Page 166 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“Rip every one of their fucking heads off,” I said.

Blayne chuckled, and Tate agreed. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

“But first we have to get answers from Ryland. Answers first, blood second,” Miles reminded us.

I nodded, knowing it was what had to happen, but my bear wanted to revolt. All it wanted was blood. It craved the hunt, the fight, and the kill. It would take everything I had to hold it back when I came face to face with Ryland.

We’d been on the interstate less than five minutes when Blayne pointed ahead of us. “Van. Right there.”

“Shit. They ditched it,” Tate said as he swerved the truck onto the breakdown lane and slammed it into park.

I opened the door and leaped out. The first thing I noticed was the tangy smell of blood. I ran toward the van, terrified of what I’d find. I could hear Blayne and Tate screaming for me to stop. I knew there was a chance the hunters had set a trap, but all I could think about was my friend. Whatever Kellan had done, he was still my friend.

I yanked the back doors of the van open and cursed. Kellan lay on the steel floor of the van. There was so much blood. Thevehicle reeked of it, making me want to gag. I climbed inside and screamed over my shoulder, “Call 911!”

I pressed my fingers under Kellan’s chin, checking for a pulse. It was there, but my God, it was weak. Kellan’s eyes fluttered open, and he saw my face. As weak as he was, he was somehow still able to look surprised. He opened his mouth and mumbled something, but I couldn’t make it out.

“It’s okay, brother. Rest, we’ve got help on the way,” I said, trying to tell myself things would be okay, even though he was losing a shit-ton of blood.

Ignoring me, Kellan spoke again, louder this time. “I’m sorry… Ryland… he came to me.” He pulled in a long painful breath. “After the kidnapping… said he’d take Aiden… again. Kill him.” Kellan coughed, and blood sprayed out across his lips, making me flinch. “Said I had to… do what they said. No one was supposed to get hurt. I… had to help… get April away from you.” Kellan’s face crinkled as he began to cry. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop talking. Save your strength, Kellan. Stay strong, man.” I said the words, but my own eyes had started to tear up.

Tate stood next to the van, I could hear him talking to the emergency operator, giving them a description of our location. I prayed that they’d get here soon.

Kellan regained control and gripped my hand. As weak as he was, his grip was like a steel band on my fingers. “They changed cars. Left…me for dead.” He coughed and tried to catch his breath. “Put April into a black SUV. It had Illinois tags.” He took a deep inhale of air, and I could hear an awful wheezing sound in his chest. “Heard them say it was a safe house…an hour away.” Kellan coughed again, and blood gurgled out of his mouth, “I… oh, fuck, it hurts… I did the… only thing I could think. My watch… put it in April’s pocket… when they weren’t looking.”

My eyes widened and I glanced at his wrist. The tan line above his hand was visible. The smart watch I’d seen him weareveryday was missing. A smart watch? Blayne could track that. My head snapped around, and I saw Tate’s eyes light with understanding.

“I’ll get Blayne on it,” Tate said, sprinting back to his truck.

I looked back at Kellan to tell him he’d done a good job, but saw his lifeless eyes looking back at me. “NO!” I scrambled to my knees and started CPR. I pumped at his chest, over and over, screaming at him to come back.

“Don’t you fucking do it,” I sobbed as I attempted to pump his heart back to life. “Don’t you motherfucking do it. I need you, bro. I need you.”

Tires squealed outside. Taking a moment to glance up, I saw Miles was running up to the van. He slid to a stop, his eyes widening at Kellan’s body and the sight of all the blood. To his credit, Miles didn’t take long to jump in. He leaned forward and pressed his fingers to Kellan’s neck.

I was getting angrier by the second. It had been less than thirty seconds since his heart stopped, but it felt like I’d been there for years. As I continued pressing his chest, I screamed in his face. “You can’t leave your son. Don’t leave him like his mother did, you asshole.”

Miles gasped. “Pulse. He’s got a pulse.”

Maybe he had heard me. Maybe not. Either way, I relaxed, and I let out an explosive sigh. Miles touched me on the shoulder. “This is starting to be a pattern, but let me stay with him until the ambulance gets here. Go get April. I’ll catch up again if I can. You need Tate and Blayne more than me right now.”

I looked at Kellan’s chest rising and falling in shallow, weak breaths. Miles was right, but it was still painful to climb out of the van. I ran to the truck, giving Kellan and Miles an anxious glance as I climbed in. Miles waved and nodded to me. He looked more confident than I felt.

Tate had the truck moving down the road before I even had the door closed. I spared one last glance at the van as we sped by. Red-and-white flashing lights caught my eye in the distance. I let out a sigh of relief. The ambulance must have been close. Kellan might stand a chance if they got there soon. I prayed they did.

“Got it,” Blayne said. “Kellan’s account on his smart watch. The fucking GPS is even on. We can follow them right to whatever hole they crawled in.”

I leaned over the seat and watched Blayne pull up a map and zoom in. He pointed at a red dot moving slowly north. “Got. Those. Assholes.” He grinned at me triumphantly. “For a dude with a bullet in him, your buddy still had a good head on his shoulders.”

I nodded and gripped Blayne’s shoulder. “Yeah. Yeah, he does.”

“Where are they now?” Tate asked.

Blayne glanced at the screen for a few seconds. “Looks like they’ve stopped. It’s a fairly decent-sized building from the look of the satellite images I pulled. Give me a second.”

Miles called again. I snatched the phone up, terrified of what he was going to tell me.

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