Lover Claimed (16 page)

If she played this right, she could get
upstairs and look for any information that would lead to whoever
was behind the hit out on Trudy, and also any information that
Lajos and his security team could use to bring these shifters
down.

She hauled the rest of her body over the
fence and dropped down on the other side, landing as softly as
possible. She could clearly hear the ruckus going on in the living
room, boisterous talking and laughing, a television blared and
music played the background. She held still and waited for any sign
that they’d heard her, the music to stop or the voices to hush.

When the party raged on she let out her
breath. They didn’t know she was here. She scanned the back of the
house for motion sensor lights. There were two but the sockets were
empty. She guessed that if any of the shifters came back here to
change they didn’t want the neighbors to see wolves lurking in a
residential backyard.

She crossed the yard quickly and reached the
house. She tried her grip on the stone surface. She could do this.
There were plenty of grooves, nooks and crannies to grab hold on.
Without wasting any more time, she scaled the wall and made it to
the second story window. She paused there, listening again. The
sound from the living room was right below her but silence reigned
on the second floor. She poked her head through and scanned the
room. No one was there.

She pulled herself over the threshold and
crawled slowly through. She had her hands on the floor and dragged
the rest of her body fully inside.

Her heart slammed in her chest. She’d made
it. Now the real work was about to begin.

Chapter
Eighteen

The room had a full size bed and dresser. It
wasn’t clean, shoes and clothes littered every available space on
the floor. This was definitely a man’s room. It reeked of maleness,
dirt and heavy cologne.

When she spotted a desk positioned next to
the door with paper strewn across it, excitement built within. She
crept across the floor to the desk, picking up and inspecting each
paper. What she needed was a light, but she wasn’t so sure of
herself to turn on the lamp sitting on the desk. She squinted at
each piece of paper. There was a folder with receipts and bills. If
this was a professional job she was sure they were getting
reimbursed for their expenses. She opened another folder and
inhaled a sharp breath. Pictures of Trudy, each consisting of her
doing normal everyday things, walking Piper, getting out of her car
at work, washing dishes, and at her desk at work. Bile rose up in
the back of Meisha’s throat. They’d stalked Trudy and, by what she
could tell, Trudy hadn’t known anything about it.

She put the folder down when what she really
wanted to do was stuff it in her jacket so these fools wouldn’t
have the pictures anymore. But if they were missing, the shifters
were bound to guess someone had been in their house and what good
would taking the folder do anyway? They already knew what Trudy
looked like. Taking the pictures wouldn’t do a lick of good. But
still…

Creak.

She stilled at the noise and held her
breath.

A loud heavy metal song still blared from the
radio.

She kept her eyes on the open bedroom door,
looking for a shadow indicating someone was coming down the
hall.

Nothing.

A round of laughter sounded from
downstairs.

Her heart beat wildly. The moment she spotted
any kind of movement in the hall she’d have no choice but to get to
the window and outside as soon as possible. She stayed in place,
listening and watching, time slowly ticking by. When another song
came on and an argument broke out between the shifters she let
herself relax a little. They weren’t coming after her.

With shaking hands she continued to pick up
the other papers and folders, making sure to put them back just as
she found them. To her disappointment she didn’t find any clues
about who the shifters were and who’d hired them. She turned from
the desk and scanned the room. There had to be something in
here.

Her eyes landed on a cell phone on the
nightstand.

Bingo.

Now that she could take. Cell phones were
easily lost. Plus it would be no biggie for the owner to shut it
off and get another one. That would be
after
she got all of
the phone numbers out of it. She tiptoed to the phone and stuffed
it in her bra. She looked around again, nothing else in the
room.

About how many bedroom rooms did this house
hold? She’d seen two windows in the front and two in the back.

Four, she guessed.

She crept silently to the door.

One down, three more to go.

A hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck,
squeezing it tight. As if she weighed nothing she was snatched from
the doorway and picked up from the floor. Her back slammed against
the wall. Pain erupted in the back of her skull.

She struggled and kicked against her unknown
assailant, but nothing she did made him release his hold on
her.

A flick of a switch and light filled the
hallway.

Her eyes landed on someone she’d hoped to
never to see again. Her eyes opened in panicked shock.

No. Not him.

“I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you,”
Alexei growled, his lips set in an evil grin.

* * * * *

Lajos let out a blood-curdling yell and
slammed his fist through the drywall of his hotel room.

“Calm yourself,” Andras said on the other
line.

Lajos dropped the cell phone that he’d held
at his ear. He didn’t want to hear anything else that Andras had to
say. Meisha was in trouble—he could feel it. His wolf pushed
forward, trying to force his way to out.

Not here,
Lajos coaxed
.

He would let his wolf out when they reached
the Russian shifter pack. He knew they were the ones harming
Meisha. His wolf would show them no mercy. With deadly brute
strength, his wolf would seek justice against anyone who dared harm
her.

Lajos grabbed a chunk of the drywall from the
hole he’d punched. He closed his fist around it, feeling the pieces
crumble in his hand, and imagined his hand around the neck of
whoever had Meisha. It did nothing to satisfy his anger. He
snatched his hand from the wall and opened his fist, letting the
material fall to the floor. He took hard steps across the room to
grab his wallet. He’d take a cab to get her if he had to.

Fuck what Andras says. I’m not waiting for
back-up.

The ringing of the hotel phone made him
pause.

Andras.

The moment of clarity that pierced through
his anger and pain was enough to open his mind to Andras’
commands.

Don’t walk out that door.
Andras’
Alpha command rocked his brain.

If Lajos tried to disobey he’d have to fight
against his mind and body’s natural instinct to obey his Alpha.

Answer the fucking phone.

I don’t want to talk anymore
. Lajos
responded to Andras with just as much agitation as Andras projected
at him. Every nerve in his body willed him to go to the ringing
phone and pick it up. Prickly heat erupted around his head and
sweat trickled down his face and body.

Lajos, I don’t want to hurt you, but if I
have to incapacitate you, I will.

The shaking began in his hands first then
travelled up his arms to his chest and reached down to his legs.
Lajos felt his knees begin to waver. Before long he would hit the
floor.

I have to get to her
, he pleaded with
Andras.

If you can’t listen to reason I’ll leave you
in the hotel while security rescues her.

No! I should be the one to get Meisha.

Then answer the phone.

Lajos flicked his gaze to the phone that sat
on the hotel desk. He wanted to run out the door, find Meisha and
kill anyone in his way. He had no time to listen to plans or wait
any longer for back-up.

Without him willing it to, his leg lifted and
took a step toward the desk. The other lifted and took another
step. Lajos bit down on his tongue.

No, wrong direction.

Answer the phone
. Andras voice filled
his head, clouding all other thoughts.

Before long, Lajos found himself in front of
the phone with his hand gripped around the receiver. He’d no choice
but to give in to the force of his Alpha. He picked up the phone
and brought it to his ear.

“What?” he growled out.

Almost immediately the physical effects of
the Alpha control began to dissipate. He no longer felt as though
he’d fall or convulse. The shaking that wracked his body
stopped.

“Control your tone, pup, or I will control it
for you,” Andras said coldly.

“You don’t understand what I’m going through.
You haven’t found your mate yet.”

“And if finding a mate makes me go stupid
like its making you and Kristof, then I hope to all things holy
that it never happens to me.”

Lajos dropped to the desk chair, feeling
defeated. Andras wouldn’t let him out the door, no matter how hard
he fought. Lajos was stuck in the room. “I need to get to her.” He
raked an unsteady hand through his hair.

“And you will. Your security team is landing
now. They’ll be joining you shortly.”

“Have them meet me on Briel St.,” Lajos said,
naming the street where the shifters had their house.

“No, I’m not letting you get anywhere near
that place until after you calm down.”

“How do you expect me to calm down when they
have her? Do you know what it’s like for me? I can feel her pain.
She’s scared and she’s calling out to me. She needs me.” Lajos held
his head at his last words. She needed him and he couldn’t get to
her. His wolf whined.

“I know. I feel her pain as well.” Andras
took a long breath. “Lajos, if you rush in, which is what they’re
hoping for, you’ll end up getting yourself and Meisha killed. Is
that what you want?”

“Of course not,” he bit out. “But I have to
get to her.”

“Have you heard of the term, ‘fools rush
in’?”

Lajos growled low. “I’m no fool.”

“Then stop acting like one. There are eight
shifters with her. From what I gathered from Meisha’s thoughts,
they’ve roughed her up a bit, but mainly they’re trying to draw you
out.”

“Then I’ll give them what they want,” he
growled.

“Really? You’ll give them your head on a
platter?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t. Trying to read your mind is
like trying to read a foreign language. You aren’t thinking
rationally. Listen to me. Is she hurt? Yes. Is it grave? No. She’s
scared, but I’ve been pushing thoughts into her mind, calming her.
Your woman is smart. She’s already devising plans to get away. When
the security team arrives, you’ll brief them and if, and I do mean
if
you’re more controlled, you can go with them.”

Lajos tightened his grip on the phone. “I
will go with them,” he promised.

“Only if I can be assured that you won’t get
yourself or anyone from your team killed. I need you on point for
this, Lajos. I have to be assured you can handle it.”

“I can handle it.”

“Then prove it by stop trying to fight my
commands and wait for the team.”

Lajos closed his eyes. His wolf projected
pictures of Meisha and him together. Of them holding hands and
growing old together. Of them making love.

Andras was right. He had to pull it together.
He wouldn’t stand a chance alone. The shifters would rip him to
shreds, but his team would be able to get to her. They were trained
for fighting and extraction.

“Alright.”

Chapter
Nineteen

“
Just relax. They aren’t going to kill you
yet.”

“
I really don’t like the ‘yet’ part,”
Meisha replied to the voice in her head.

She’d been talking to the voice for a good
hour. What was the saying? You aren’t crazy for talking to
yourself, you’re crazy if you answer, or something like that.

She couldn’t really think straight and it was
partly because Alexei had knocked a couple of screws loose. Since
her knock-around she’d been feeling all types of crazy shit about
Lajos and, to top it off, there was a voice in her head. The voice
said he was Andras, Lajos’ oldest brother and her pack leader. She
had snorted at that. Yeah, she was going crazy and now imagining
herself a part of Lajos’ shifter pack.

“
What did I tell you,”
the voice of
Andras said.
“You aren’t crazy. So focus on something else.
Lajos is on his way.”

“
No. He can’t come here. They’re waiting
for him.”

“
He knows and he also knows they aren’t
going to kill you until he gets there.”

“
They said they wanted to kill me in front
of him—to watch him die inside. I can’t let that happen. What do
you think I should do?”

Silence.

“
Andras?”

No answer.

She took a deep breath.
Holy fuck, I’m
relying on the voice in my head for a game plan. Fuck this.

After Alexei had beaten her up he’d tied her
hands behind her back and planted her on the chair by the desk. Her
ego had suffered a blow at having been taken down so easily, but
she’d sucked it up and decided not to dwell on that. She had to
focus on escaping if she wanted to live.

She looked up at the three men. Two were
loading up the guns that were laid across the bed and the other was
standing by the window with his eyes peeled to the backyard. The
other five, including Alexei, had returned downstairs to get ready
for Lajos. There was a little surge of pride at the way they were
acting. Yeah, they wanted and expected Lajos to come after her, but
they were also a little scared of him.