Dax (The Theriot Family 4)

I moved toward her slowly. She backed up a little bit, but she didn’t try to run. I held out my hand and talked in a low, soothing voice. I crouched down in front of her, and she let me scratch her ears.

She wasn’t wearing a collar. Maybe she’d slipped out of that too. Was she microchipped? At what age did dogs have that done?

I couldn’t leave the puppy outside in this heat. I slowly scooped her into my arms so I could take her inside until Dax returned. Hopefully he’d know who this baby belonged to.

The puppy nuzzled my hand and whimpered. As I rose to my feet, I felt something sting my neck. I thought it was a bee or something, but when I reached up, I felt something there. I yanked it out and stared at it.

My vision was already starting to blur as I registered it was a dart. What the fuck?

I saw two puppies in my arms instead of one, and I knew I was going to collapse. I tried to scream, but I’m not sure I got any sound out before my knees hit the ground and I slumped forward, rolling to keep from crushing the puppy.

I came partially awake and saw two men in cable company uniforms staring down at me. My head throbbed and even the slightest movement made me queasy, but I was able to figure out that I was in the trunk of a car. A whimper told me the puppy was there too.

“Shouldn’t we get rid of the dog?” one of the men asked.

I tried to reach for the puppy, but my hands were tied. The little dog pressed up against my side and whimpered again.

“Nah. We can throw it in the cell too. The boss will decide what to do with it.”

The first man slammed the trunk lid shut, leaving me in darkness.

As the car started to move, I lay there, barely conscious, head pounding, and arms aching. Would Dax find me? Would he think I’d left the house when I’d promised I wouldn’t? I thought I was safe in the backyard. Something must have happened to the guards because Dax said he had men watching the house. It never even occurred to me that the puppy was a trap.

I was in and out of consciousness for the remainder of the ride, and once one of the men pulled me out of the car and threw me over their shoulder, I pretended to still be out of it, but I was listening.

“The boss wants him in good condition, right?” This came from the one who’d wanted to get rid of the puppy.

“Yeah, until he decides if he’s useful to us.”

“Is he going to use him to get the Theriots off his back?”

“I think he plans to lure them in with this little bitch.” He slapped my ass, so I knew he meant me, not the puppy.

Shit. Now I didn’t know whether to hope Dax would find me soon or hope he never did so he’d be safe.

31

Dax

My mission only took a few hours, and I hurried back to be with Travis. I didn’t see him when I entered the house, and he didn’t respond when I called. My stomach knotted as fear chilled me. I’d checked in with the guard out front. He hadn’t seen or heard anything unusual.

“Travis!”

No response. I hurried through the house and saw the back door standing open. Maybe he was in the yard.

When I stepped outside, all hope that Travis was okay fled. There were tracks in the yard as though someone had been dragged through the grass, and the back gate was unlocked. I hurried into the alley behind the house.

Tire tracks marred the grass by the gate. Where the fuck was the guard?

Seconds later, I found him slumped over his steering wheel. I ran to his car and immediately knew he was beyond help. No one survived a hole in the head like that.

I bent over, bracing my hands on my knees and fighting the urge to vomit. The gore didn’t bother me, but the thought of Travis being hurt was more than I could take. What had they done to him? Was he still alive? I had to find him. I had to save him.

My instincts screamed at me to run, to do something, but I knew I needed help. I couldn’t do this alone, and I couldn’t charge in without thinking. If LePlatt had Travis, we needed a plan to free him, and if… No, I couldn’t go down that path, but I knew if Travis was beyond saving, I’d rip every one of them apart. I wouldn’t care what the consequences were.

I called Remy first. I needed to get everyone focused on finding Travis, and that was the quickest way to do it. I also didn’t want to talk to Beau. He was going to blame me for leaving his brother home alone. Why hadn’t I had someone in the house with him? LePlatt’s men had gotten to him so fucking easily.