1
Rory
I ran a finger underneath the collar of my white button-down. It was only thanks to the heavy starch that I wasn’t a sweaty, wrinkled mess. Noise and frantic energy swirled around me as my brothers did what they did best—create chaos.
I stared down at the photo on my desk, one of a multitude of copies I’d made since we’d received the anonymous package that morning containing only the photo and my da’s signet ring. But if I’d hoped to find a modicum of peace there, I was definitely looking in the wrong spot.
Da’s eyes were closed in the photo, and his too-pale face made the streams of bright red blood look even more lurid in contrast. I slowly rolled his ring between my fingers.
Da… what had happened? I’d seen him just the night before. We’d had dinner, then a cigar and a couple glasses of whiskey. And then I’d gone to bed. Just the same as a hundred other nights. I hadn’t seen him when I came down for breakfast, but that wasn’t unusual. We hadn’t realized he was missing until Patrick tossed the package on my desk and we’d discovered its contents.
It had no address or name. No postage. And no fucking note. So someone had literally walked right up to our door and dropped the damn thing off without a single fucking one of us noticing. Patrick had immediately gone sniffing after the bastard, but there’d been a good hour when no one had come in or gone out, so who knew if he’d find anything. And, bird shit on top of horse shit, it turned out the camera covering that area had been out for two days and no one had taken the time to fix it yet. Someone was going to regret that.
What did his attackers want? They hadn’t sent any threats or demands. Just the photo and the ring.
I cursed myself for every moment that morning I’d turned to talk to Da and then didn’t wonder if it was strange he wasn’t around.
No, I couldn’t wallow. Focus, Rory.
I broke out of my bubble of misery, and the noise of my family nearly overwhelmed me. I closed my eyes as I tried to adjust. Harry and Jack were to my left, hovering over Da’s desk, talking about the photo.
“See how him and the ground right in front is all light, but the background is dark? That means they used a flash,” Harry said.
“How the fuck is that useful? Every damn camera and cell phone have a flash these days.”
Harry gave an exasperated sigh. “It means, numbnuts, that it was probably dark enough the flash came on automatically. He’s outside, not inside, so that means it was taken before sunrise.”
Before sunrise. Okay. We had a time frame. A wide one, given I’d left him around eleven last night, and sunrise was getting later and later as winter settled in. But that meant Da had been missing for hours. The longer we went without a clue, the less chance we had of rescuing him.
If he was alive…
Another thought I couldn’t afford to dwell on.
“Everybody shut your mouths,” I shouted. I rarely raised my voice, which is what probably caught them all off guard and actually achieved the desired effect. “We can’t all be running off in twenty different directions without talking to each other. Has anyone heard back from Patrick?”
Red heads of varying shades shook in the negative, but Connor, a second cousin of some sort, said, “Well, how would he be calling back? He ran off in naught but fur. Can you imagine him shifting into his birthday suit to find a payphone? Or ask a human?”
“Do they even have payphones that still work?” Brian looked up at the ceiling as he considered the question. Just a few inches shy of seven foot, it wasn’t as far away from his face as it was for most of us.
James laughed. “I can just imagine that. ‘Excuse me, miss—I swear I’m not a pervert. I just need to be borrowing your phone, if you don’t mind.’”
The laughter that followed fueled my rage. Had they forgotten that my da was kidnapped, injured, and possibly—
As everyone turned to me with wary faces, I realized I was growling. Mark, my youngest brother, was the only one with the balls to approach me. He raised his hands in front of him in the universal sign of non-aggression. “Rory. We’re all stressed. The boys are just showing it in their own way. You know that. The tougher things get, the more we laugh. It’s how we deal with life.”
It wasn’t how I dealt with life. But I’d always been the black sheep. Both in looks, with my dark hair and dark fur, and my temperament. I’d been Da’s behind-the-scenes organizer for a reason. I could focus and get people moving when no one else could. It was time to put those skills to work.
I closed my eyes for the space of a deep breath. “I know that. But we don’t have time for it right now. Until we have a clue where to look, I need every man working together. Harry, what was it you were saying about the photo?”
Harry looked surprised at being called out, but he stepped forward immediately, holding his copy of the photo aloft. “I was just telling Jack that it looks like—”
The front door opened with a slam, followed by voices too indistinct to recognize. I hurried through the crowd of men and reached the door just as my brother Patrick filled it.
He spread his arms in a wide, welcoming gesture. “I’ve brought reinforcements!”
Two hulking, stern-faced men followed behind him. I didn’t need an introduction to recognize them both as Novaks. The scent of bear was strong, and no one matched those boys for size. I knew Vasily. I’d seen him once or twice when he, the don, Da and I met up for business. But the other one was new to me. His hair was longer, falling in a seductive swoop across his forehead. And even though his face was studiously devoid of emotion, the crinkles at the corner of his eyes gave him a light-hearted look, and his stubbled goatee framed a mouth I was certain was used to smiling. And there was something else about him...
I tore my attention back to my brother. “I thought you were following the delivery man’s scent.”
He shrugged nonchalantly, dismissively. As if he didn’t care about Da. As if this was just a lark. “It disappeared, and I was almost to Novak territory, so I figured why not?”
I clenched my fists, white-knuckled with frustration and anger. Why not? Why not? Because this was a family matter. Because nothing came for free. Because…
Because…
As if drawn by a magnet, my eyes turned toward the intriguing Novak man, and I suddenly realized what it was about him. It was his scent. It was warm whiskey and hills of heather and—
Mate.
His nostrils flared, and our eyes met. The serious facade dropped after a moment, replaced by a soul-melting smile. Yes. That was what had caused the crinkles in the corners of his eyes. They sparkled now, and all I could think about was falling into them forever. Until I let my gaze trace the outline of the rest of his body. Broad shoulders, muscular arms, narrow hips. I wanted to dive beneath his clothes and trace every swell and dip of his body.
I took a step forward. Two. He lifted his arms to receive me, just as Patrick grabbed my arm.
“You okay, brother?”
And with that, the spell was broken. Not the desire though. Not by a long shot. My body still urged me to fall into the arms of the sexy man whose name I didn’t even know. To drop all my worries and satisfy this one need.