“Hunter, hold up,” Blue calls, but my instinct in now on the hunt. He went out the back. He must have been carrying her, because there is no scent of her on the ground. I feel a hand on my upper arm holding me back, and I growl. I need to get to my mate.
“Hunter, listen to me. Going out without a plan won’t work. He’s a psychopath. He will kill her if you confront him. We need to have a plan; Gunner went to call the others.” I know that Blue is right, but I can’t just sit around. I need to find Dakota.
“I need to find her,” I mutter as I shake his hand free and continue making my way through the house until I’m standing outside. The scent becomes faint, which tells me that he had a vehicle parked at the back here.
“He had a vehicle here,” I state.
“We can find him on the cameras. Come on, let’s go inside,” Blue suggests, which has me turning and rushing inside towards our comms room. Only now do I realize that the captain has been with us every step of the way. It’s a good thing I didn’t let my wolf out, or we would have had a lot to explain. Entering the room, I find Goliath already there, looking through footage of the evening.
“He had a vehicle at the back. He took Dakota through there,” Blue states, which has Goliath turning towards another screen and manipulating the recording of the last few hours. After a few minutes, we see the fucker walking out the back door. My heart starts to race when I see the fucker with Dakota over his shoulder. He is wearing a black hoodie and what looks like black jeans. He must be strong to be carrying my woman over his shoulder like that and walking at the speed he is.
Goliath stops the image and zooms in. It’s dark outside, but what light there is highlights some of his features. “It’s her ex,” I whisper. The rage racing through my body is volcanic. “How did he find her and get here without us knowing?”
“You know this man?” the captain asks.
“He’s Dakota’s ex. He’s been stalking her for years,” Goliath says.
“I’m going to need a photo of him and of the girl. We will find them.” He has no idea. We will find them, but it’s not going to be the police. I’m going to find this fucker, and I’m going to show him that he should never touch another man’s mate. I stare at the image of Dakota hanging over his shoulder, my hands fisting as I see her hair hanging down, obscuring her face, her body limp, telling me that he knocked her out.
“What have we got?” King says as he walks in. He approaches and places his hand on my shoulder. Someone must have told him already that Dakota is missing. I hear Goliath giving him a rundown of what we have found, but my mind is centred on the thread of energy that I can still feel from my woman. She’s alive. That is all that matters for now.
“Goliath, try to find which direction they went. The rest of you, let’s go.”
“I will send some men with you,” the captain states, already turning, but King stops him with his next words.
“No.” The captain stops and turns to face King. “You know we can do this. If he knows anyone is on to him, he might hurt Dakota. We will find him, and we will bring her back. This is personal. We will do this alone.”
“But he killed three people, I can’t just turn a blind eye.”
“We will bring him in, and we will give you all the evidence you require to close this case, but we do this alone.”
“Shit, this is against my better judgement, but okay, you have twenty-four hours.”
“We don’t need that many,” King states as he starts making his way out of the room. The others have all gathered around, waiting for orders. When it comes to our pack, we all stand together, fight together, and if need be, fall together. I follow King out of the room and down the corridor to our bikes. As soon as we are on the road, I will follow my instincts and my mate’s pull and find her.
When we reach our bikes, I am about to sit on mine when King calls to me. “Can you sense her?”
“Earlier the pull was weak. I think because he knocked her out, but I think she’s conscious now, because the pull is much stronger. We need to go.” I don’t look at any of the others as they start their bikes, but prepare myself to leave. It’s only as we ride out that I realize that I haven’t got a weapon. I left mine in the woods before walking down to join the group of people earlier.
As soon as I’m on the open road, I let my instincts take me. It’s not always that easy, and sometimes, I turn down certain streets only to stop and turn around when I feel the pull weaken. The closer I get, the stronger the pull. I feel pain engulf me at one stage, and I know the motherfucker is hurting my mate. I can’t concentrate and have to stop my bike. Getting off, I start pacing until it gets too much, and then I roar in pain.
I feel arms around me, but I don’t pay attention to whose arms they are. All that matters is that my woman is being tortured and I can’t do anything to help her.
“Hunter.” I hear my name being called as if from a distance. “Hunter!” This time, I make out King’s voice. “I know this is fucked up, but you need to calm down. Come on, Hunter, you can find her.”
“He’s hurting her.” My voice is but a whisper, but I know that they all heard when I hear angry mutters from the others.
“But she’s alive, and the sooner we get to her, the sooner it will all stop.” I feel a vice squeezing my heart. My woman is in pain, and I can’t do anything about it. “Calm down, brother. Take in a deep breath and find your woman.”
Closing my eyes, I take in a deep breath, then another. I still feel all the emotions suffocating me, but I find that slim thread of sanity that I need at the moment and try to find my sense of direction. When I once again sense which direction Dakota is, I rush to my bike and take off. I hear my brothers all riding behind and know that no matter what, I have them at my back.
We must have been riding for about twenty minutes when I know exactly where I need to go. The pull to my woman has once again weakened, but I am close. I know I am. I pull over and switch off the bike. I don’t want this fucker to know I’m coming. I look behind me once everything is once again quiet and see the others taking off their helmets and looking to me for direction.
“He’s close,” I say, and turn.
“Let’s go get your woman back,” King states from next to me. I nod before I start heading in the direction I know Dakota is. There are cars that drive past and slow, and I’m sure they are wondering what a bunch of bikers on foot are doing walking this road at this time of night, but I continue my pursuit until we arrive at an intersection. To the left is a motel. The entrance to the motel is through the side road, and I know that my woman is in there.
“She’s there,” King says without me having to tell them. “Everyone branches out. Hunter, on your lead.” I head out towards the motel. The closer I get, the calmer I get. This fucker is going to die, but I need to make sure that Dakota is safe first. I stop when I have a view of the parking lot and see the car that we picked up on the video from the house. The car is parked before a row of rooms, but I sense Dakota on the other side of the building.