Page 27 of Single Daddy's Mate

Growing more concerned with the sensation tingling down her spine, Melody forced a smile and said, "Fine then. I'll have a head start instead. Catch me if you can!"

She shot to her feet and started to run, knowing the little girl wouldn't be able to resist the chase.

Just as anticipated, Sally followed her and Melody slowed her pace, allowing the little girl to overtake her.

"Oh no! You're going to beat me!" she called after her.

"Bet you can't catch me!" Sally yelled over her shoulder, but Melody didn't have the chance to respond.

Her blood ran cold as she heard heavy footsteps gaining on her from behind. They moved fast and inhuman, and within an instant, arms wrapped around her waist, yanking her to a halt.

Her shoes skidded on the shingle path, and she almost lost her footing as her hands raked at the arms gripping her.

"Get your hands off me!" she yelled. The screaming of Sally made her entire body turn to ice.

Still fighting the arms that grabbed her from behind, she caught only a glimpse of the raven-haired little girl as she was scooped up into the arms of her mother.

"No, no! Get your hands off her!" Melody screeched, knowing too late that she had made a mistake. She ought to have stopped and called Jake the instant she felt as though something was amiss. Even calling Tara would have been better than going it alone.

But it was too late now as Sally screamed, "Melody, help me!"

The girl screamed and cried, pleading with her own mother not to take her. But the cruel woman seemed unfazed and uncaring to her daughter's desire.

"You can't do this!" Melody screamed, kicking out at the person behind her. In her panic, she barely managed to sense the scent of magical blood—warlock, to be exact. And from the scent, it was the very same one that had attacked Jake the day before. She recognized it from her next-door neighbor and it made her skin crawl.

"You can't take her!" Melody continued to protest, though it was in vain as Miranda threw her daughter over her shoulder.

Knowing she had only one chance to get free, Melody gave no warning before she grew insanely still and whipped around to fight off her attacker.

Her only problem was, he appeared to have been prepared, and just as she tried to slash him with her claws, something heavy hit her on the side of the head.

She opened her mouth to throw an insult, but all that came out was a jumbled mishmash of half-words as blackness descended upon her.

Though she fought it with all she had, even a werewolf was no match for such a hard hit to the head. And the last thing she remembered was her body slumping toward the ground, carried there in the warlock's arms just seconds before the lights went out completely.

Even Sally's screams faded to nothingness. For a while, there was only peace and quiet. Numbness enveloped her in the most welcoming way imaginable. A brief respite from the stress of life was just what she needed, and oddly, she welcomed it, though deep down she knew she had to fight. Sally was only six, she needed her. And besides, there was no way in hell she would let a psycho like Miranda get away with this.

There was just one problem. First, she had to fight to wake up.

Chapter 13 - Jake

He had been sitting at his desk for only an hour when he received the dreaded call. When he saw Miranda's name pop on the screen of his cellphone where he'd set it next to him on silent, he at first considered ignoring it.

But the grim sense of disaster he felt in his gut made him pick it up. Clearing his throat, he answered, "What do you want?"

Miranda's sadistic laughter made his skin crawl. "Your poor little she-wolf didn't put up much of a fight now, did she?"

"Excuse me?" Jake asked. "Miranda, I have no idea what you are talking about, but I am in no mood to play stupid games with you. Some of us have work to do."

"And she had only one job," Miranda countered, her tone filled with dark humor. "She couldn't even do that right. You really should have chosen someone better to care for our little wolf, Jake."

"Don't call her that!" Jake snapped, hating how his pet name for his daughter sounded on his ex-wife's lips. "What have you done, Miranda?"

"Maybe you should head home and ask your nanny?" Miranda sneered down the phone. "Oh, wait. She's not there. Neither of them are!"

Miranda laughed then, and just as Jake was about to demand to know what she was talking about, the line went dead.

Dread twisted his stomach, and he was on his feet and out the door before he had even shoved his cell phone into his pocket.

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