“Tell that fucker, I’m trying to find my kids. I think they’re with my mother-in-law and she just checked into an AirBnB on Houston street.”
“Okay, I’ll tell him you’re on your way.”
He said in an exaggerated volume. This cocksucker. I walked up to him and grabbed him by his snarled hair. “Do you think I don’t know what you’re doing?”
Despite his best efforts to stay silent, he let out a little yelp. Scalps are pretty sensitive, so I hear. I drew back his head further. He whimpered now. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes. Everyone is a big man until they meet a bigger one. “We’re going to have to go to Houston street to get him.” He nodded.
I let go. “Let’s move on out boys. Houston street for Tim. He’s been a bad boy.”
One last hurrah before I face my brothers. I was going to drag Tim to our party if it was the last thing I do.
Chapter 39
Jennifer
The shift change was my best chance. Most people would be occupied with exchanging information, packing up their stuff, and doing their best not to run away. I had a half an hour to kill before the shift change and I didn’t want anyone to see me lurking around the hospital. I was going to have to make sure that no one in my unit saw me. If I was caught in the hospital on my day off, at the same time medicines went missing, I was going to be a likely suspect. Plenty of nurses get caught up in drugs. Either selling or buying. If I lost my license, our family wasn’t going to be able to eat. Although it seems like Wes wouldn’t let me starve, but I wasn’t going to throw my only chance of employment out the window because I think something about a man. I’ve certainly learned my lesson when it comes to stuff like that.
I thought about calling my mother again. When she answered the phone earlier, she was wary of handing off the girls to a stranger. Which makes sense, I guess. In all of the time I’d known my mother, she had been extremely suspicious of strange men. I accepted it unquestioningly. It’s funny to realize your parents are right all along. I always rolled my eyes at my mother’s wisdom. Apparently, she knew what she was talking about. It took some convincing, but she agreed to give the kids to Wes. I had the urge to call her again. I hadn’t seen the girls much lately and it was starting to weigh on me. How was I going to be able to catch up with another child on the way? Maybe Jared had the right idea. I needed to think about how I’m going to be there for my children moving forward and stop wishing for a life that no longer applies. I checked my cell phone. Only fifteen minutes before the shift change. It was time to break in. Luckily, I had some practice from my teenage years on how to shoplift. God, I was a twat. I took a deep breath, put the car into park, and headed into the hospital.
The first floor was easy. No one knew me and I came in through the back way where all of the hospital employees came through. The second floor was tricky. It’s where I worked so I had to be careful, but it was also where I knew the code to the medication. I held my breath outside the elevator and waited for the receptionist to turn around. I put my hands in the pockets of my sweater and I made my way over to the unmonitored medicine cart. It was too easy really. Nurses and doctors leave medication out all of the time. Things happen. Emergencies change. People forget. We’re all human. I stuffed some of the injections and a few syringes into my pocket and made my way back down the elevator. I didn’t let out a breath until I was back into my car. As soon as I locked the doors and started the engine Wes called.
“Did you get the stuff?”
“Yeah. Not as much as I wanted to, but everything went okay.”
“Come right to the house. It’s time.”
“I’ll be there in a few.” I took a deep breath and put the car into drive. I could only hope that Wes knew what he was doing.
Chapter 40
Jared
I didn’t see it coming. I’ll always ask why I didn’t. Did he mess with my brain? Was I inadequate? Could I completely have missed the signs. Whatever the case, I was standing with a hood over my head. Before I could tell where the sounds and sights were coming from, everything went black.
I woke up, upside down. Out of all of the voices I expected to hear, Tim was not one of them. But it was.
“You helped her.”
My head was throbbing, and my mouth was dry. I felt tired and weak. How had a human taken me?
“You’re probably wondering why I have you.”
And I’m wondering how in the hell an idiot like you was able to catch me. Am I getting old? Had I weakened so incredibly? All of that didn’t matter now. I needed to try and escape. I began to stretch and groan. My feet and arms were bound. Shapeshifters could hang upside down longer than humans, but not much longer. If I didn’t get right side up, I was going to pass out. The temperature was cold, and the air was damp. I could hear street noises. Was I in a basement?
I tried to speak, but my tongue felt strange in my mouth. Bloated and useless. I wasn’t gagged, but had a difficult time moving my mouth to form the words. I choked out, “What do you want?”
Tim cackled. “You’ve always known what I wanted. My family to be together again.”
“I didn’t take away your family Tim. You did.”
Tim walked over to me and began to run a cool metal object down my throat. I couldn’t see it fully, my vision began to blur.
“You know I could gut you now for what you’ve done.”
“Why don’t you? Save me the time.”
“Because she will never forgive me. That’s the thing about women. Soft hearts. You need to serve as bait and proof of my humanity. If I let you go, then she’ll believe I’ve changed.”