Chapter 20

Guthrie and the others dropped everything they were doing when they heard Heather screaming and shouting that Baird had come back for Calla. Heather was crying and running as fast as she could toward the manor house, which was about a thousand feet from the carriage house.

They rushed outside, and Guthrie bolted for Calla’s place, Duncan and Oran keeping pace as Ethan and Jasper raced behind them.

“Stay in the manor house,” Cearnach said to Heather. “Call Ian.”

And then he hurried off to catch up with the rest of them. When Guthrie reached the carriage house and twisted the doorknob, he found it locked. “Calla!”

Duncan yanked out his standard lupus garou lockpicks and worked on the lock, while Guthrie and Cearnach sprinted around the other side of the house, in case the back door was open. His heart thundering, Guthrie saw Baird’s red car peel off down the long cobblestone drive to the main road. But no sign of Calla in the car. Not that he could see anyway.

Guthrie and Cearnach hurried inside the back entryway, where the door hung wide open. Guthrie hollered at Duncan and the others, who were searching in the back rooms, “Any sign of Calla in the house?” He worried then that Baird might have killed her and run.

“They’re gone,” Duncan said, stalking down the hallway. “She’s not here.”

“All right. They headed off the property the back way,” Guthrie said, hurrying for his car just as lightning blazed across the darkening sky and thunder cracked. The rains started right after that.

Duncan and Cearnach climbed into Guthrie’s car and Guthrie drove off. Oran and Ethan took off in the other, following them, while Jasper stayed behind to watch over Heather—just in case they had unexpected trouble from more of Baird’s kin.

Cearnach called Ian on the speakerphone. “Baird’s taken Calla hostage. He’s headed onto the main road. We’re in pursuit.”

“Out here, the rain is changing to sleet. Be careful,” Ian warned. “Keep me posted.”

By the time they got to the main road, they couldn’t tell which way Baird had gone.

Duncan quickly got out of the car, sniffed the wet air, then got back in the car. “His recent car fumes indicate he headed left.”

They were off again, the car roaring down the road and Guthrie going way faster than was probably safe. But no one told him to slow down. If any of their mates had been abducted, they would have felt the same way.

He just hoped they weren’t too late.

The roads wound back and forth in the hilly country, some of it edging steep cliffs that dropped away to the cold sea.

Guthrie’s heart rate hadn’t slowed down from the moment he had heard Heather’s frantic cries.

Usually his brothers would reassure each other when something was wrong—saying they would take care of it. In this case, everyone was silent, anxious, watching for any sign of Baird’s car and trying to see if it hadn’t driven off on another road along the way. No cars were traveling on this road at all, though, most likely because of the bad weather.

The road surface hadn’t completely frozen yet, but the rain hitting the windows was definitely mixed with sleet as it slid down the windshield and began to accumulate like chunks of glass.

A couple of times they slid on the road. Cursing, Guthrie cut back on his speed when he saw in his rearview mirror that Oran’s car had hit an icy patch and dovetailed into a ditch.

“Oran’s in the ditch,” he quickly told his brothers.

Duncan got on the speakerphone to Ethan in Oran’s car. “Hey, are you two going to be okay?”

“Yeah, go after the lass,” Ethan said. “Don’t lose her. We’re going to try and get ourselves back on the road and catch up as soon as we can. We’ll keep in touch.”

Cearnach was on the phone to Ian again. “Oran and Ethan slid on a patch of ice. They ran off the road, but they’re both fine.” He gave their location. “We’re continuing on this route. No sign of Baird’s car yet.”

“Okay. We’ll send someone to pick up Oran and Ethan if they aren’t able to make it back to the road on their own. What about Jasper and Heather?”

“Back at the manor house.”

“They may have to stay there overnight. We’ve got a new problem. The ice storm has brought down”—Ian paused—“electric lines. The electricity just fluttered.” Silence. “It just went out. Some roads are impassable, according to the weather reports. Lines are down all over the area around here.”

“Wait, what about the other ladies?” Duncan asked, sounding worried.

“They, ah, went shopping, when you went to pack Calla’s things,” Ian said.

“They went Christmas shopping? In this weather? Are they crazy? Are they back yet?”

“Nay. They were supposed to be back already, but they called and said the car slipped on ice and managed to hit a telephone pole. No one’s injured. But they’re shaken up a bit. I’m on my way with a couple of other men to get them.”

Cearnach shook his head. Duncan growled.

“They…didn’t want anyone to know about it,” Ian said as Guthrie and the others heard car doors slam and the engine roar to life over the phone. “But, they didn’t go out for Christmas shopping.”

“What then?” Duncan asked, his tone of voice furious.

“They went shopping for wedding gifts for Calla and Guthrie.”