Page 57

Braylen and the others nodded. “Yeah. He doesn’t look exactly like Cole the way Ash does, but he resembles both of them. Maybe he’s a cousin or something?” Braylen asked with a shrug.

Dallas. That was who’d come to pick up Ashton. Dallas, who was being threatened and controlled by Kyle. If Dallas had Ashton, then that meant…

“I’ve got to go,” I said as I turned and sprinted back to my car.

“Is everything okay?” Braylen called to me.

Not bothering to answer, I sprinted toward the truck.

The pack bodyguard was there. He’d been watching Ashton play.

My heart thundered in my chest as I ran.

Braylen and the others were confused, that was all.

The bodyguard had taken him, and when I got to the truck, they’d be sitting in there talking about sports or video games or something.

I could picture it. Ashton would look at me with a goofy smile, wondering why I looked so worried.

Kyle wouldn’t have taken my boy. Not yet. We were still safe. He’d given us a week. We had at least another day before anything happened.

The sunshine glinted off the windshield, obscuring the interior.

I wanted to see two heads sitting there.

A boy and a man. Safe and sound. All I could see was that bright reflection of the sun, a searing orb that threatened to burn out my eyes.

Reaching the driver’s side door, I skidded to a stop when I saw the window was down.

With dawning horror, I looked into the cab, a scream welling in my throat.

The bodyguard was slumped over in the passenger seat, a single black hole in his temple.

The interior of the truck was painted in gore.

The metallic reek of blood stung my nose as I stumbled backward, pressing a hand to my mouth in horror.

I’d never seen a dead body before, and my brain rebelled against the image.

I didn’t even know the man personally, and already the implications crashed down around me.

Kyle had killed this man. With his own hand or through a secondary associate.

He’d done that, and had sent Dallas to steal my son.

I turned away from the truck, bent over, and vomited on the pavement, unable to hold back.

The horror inside the truck was too much for me to take.

I’d be seeing that image in my mind until the day I died.

Yet, even as bloody and terrifying as that scene was, nothing compared to the terror I felt at my son being in the hands of a murderous madman.

Deep down, I’d never believed it would come to this. Not really.

Wiping at my mouth, I pulled out my phone with a trembling hand and called Cole. It took three tries because my fingers were shaking so badly to punch his name.

“Avery?” he said a moment after answering. “What’s?—”

“Dallas has Ashton!” I screamed into the phone.

I’d wanted to remain calm, but as soon as I heard Cole’s voice, the levies of my mind broke apart, and the full weight of what was happening came crashing down around me.

We should have gotten out sooner. If we’d left even that morning, Ashton would be safe.

He would be with me, instead of with a madman.

“Hang on,” Cole said, his voice strained and worried. “What are you saying?”

“You heard me! Cole, Dallas has my son. The boys at the park said he came and took him a half hour ago. I… oh, God… they killed the guy watching him, Cole. He’s dead.

It… Jesus, it looks like they shot him in the head.

The boys didn’t say anything about a gunshot.

Did he use a silencer or something?” I was rambling, and I knew it, but I couldn’t stop the words from tumbling from my mouth.

“Holy shit,” Cole hissed. “Fuck. If Dallas did take him, then it was against his will. He wouldn’t kidnap Ashton on his own.”

“I don’t give a fuck why he did it,” I snapped. “All I know is your brother has my son, and that means Kyle has my son. The same man who just murdered someone. I can’t let him have my boy.”

“I’ll kill the fucker if he even looks at my son,” Cole snarled, and even through my terror and panic, fear surged through me. I’d never, in all our time together in the past and now, heard him so angry.

Before I could respond, my phone beeped in my ear. I glanced down and almost sobbed in relief.

“Oh my God, Cole, Ashton’s calling me. I’ve got to answer this. I’ll call you back if he’s okay.”

“Call as soon as you?—”

I didn’t hear the rest as I switched to Ashton’s call.

“Baby? Ash? Are you okay? The boys at the park said?—”

“Well, now. How are we doing today, Avery?”

My mouth dropped open in horror. The oozing voice of Kyle Alexander seemed to slither from the phone speaker. I could almost picture a serpentine tongue reaching through the phone and slithering around my ear.

“Are you still there, my lovely lady?” Kyle said.

“I… I’m… where is my son? Is he okay?”

“The kid is here. He’s fine.” Kyle gave a low chuckle. “Unlike that poor bastard in the truck. Shithead barely had time to sniff me before it was too late for him.”

An explosive breath whooshed from my lungs as hot tears slipped down my cheeks.

“What do you want?” I croaked.

“Oh, that’s a really good question,” Kyle said. “A good and complex question that has a pretty simple answer. I’ve given Cole his ultimatum, and I expect him to obey. Now it’s time for yours.”

“My what?”

“Your ultimatum. When I take over Harbor Mills, I’ll need a mate to help me run things, to keep certain parts of the pack running smoothly, and—” I could hear the grin in his voice “—someone to give me what a man needs, if you catch my drift.”

My stomach lurched.

“What I’m telling you, Avery, is straightforward.

I know how much you love your son. Which means the answer should be very easy.

I need you to renounce your fated mate bond to Cole Garrett and become my mate.

Do that, and we’re all good. Don’t? Well, if you don’t, I’ll be mailing pieces of the boy back to you over the next seven or eight months.

I think you’ve seen what I’m capable of, so you know I’m telling the truth. Now, what’s your choice, Avery?”

I stared back at the truck that contained a dead man, terror and shock threatening to rip me apart from the inside. He had my son. What could I do? How could I possibly choose?

My hand trembled as I opened my mouth to speak.