Page 93 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

"They lied," Rosemary interjected. "They've gone out of their way to make sure no one can identify them and that they can't be located. Do you really think they're going to just hand him over if he has any sort of clue who they are? They definitely won’t if he's seen some of their faces. The only reason he's still alive is to manipulate you into compliance."

I appreciated that Rosemary had said it instead of me. She had an excellent bad-cop approach, which helped me appeal to Carter's softer side. She and I made a good team. "So, if you help us, we can capture whoever shows up to get me, and we can locate your brother before it's too late."

"Do you believe this?" Carter asked, looking at Killian. "Do you think my brother is at risk?"

"Yes, I do," Killian said curtly. "That’s why you should've come to me from the very beginning. Not only would St—Dove be okay, but we could have already gotten Randall back."

I felt bad for Carter. He hadn't known what to do, and he had put so many people at risk. We were all being hard on him, but he needed to learn the lesson.

"Let me be very clear," Griffin said, as he grabbed Carter by the neck. "If you makeanysort of decision that puts my mate in harm's way again, you will suffer immensely. I don't care what it takes; I'll make sure you go through hell. Do you understand?"

Carter's face turned red, and he nodded his head, as if unable to speak.

"I want to hear you say it." Griffin rasped.

"I..." Carter coughed a few times. "I understand."

Griffin released his hold, and Carter fell back, inhaling sharply.

"Do you mind taking him back?" I asked Rosemary. I didn't want to tell her to do it because that would just irritate her. I needed to be diplomatic in order to keep the angel on our side.

"Yeah, but if he screams the whole way back like he did here, I can't promise I won't drop him." She rubbed her temples. "He gave me a headache."

"Huh." Sierra blew a raspberry. "Can supernaturals get headaches? I never heard someone complain about one."

"This was a first for me." Rosemary reached the door and paused. "So, I'm guessing if we’re around someone super annoying, it is possible. Something I wished I hadn't learned firsthand. I might need ear plugs."

Her dramatics were exactly what I needed at the moment. The corner of my mouth tipped upward. "Sorry, I’m fresh out."

"Damn tragedy." She snorted and shook her head.

"Uh...maybe you guys can blindfold me and take me by car." Carter put his hands together like he was in prayer. "Then Rosemary won't have to go through the torture of carrying me."

"You've already been gone too long." They did need to leave, and now. "She'll get you there faster."

"Just come on." Rosemary marched over to him and grabbed him by the ear. "I'll take him back. Call me if you need anything else."

"Ow," Carter whined, as he followed behind Rosemary and out the front door. When it closed, the four of us looked at each other.

"Do you think he'll be able to pull it off?" Sierra tapped a finger against her bottom lip. "I mean, he seems nervous."

"He'll have to if he wants his brother to survive." That was a cold, hard fact—whether we liked it or not.

Killian puffed his cheeks. "He'll be able to pull it off. He loves his family and will do whatever he can to protect his brother. He’d told the pack that Randall had gone on a camping trip, so now it adds up. Randall must be far enough away that we can’t use our pack link to connect with him—or he’s being drugged. Between that and Carter being willing to face Griffin’s and mywrath to do what he thought would save Randall, he'll make it work."

I sure hoped so. "Well, we need to keep digging because, once they call him, we'll have to head back to Shadow Ridge." Luckily, we weren't that far away, but I was afraid to leave before we had searched through everything. There was no telling what we might come back to.

A phone rang from my bedroom. I faced Griffin and said, "You better go answer it."

"It's not mine." He pulled his phone from his pocket.

My stomach dropped. "It's the bear shifter's burner phone." I rushed down the hallway and ran into my room. The phone buzzed on the nightstand and rang for the third time. I snatched it up and pressed the green button.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The line connected,and my stomach dropped. I didn't want to say hello, or they'd know right away something was wrong. They had to already suspect it, or they wouldn't be calling.

Silence filled the line at first, until a deep, menacing voice said, "Samuel, where the fuck are you?"

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