Page 73 of Furever Loyal
That was really what it boiled down to in the end. It had taken her being snatched from him for Kincaid to come to the conclusion that not only did he care deeply for Haley, but that she meant a lot to him and she was more important than he could ever have guessed, when he’d first stood before his Queen and listened to the upstart accountant accuse him of treason against his House.
Haley Meynard was hismate, and he was going to get her back.
To do that, however, he needed Laurent to give up her location. The former Reaver of High House Canis had a slight lead on him currently and was probably almost at the parking lot by now. Kincaid suspected that the pathetic swine probably thought himself safe from retribution by now, that his safety was all but assured if he could just return to Moonshadow Manor.
Even Kincaid wasn’t so stupid as to consider assaulting High House Canis’ seat of power. Ursidae Manor might be a palace, but Moonshadow was a fortress. There was no way he would get access to Laurent there, and the Canim had to know that. If he made it back, he would likely never leave again, living his days out on the massive grounds.
And Kincaid would never find his mate.
Which is precisely why you never had any chance of escaping in the first place, you idiot. You don’t think I planned for this exact scenario?
Kincaid grinned, lips peeling back to expose teeth as he stepped out into the cool night air.
He was going to enjoy extracting Haley’s location from Laurent.
35
By the time he pulled up to the agreed upon location, the others were already inside. Not for the first time, Kincaid was forced to acknowledge the man’s efficiency. He had a lot of talent in certain areas. Being friendly was perhaps not one of them, but just then, it didn’t matter.
Walking up the few steps to the back door of the warehouse, he knocked twice, paused, rapped twice more, then entered right away. Nobody jumped out of the dark at him but he could sense the presence of at least two men, one to either side. They stepped farther back into the dark as he let the door shut behind him, cutting out the dull yellow-orange glow from the few lights that still worked outside.
It bothered Kincaid that they’d had to go and ask for aid from the one man he least wanted it from, but there was no denying he was uniquely suited to the task.
“How did everything go?” he asked, walking forward and stopping short of a circle of light, letting himself stay mostly hidden in the shadows. Both the people tied down to the chairs would recognize his voice, but the added theatrics of the situation would help.
“Boring,” Kvoss replied from the far side. “I expected a greater challenge from both of them, though he, in particular, was disappointing.”
Kincaid arched an eyebrow at Laurent, who was tied to the leftmost chair. “You didn’t put up any sort of challenge? Pathetic.”
The beady-eyed Canim looked around the room frantically, but the gag in his mouth prevented him replying. Next to him, his mate sat, her eyes focused on Kincaid’s shadow, glaring daggers at him.
“Your mate has more courage than you. Pull yourself together,” Kincaid said, becoming more disgusted with the man every second he was forced to spend around him.
They were in the middle of an Ursidae warehouse on the outskirts of Plymouth Falls. Kincaid would have preferred to take them both back to the manor, where more methods of…questioning…were located, but every instinct had told him that would just take him farther from Haley.
She was somewhere in the city, he knew that much. They wouldn’t have risked taking her back to Moonshadow, which meant they were nearby, and he intended to get the answers from Laurent no matter what it took. Kincaid’s eyes strayed to Melanie. No matterwhat, his mate was more important than his ethics or morals just now, and he had no doubt that the bitch had been involved in it to some degree. She would pay too.
“Thank you for your help,” he said as Kvoss paced around the circle of light to come to stand next to him. “I’m sure it can’t be easy helping me.”
“I’m not helping you,” Kvoss said coldly. “I’m acting upon orders from my Queen.”
Kincaid rolled his eyes. He’d been trying to extend an olive branch of sorts by actually thanking the Assassin, but it appeared that Kvoss had no interest in mending things up anytime soon.
Oh well. Soon enough, I shall be reunited with Haley and I’ll be a Title Holder of House Ursa, and this little shitstain will no longer be able to act like an ass to me.
“So, where shall we start then?” he asked, turning his attention back to the two prisoners.
“I long to hit him,” Kvoss said dryly. “But I fear that he’s ready to crack without us having to apply any real pressure to the situation, and that would be…unfortunate.”
Kincaid grinned. “You know, for once I think we agree on something.” His eyes swung over to Melanie. “Melanie Girard,” he said calmly. “I take it I killed one of your brothers?” he said with a laugh, putting as much contempt into it as possible.
Beside him, Kvoss cleared his throat.
“What now?” he asked, tired, turning to face the Assassin.
“We both know I killed Samuel Girard. My strike got there first.”
Kincaid sighed. “I know you think that, but you see, we actually haveproofthat you’re wrong, Kvoss.”
