Make A Wish (Dandelion #1) (17 page)

BEAU

“Dammit.” I pounded my fist on the steering wheel. I’d been slowly making my way through the list of people who owned black, four door vans with chrome spinners in West Hollywood. Although unfortunately I wasn’t having the luck that I’d expected.

I bit my tongue and drove to the next place in silence, my hands tightly gripping the steering wheel, turning my knuckles a ghostly white. My face wore a deadly expression with a mixture of displeasure and fury.

The second I pulled into the parking lot of the next place on my list, my interest was automatically piqued. Of all places for there to be a black four door van with spinners, one just happened to be at Miss Daisy’s SoCal-Rent-A-Car.
Huh… Interesting.

***

Walking out of the rental car place, I picked up my cell and dialed. Griffin’s smooth accented voice answered on the other end.

“What’s up, Boss?”

“I think I got her.”

“Wait a minute. Can you repeat that? I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”

“You heard me perfectly, Griff. I think I have a lead on Jules. I need you to get the team together so we can go check out the address.”

“Yes, Sir.” Click.

I climbed into my car feeling something that had been slowly fading—hope. I mentally went over the conversation I’d had with the woman inside the rental car shop. It wasn’t hard to get the information I needed from her—she was practically drooling over me. A fact that had kind of repulsed me from the start.

The woman said that a muscular man rented the van for twenty-four hours. He returned it after only three hours of use, saying that he only needed it for just a short time. When it was returned, his arm was bandaged and in a sling. She’d asked him what happened but he’d just given her more money to keep her questions to herself.

Everything in me screamed that this was the man and if my suspicions were correct, Juliette had fought him.

My girl was a tough cookie.

“Hold on, Juliette. I’m coming,” I whispered into the silence of my car.

***

Two of the pack’s range rovers sat outside the address of the man who’d rented the car. The tinted windows hid us from sight, making it easier to maintain eye contact with the property.

A man with long braided orange hair walked out the front door and climbed inside an old brown hatchback that was rusting around the bottom of the front and back bumpers.

As he pulled from the driveway, I paged the second car and told them to follow him. They were also advised that when they reached the destination where the man was going, they were to wait it out until I got there. No one made a move without me being present—that was an order.

When the man and the second Range Rover were out of sight, I climbed out of the car, Griffin on my heels. The rest of the team was told to stay in the car with Saylor, whom I really hadn’t wanted to come in the first place.

She refused to cooperate and got her way when Griffin and Eve came to her defense. Though I loved creating that friendship between them, it was beginning to bite me in the ass.

Griffin went around the front while I slipped through the fence going around the back through the backyard. I drew on every one of my wolf senses—especially sniffing in hopes of catching wind of her alluring scent—but I couldn’t find it.

I walked to the back door, twisting the handle with all my strength, and it snapped as if it was nothing more than a mere twig. I already knew that no one was there. My hearing proved that but I walked inside and checked it out anyways, confirming what I knew to be true.

“Griff, let’s go. She isn’t here. Call up Jax and see where they are.”

Griffin complied, and within five minutes, we were on our way to meet up with the rest of the team. We pulled into a Walgreens and saw the other pack car parked off to the side. I climbed out and went to them.

“Hey, Sir. He made another stop at a different residential building. Ran inside and came back out immediately to leave. We followed him here, but he hasn’t come back out yet.”

“Did you get the address for the other home he stopped at?”

“Yes, Sir, we sure did.” Jaxon reached behind him into the backseat and grabbed the notepad straight out of Alec’s hand, handing it to me through the window.

“Okay. I’ll be in touch.” I pivoted and walked back to the car.

For the most part, my emotions were in check and my wolf agreed with the plan of action we were taking. We were finally making some headway and I was confident that we were on the right path to finding her.

“Where to, Beau?” Saylor popped her head into the front seat, a big grin on her face. It was easy to tell she was worried, but she was trying to stay strong and positive for everyone else. I admired that about her.

“We have one more address to check out right now. You wanna be the navigator?” I smiled as I handed her back the GPS.

“Sure, why not? It’s not like I’m doing anything else right now,” she joked as she punched in the new address and we headed out.

The house we pulled up to was a beige one-story house with weeds overflowing the yard. There wasn’t a thing special about it. It was hidden off the beaten path, no other houses within sight.

The moment I stepped foot onto the grassy yard, my wolf senses kicked into gear and the smell—the one that I’d dreamt about for months—came flooding to me. The scent was slightly different than I remembered it being but it was unmistakable. It was her. I pulled out my phone and sent a quick message to Eve, short and to the point.

She’s here. Keep Saylor in the car
—
by any means necessary. It could be dangerous.

I walked the perimeter of the house with Griffin in tow before realizing the front door was the only entrance point. I knocked loud and hard, my wolf hearing picking up the shuffle of feet coming our way. The door cracked open, the top chain lock still latched, and a male’s brown eye met ours.

“What do you want?”

Without responding to the man, I slammed my fist into the door with all the forces of strength I could call upon. The chain broke completely in half, leaving the door to swing completely open.

“Bind him. I’ll find her.”

“Yes, Boss.” Griffin grabbed the man. Though he was somewhat large, his muscles were pretty much non-existent. “He’s a wimpy one, should be no problem.” Griffin smiled as he grabbed the rope that had been hanging from his belt and, with one swift motion, had the man’s hands bound to his ankles. Griffin stood, eyeing the man, as I walked from the room to collect Juliette.

Her scent grew stronger and I mentally kicked myself for hesitating outside the door that I now knew her to be behind. I wanted to see her, but I wasn’t prepared to face the condemnation I was sure would be in her eyes. With a deep, unsteady breath, I opened the door and stepped inside.

It took a few seconds of straining for my eyes to adjust to the darkened lighting. There she sat leaning against the wall, sitting on the ground with her knees just inches from her chest.

“Who’s there?” Her voice came out raspy and fearful, her eyes squinting through the dim lighting as if she was trying to make out who I was.

“It’s me, Jules. It’s Beau.”

“Beau? Really, it’s you?” she asked hesitantly, as if she didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“Yes.”

“Well, maybe instead of standing there, you can get me the hell out of here.”

She sounds pissed,
I noted while I walked over to her and bent down, fidgeting with the metal chains. When they wouldn’t easily come open, I called on my werewolf and yanked them in my hands, pieces falling to the ground.

“Okay, I’m not gonna ask how the hell you just did that.” She held her hand out expectantly for me to help her up, a notebook clutched in her other hand.

I lifted her like she was a feather setting her on her feet. As I pulled back from her, she lost her footing and stumbled against me.

JULIETTE

I knew the moment he’d noticed. He no longer looked me in the face, his darkened eyes pinned on the small belly protruding from my tiny, thin frame. I ignored his incredulous stares and rolled my eyes, walking away from him and into the hall. I felt him near me as he followed but I wasn’t in the mood to further evaluate that feeling.

A man I’d never seen before had Miguel tied up in the front room. He kept his eyes on me for a moment and then glanced between me and Beau. I ignored it, savoring the image of Miguel tied up like I had been. It was definitely sweet justice.

I wanted so much to walk out of this place—to never see Miguel, Miles, or this building ever again, but I couldn’t do it.

“Where’s all the damn research, Miguel?”

“What?” He played as if he had no idea what I was saying. My hand flew through the air as I smacked him clear across the face. I could hear all three men in the room pause, probably shocked by my reaction, but I didn’t care. He was only getting a small taste of what he’d given me.

“Give me the damn research.”

I held my hand out, ready to repeat the process again, but he stopped me.

“Okay, Okay, Okay… It’s over there, in the top drawer. Key is around my neck.”

After I had the key safely in my hand, I tossed it to Beau. “Get everything.” I turned back to Miguel. “Can I ask you something, Miguel?”

He just nodded his head. I continued.

“What the hell did Miles want with me? Aside from basically using me as a human experiment, what would have happened to me or my child after he had gotten what he needed?”

“You don’t deserve to hear this, Juliette,” Beau spoke up.

My head whipped around and I narrowed my eyes, glaring at him. “You, of all people, don’t have a freaking say in what you think I deserve. You’ve made that blatantly clear.” I turned back to Miguel, waiting for him to speak. “Well?” My anger was rising and I was so sure any minute I was going to go ‘crazy-ass-pregnant-woman’ on his hide, or burst into tears. I was never sure which.

“He was going to wait till you gave birth to the child and then he intended to kill you both, just before turning over the research and your two bodies to the medical board.”

I once again slapped him across his other cheek before leaning down and whispering into his ear—I couldn’t help it. I felt as if someone lit a fire under me, I was furious.

“I hope that when you’re lying awake in that jail cell for the rest of your life, my image haunts you. If you ever come near me or my baby again, I will make your wildest nightmares look like a walk in the park. Try me.”

I stood back up and turned to the man who I didn’t know and smiled politely at him. “Thanks for all your help. He’s all yours. Do what you want with him, but please make sure that he rots in a cell for the rest of his life, and not a solitary one either. He deserves to have to go through the beatings and sufferings that I did.”

“You got it, Juliette,” he said, smiling.

With my head held high, I walked through the front door into the fresh air. The first thing I saw was Saylor beside a big car, holding her arms out as she ran towards me.

We collided in a big hug, tears streaming down our faces as we cried, relishing in the moment of finally being back together again. Saylor’s tears subsided, but she held me tight as mine freely fell from my eyes for much longer.

“Man, sweetie, you look like hell.” Saylor smiled, gently wiping the remaining water streaks away from my cheeks.

“I feel like hell.” I half smiled before pulling her back into a hug. “Gosh, I missed you so much. I knew you’d come for me.”

“You weren’t getting rid of me that easily.” Saylor laughed.

The weight of the world finally eased from my shoulders; we were complete again.

When we managed to break apart, I pulled Saylor down beside me on the grass.

“We need to talk.”

“Are you and the baby okay?”

“Say, chill. We’re as fine as we can be, under the circumstances. Guess who my kidnapper was?”