Chapter Twenty-Four

Aiden’s boots rang across the gallery’s floor as he hoofed it to Dana’s office. Careening around her desk, he wrenched the drawer open and pawed through the papers, hoping against hope he’d find some record of Tony’s address. A few minutes later, Jace and Emmaline entered the office.

“Anything?” Aiden demanded. They shook their heads and the anchor suspended to his heart hit bottom. He’d known the chances of finding anything were slim. According to Emmaline, Dana had only taken Tony on as her assistant two weeks ago, and to complicate matters more, he worked as an intern. Meaning no luck finding a paycheck stub with an address.

“What’s the deal with this dude anyway?” Jace paced in front of the desk. “Has he developed a twisted obsession with Dana or is he after us?”

“I vote for him being a hunter,” Emmaline said with a decisive nod that made her wince. Patting her bandage, she continued. “That boy had one hell of a fancy rifle and he took out the dragon in the suit from probably several hundred yards away.” She shivered. “It’s a miracle neither Dana nor I got caught in the crossfire.”

The potential of that happening drove a cold spike of fury through Aiden’s stomach. He shoved away from the desk. A shrill ring came from the phone resting near one of the stacks of papers he’d rifled through. They all froze.

Breaking from his stupor, Aiden grabbed for the phone. “Hello?”

“Didn’t have much luck finding my address?”

Aiden gripped the handle of the phone in a vise hold. “If you hurt her, so help me God you’ll pray for me to kill you fast.”

“Will you?”

“What do you think?” Aiden’s tone dripped with silky menace.

“I knew you’d be the perfect opponent.”

“This isn’t a fucking game.”

“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong. It’s the biggest game of all.” Tony chortled like an excited schoolboy. “Let’s see how smart of a player you are. There’s something waiting for you at the Purple Pelican, room 11. Better hurry.”

The line went dead and Aiden slammed the phone into its cradle. “Come on. He gave me an address.”

“You’re shitting me.” Jace rushed to catch up with Aiden. “Why would he just hand it over?”

“Because he’s loony tunes. Or it’s a trap. Either way, I’m checking it out.”

“Me too.”

“Me three.”

Aiden slammed to a halt and looked at Emmaline. “It might be best if you stay here. Who knows what we could be walking into.”

“I don’t care. This is my niece we’re talking about.”

He couldn’t exactly argue with that. He’d do anything when it came to Dana too. They hurried outside and Emmaline locked up the gallery before hopping into the backseat of the Navigator. Aiden tossed his cell phone to Jace. “Call information and find out where the hell the Purple Pelican is located.”

“It’s on Van Dyke, about six miles from here,” Emmaline piped up. “Only reason I know is because their butt-ugly sign sticks out like a sore thumb. Take a right out of the lot.”

Aiden did as told and followed Emmaline’s excellent directions all the way to the Purple Pelican. He glanced at the motel’s enormous sign and agreed with Emmaline’s assessment. The bird on the billboard more resembled a molting buzzard than a pelican.

The motel had the same layout as the fleabag dump he’d visited with Claudia, only it wasn’t quite so seedy. An open parking space waited in front of room 11. Aiden slid the Navigator into the tight spot and killed the engine. “Okay, I don’t think I need to tell anyone to be on guard.” He climbed out and approached the entrance to the room cautiously.

After checking the exterior hardware of the door for booby traps, he shifted his hand into a talon and jimmied the lock. He was practically becoming a pro at it. The door swung open and he stepped inside. Music drifted from the bathroom. Thankful for the carpet masking his footsteps, he crossed to the small room and peeked around the door. Tucker Knoxville was chained to the shower rod.

“Shit.” Aiden rushed forward the same instant Jace crowded into the bathroom.

“Is that—?”

“Yeah. Help me rip this bar out of the wall.”

Aiden waited for Jace to grip the other end before giving a hard tug. The rod disengaged with a crack, showering plaster and tile bits onto Tucker’s head. The youngest Knoxville member stirred with a grunt. He pried his eyes open, revealing irises that were dilated and glassy. His mouth slid into a dopey smile. “Hey, dudes.”

“He’s higher than a kite.”

“Probably the only way Tony could keep him from shifting.” Aiden kneeled in front of Tucker. “Your sister’s been worried sick about you, kid. Think we should call her?”

Despite being drugged out of his mind, Tucker still managed to look horrified. “Aw, man. You really know how to kill a buzz.”

Aiden stepped out of the line of Claudia’s warpath. Jace sidled beside him and cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe it would’ve been more merciful if we didn’t sober Tucker up first.”

“Have you been napping under high-voltage lines again?” Claudia grabbed her brother by the scruff of his neck and hauled him off the bed. “What were you thinking going along with Kinnit’s blackmail?”

“Duh, obviously I didn’t if I’ve been locked up here all this time.”

Claudia tweaked Tucker’s ear until he yelped. “You know what I mean, smartass. If you’d come to me in the beginning, I could have helped you.”

“Yeah, right.”

Aiden decided to intervene before Claudia made good on the threat of a good ass kicking that sizzled in her eyes. “Tucker, what can you tell us about Tony? How did you end up in this hotel room with him?”

“For starters, this is my hotel room. The asshole jumped me two weeks ago when I was about to leave for breakfast. He chained me to the shower and pumped me for everything I knew about you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, the dude is obsessed with you. Kept spouting weird shit about hunting the top alpha and becoming the master slayer. Apparently he’s been tracking you for a while.”

“Son of a bitch.” Aiden shot a glance toward the foot of the bed, where Jace stood. “Guess that validates our theory about the hunters keeping some kind of database about us. Still, it doesn’t explain Tony’s elaborate ruse regarding Dana.” Unless…

“What are you thinking?”

He mulled the idea around in his head before presenting it to Jace. “What if he knew I’d be coming here to collect Dana?”

Jace’s eyebrows shot upward. “That’d mean he knew about the contract and Dana being the sacrifice. How the hell is that possible?”

“I don’t know.” Aiden rubbed his forehead wearily. “Maybe I’m way out in left field with that theory.” Still, there wasn’t exactly any alternative explanation that made better sense.

Before he could ponder it further, Emmaline came rushing into the room, talking on her cell phone. He did a double take when he realized it was his cell phone. Who the hell was she speaking to on his phone?

“Hold on, he’s right here.” Emmaline cupped her palm over the receiver. “It’s your mother. I thought it might be Tony—or God willing, Dana.”

Aiden relieved Emmaline of the phone. “Hi. You’ve landed, huh? Yeah, Emmaline’s a real peach. Oh, she caught you up to speed?” Was that good or bad? “You and Dad are heading over here now?” Bad. Definitely bad. “I don’t think that’s—” He gritted his teeth when the line went dead.

Tossing the phone onto the mattress, he tunneled his fingers through his hair and tried to calm the beast inside him. When that didn’t work, he started ransacking the room, looking for any clues that could give him insight into Tony’s twisted mind. Scrounging under the bed, he uncovered a couple of books dealing with dragon lore. A glossy piece of paper bookmarked one of the pages. He pulled it out and unfolded it. From what he could make of it, it appeared to be an ad for some kind of live role-play event that’d taken place back in May. He placed the ad back inside the book and continued with his search. Beneath the other side of the bed he discovered a box loaded with video-gaming equipment and assorted games. As he’d expected, a good portion of the games featured dragons. A few alien battles and military-type games had been thrown in the mix too.

Aiden stared at the collection in the box, his mind retracing to Tucker’s statement about Tony’s obsession over hunting the top alpha. Tony had even called him the perfect opponent. “He has no intention of putting a bullet in me from a distance like he did Morgan. He wants to fight me.”

The rest of the room remained silent. Aiden glanced up to find everyone staring at him.

“If he wants to fight you, why doesn’t he just get it over with? Why all this stupid monkeying around?” Emmaline’s voice broke and she plopped onto the foot of the bed.

Aiden strode to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “We’ll figure out where he’s taken Dana and we’ll get her back. You have my sworn word.”

Emmaline snuck a finger under her glasses and whisked away a tear. Sniffing, she peered up at him. “I know it isn’t very Christian of me, but could you maybe hurt Tony just a teensy bit?”

Aiden’s mouth stretched into a smile of feral promise. “I think I can accommodate that.”