Page 26 of The Predator's Wolf Mate

“What do you want? You want me?” I barked at him, my hyena speaking through me.

“We simply want to talk. Negotiate, if you will. As we said, we only did what was required to garner your attention. Are you willing to talk?”

“If I get my family back.”

“Oh, you shall. And they will be unharmed as long as you keep to the rules. I will send you the GPS coordinates for the meeting place in two hours. You may come with your ‘team,’ as you call them. I’m sure Hammer is listening.”

Hammer shook his head.

“Text me whatever your fucking rules are and the place to meet and we are there. And I swear to you, if I find my mate and my son have as much as a hair on their heads out of place, it will be the end of you.”

“Mmm…” The asshole let out a low, menacing laugh. “Promises. Promises. Be here on time or there will be no omega to save.”

He hung up and, if it weren’t for the fact that the phone was my lifeline to my family, I would’ve thrown it through the damned window.

The room fell silent. The only sounds were the breaths of my brothers. The scent of anger built up until I could barely breathe without internalizing the murderous rage around me.

“Hammer.” I looked to our leader not because I didn’t know what to do, but he would certainly be more levelheaded than me in this scenario. My hyena wanted to find the fuckers and slit their throats. No negotiations. No conversations. Spill blood and then getting my family out of there. Period.

“Jeremy, you stay here at the omega house. King, you go to the warehouse and do me a favor and call in some of your lion buddies, huh? Just in case.”

King nodded and got up, leaving immediately. “Aziz, Tyrus, Mav, the four of us will suit up. We wait for the GPS and, if Mav’s dragon will allow it, we ride on him to the destination. I want only minutes if not seconds between when that text comes in and the moment we descend upon them.”

Mav nodded. “It’s fine with him.”

Tyrus cleared his throat. “Aziz?” he asked. “Your omega is expecting?”

“Yes.”

Pop-Tart laughed. “Again, we already knew, Aziz. His little tummy pooch is cute…” He held up his hands. “As a friend of his and yours.”

“How in the hell am I supposed to wait when he’s there. I don’t know if they are hurt or hungry or cold…fuck!” I screamed the word and then had to backtrack as I heard the chatter from the other omegas in the house. “Sorry, everyone.”

“We are going to go back to the warehouse and suit up. We will be back in less than thirty minutes. We will be ready when it’s time. We’ll get your omega back. We’ll bring your family back, Aziz.”

I nodded and marched to our room, trying not to let myself drown in the what-ifs—or my family’s scents.

I put on my armor, which would probably be shed in favor of my hyena, went back into the meeting room, and paced like my life depended on it.

Like Jack’s life depended on it.

Negotiate, my ass.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jack

“It’ll be okay.” I held him on my lap, hoping that I wasn’t lying to my little boy.

I wasn’t sure exactly where we were or how far we were from home. The entire thing had been a whirlwind. I’d let my guard down then the car started messing up, and it cost me my freedom. Worse than that, it cost the freedom of my children. But I was going to get us out of here. I just had to be smart about it.

They had me blindfolded me when he and his cohort threw me into their vehicle. They said if I attempted to take it off, to shift, or to run, that they would take Bryant from me while they tapped their gun. It wasn’t a risk I could take, instead complying with not only that request but any and all of them.

I’d been on top of the world when I left the healer, and then with one decision, boom—here I was. So far, they had been decent to us…as decent as one could be while holding someone prisoner. But, unlike when I was in the mansion, they gave me a soft chair to sit on, cheese sandwiches for Bryant and me, and water. It wasn’t great nutrition, but at least Bryant still had my milk, though it was drying up the further along in my pregnancy I got.

My plan was to listen, plan, and escape, in that order. And the more I listened and didn’t speak, the more I realized it wasn’t an accidental engine failure and a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This was planned from the very beginning. No wonder it had been so quiet. They wanted us to let our guard down and, like fools, we did.

They wanted me here, and I still couldn’t figure out why. There were mostly hyenas here but didn’t have the same scent undertones as my mate. And clan usually did. It was how you could tell who belonged wear. And yes, Aziz’s life was with all of us; he’d been mated to their pack alpha. So that begged the question: who were they? A rival clan? A coincidence? Something else entirely?

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