Wolf Shield Investigations: Boxset Read online

  He looked up at them as they approached, the circles under his eyes and swelling of his nose speaking to his distress. This was a horrified man in a nightmare situation.

  “Have you found her?” he asked in a voice tinged with despair.

  “No, sir,” Logan said. “That isn’t why we’re here.”

  “Wolf Shield Investigations,” one of the guards explained. “Sal called them in.”

  “Oh.” The man sounded lost. “I see. Why aren’t you out looking for my little girl?”

  Logan folded his hands in front of himself. “Senator, the police have been alerted to this event, haven’t they?”

  “Of course. They were urged to keep it quiet, but—”

  “Then there is no reason for us to be out looking for her right now. I don’t want to sound disrespectful,” he was quick to add, “but that isn’t our job. We’re here to keep your daughter safe and find out who sent the message to the house.”

  “How can you keep her safe if you don’t know where she is?” The utter dismay in that question, accompanied by a heart-wrenching cry, made Jace uncomfortable. He felt like they shouldn’t be here while this powerful man fell apart.

  Jace stepped back, turning around in a circle to study the room. Well decorated, probably professionally done. Nothing out of place. The cleaning crew was good—not a speck of dust, either, not even in the deepest corners of the hardwood floor.

  He caught the eye of a clean-cut, dark-suited guard. “Can you tell me where the security cameras are mounted outside?”

  “Why?” A smirk accompanied this.

  “Because it’s my job,” he deadpanned. “It’s what I do. If we can upgrade the system to protect the family, that’s what we’re gonna do. Is that all right with you?”

  They stared each other down for a second or two. Jace smelled the arrogance on the guy and had to remind himself this was a public servant who’d been vetted time and again before being allowed to step foot in the field. Not a bad guy. Just a dick.

  The guard blinked first, jerking his head to the side to silently beckon. Jace followed him from the living room, out to the foyer, and down a wide hall which lead to a dining room—banquet hall, more like—and kitchen.

  On the left, opposite the kitchen, was a closed door. “Control room,” the man grunted, turning the handle and pushing the wooden door open.

  A wall of screens greeted Jace upon entering, along with a trio of guards studying one screen at a time. They barely acknowledged his entering the room.

  He settled for studying the images instead of engaging in conversation. His wolf didn’t sense anything out of place with these guys—they were all in the same boat, on the same team, trying to tighten things up and ensure the worst didn’t happen.

  He cleared his throat before asking, “Are there any blind spots on the property?”

  As one, all three men turned to him. “What?” one of them snickered.

  “Blind spots.” Jace wondered what the guy would think if he knew who was in the room with him. “Is there any place where the cameras don’t cover? There’s a lot of property involved here. I’d like to install any cameras we need to eliminate those spaces.”

  “Gotcha.” The guy tossed him a radio. “We’ll be here, watching. Just let us know where you are, and we’ll see if we can pick you up. If we can’t, we know what’s up.”

  Jace nodded, trying to ignore the fact that the other guards still looked at him like he was less than nothing. They didn’t know what he knew.

  Lucky them.

  He cut out through the back door, taking note of the pool and the tennis court. The cameras were clearly visible here. He waved, knowing the guys in the house saw him.

  Walking around the side of the house, he took note of the cameras at one corner, then another, before positioning himself equidistant from them. “See me?”

  “Yeah. Back up a few paces. A few more.” Jace was careful to glance over his shoulder before he did—there was no putting a prank past pissed-off security guards resentful of the presence of an outside team—then backed up.

  “Hmm. Yeah, you’re invisible now,” the man admitted. Jace made a mental note of this, choosing a tree on which to mount more cameras. They needed to cover every last inch of ground, just in case.

  He continued this way and was actually sort of impressed with the security already in place. Considering this was only the summer house, they’d taken pains to outfit it well.

  It still wasn’t good enough.

  He made his way to the roundabout and started down the driveway. There was so much ground to cover. Turning, he looked back at the house, shining like a jewel against an ink-black sky that had cleared up in the hours since their warehouse excursion.

  The screech of tires caught his attention a moment later, and he spun in place in time to find a red Porsche bearing down on him. His wolf roared as reflex took over, sending him flying out of the way a moment before the car would’ve struck.

  He rolled across the grass once, twice before leaping to his feet, prepared to roar at whoever had mistaken the Collins’ driveway for the Autobahn.

  The car skidded to a sudden stop short of the numerous SUVs and trucks currently parked before the house. He watched the driver’s side door swing open before a tall, curvy blonde stepped out.

  “What the hell is going on?” she asked, turning around, and when her gaze locked on Jace’s, it was clear she had no more love for him at that moment than he did for her.

  It seemed he’d just met Kara Collins.

  Chapter Three

  “What the hell is going on?” Kara turned from the sight of a million cars in the driveway to the guy she’d almost hit—the guy who’d been stupid enough to stand in the middle of the driveway with his back to her. Idiot.

  And he had the nerve to look pissed at her too. He practically snarled like a dog as he marched her way. “You’re Kara?” he barked, dark eyes hard and dangerous.

  At least, he thought he was dangerous. Probably nothing more than a set of muscles with just enough brain to keep him breathing and moving.

  “Yeah,” she spat. “Who the hell are you? What’s going on around here? Where are my parents?”

  “Oh, you mean the parents who’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours?” Before she knew it, the jerk had a hand around her bicep. “Come on.”

  “What? What are you doing?” She planted her feet. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

  It didn’t matter how she struggled. The guy was superhuman or something, dragging her with what seemed like no effort whatsoever. All she had to fight back with were her lungs.

  “Let go of me! I’ll sue your ass so fast. You have no idea! When my father finds out—”

  “Your father who’s a damn mess right now waiting for you to come home?” He barely looked at her. “Come on. Inside. He’ll be overjoyed to see you.”

  “A damn mess?” There was a catch in her throat now. “Wait. Wait! What’s going on? Where’s Mom? What happened?”

  “We can talk about that inside.” His head was on a swivel, swinging back and forth as he surveyed the area. “It’ll be safer for you inside.”

  Now she was glad he was dragging her since her legs turned to jelly. Safer inside? Something was very, very wrong. Now all the cars made sense. There was double, maybe triple the security in place.

  A few familiar faces greeted her on the porch, giving her the feeling she was really home. It centered her, made her feel more like herself and less like a scared little girl. She hated herself for being so afraid, but a hulking beast with his hand around her arm, warning her that it was unsafe outside tended to do that.

  “Daddy?” She broke free of the dick and his bad attitude and rushed into the house. “Dad?”

  “Kara!” In an instant, her father was on her, wrapping her in a hug that knocked the breath out of her lungs. “Oh, baby, baby. We were so worried. Where were you?”

  “Out with Mel and Bailey, like I said I
was going to be. Remember? We were going to the movies and for sushi in the city after. I just got back.” It wasn’t easy to talk with her ribs practically crushed.

  It took a second for her to realize the wetness on her shoulder was her father’s tears. She hadn’t seen him cry since…

  “Dad.” She pulled herself out of his grip, though he held her face instead. His eyes were rimmed by dark circles, red with fresh tears. “What is going on? What’s this all about?”

  “Why couldn’t anyone get in touch with you?”

  She looked at the jerk standing behind her father. He glared at her like she was barely worth the air she breathed, his arms folded over his chest. Massive arms. Enormous chest. He was built like an extremely large brick house.

  Probably a roid-head who lived in the gym and got off on terrorizing women. How boring.

  “Excuse me. Who are you?” she asked, ignoring her father’s emotion for a second.

  Her father turned a little, glancing over his shoulder. “He’s one of the special security personnel who just came in tonight. Sal called them in.”

  Salvatore Rossi was practically Kara’s grandfather, the longest-serving member of their security detail. If he thought something was important and that these guys were the ones to count on, that had to say something.

  Though there was no understanding why they were there in the first place.

  “Did something happen to Mom?” she breathed, looking at her father again.

  “No, honey, no. Mom’s okay.” He heaved a heavy sigh that did little to ease her fears. “No, she’s okay. Resting.” She knew what that meant. Resting meant she’d taken something so she could rest. She was probably unconscious, one arm hanging off the bed, drooling on herself.

  “Okay. So what’s up?”

  Before her father had the chance to reply, the meathead did. “Your father received what appears to be a threat on your life.”

  “Excuse me!” she shouted over her dad’s shoulder. “Was I talking to you?”

  “What’s going on here?” Yet another meathead stepped out from the living room. He was just as tall and just a fearsomely built. Was this a private investigations firm or a band of professional wrestlers? He spoke in the same rumbling sort of voice as the first guy, with piercing blue eyes versus the jerk’s dark brown.

  Otherwise, they could’ve been brothers. Maybe they were, with jaws that could give a girl a paper cut, black hair, and the habit of looking at her like she was trash.

  She lifted her chin, which was decidedly less square than theirs. “Your guy here needs to learn manners,” she informed him. “He just told me there was a threat on my life like he was giving the weather report.”

  He turned to the jerk. “Jace,” he muttered.

  Jace? What sort of name was that?

  “It’s true, though.” Her father slid an arm over her shoulders. “There was something delivered to the house, honey. Something threatening your life.”

  It was so funny. He led her to the living room, where more men in dark suits than she’d ever seen in one place at the same time outside a White House function milled around. He sat her on the sofa, then sat next to her.

  A death threat.

  She felt nothing.

  Shouldn’t she feel something? Fear? She was more afraid when she thought something happened to her parents than she was for herself.

  “Do you want anything to drink?” Before she answered, her dad asked for a bottle of water from the kitchen. Sure, water would help—not.

  “I’m okay,” she whispered. “Really. You know I hate when people fuss over me.”

  “This is the time for fussing.” The second meathead, the one who’d acknowledged that it was a stupid thing for Jace to lay a death threat at her feet like it meant nothing, crouched in front of her. It surprised her to find warmth in those icy eyes. “My name is Logan Harden, and I’m CEO of Wolf Shield Investigations. My team is comprised of retired military personnel, all experts in their specialty. I wouldn’t settle for anything but the best.”

  “How do you know Sal?” she asked.

  “He was an old friend of my father’s. They served together in Vietnam.”

  “Your dad is old enough to serve there?” she blurted out before she could stop herself. It was a rude question. She had a tendency to ask rude questions, especially when she could barely think.

  He didn’t think it was rude. He smiled. She liked him. “You have a quick mind. I like that. Yeah, he was old enough. I was a late-in-life child.”

  “Sorry,” she chuckled. “I shouldn’t have.”

  “It’s all right. When we’re under a great deal of stress, we tend to say things we wouldn’t ordinarily say. Your mind is struggling to process what you were just presented with—in a very awkward manner.” He shot a pointed look to his partner or employee or whoever he was.

  She couldn’t help but feel slightly vindicated.

  “Why couldn’t we get in touch with you, sweetheart?” Her father insisted on hanging on her, hugging her to him. She wanted to shake him off. Did that make her a bad person? Was she awful for wanting to tell him to leave her alone? He didn’t seem to take her seriously when she said she hated being hung on.

  All his fussing did was bring back memories. Photo ops. Fake smiles. His hand on her shoulder as they waved for photographers and cheering constituents.

  She winced, slapping her palm to her forehead. “I forgot to charge my phone before leaving. I’m sorry. I figured it was no big deal.”

  “Please, don’t ever do that again. Bring your charger with you from now on.”

  She nodded, distracted by the activity in the foyer which was visible from where she sat. “You said something was delivered to the house? What was it? A letter?”

  “You don’t have to worry about that.”

  “Dad, please.” She lifted her shoulders, signaling him to let go. It didn’t work, of course. Now that her life was in danger—supposedly—he’d never let her go. “I think I deserve to know. It’s my life, right? Somebody wants me dead.”

  “Please, don’t say that,” he whispered.

  “Daddy.” She got up quickly even though Logan was still in front of her. He edged away to give her space. “Please. I’m not a doll about to break, you know? I don’t even feel anything about this. I don’t feel scared. I don’t feel angry. I just wanna know what they said, what they did. It’s my life. If they wanna end it—"

  “Let’s calm down.” Jace stepped forward. “What’s more important right now is getting a feel for who your friends are, who your enemies are, your normal routine.”

  “I don’t have any enemies,” she snapped.

  He only lifted his brows. “All right then. Your routine?”

  “I—I don’t know. I do different things on different days.”

  “What about your workplace? Anyone there who rubs you the wrong way?”

  She glared at him without saying a word for what felt like a long time but might’ve been no more than a few seconds. Screw this guy. He already knew everything about her, didn’t he? He knew she didn’t work. So why had he brought it up?

  Easy. Because he thought he was better than her. He thought she was nothing more than a spoiled brat, like working for some private investigations firm was so much better. All he’d done so far was throw her around—practically—and act like a dick.

  Wow, how impressive.

  “No,” she finally replied, her voice flat. “I don’t have a job at present, but I’d bet my trust fund you already knew that.”

  “All right, that’s enough. This is a waste of time.” Logan shot Jace a dirty look.

  He then turned back to her. “Is there anyone we should know about? Old boyfriends? Current boyfriends? Friends with whom you had a falling out?”

  She glanced at her dad. Then at Jace. Who was she more uncomfortable sharing this information with? Strangely, she wasn’t sure. Why did she care what this stranger thought? She’d never see him again after this
.

  If she had her way, she’d never see him again after tonight.

  “Can we speak in private, maybe?” She tried to smile but had the feeling it came out as more of a grimace.

  “Unfortunately, I have to go,” Logan frowned. “I need to get back to our offices where our techs are processing information right now. I’m leaving part of the team here to stay with you tonight, and we’ll be working in shifts to make sure you’re buttoned up tight. You have nothing to worry about.”

  “Nothing to worry about,” she whispered while her father made arrangements with Logan and offered any further information. Whatever it took.

  Meanwhile, she couldn’t get over what he’d said. She had nothing to worry about. Somebody wanted her dead, but she had nothing to worry about. If that wasn’t the biggest crock she’d ever heard, she didn’t know what was.

  How could they possibly keep her safe if somebody wanted her dead? She wasn’t about to spend the rest of her life locked in her bedroom, though that was clearly what her parents would want.

  No, she wouldn’t let them take her life without actually killing her, just like she had no intention of dying.

  Jace hadn’t taken his eyes off her, a fact which made her skin crawl. That superior attitude of his had probably gotten his butt kicked more than once. She wished she’d been there to see it happen.

  “Logan? Thought you’d wanna see this. It’s already been processed—no prints.” Another massive beast walked into the room and handed Logan a manila envelope with a photo on top.

  She knew that picture. Her senior class picture, taken three years earlier.

  Except she’d never seen it like this.

  Across her throat was a red slash.

  Over her eyes, bright and full of hope? Red X marks.

  Over her head, in block red block letters:

  ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO

  And that was what did it. That was what broke her.

  Chapter Four

  It was like watching a balloon deflate in slow motion, only she wasn’t a balloon. She was an arrogant, spoiled rich girl who was finally beginning to figure out how vulnerable she was.