Page 2 of Finding His Way (The Protetors #5)

J eremy didn’t have the patience like some of his fellow SAR shifters. Sure, he was fine out rescuing someone but in this kind of situation, it was hard as fuck for him to sit back and let someone else handle the questioning.

Especially when it got them nofuckingwhere. Dianna was still out there, lost, hurt, god knew what. He refused to focus on the thought she could be dead.

My cat would know .

That was the lone reason he’d not lunged over the table and torn the spine out of the man sitting there. The man leaned back in his chair, fingers laced over his flat stomach. Sitting there like he had no fucking clue how close to death he was at the moment. The smug look on his face told that.

The beast inside Jeremy rose, swiftly pushing him hard, his cat was always close. Always ready to rend and tear into someone, or someones. It had been the only way for them to survive his brutal upbringing.

To his left, he caught the subtle movement of his friend Lando, as the shifter slid to the left and reached out to stop his mate. Unsuccessfully. The blinding speed she had spoke to how well she’d melded with her beast. Especially if her mate, a man who had grown up knowing who he was and learned to be one with his beast at a young age couldn’t stop her.

Selena had mated Lando and was his consort. Last he knew, she was learning to work with her jaguar, but this… call him fucking impressed. She’d cleared the room with a bound and was on top of the man who know lay on his back, eyes wide with fear as her razor sharp claws sank into his neck, slowly.

She cocked her head to the left and snarled low. “I’m not a negotiator. I’m not about going easy on you to create camaraderie. I don’t give a fuck. You reek of lies and you know who took my friend.” Her fangs elongated. “Tell us who will be joining you in hell.”

“Aww fuck.” Lando’s muttered curse reached him the second Selena’s scent did.

She was pregnant. Explained so much.

The alpha shifter was across the room and hauling his wife away from the man bleeding from his puncture wounds. His eyes conveyed his apologies to Jeremy as he maneuvered the furious and borderline out of control female away.

Jeremy strode up to him and stood over him, beast barely contained within. “Tell me.”

That was it, he didn’t embellish anything. There were no false promises, no anything other than his question.

“They’ll kill me if I talk.”

“You’re going to die, regardless. The only thing you have a say in is how. Easy or hard.”

His eyes widened and he gulped. “I’m innocent.”

A single rough rumble escaped. “You touched the wrong woman.” He narrowed his eyes. “You touched my woman.”

Ammonia burned his nostrils yet he didn’t move, didn’t give any indication that he knew the man pissed himself. Somehow, his beast remained contained.

It wouldn’t remain that way for long. Right now, however, he retained control.

“I didn’t know she was your woman. I didn’t know anything.”

“That’s not my concern. Tell me what you know.”

His beast clawed at him. Wanting to get out.

“You’ll let me go then?”

Eyes shifting to his animal he allowed his fangs to drop. He didn’t lie to people and wasn’t about to start doing it now.

“I said you were going to die. That hasn’t changed.”

More ammonia filled the air only this time it wasn’t alone. The pungent scent of feces wafted around.

He reached out with one hand and clamped it around the man’s neck. Beneath his fingertips he could feel the slick blood caused by Selena’s claws. Jeremy didn’t put his own claws into the man’s skin, he merely tightened his grip. He didn’t need the razor sharp points to end his life. Humans were notoriously weak compared to his kind.

Eyes bulging as his air vanished, the man looked up him panicked. It hit him finally that he wasn’t having anything on this day which went in his favor.

“Do not make me tell you again.”

“She’s going to be sold.” His words fell in a panted pattern as the sweet relief of air didn’t immediately come to him.

Sold.

Anger surged. Canting his head to the left, Jeremy lifted one eyebrow. Waiting.

“A group of Serbians heard about her connection to a shifter group. They want the shifters.” He gulped and Jeremy lightened his grip ever so much.

The relief in the man was immediate. He took a large gulp of air and swallowed.

“I don’t know where she is now, but she was being held in Belarus.”

Despite being used to the fury of his beast, even he struggled not to flinch when, his cat struck with swift and deadly precision. Never had his animal been this furious. Almost like it knew something he didn’t.

“Name.”

The word fell from his lips low and more of a rumble than an actual understandable word.

“Ivan Ková?ová.”

Jeremy ended his life in the next span of time. He knew the name and didn’t need to know anything else. Standing tall once more, he turned on his heels to find both Lando and Selena there, watching him.

“You killed him.”

Lando’s statement held zero judgement.

“He’s no longer needed.”

“Where is she?” Selena’s softer voice held none of the calm and gentle side he had grown accustomed to her showing.

“Not sure.” He walked toward them, blood from the dead man dropping from his fingers as he moved.

“And you killed him?” Her jaguar rose to the surface, fury pushing hard.

Lando shifted to be able to grab her swiftly or intervene if needed. Jeremy understood. They were consorts and he would protect her with his life. Thing was, so would Jeremy. And he understood her anger.

Dianna was one of her best friends in the world. The entire group of women were close and were a force to reckon with on their own.

His cat didn’t respond even though it hated to be challenged in any manner. Pausing before her, he reached out with his unsullied hand and brushed the back of it along her cheek.

“I know the man who took her. I didn’t need him anymore. I swear to you, I will find her and bring her back.”

Selena watched him, tears of anger and fear commingling in her gaze. “Promise me.”

“You have my promise.”

She gave him a nod before turning her body into that of her husband and mate. The way Lando curled around her, loving and protective all at the same time was something Jeremy wanted for himself.

And my woman.

Pivoting, he walked out of the room, a singular destination in mind. Those who touched her, would be dead within a day.

“Jeremy.”

His cat rebelled when he paused at the way Lando said his name.

Razor sharp claws pricked his palms as he took a deep breath before slowly turning to face his friend and teammate.

“Do you need us?”

Us.

The four, well five now if he included Ziggs, who worked together in the SAR unit in Brazil. All shifters. All men who would protect those weaker and would have no problem backing him up to get his woman. Three of them cats and two raptors.

Even though it tempted him, he shook his head.

“No. I have this.”

Lando opened his mouth only to shut it with a nod. “Call if that changes.”

He didn’t reply. Out of the five who made up the group, he was the loner within them. Sure, he loved and respected his fellow shifters but he was a loner. His cat was a loner and together they far preferred solitude then being with others.

Plus, he could hunt his way. And if he needed assistance, he had family he could pull in.

Outside, he strode off down the path from the house the man had been held in before climbing into the truck he drove when he was here. The old, dented 4x4 had gotten him to a good many places. With a thump on the dash, he turned the key over, which had been left in the ignition. He had no fear someone would take it. They knew his vehicle around here.

Hell, I could leave money on the seat and it would still be there when I got back.

Shifting into gear, he spun out as he raced down the gravel road, ass end fishtailing a bit before he yanked her back under control. Within the hour his new information in his mind, he was pulling up to an apartment building and parking off to the side.

He followed an older couple in, flashing a badge then joining them in the elevator. They were going to the third floor he was headed to the seventh.

Jeremy headed straight for apartment 7J and didn’t bother knocking. Turning the handle, he shouldered it open, the flimsy lock, no match for his shifter strength. The smells and sounds of fucking reached him and he snarled low as he walked through the apartment, noting the high end items that decorated the space.

At the bedroom, he cracked his neck then stepped in the room. Two men were on the bed, face to face, fucking. Without a single care, he walked up to the duo, grasped the man on top and yanked him off the bottom, leaving the man gasping in shock, his small cock hard with his hand around it as his asshole winked at him, still open from the interrupted fuck.

“What the hell man? Who the fuck are you? Do you know who I am?”

The man he’d tossed was unconscious on the floor so Jeremy didn’t spare him another look. Eyes narrowing on him, he set one foot on the bed so the tip of his boot was near the man’s ass.

“I know exactly who you are. You’re the dumbfuck who sold out his partner.” He snarled at him, teeth lengthening. The man kicked at him and Jeremy gripped his ankle, claws pushing free from his fingertips and into the flesh. “Your partner, Dianna Levitt, is my woman. And I have some questions.”