Page 59 of Finding Her Panthers

“She’s unstable at best.” I scowl.

“She’s nuts, but those are the ones you have to really be careful with,” he warns.

“They wouldn’t take her anywhere crowded with people. No apartment buildings. No populated neighborhoods,” I muse.

“They would take her to a place that is quiet, somewhere where screams couldn’t be heard,” Ryker says bluntly.

“Really?” I glare at him.

“What? Do you want me to lie to you? I have plenty of places where I take the ones that need to be silenced. I don’t need cops breathing down my neck while I do it. I know what I’m talking about.” He flashes me his long teeth, gleaming in the streetlight. “You should be glad you have a monster on your side.”

I roll my eyes. “So we need to search outside of the city. Abandoned buildings. Places where they would feel safe to do what they want.”

“Now you're thinking.” He slaps me on the back. “Let’s go find your moping brothers, get their heads in the game.”

“I understand why people don’t like you.” I followed him to the street.

“People know I will do anything to protect them if they are loyal to me. Someone has to do the dirty work.” He opens the passenger side of my car.

Opting for a ride instead of flying, or however he got here.

***

I open the door to Jax’s office to chaos. Jax is hovering over Stephan as he works on his computer, his hand clutching his neck, papers and files scattered over the usually organized desk. His eyes frantically snap up to watch us.

James is slumped on the couch, his clothes wrinkled more than usual. Empty cookie packages are tossed on the coffee table. At least he ate something, choosing a favorite snack of Harmony’s. He doesn’t even notice us walking in.

“Find anything?” Jax’s eyes light with hope.

“No. But Ryker helped me talk it out. I should have figured it out before.” I stop at the desk while Ryker sits next to James and inspects him, seemingly fascinated.

Ignoring whatever is happening on the couch, I explain, “We need to look at a map. Find all the places not in the city. Abandoned buildings. Places where no one would blink at weird things going on.”

Jax gets a pained look and nods. “Stephan, forget looking for the car. They need somewhere without cameras. Pull up a map. We can narrow down the search drastically.” Finally, determination radiates from him.

“Do you want your mate back?’ I turn to the couch at Ryker’s question, aimed at James.

James snapped to attention, glaring at Ryker. “What kind of question is that?” he growls.

“A simple one. You either want her back or not.” Ryker raises his brow.

“Of course, I do. I love her.”

“Well, fucking find her. You aren’t doing her any favors by sitting here being depressed. Grow some balls, do something.” He waves his hand to James’ crotch.

“Who invited him here?” James scowls at me.

“I can get to any location faster than any of you. I can scout it out and let you know if she’s there and report back.” Ryker straightens.

“He’s right. We need him,” Jax says, studying the vampire.

“See. Helpful.” Ryker grins.

James observes him as he moves off the couch to stand by me.

“Let’s just make a list of possible locations first.” James nods to Stephan.

We fall silent as he does what he does best, gathering the information we need. “At least twenty locations would fit the criteria we’re looking for.” He prints out a list of addresses outside the city.

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