in her as Josh had yesterday. His scent called to her on a deep level, that of mates. How was it possible?

With trembling fingers she gripped the back of the chair in front of her and turned toward the judge. Whatever weird hormonal reaction she was having to this wolf shifter, she couldn’t deal with it right now. They were in the judge’s chambers for fuck’s sake.

“Is there a problem?” Judge Macintyre asked. His head was cocked to one side and he glanced back and forth between the two attorneys with raised eyebrows. He was not amused. “If you two have something to discuss, don’t let me stop you. I’ll hang out here and wait until you’re both ready to address me. I have all day, after all.” His sarcasm was syrupy and not in a good way.

“No,” the defense attorney stated, “sir. Sorry. I… Never mind.”

“Mr. Craig. Where is your client?”

“I…” The bronzed god’s mouth opened. It even moved, but no sound came out. Finally, he swallowed and cleared his throat. “I don’t know, sir.” His voice had dropped. Barely audible.

“You don’t know?” The judge took his seat as he spoke. “How did you expect to enter the courtroom this morning clientless?”

Mr. Craig said nothing to that.

“Well,” the judge continued, “can’t say as I’m too surprised since I’ve received a note minutes ago, indicating your client was arrested this morning . . . in Florida.”

Mr. Craig gasped and then looked down. “Great,” he muttered under his breath.

“So, in light of the fact he seems to have skipped town
and
done so recklessly, I’m going to rule on this case in his absence. If you should happen to hear from your client, you might want to let him know there is a warrant for his arrest in the Show-Me State and I’ve decided to give more than his house to his ex-wife. I’ll send a report to both of you by the end of the week.” Before pausing, the judge handed a stack of papers to Mr. Craig and continued, “Now both of you get out of my office. I bet there are some real cases out there that could use attention this morning.” The stern man turned his attention to his desk and dismissed both Samantha and the man next to her with his body language.

Samantha straightened to her full height, which wasn’t saying much. She adjusted her purse over her shoulder and spun toward the door. Whatever the hell was going on between her and the other lawyer, it had nothing to do with the judge or this case. She needed to get out of the small office and return to her client before she did anything else.

As soon as she flung the office door open, she stepped into the hall and marched back to the courtroom. She was well aware of Mr. Craig on her heels, but Lucy Eden was sitting in the empty courtroom waiting for her to return. First things first.

Not to mention, she didn’t even have words to describe what was happening in the Twilight Zone world of shifters in which she had suddenly become a cast member.