Page 64 of No Love Lost

Marcus met him at the garage, and they moved to the small door. A twist of the knob showed it was locked. No sound from inside.

Animosh arrived to sit beside them. Would she know to alert them if Addy was in one of the outbuildings? Or the house? Would she bark and alert Jonas in the house?

Beside him, Marcus cocked an eyebrow and waited for Heath to make the decision. Into the garage or the house?

No lights showed anywhere, but even though it was gloomy and windy, it was also the middle of the day.

They could take a few minutes and check the garage, but those few minutes could cost Addy. His gut said she was in the house.

Again, using their hand signals, they made a plan. Marcus sent a text to Troy updating him on the situation. Then, he and Marcus approached the house with the dog on their heels. A back porch had wooden steps leading up to the rear door of the house. The wind had whipped the snow, but a hint of footprints remained. One set of prints from what he could tell. Animosh let out a low growl.

Heath up the steps dashed up and stood beside the door. When there was no reaction, Marcus did the same. This door was locked as well. Animosh sat in front of the door and growled again.

They could be inside within seconds, but the noise of breaking glass would alert Jonas. They’d avoid that if possible.

The third window they tried shifted noiselessly. It opened above the kitchen sink, and it took them only seconds to get inside. With a pang of regret, he left Animosh outside. She would let them know if someone approached, but he didn’t know the dog well enough to trust her not to give them away from the inside. They closed the window behind them, knowing the draft could alert Jonas to their presence.

Heath let his body shift into warrior mode. He shut down his emotions and let his instincts and training take over.

Addy was here. He could feel her.

Hang on, Addy. I’m coming.

Addy struggled to regain full consciousness. She floated in that dark, dibiki world where she coasted after a bad attack. She was mostly aware of her body and some of her surroundings, but specifics of sight and sound were beyond her.

The last time she’d been in the dibiki had been when Heath had arrived in town, and she’d been terrified he wanted to take Nina away from her. Now, she was the happiest she’d ever been. Nina too. And Heath. All of them. A family.

A sound slipped into her brain, but she couldn’t identify it. Whatever it was, it had her breathing escalating again. Was it the wind making the noise?

Addy tried to shift her body. Tried to make it easier for her lungs to find the air they needed. If she drifted too far into the dibiki land, Nina would be alone.

No. Nina would have Heath. And Nimii and Ginny. Kimi. Troy and Piper. All their friends.

Heath would take care of Nina. But Addy didn’t want to drift away. She wanted to stay in her new world of happy.

The work to ease her breathing took all of her concentration, all of her effort. Time didn’t register when she was in the dibiki world, but eventually, some of the tightness in her chest lifted. Not all of it, but enough for her brain to allow other thoughts, other sensations.

Cold shivered through her. No wind in her face, but the cold filled her up.

Was she in danger?

That shot her breathing up, and for a time, it consumed her. She battled the fear, battled the cold, fought for the air.

Years of practice had her following the pattern almost without thought. Breathing should be without thought, but when cold and panic pressed down on her lungs and weak heart, she needed to help it through the process.

Finally, she was calm enough to allow a tiny part of her brain to figure out where she was and if she was in danger. What was the last thing she remembered?

When memory swam back, it landed with a thud on her chest. Her car and phone were broken. The wind and the cold and the snow. Almost home.

Something had hit her on the head and she’d swung into whatever it was with her tire tool. She’d heard a man swearing and then another thump to the head had knocked her out.

But she wasn’t outside. He hadn’t left her there.

Who?

Her memory said male. Bigger than Addy, but that wasn’t hard. Not as big as Heath, though. Jonas?

Now that she’d reached the level where her memory worked, it was easy to push through the rest of the fog and into reality. She kept her eyes closed, hoping to learn more without letting her attacker know she was awake. Heath would find her, but he would need time.

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