“Are any of our females there? Were they freed?”

Lauren met and held the curious gaze of the golden-haired feline. “Yes. There aren’t a lot of them, from what I understand, but my best friend said she met a bunch of them.”

“What is the bad news of this?” The canine was obviously the grim one of the bunch. “There is always a price. What do they expect for those privileges?”

“There is no they. I assume you think it’s like here where they threaten you to make you do what they want or you’re punished? I know they are holding 140’s girlfriend over his head. The NSO are your people. They just want you to be happy.”

“Lies,” the blond hissed.

Lauren knew they didn’t trust her, thought she was making stuff up, so she stopped trying. The only way to show them she wasn’t full of shit would be to survive long enough to hopefully be exchanged and then she could tell Wrath about them. Maybe the NSO could arrive before they were moved.

Chapter Fifteen

Wrath strode quickly from the SUV and knew Brass and Shadow followed him. The sun had gone down, he was late—they’d been stuck in traffic—and he hoped Lauren hadn’t given up on him and gone to bed. His excitement over seeing her could barely be contained.

He was about ten feet from her door when the smells filled his nose and he jerked to a halt. He sniffed loudly, knew the two males with him did the same, and he snarled. The smell came from Lauren’s home and he could see that her front door hadn’t been closed completely. He lunged, shoved it all the way open and alarm shot through him.

Brass moved to his side and sniffed. “Three human males, one human female, and a Species male.”

“Do you smell that?” Shadow hissed. “Mercile.”

“I do.”

Fear shot through Wrath as another smell filled his nose. Blood, decay and death. He rushed forward, terrified he’d find Lauren’s body as the source, but a human male lay crumpled on the floor in the darkness. It took only seconds for his eyes to adjust but one of the males flipped on the light.

“Lauren?” He yelled her name, rushed for her bedroom and halted again when he saw the destruction of the doorframe.

Shadow gripped his shoulder. “Someone broke through it.”

A snarl tore from Wrath and he stepped over books that were spilled over her floor. The scent of the unknown male Species was stronger in her room, the only scent he could detect besides Lauren’s, and he saw the busted bathroom door. The counter had damage from where a broken drawer had been ripped out. He was inside in seconds, stared at the open window and jumped up on the counter.

“The human is dead,” Brass growled.

Wrath spun, pain shot through his chest, and he met the male’s eyes.

“The male. Not Lauren,” Brass assured him, yanking out his cell phone and holding it to his ear after he dialed. “I’m calling for assistance.”

Wrath gripped the windowsill, had to fight to fit through it and saw signs on the grass of what must have taken place. He tracked the footprints, small ones and large ones, until he found where the male had grabbed her. Her footprints disappeared and the larger ones were deeper with the combined weight of the male and Lauren.

“He carried her,” Shadow stated from behind him.

Wrath followed the tracks around the building and lost them when they reached the sidewalk near Lauren’s door. He rushed back inside, crouched near the dead body and examined it with his gaze.

Shadow gripped the letter opener, jerked it out and sniffed the handle. He looked up and held Wrath’s gaze. “Lauren killed this male. She had to be afraid. I can smell fear and it probably caused her to sweat, including her palms. Her scent lingers on the handle.”

Brass’ voice carried. “We’re scenting an unknown Species male here and he’s got the smell of Mercile.”

“What does that mean?”

Wrath twisted his head and refrained from snarling at the task force male who’d driven them. He’d followed them inside. Lauren was gone and she’d had to kill someone. Wrath’s worst fears filled his mind and he couldn’t even speak around the lump that formed in his throat that she might be dead.

“A Species male has been here but he carries the smell of the soap Mercile always made us use. No free Species would ever purposely touch it.” Shadow straightened. “Go outside and ask the neighbors if anyone saw anything. Bring them here if they did. We need to question them.”

The man at the door turned, rushed out, and Wrath threw back his head. A howl tore from his throat. Lauren was gone. His gaze returned to the dead human on the floor. She’d killed him and that meant whoever had taken her would seek revenge for the death. They’d kill her as punishment.

“Keep calm,” Shadow demanded. “You can’t help her if you fall apart.”

“They will kill her.”

“We don’t know that.”

Brass cleared his throat. “There’s blood and a note on the couch.”

Wrath shoved him out of the way, leaned down and sniffed. Lauren’s scent was the only one he could pick up on the couch and he knew the smell of her blood. There was only a little of it but it didn’t ease his terror that she might be dead.

“They want the humans we captured yesterday returned to them and they want to trade Lauren for them,” Brass said after reading the note.

Wrath turned slowly and glared at Brass. “We’ll trade them.”