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“There’s Chuck,” I said, pointing at the smallest of the three windows.

Zayde clicked on the window and expanded it to fill three-quarters of the screen. The camera was pointed at the public restroom, but the back side of the parking lot was just visible. The hood and half of the windshield of the truck could be seen on the video feed.

We watched as a bulky, muscular figure—Kyle, that bastard—ran from the trees to the side of the truck.

My mouth dropped open as Kyle pulled a gun from his jacket.

The barrel was far too long for a regular gun, but then I realized it had to be the silencer.

He thrust the pistol through the open window and fired one shot.

Even without the audio, the bright flash of gunfire made me flinch.

Avery turned away, burying her face in my shoulder.

The camera couldn’t pick up much detail, but I still saw Chuck’s body spasm to the right and fall over, a crimson spray barely visible on the interior of the windshield.

“Holy fucking shit,” Trent said.

“Is this the fucker who stole Ashton?” Porter asked, glancing at me and Avery.

I nodded. “Yeah. He’s the ringleader, I guess you’d say. At least, I think that’s him. You can’t see his face in this video, but it looks like his outline.”

“Anyone who ambushes an innocent person like that is a walking, talking piece of shit,” Langston said.

Maybe he wasn’t all bad after all.

Zayde changed the camera back to the basketball game.

“The silencer and the noise of the game must have drowned out any noise from the murder. See? The kids don’t even flinch at the gunshot. They just keep on playing. Who’s this?” Zayde asked as a truck pulled up in the closest parking spot to the ball court.

The angle of this camera allowed an unobstructed view into the driver’s seat.

Dallas sat behind the steering wheel. I gritted my teeth as he put a hand to his mouth and called out through the open window.

Ashton and the boys stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the car.

Dallas waved Ashton over, and he jogged to the parking spot while the other kids milled about.

After a few moments of talking, Ashton shrugged, then turned and said something to his friends before getting into the truck. Willingly.

“Why would he get in the truck?” Avery asked, her voice thick with emotion. “He doesn’t even know Dallas.”

“Whatever he said must have been good,” Trent said.

The car pulled away, and Zayde hit pause, then enhanced the image.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He zoomed in on the license plate of Dallas’s truck. In a blur of websites, spreadsheets, and strange pages of incomprehensible code, he pulled up the Georgia DMV page. It was not the page the general public could access, though—this was the employee site.

“Holy hell,” I said, and glanced at Langston and Porter. “Your friend is good.”

Langston grinned back at me. “There’s a reason I brought him.”

Zayde punched in the plate number, and the address the car was registered to came up. He punched the address into a map website and brought up a street-view image of the house. It was a bit rundown, like no one had been taking care of it.

“Address is a little west of Harbor Mills,” Zayde said. “Where’s that?”

“About forty minutes from here,” Avery mumbled. “One of the next towns over.”

I heaved out a sigh and crossed my arms.

“What?” Langston asked.

“I know that house,” I said. “It’s where Dallas grew up with his mother.”

“Do you think that’s where Ashton is?” Avery clutched my arm, a look of desperate hope in her eyes.

I hated to ruin it, but I knew the truth. Kyle was too careful to use such an obvious location.

I shook my head. “No. That’s too close a connection to Dallas. Kyle’s not stupid. He’d know that would be the first place we look once we found out Dallas took Ash. He’ll have him hidden away somewhere more secret.”

“I agree,” Langston said. “It only makes sense.”

Avery’s head dropped as the truth sank in, but the heartbreak on her face hurt me. I put an arm around her, pulling her close. She pressed her face into my chest, but if she cried or sobbed, I didn’t hear it.

“Hang on,” I said. “If you got into the park cameras, can you get into others?”

Zayde grinned up at me. “I like where your head’s at.”

“Huh?” Porter asked, his brow furrowed.

“He’s talking about camera-tracking, right, Cole?” Langston said, and I nodded. “Street cams, security cams for businesses. Stuff like that. Anything connected to the internet, Zayde can hijack. If we work it right, maybe we can follow the car through the feeds and figure out where they’re going.”

Zayde spent a long fifteen minutes searching through files and links, finally bringing up the county traffic light cameras. After rewinding the date and time in question, he clicked through the images until the truck reappeared.

“Got you, motherfucker,” Zayde whispered under his breath. “Where are you going?”

“That’s Delgado Road,” Trent said, pointing at the screen. “He’s headed for the highway. There’s a traffic light there. Bring that up. We can see which direction he’s headed.”

Zayde’s fingers flew over the keyboard, and a few minutes later, Dallas’s truck was on screen. The truck took the corner fast, nearly going up on two wheels, running the red light as he did.

“North,” Trent said. “Closest town in that direction is North Crest.”

“Screw it,” Langston said, slapping Trent on the shoulder. “Let’s hunt this prick. Are you good to go?”

“Hell, yeah.” Trent bumped fists with Langston. “Just like old times. Let’s go.”

Trent, looking like a kid who’d just been given the keys to a candy store, headed for the door.

Langston patted Zayde’s shoulder. “Keep working on finding that truck. Text or call us if you find anything else that will tell us exactly where that guy’s taking Ashton.” He pointed at Porter. “You stay here. Keep Avery safe. Understood?”

Porter gave a mock salute. “Ten-four, buddy.”

The room and reality itself were spinning out of control. Was I even here? How had I become useless so quickly? Langston had swooped in like some superhero with his sidekicks and was taking over. Again, that bitter and ridiculous jealousy sprang up, making my chest ache.

“You coming?” Langston asked.

I flinched, struggling to divert my thoughts from my resentment. “What?”

“I asked if you were coming. Or are you gonna hang around here?” Langston asked.

I really wished he’d said it in a derisive way, like I’d be an unwelcome nuisance.

Instead, he was placid, letting me choose without shame in my answer.

That alone pissed me off for some reason.

A squeaking sound reached my ears, and it took me a second to realize it was the sound of my teeth grinding together.

“Be right there,” I said through gritted teeth.

Langston nodded and headed out the door to follow Trent.

“You okay?” Avery asked, looking at me with concern and confusion.

Could she not see how Langston was taking over? Pushing me aside? Apparently not.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just worried about Ash, that’s all.”

She didn’t look convinced. “Okay.”

I gave her a hug and a quick kiss before hurrying outside to join the other two.

Langston was climbing into the back seat.

Trent was already behind the wheel and had the truck started.

A deeply insecure part of myself didn’t like the idea of Langston sitting behind me.

It was dumb, but I got in the back seat with him.

If either of them thought it strange, they didn’t say so.

“Hit it, Trent,” Langston said.

My best friend obliged and tore off down the driveway and onto the street, heading for the nearest road that would lead us to North Crest. I had my right hand bunched in a fist on my thigh to restrain some of the fury coursing through me.

I was angry at Langston and his buddies for swooping in like Batman to save the day, but also at myself for being so irrational.

It was childish and stupid. I’d been telling myself that for the last hour, yet I couldn’t get out of my own head about it.

“What’s the sitrep in this North Crest place?” Langston asked, leaning forward to address Trent.

I couldn’t help myself. I snorted. “ Sitrep ? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we aren’t on the front lines here, buddy. We can use normal words.”

Langston glanced at me, a faint smile on his lips. “Sorry?”

My wolf snarled deep in my head. He didn’t like the guy. Neither of us was a fan of another alpha shifter moving in on our town and our mate. Everything the guy had done since walking in Avery’s door had made me look weak and ineffectual.

“You heard me.”

“My apologies,” Langston said, and it sounded like he meant it, which, for some reason, sent me into a rage that I was barely able to contain. Rather than speaking, I merely clenched my other fist.

“Anyway,” Langston said, turning his attention back to Trent. “What about this North Crest place?”

“It’s a small town,” Trent said as he drove. “Much smaller than Harbor Mills, which is saying a lot. It might be easy for us to find that truck. We’ll see.”

“Sounds good,” Langston said, and sat back, pulling his phone out and beginning to type.

I glared at the phone in his hand, then let my eyes drift down to his leather shoes. At least four hundred dollars, if I had to guess. Why the fuck would someone show up to a rescue mission dressed like a high-priced attorney?

“Who are you texting?” I said, the words leaping from my tongue before I could stop myself.

Maybe he was sending Avery a flowery message about how he was going to save her son singlehandedly. Maybe he was asking her to have dinner with him to celebrate. Afterward, they’d have a few drinks, then head to a hotel, and?—

I shook my head, pushing away the thoughts, and suppressed a growl.

“Just staying in contact with Zayde and Porter,” Langston said as he typed.