Page 2 of Conquered Betrayal
LANDON
Present Day
I passedhim the two best pictures I had of her: one while she’d been in service and the other from four years ago. Sitting on the beach, she’d been smiling at me when I took it, the necklace I’d given her glinting against the pink and red sunset. Wind made her hair almost stand straight up.
“I remember her,” Walker said, turning the photos over in his hand, thumbing the worn edge of the smaller one. He gave them back, eyes narrowed.
“Then you’ll track her down?” I placed them carefully in the top drawer of my desk. “I just want to know if she landed on her feet.”
Walker stared at me, then withdrew toward the door. “Hey, whatever floats your boat, man. Your dime.” He left my office with his eyebrows raised.
I stared out at the Vancouver skyline. It wasn’t weird to find out what had happened to her, was it?
* * *
If her light, human scent hadn’t twirled toward me on a breeze, she might have gotten away from me again.
I leaned against the concrete pillar of the DPM—Detroit People Mover—and listened as elevated train hummed and clicked its way above me, heading through downtown. There weren’t a lot of places to hide on this moderately busy corner of Detroit, but I hoped the way I stared at my phone appeared inconspicuous—a regular guy waiting for his Uber.
Even though my eyes were trained on my cell, every other sense was focused outward, trying to pick up something, anything, that would tell me why my best friend went missing in this city over two weeks ago.
I may have sent Walker on a stupid job to track down Jolyn Mahn, the woman who broke my heart into a million pieces when she left, but now I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Everything went even more sideways when Kane, who I hadn’t seen inyears, showed up at my office with a mate, a bobcat shifter named Brooke Covin. She’d been kidnapped along with her sister, Sabrina, the abductors using shift-suppressing collars very similar to the ones developed atmycompany.
If I could find Jolyn, maybe some of this would start making sense. Because she’d left Urick Enterprises suddenly four years ago, she was the only person I could think of who could have stolen the plans for the collar—and even that didn’t track.
Jolyn.There wasn’t a day that went by I didn’t think of her, and I hated myself for it. Whenever I saw someone with naturally orange hair, my heart would squeeze in my chest, thinking it was her for a split second. Exhaling, I tapped my palm against my thigh. If I could justget over her, I could move on with my life, but the bear inside me wouldn’t let that happen, moping and pining like a lovesick fool. I might have kept tabs on her, but I’d left her alone, respecting her need for space.
When I found out she might have stolen from me…Well.That changed everything.
If what Kane and Brooke had told me connected back to her, then she was into some serious shit. Not only theft, but human trafficking and God knew what else.
Had anything between us been real? Or had she been working for me with ulterior motives the entire time? Had she planned to sell off my intellectual property to the highest bidder from the start? If she’d needed money because she was in trouble, I would have helped her—which didn’t make sense either because her family owned a billion-dollar pharmaceutical company. Why steal the collar Kane designed? As a human, she wouldn’t have understood its purpose. If she’d learned about shifters, about me, then she would have said something. None of it added up.
What the hell am I doing here?This made day two of me staking out Mahn BioIndustries from across the street. The American headquarters of MBI took up the top half of the stone and glass building casting a thick shadow over the street. Its sister building was situated in Toronto, Emerson Mahn only expanding his empire to the states a few years ago. I’d read an editorial article hypothesizing he’d made the move because of more lenient food and drug regulations.
There was really no reason for me to be here except her family connections. If Walker, an ex-military private investigator, hadn’t been able to track her down in Detroit, why did I think I could?
That brought me back to why I’d sent him after her in the first place. I knew the answer but didn’t want to admit it, even to myself. She was the only woman I’d ever loved. Four years ago, I’d thought our relationship was perfect. Then she left me without a word and joined the army. The engagement ring I’d bought her still lay in its box on my mantle in Vancouver, a glaring reminder of our failed relationship every time I looked at it.
I ran a distracted hand across my jaw, contemplating the MBI building. That was when I scented her—vanilla cake mixed with nerves. If I hadn’t known Jolyn so intimately, I would have missed it. My bear roared inside me, almost rabid in his need to get closer.
Her distinct fragrance came from a woman in a business suit with sleek, black hair, and big sunglasses, a brown leather satchel over her shoulder. I’d been looking for her signature orange hair, curly to the extreme. She’d always complained she could do nothing with it except what it wanted. I’d watched her try to wrestle it into a ponytail and agreed.
I might have dismissed the scent as my mind playing tricks on me if it wasn’t for her body; athletic and trim, she could have graced the covers of yoga magazines. A figure I’d never forget—not after she’d haunted my dreams.
I straightened, clenching my fists. The anger I’d felt when I’d realized she might be involved in Brooke and Sabrina’s abductions resurfaced. Now that I had her in my sights, I wouldn’t let her go. It had been too long and I deserved answers, especially if she had stolen from me.
And Brooke’s sister was still missing.
My feet propelled me forward. I crossed the road, between two cars turning onto Woodward Avenue. Adrenaline pumped through my system, warming my neck. She’d probably left Vancouver right after stealing from me.
She headed straight toward MBI’s glass doors, a security checkpoint on the other side. I couldn’t allow her to pass through. If I did, if she got away from me, then I might never track her down again. She would disappear like she had four years ago.
Each of my steps ate up two of hers. Twenty feet from the doors, I finally caught up with her enough to grab her elbow.
She froze, halting mid-step to whip her gaze in my direction with a quiet gasp, sunglasses blocking her eyes from my view. For a second, I thought I had it wrong, that this wasn’t Jolyn Mahn, but her scent assaulted me again. My body tingled in awareness like it always had.
Her disguise was so good; I never would have recognized her by sight alone. She’d covered every freckle on her face and had to be wearing a wig. It pissed off both me and my bear—to cover her brilliant hair was a crime against humanity.
