Page 10 of Prey

Ares and Mannix both gave me a funny look, but followed me over to the side of the room.

"Kennedy seems to be gone," I said casually.

Mannix was the first to stop staring and speak. "What the fuck? Gone where? Why?"

"My guess is that she saw something she didn't like," I said. "As to where she went—"

My words were interrupted by the sound of Mannix's phone ringing.

He scowled, but snatched it up from the table and put it to his ear.

"What the fuck did you do?"

Apparently that was the new version of 'hello.' People worried about the handwritten letter becoming a lost art form, but maybe they should be concerned about people not knowing how to answer the phone and talk on it. Young people these days.

"Wild guess, that's not Kennedy," Ares remarked.

I snorted softly. That sounded about right. Mannix might have growled at her like that, but he would have called her Princess. He could be sweet when he wanted to.

"Where is she?" Mannix demanded. He shut up long enough to let whoever was on the other end of the line speak.

It sounded like that Charlie guy from the gym. No wonder Mannix was pissed. He’d be lucky not to have his cock added to the cock collection. If that was such a thing.

Honestly, I could picture it now. I could get one of those shadowbox things and hang it on the wall in my workroom. I could pin and label each cock. Of course, I'd have to leave a space or two to imply I was ready to add more to the collection at a moment's notice. I bet that would make people talk much more quickly.

On the other hand, that would spoil my fun. I put that on my mentalmaybelist. I'd revisit it later.

"Take her there and keep her there," Mannix was saying. "We'll be right there. You know what will happen to you if you touch her." He hung up without waiting for a reply.

If that wasn't confirmation speaking on the phone was a dying art form, I didn't know what was.

"That was that Charlie prick. Kennedy texted him. He's going to pick her up and take her to his place. We're going there to get her.Now."

Leo stepped out of the bathroom in time to hear that last sentence. He adjusted the sleeves of his tuxedo and asked, "Is everything all right?"

"It will be," Mannix said curtly. "We won't be long. Helen probably isn't ready yet anyway."

If Leo was tempted to tell us we couldn't go, Mannix marched out the door before he could.

I glanced at Leo and shrugged before I followed Mannix.

Ares was a few steps behind me, moving with an aura of reluctance. He was still in his, 'pretending to hate Kennedy,' mode. I had no idea who he thought he was fooling. He didn't fool me for a minute. Like I said, the Iceman wasn't born yesterday. Not even the day before that.

We didn't question Mannix when he stomped over to his car and slipped into the driver's seat. There was no point arguing with him most of the time, but not when he was in the mood he was in right now. He was like a hibernating bear who got woken up in the middle of a good dream. Try to get in the way and you may get a claw in your face.

While I didn't mind a few good scratch marks, and some pain, we didn't have time for that right now. Later though, I was there for it.

Ares climbed into the front passenger seat like he was taking the job of shotgun seriously.

I suspected he liked to pretend he was actually the god of war, but drive-by shootings weren't our style. They were messy, tacky and impersonal. If we went after someone, we wanted them to see us.

Seeing the fear in people's eyes and smelling it on them was almost as arousing as Kennedy. In spite of what the guys thought, I didn't kill my pet rabbit, Mr Flopsy, but I'd killed lots of other things just to see what would happen, and because I enjoyed the way it felt.

People were the most satisfying. Animals had no idea why you were doing it. Humans always did.

For the record, I've never killed a dog. Or a cat. I might be slightly unhinged, but I'm not a monster.

Mannix all but flew his black SUV through the big iron gates and along the streets of Dusk Bay.

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