Page 68 of Ruthless

Barking cuts into my thoughts, and I growl. Dealing with that little shit is the last thing I have time for right now, but when I spin around to toss him out the door, where he snuck in, my heart drops into my stomach.

“Fuck.” I bend down and pick Thor up as carefully as I can. His white coat is covered in blood, and I’m not sure if it’s his or not.

“Is he hurt?” Isaac asks.

I run my hands over his furry body but don’t feel any cuts or bumps. “No. He’s clean.”

“Oh shit. Look, Z.” Axel points to the red paw prints that Thor left behind. A trail of them leads out the door and into the hall.

We follow his bloody path over to Mrs. Baker’s apartment. When we get to the front door, it’s cracked open just a fraction and not enough to see inside. I hand Thor over to Axel for safekeeping since he still hasn’t stopped bitching about Isaac’s fish and internally prepare myself for what I might find inside.

“Why the fuck do I have to hold the dog?” Axel whispers to my back, but we ignore him. His bitching becomes background noise as I get my head in the game and focus on what I might find on the other side of that door.

“On three,” Asher whispers, holding both my and Isaac’s gaze. He counts down with his mouth, and when he gets to one, he kicks the door in with his gun out. Isaac and I follow inside right behind him, keeping our eyes peeled for anything and everything.

There’s a trail of bloody paw prints from the door and down into the hallway. Beads of sweat drip down my temple as I follow it to the last door on the left. I reach out to turn the knob but hesitate. My life could change forever when I open it, and I’m not sure if I’m ready for the guilt those consequences will have.

“I’m right behind you, Z.” I’m so lost in my head that I never even heard Isaac approach, but his reassurance that he has my back through this is all I need to find my balls and go through with it.

I nod and squeeze the knob with my heart in my fucking throat. The bloody trail continues around to the side of the bed where the far wall is. A sliver of tension leaves me when I reach it, and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “It’s not her.”

Mrs. Baker lies on her back, eyes wide open and lifeless as they stare up at the ceiling. Her face is beaten and bruised, but it’s the slash across her throat that gives away how she died.

Thor comes rushing in, almost knocking me off my feet, and curls up on her chest. The movement causes some of her hair to shift out of the way, and everything inside me goes numb.

“Isaac!” I move the side of Mrs. Baker’s neck, exposing the rest of the tattoo.

“Son of a bitch.” His eyes narrow as he gets a better view. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yup.” A fucking paw print tattoo is high up on the side of her neck. The collar of her robe always hid it.

“Just how fucking long have they been watching us?” He presses his mouth together in a tight line.

“I don’t know.” And that thought terrifies the living fuck out of me. They’ve been out here all this time, right under our fucking noses. The same pricks that are responsible for our night of hell.

“Listen.” Isaac cocks his head to the side, concentrating. “You hear that?”

I do the same, and sure enough, there’s a thumping sound coming from behind the adjoining bathroom door. “What the hell?”

I creep over to the door, with Isaac following close behind me, and open it. Rory falls out onto the floor at my feet. His hands are tied behind his back with zip ties, and his ankles are bound with the same type of restraint. There’s a small gash on the back of his head that has his brown hair soaked with blood, where I’m assuming he was hit over the head with something and a piece of duct tape covering his mouth, but other than that, he looks to be in one piece.

I kneel and rip the tape off in one quick motion like a Band-Aid because doing it slower just hurts like a bitch. “Where’s Ken?”

Rory’s blue eyes are dazed and confused as he struggles to gain his bearings. “I don’t know. The fecking bastard hit me from behind, and everything went black. Never even saw them coming.” His nostrils flare as his mind takes him back to earlier.

I grit my teeth and fight the urge to put my fist through the nearest wall. Tonight keeps going from one dead-end to the next, and I’m gettingfucking tired of it.

“Zane! You need to see this,” Asher calls from the living room. I hesitate, torn between interrogating Rory for more answers or seeing what my brother found.

Sensing my frustration, Isaac pulls out his knife and bends down to cut away Rory’s zip ties. “I got him.”

I push up to my feet and walk out into the living room where Asher and Axel are. They’re staring at the wall with the only family picture in Mrs. Baker’s apartment. There’s one word written right above it in blood—Lobo.

It feels like the floor falls out from under me. The son of a bitch was here. While we were trying to find him, he managed to sneak in under the radar.

“Who would hurt an old lady?” Axel takes the picture off the wall and tilts his head to the side.

I don’t answer him. I can’t. The reasons fucking with my head.

---