Page 45 of How to Hack a Hellhound
Liam dutifully led me to the bedroom for us to get dressed, although I swear he mumbled, “We donotturn into bats.”
I recognized two of the guys. One was another bouncer, and the other was a manager at the bar who I’d seen frequently. The manager, Dev, was friendly and always stopped to chat with our group. I thought the other guys might’ve looked vaguely familiar, but that could’ve been my imagination. You see a lot of faces at a club, and they all blend together.
“How involved do you want to be?” Liam asked.
I thought it over. I knew what he was asking—did I want in on every asshole? I also knew that if his group split up, they’d be more likely to take care of these guys before anyone had any warning. He’d said they could take care of them all in a night if they needed to.
“I don’t need to be in on the ‘wet work,’ as you call it, and if they don’t know anything else, then I don’t need to have any involvement. I really want to get the mysterious guy who isplacing the orders for people. He seems to be the main person behind it,” I mused.
Liam nodded his agreement. “Unfortunately, it seems he covers his tracks very well. He could be someone across the country or he could be someone working at the club. He’s only ever communicated with people through encrypted methods. His familiarity with some of the victims makes me think he’snotacross the country, but I could pinpoint people in a club from camera images, so who knows.”
“Will you bring them back here?” I asked.
“Because we don’t want warnings going out, we would probably dispatch them relatively quickly after finding out what we can. But if you wanted someone brought back, that could certainly be arranged,” Liam answered.
I looked at the picture of Dev. Another guy I’d trusted and been friendly with. I’d missed out on what happened to James. I didn’t really care about the other guys—I didn’t know them. I wanted them gone, yes, but it didn’t feel personal. Dev felt personal. He’d known me. We’d chatted. I’d been a regular. He’d bought our table drinks.
“I wanna talk to Dev. The rest I don’t care about. Find out what you guys can and… do your thing. But Dev I’d like to be involved with, if it’s possible. I feel like as manager of the club, he’d know the most, too.” I shrugged.
Liam leaned in and kissed me. “Whatever you want, hellcat. I’ll get everyone together, fill them in, and we’ll hunt tonight.”
I leaned my forehead against his, then pulled away when it was getting too mushy and looked back at the computer screen. Liam started pulling up information on each of the guys.
I felt like I was in over my head, and not with the human trafficking shit. I was falling for Liam. Somehow, my sexy stalker had hacked his way into my frozen little heart, and I had no idea what to do about that.
Chapter 16
Liam
Quinton and I spent the day researching with a break for lunch, and in the afternoon we picked up Aiden from work. After I dropped them off at their place (with a kiss and a “shoo” from Quinton), I met with the pack to discuss strategies for getting the hellbound mortals.
“Best if we split up, obviously, although we need to leave someone here to watch over the humans,” Jude reasoned. “I’m happy to take the first shift and go out later for my hunt.”
“I can dispatch one and then come back and relieve Jude,” Dexter said.
We divvied up the hellbound, and I took the manager. I didn’t expect securing him and bringing him back would take that long, but if Quinton and I were absorbed with him in the basement, it would still be good for a hellhound to be a lookout for the humans. We agreed that aside from the manager, the rest would be taken care of in the field. In a larger sweep like this, it made more sense.
“Atlas will be happy to hunt, too,” Corbin stated.
I hadn’t seen much of Atlas, and he avoided my cameras in the woods pretty well, but I knew Corbin could track him downwith crows. He seemed to be generally staying in the area in his hellhound form.
“Point me in his direction, and I’ll debrief him on his targets,” I told Corbin.
With that, we set off. Jude went to find Toby, and he said they’d drop in to see Aiden and Quinton. I guessed they were hoping to be included in dinner plans, and I shot Quinton a text to warn him and Aiden. I had no doubt that if Aiden was uncomfortable, Quinton would kick Toby and Jude out.
I headed to the woods behind the houses, setting off in a swift run in the direction Corbin had indicated. Occasionally a crow cawed at me, and I adjusted course as necessary. I could smell Atlas’s hellhound, but that meant little. He’d been all over these woods—the entire place smelled of him.
When I happened upon a clearing, I was mildly surprised to see the structure of a cabin. It looked like the frame was completely finished, and I guessed the inside was a work in progress.
“This is public land, you know,” I stated, confident that Atlas was nearby. I wasn’t surprised when he sauntered out of the woods in his hellhound form, but he changed forms to converse with me.
“You’ll fix that,” he grunted.
I sighed. “I was hoping to fix thatbeforeyou guys built a cabin. This is pretty far back, too. Running electricity and water might be a pain.”
Atlas merely grunted, staring at me. Then he smirked. “You’re just mad you didn’t know.”
I growled in response. He wasn’t totally wrong. I liked knowing everything that was going on, and I had wanted to figure out the logistics with the property first. But it was pointless, because my guess was that Atlas had started work onthis place before Jude even mentioned the idea to me. Atlas was like that—all action, no talk.
