Entangled Interaction (8 page)

Jasmine appeared out of the blue, plopping down in the empty seat across from me, and shook her head. "It's a madhouse tonight."

"Looks like it."

I sipped my water, then recapped the bottle. "You've been having fun?"

She shrugged. "There's some hotties out there, but nothing that I have to have."

"Have to or want to?" I arched an eyebrow.

She laughed. "Touché."

"Care to dance?" A tall, dark-headed man stood beside Jasmine, staring down at her like she resembled a thick, juicy steak and he hadn't eaten in a week. Something about him made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention in blatant warning.

Jasmine must have felt the same premonition. "No, thanks. I'm just hanging out with my friend tonight."

"It's just a dance," he gruffly told her.

She stared at him coldly. "Not interested."

He matched her glare for a moment before turning on his heel and storming off.

"He's downright scary."

"Wolf and a known troublemaker. No one in their right mind would get involved with him."

I sighed and absently watched the man return to a small circle of his friends. They all looked in our direction. Quickly, I focused on Jasmine. "He's got friends."

"Yeah, wolves run in packs." She glanced in their direction. "Don't worry. They're not stupid enough to start anything in here. Security doesn't take kindly to harassment."

"Good to know. I'm sure they're especially protective of you. They'd hate to report to your parents and their boss how they let some man get out of hand with you."

She grinned. "There's that." Her expression turned serious as she picked at the label on her water. "I have to confess something."

Intrigued, I sat forward and took another long drink. What would Jasmine have to confess to me? I drew an absolute blank.

"The first night, I didn't say anything. I wanted to get to know you. See what kind of person you are."

"Because?"

"Because I've heard about you."

Great.
Rumors abounded about me. More than likely unsatisfactory tales of my blunders, my faux pas, my bright pink wardrobe.

"Tygerius is my brother."

I blinked and coughed. She whacked me on the back. Big surprises never went over well when one swallowed water in gulps. Once I could breathe again, I stared at her. Sure enough, her eyes had the same tilted angle, her mouth, and even her nose reminded me a bit of Meat. She bore the DNA resemblance if I'd been looking for the evidence from the onset.

"I should've been upfront with you. Once you told me your name, things clicked. I couldn't help but want to learn more about the woman who'd captured my brother's heart."

I saw the regret in her eyes and easily sympathized. "I would have done the same thing. Curiosity gets the best of us."

"I'm sorry."

I waved my hand. "Don't worry about it."

"But I do. Besides, I can see why Ty is smitten with you. I like you, myself."

A wave of sadness washed over me, tempered by Jasmine's words. "'Was' is the proper word, I think."

She shook her head. "I disagree."

Uncomfortable, I picked at the wooden table. The last thing I wanted to do tonight was recount my losses. "Can we change topics, please?"

"Sure." Concern flashed across her face before she blanked her expression once more.

"How about you come to my place tonight?" A male voice broke the tension.

I found another tall man standing at Jasmine's side. His medium length, light-brown hair appeared a big ragged as if he hadn't bothered to get a trim in the past few months. Dark eyes focused on Jasmine as she met his intense stare. He was part of the small group of wolves gathered in the corner earlier.

"No, thanks."

He bracketed her in, one hand resting on the back of her chair, the other on the table. "Women always leap at my offers."

She snarled. "This one isn't. Go look elsewhere."

A sneer appeared on his pinched face. "No woman turns me down."

"I just did. Now go away and leave me alone before I call for the bouncer." She glared at him until he reluctantly stood, turned, and walked away. "Mangy wolves."

I released my held breath. "They're more than interested in you."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Lucky me. Not."

I couldn't help but grin at her clipped sarcasm. "Shifter dating isn't as wonderful as it appears?"

She matched my smile. "I imagine about the same as human dating. Have to sift through the bad eggs until you can hopefully find a good one. Not sure there's many of those left."

I couldn't agree more, but then again, I'd only recently started back dating after four long years and my first good option walked out furious with me a while back.

Fatigue set in. I glanced at my watch. Ten pm. Past my normal bedtime. "I should be getting home."

Jasmine checked the time and nodded. "For me too. I've got a lot to do tomorrow." She stood up. I gathered my purse and followed suit. "Then let's get going." Together we walked to the exit and out into the crisp night air.

Halfway across the lot, three men stepped out from the shadows, all built tall and lean, with shades of brown hair ranging from sandy to bark. Tight jeans and snug T-shirts easily showed off toned bodies and powerful muscles. I recognized two of their faces, both men that had approached Jasmine during the night only to be rejected. My heart pounded, fear hitting me like a tsunami as I read nefarious intent in their expressions.

"Grab her," the front man commanded.

The sandy-haired man grabbed Jasmine and spun her around with speed and agility that spoke of natural talent honed with practice. She struggled for a few minutes, but her slight build had nothing on his brute strength. He slapped a rag over her face and within a few seconds, she collapsed in a slump.

Staring at the event in shock, I began to quickly backpedal. A large hand clasped tightly around my upper arm. I screamed at full throttle, earning more than one hard shake from my captor. Squirming and kicking, I managed a hard kick to his shin before the tallest of the group took over, leaning down enough to growl into my face.

"One more peep out of you and it'll be the last sound you make ever." His black eyes sparked with anger, sending chills down my back. "Be careful, human. This drug is strong enough to knock out a shifter for a while, but will kill a human in a few seconds. Don't try my patience."

"I've got Jasmine, Montana. You ready?"

My purse fell to the ground as I jerked and pulled, trying to earn my release.

"You two can play with the little kitty. I'll take this one." The third man spoke, stalking over to run his fingers over my chin before gripping painfully. A jagged scar lined the right side of his face from just below his eye to the cleft in his chin.

I kicked out and twisted until a solid slap landed across my face. My face stung, the world spun, my ears rang, and I nearly flopped to my knees.

Adrenaline crashed as I realized my life was quickly coming to an end.

Just when I finally decided to join the dating game and find a nice man to spend my life with, some overgrown caveman decided to drag me back to his cave and have his way with me. My new friend had been drugged, lying limp on the ground while three non-human men made plans involving certain terror in mine and Jasmine's future. Their physical strength easily bypassed an Olympic athlete, and they had the advantage of magic along with teleportation.

Never had this particular scenario come up during my self-defense classes. No matter, I struggled to my best abilities, intent upon survival, release, or simply buying enough time for someone to hear the racket and come to my aid.

"Stop it." The menacing growl pulled my attention back to the obvious leader. He stood with an unconscious Jasmine draped across his shoulder.

The door to the club opened, allowing loud music and light to pour into the parking lot. I took the opportunity to scream again.

A man peeked around, saw us, then started in our direction. The next second, we flashed away.

We landed in a hallway. Hardwood floors shined and squeaked under our feet. The first door we came to, the darkest haired wolf paused, turned the knob, and yanked the door open. I was roughly shoved inside.

Gaining purchase, I turned and stared at the man, flinching from the evil sneer on his face. "Make yourself at home. I'll be back in a few so we can become better acquainted." He chuckled with evil promise.

Spying a dusty old vase on a wobbly three-legged wooden table, I snatched it up and threw the makeshift weapon at him. The glass exploded against the wall next to his head.

He looked from the falling glass shards to me, his expression sent shivers up my spine and set my heart to racing.

"I do like feisty ones. Makes for a bit more fun in the beginning." With that said, he shut the door behind him.

The knob rattled and clicked as if a key had been inserted from his side.

Scanning the room, I quickly checked for escape routes. No windows. The only door was the one Scar Face had just locked. The walls were of old mustard yellow, more than likely old lead paint. I waved the minor concern off. With the three wolves in the house, my chances of living long enough to die of lead poisoning hovered around zero. The room's furniture consisted of a nearly collapsed desk in one corner with three remaining legs, and a carnation floral pattern loveseat. The base color appeared to be white, but now resembled a dusky brown. Dark stains marred the fabric. Neither looked like they had been used or even looked at in the past half century.

I could hear mumbled voices below the floor. Obviously the house, while small in stature, had two levels. My bet was they took Jasmine to the lower floor, while locking me away in the upper story.

Unlike the fabled princess in the tower, no Prince Charming would race to my rescue, slay the evil forces, and set me free. With a rattled breath, I began to contemplate my options. No window. I headed to the door only to find it locked tight. No amount of jiggling made it budge.

The drug they'd used on Jasmine could last for hours or minutes. The bad guys weren't going to wait forever to make their demands. Someway, somehow, I had to get out.

But then what? The police? As soon as I tried to explain my friend from the bar had been kidnapped by werewolves, they would stick me in the loony bin. Since I had no idea where they brought us, escaping and running down the street appeared a little daunting. Sure, it was better than what those overgrown bullies had planned. However, a single woman didn't walk down an isolated inner city street after dark without a death wish.

Think. Think
. Her family owns the bar. If I could just get back there, I could fill them in on what happened. The
Familia
would come to her rescue. That would work! Only, how did I get there? I gave myself a mental forehead slap. I can teleport.
Maybe it was time to consider gingko therapy after all.

The plan began to quickly take shape. I teleport to the bar. Grab my weapon of choice, rally up some help, return here. The cavalry saves the day.
Got it.

With a quick prayer, I focused and poofed out.

I landed at the front door of the club. Quickly sending up a "thank you," I headed inside, bent on a mission.

A huddle of men stood around the bar, engaged in a loud discussion. I recognized Jasmine's father, Micah, near the center of the group. A familiar dark head caught my attention from his position on the other side of the room. Meat. My heart pitter-pattered as I tapped down the emotions released from seeing him again. Happiness, excitement, and a gut-wrenching sadness cascaded over me as I stared at the man I still loved. As much as I wanted to rush to his side and be folded in his strong arms, I couldn't. Large hurdles still stood in the way of us as a couple, some perhaps too large to overcome. However, now wasn't the time for our problems, not when we needed a cavalry charge to rescue his sister.

The bartender strode over to the end of the bar where I stood. I quietly asked if my purse had been turned in and smiled when he pulled it from under the wooden shelf.

Thanking him, I began to dig. "Hey." I continued to search while trying to get the men's attention over the roar of the improvised meeting. "Hey!"

All eyes turned toward me. Deliberately, I kept my eyes off Meat as I informed the group what had happened.

The guys looked from me to one another, then began to murmur amongst themselves, attempting to formulate a finer plan based upon what little information I gave them.

"I'll take you to her."

"Shyanne, just tell us what you remember about where they took you," Meat said in his low baritone.

"It's a house, two stories. Upstairs bedrooms." I tried to think about anything else that might make the location stand out. No train horns, no highway traffic, no gun shots.

"That's all? That's all you can tell us? That could be a millions houses just in the Clearwater City area." One of the men I recognize as a bouncer spoke while tossing his arms up in the air in frustration.

"It's all I know. We teleported inside. For some reason the big bad wolves decided to avoid walking us in through the front door." I gave him a glare and a frown, while digging out my Taser gun from my purse. Whatever those wolves were, I wouldn't put abject stupidity on the list. Although they did grab a pack alpha's daughter.
On second thought, maybe they were morons after all.

"Don't you recall anything else? Any little detail could be important." Meat stepped closer, his handsome face covered in serious worry.

"I can teleport there." My voice held confidence and conviction. I had to. No other option would get to Jasmine in time.

He shook his head. "Shyanne. We both know your chance of hitting the target, especially one that you spent maybe five minutes at, is only marginal."

My eyebrows crinkled as I shot him a look of annoyance and frustration. I cringed with the pain of his offhanded insult. His lack of faith in me cut me to the core. "I can and I will."

"We can't afford making fifteen mistakes before you might manage to actually hit the place." Meat frowned down at me in impatience. "Jasmine doesn't have that much time."