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Barb started screeching at Brad to make these men go away. Brad casually shoved her back, making her stumble over James. When she fell, she almost landed on Mila who’d finally managed to sit up.

Everyone was yelling and talking at once until a gun went off. Mila instinctively ducked her head down at the sound and everyone went silent.

The man holding a pistol strode up and pointed it at each of their faces. “One more word, and I start shooting.”

Barb opened her mouth, but he swung the gun around to her, and she closed her lips tight.

“Good,” the gunman said. “You’re all going to stay right there on the floor. If you behave, you might make it out of this alive. Annoy me, and I’ll make it so you can never annoy anyone ever again. Don’t think about being cute and asking for a bathroom. You can piss your pants for all I care. This was supposed to be an easy grab, but you all insisted on fucking it up.”

The man turned to face Brad. “We have to finish setting up the traps, make sure I don’t have to come back over here.”

With that, the man walked away, and all the men followed except for the one Bec knocked out.

The moment the other kidnappers were busy doing other things, Brad walked to Mila and crouched down. His smile was mocking.

“You should’ve returned my text,” he said. “All I needed was a little money. That’s all. If you’d given me that, none of this would’ve been necessary."

“What is all this?” Mila asked, ignoring the money comment. It was clear that Brad was nothing but a hobosexual, attracted to anyone who could keep him in the lifestyle he wanted.

“After I ran into you and the freak, I realized there was another angle I could play,” he said, sounding proud of himself. “I made a few calls. Your siblings thought they were warning me off by giving me information on Carter and Gio. When I had names and your address, it wasn't hard to figure out what Gio was. You know, there’s big money in harvesting his kind.”

Mila looked at the men moving around the hangar, all of them wearing paramilitary outfits. Suddenly she understood.

“Tooth-pullers,” she whispered, horrified.

“That’s right,” Brad smirked. “We’re going to rip your vampire apart and sell him piece by piece, and I get a cut. The other freak, Carter, will have to die. It’s too bad he’s not worth anything.”

“Vampires? Tooth-pullers? What are you talking about?” Barb asked. “This was supposed to be an intervention to bring Mila home. What’s going on, Brad? Why do all these men have guns?”

Brad gave Barb an evil grin. “I’m about to open your eyes! I hope you get to live long enough to thank me.”

Chapter 27

Carter

They were almost to the cliff when something started to bother Carter the moment Mila was out of sight. Even though he promised to watch over Em, a sense of urgency made him turn and walk back. After only a few strides, he broke into a run. When he saw the van, he knew it was the reason he was running.

He got to the parking lot just as the doors were being shut on Bec’s angry face. Then the van kicked up a cloud of dust and debris as it drove out of the dirt parking lot.

“Mila! Bec!” he screamed, chasing after the van.

He was working on instinct and by the time the van reached the paved road, it was far enough ahead that he wouldn’t keep up even if he shifted to his wolf form.

A small sports bike had to maneuver quickly to avoid being hit by the van. The rider pulled over and flipped up the visor of his helmet.

“Did you see that?” the guy said. “That fucking van almost hit me. Did you get the plates?”

Breathing hard, Carter grabbed the back of the bikers jacket with one hand and a handlebar of the bike with the other.

“I’m sorry,” he said, then pulled the guy off the bike and hopped on.

The biker screeched with anger and scrambled to his feet, but Carter had already toed the bike into gear and skidded off after the van.

It was illegal to ride without a helmet in California, so he could only hope he didn’t cross paths with a cop. Getting involved in a chase with the police wasn’t going to help him rescue Mila!

The 600cc bike was the perfect vehicle to catch up with the van in heavy, Sunday afternoon San Diego traffic. Within a few miles, he was only one car behind the van.

His first instinct was to attack the van when it was stopped at a light, but what if they had a gun on Mila and Bec? He didn’t know why they’d kidnapped the two women, but he couldn’t risk that they’d be willing to execute them at the slightest provocation.