Page 64 of Stray Cat

She turned on the sink’s faucet to cover any noise she might make, pleased that it had good flow, not a trickle. Then she made her way to the toilet, because she really did have to pee.

Once she finished and washed up, with the toilet flush further disguising sound, Lindsay pulled out the cell phone she’d lifted from the thug as he’d walked her out here. Her biggest worry was that he’d get bored and try to check his messages or scroll social media, but a look at the phone told her there was no Wi-Fi connection and only a weak phone signal.

She opened the text function, input a number she knew by heart, typed her brief but coded message, sent it, and deleted the text.

Lindsay pocketed the phone and was out of the bathroom with a minute and a half to spare.

“All done,” she said sweetly.

The thug, whose face hadn’t softened one iota, seized her by the arm to propel her back to the office. Lindsay suppressed her lynx’s instinct to throw him across the floor and used the opportunity to slide his phone quietly back into his pocket.

When they reached the office, she sent Xav a reassuring smile and resumed her seat.

“Dean was just saying he wants me to bring AC to him and kill him myself,” Xav told her. “Probably so he won’t be charged with AC’s murder. He hasn’t explained how I’m supposed to do that when I don’t even know where I am.”

“You’ll have AC taken to the location I’ve already picked,” Dean said with exaggerated patience. “You’ll ride there with me. Your girlfriend will remain here as a guarantee you won’t try to get away, deceive me, or otherwise cause damage. I’ve already described what will happen if you mess with me.”

“I suppose all I have to do is tell Diego I’ve found you,” Xav said, as though logistics were his only concern. “And have him bring AC to a meetup. Diego won’t come alone, though. He’ll bring serious backup.”

“I’d expect him to,” Dean acknowledged. “Doesn’t matter. I really don’t give a rat’s ass. I might have hired you to find AC in the first place if I’d known about you and that he was stalking me. Bring me AC, go the hell home, or on your vacation in Tahiti. I don’t care. You just need to make sure your bro doesn’t help AC try to killme.”

“I will, but this means Idohave to call Diego,” Xav pointed out.

“Yep.” Dean nodded. “We’ll get to that.”

Xav had edged closer to Lindsay’s chair during the conversation. He seemed calm and resigned, but Lindsay scented his tension. He was readying himself to fight.

She wanted to tell him he only needed to stall, but she couldn’t say anything with Dean and his two goons keeping their beady eyes on them both.

Lindsay reached for the mate bond inside her and sent her thoughts to Xav. This would only work if he was also forming the bond, but might not even then. Xav couldn’t read her mind, only understand the gist of what she was trying to convey.

Xav stiffened the slightest bit, and Lindsay’s heart thumped. Had he felt that?

His smoldering glance at her told her he did.

Lindsay subsided, her body flushing with joy and inconvenient rising mate frenzy coupled with vast relief. The doubts that had made her nearly ill the last few days—no, since she’d met Xav in the first place—receded before a rush of exhilaration. With that came even more mating need.

Good thing these guys weren’t Shifters, because Lindsay would have just given herself away big time.

“I’m not even sure what time it is,” Xav was saying to Dean. “But if I call Diego in the middle of the night, bouncing him out of bed with news that I found you, he’ll be very suspicious. He sent me home to enjoy time with my girlfriend, not continue the hunt.”

Dean didn’t seem impressed. “We have a couple of hours before we start. By the time we reach where I want to go, it will be a reasonable time of day. He’ll believe you.”

It was likely that Dean wanted to go back out to the area around Death Valley, Lindsay reasoned behind the blur of her Shifter euphoria. He could bury AC’s body in a mine shaft or in a crevice in its badlands. He might try to bury Xav there too.

Not this Shifter’s mate,Lindsay vowed silently. Dean Parkes had messed with the wrong girl.

“What kind of warehouse was this?” Lindsay asked him genially, as though the discussion didn’t interest her. “They have any shoes?” She pointed her bare toe. “My feet are cold.”

Dean studied her a moment, while Lindsay kept herself from springing at him and ripping his face off. She had to wait, to find out how many people were actually in and around the warehouse, and to make her move when she was certain Xav would be safe.

For now, she pretended to be the slightly dim girlfriend of the hot Xav, not quite sure what she’d gotten herself into. The kind of woman who wasn’t a danger to the big bad criminals.

Both thugs watched her closely, but they took their cues from Dean. To think, Lindsay had pictured him as a scared, anguished victim of the gang that had imprisoned him.

That the cruel leader Jeff had mentioned was Dean himself explained Jeff’s slight confusion when they’d asked if Dean had escaped the crash. Also his sudden impulse to run, if he’d thought they were either working for Dean or out to kill the man and his gang. And, while AC clearly hadn’t known Jeff, Jeff had likely seen the strong resemblance between him and Dean and concluded who he was.

Dean looked Lindsay over thoughtfully, but she could tell he came from a world where women were either used or dismissed. Xav said nothing at all, only watched and waited, the connection Lindsay had felt strengthening with every heartbeat.

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