Page 20 of Beautiful Heart

“I can wait until we get upstairs and behind locked doors, but the claiming will wait because I don’t want the council mad at me for ignoring supernatural laws.”

Livingston looked out the window as the car stopped and realized the hour had passed in a passion-fueled haze and Quinlan had brought them home. His woman was right, he’d ignored the laws of supernatural beings enough.

As soon as he’d eased his mate’s hunger, he would make a few calls and set up their mating ceremony.

Chapter Eleven

“No, Quinlan, I don’t need a car this evening. I’m just going to walk to the cafe,” Gerri said two nights later when the driver found out she had an appointment with Lena and Mystic at the café.

She was on her way out of the building when he’d stopped her, wanting to get the limo and drive her the six blocks to Mystic’s All-Night Café. She had not walked since the night the gang of homeless humans had attacked her and felt the need to stretch her legs. Walking around the apartment or the floor where Livingston’s office was located was fine, but she was stopped every few feet by someone asking a question or wanting an introduction and did not get a proper workout.

When he looked troubled, she patted his arm. “I’ll be fine. If it makes you feel better, you can pick me up from the café in two hours.”

The man nodded, but his solemn expression did not change. He still looked worried.

She shrugged as she got into the elevator and headed to the lobby. She was tired of being locked up in the building and needed to exert some of the independence she was well known for amongst her former friends.

She waved at the security guard in the lobby, but did not stop or respond when he offered to have one of his men walk with her. The alley rats lived on the other side of Mystic’s and wouldn’t bother her tonight. Besides, from what she had learned from Livingston, as a vampire, she was now stronger, faster, and more dangerous than the drugged and drunken street dwellers.

There were more people on the streets and she strolled along, looking in the store windows and acknowledging that Livingston lived in a much better neighborhood than she used to.

She was getting ready to cross the street a block and a half from the café, when a black van turned the corner and squealed as it stopped with the side door directly in front of her.

A moment later, the door slid open and she was shoved from behind toward it. Just as she was about to hurt her legs against the side of the van, whoever was behind her grabbed the waistband of her pants and the back of her shirt, and threw her into the van.

Her head hit the opposite wall, sending pain from the top of her head down her spine. In the next heartbeat, she cried out as her body landed on the hard floor.

Through her cries, she heard the door slide shut and then a door at the front slam shut. Before she had a chance to look around, a black hood was slipped over her head. The van started moving as her wrists were grabbed and pulled behind her back. Her captor was so rough he nearly dislocated both shoulders as he forced her wrists to meet so he could tape them together.

Still stunned by the surprise of the attack, and the hit to her head, Gerri could not fight off the chemical-smelling cloth that then covered her nose and mouth.

And then she knew nothing as a black hole swallowed her.

****

“What do you mean someone grabbed her?” Livingston asked when Quinlan interrupted his meeting with Jefferson, Kingsley, and Dickinson.

“She wanted to walk to the café this evening for a meeting with Lena and Mystic. Jack was following at a distance so she wouldn’t be completely unprotected. He was too far away to keep her from being snatched off the street. He said it looked like it was planned, and like they’d done this before.”

“Did he get anything we can use to find her?”

They were headed west on Eleventh Street and he got a partial plate. I’ve got IT working on trying to get the full plate, as well as contacting the police to tap into the traffic cameras and track their movements,” Quinlan explained.

“I’m wondering if we can also use the wolves to track the scent of the truck since the roads aren’t too busy this time of night.”

“Livingston, what’s going on?” Jefferson asked as he joined them.

“Gerri’s been snatched off the street. Just like the other women she told us about the other night,” Livingston said. “My computer guys are working on tracking her, but do you think your men could help?”

Jefferson nodded as he pulled out his phone.

At the same time, Kingsley was on his phone, no doubt calling Lena to make sure she was safe. He hung up a few minutes later, looking relieved. Apparently his woman was safe and where she was supposed to be.

Livingston turned to Quinlan. “Bring me to where she was taken. And I want every vampire we have out searching for her.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Quinlan bowed and turned for the door, pulling out his phone to send out word.

Remembering what Mystic had said the last time they had seen the old woman, he looked at Kingsley. “We might need your healing skills as well.”