Page 29 of Betrayed Kidnapped Mate

Aris chuckles, then immediately sobers, switching to the next screen.

“Unfortunately, finding the intruder and locating the vials isn’t even at the top of our list of priorities. We also have the human disappearances to consider.”

Lisa’s face stares back at me, and I look at Aris in alarm.

“Her best friend reported her missing yesterday. Went into the bakery and noticed it wasn’t open yet—which is unlike her. Went to her apartment, and she was nowhere to be seen. Like she just vanished from the face of the earth.”

I struggle to swallow, thinking about how I saw her a little more than a week ago. How I’d eaten those honey-pistachio-lemon scones on my way to California. I’d had one for breakfast every morning.

“Shit,” I mutter, scrubbing my hands over my face.

“We’ll find her,” Aris mutters. What he doesn’t say is how we’ll find her, and that, if it is a shifter abducting humans, they more than likely aren’t going to be found alive.

“Could these be connected?” Ado asks, startling both Aris and me. We turn to look at him, then back at the screen. Could the theft of the serum be connected with the disappearances of the humans? Potentially, but it wouldn’t make much sense. Why would someone want to use it on a human? It would do nothing to them besides maybe upset their stomach if they ingested it.

“Maybe,” Aris finally says, “I think a good place to start will be investigating in Lisa’s apartment. See if we can find anything. Bigby, I want you to take the lead on this since you know her. Her best friend has already agreed to give us her apartment key if you’re involved. This might be our only chance to find a good lead, with the other humans being paranoid toward us.”

I nod and stand.

“I’ll head over there straight away, but first, I need to talk to—”

“Aris!” someone says, bursting through the door, and anger boils in me when I see Byron standing there.

“Byron, what the hell?” I say, before he can get a word out edgewise. He looks at me, eyes wide, and then understanding seems to dawn.

“Shit, I’m sorry, man—I’ll go straight back over there. I just needed to tell—”

“You did not leave them there, alone!”

“Gerard is there—”

“Gerard is a thousand years old. He probably doesn’t even know how to shift anymore.” I stand up, moving toward Byron, all the stress and restraint from the past few days simmering in my stomach.

“Bigby,” Aris says, and I stop, breathing heavily and staring down at Byron, who has the good sense to look ashamed.

“I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t important,” Byron says. “I’m sorry, Bigby, I’ll go straight back, I swear. When I get there, I’ll let you know that they’re safe. But I found something this morning—it wasn’t a hacker like I thought.

“What the hell? How would someone be able to get into the compound if they’re not a hacker?”

“The person who took the vials…their thumbprint is in the system. It’s someone we know.”

Not again, Aris sends to me, and I can feel the slightest tinge of panic rolling off of him.

When we were taking down Varun, the team faced betrayal and sabotage at every turn, with our commander betraying us by teaming with Varun and Eva, who, turned out to be his sister. I feel the dismay emanating from Aris, and I almost forget about my rage toward Byron for leaving my girls alone, without protection.

“You, get back to the compound,” Aris growls, “don’t let Rosa or Kaila out of your sight, do you understand?”

Byron nods and turns around, giving me an apologetic look that does nothing to soothe the chaos in my chest. I already felt uneasy leaving them there with Byron—who may be a capable fighter but isn’t me. I could take Byron easily in a fight, which is what I want to do now.

“Ado,” Aris says, “wait for us in the foyer.”

Ado stands immediately, giving us a nod that reads as gladly.

“Dude,” Aris says, looking me over. I still have my hands clenched into fists, and I try to relax them. “You need to figure this shit out with Rosa. You’re wound too tightly. Fighting Byron? The guy’s head is stuck in the cyber-verse, man. You know, he just wasn’t thinking.”

“Yeah? And if that idiocy results in Rosa or Kaila getting hurt? Then what?”

“Fair,” Aris says, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Can you tell me what happened between you and Rosa that she hates you so goddamn much? I don’t want to marry you, but I didn’t think you were that insufferable. Before, it was just your problem, but now that it’s affecting the team, it’s my problem, too.”

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