Knuckles (Dragon Riders MC #4) - Savannah Rylan Page 0,16

anything that might tell me what had happened. There were scuff marks in the asphalt. That would give us some tread to run through some databases. I moved to dig around in my pocket for my phone to take pictures when it hit me.

I was still naked.

“Damn it,” I hissed.

I marched back inside and threw on some clothes, and that gave the cloud of smoke enough time to dissipate. I zipped up my jeans and kept my eyes on the ground, searching for any clues. A fiber, a hair, or possibly a piece of clothing. And when my eyes fell upon Simone’s cell phone, my heart sank.

There goes tracking her number.

I reached down and picked it up and saw the screen was cracked. But the phone still lit up. She had a password on it, though, and fuck if I knew what it was.

“Simone!” I roared.

But all that came back to me was the echo of my own voice.

The woman I loved had been taken, right out from underneath my nose. With a stomach full of food that, if jostled too much in any car, would come right back up on her. The thought made me nauseous myself. I stormed back inside and slammed the door behind me. I stared at her phone, wondering what the connect-the-dots password might be.

I tried a few different combinations before it threw up a ‘three more tries’ warning, so I stopped. If anyone could get into this, Ash could. I needed to wait and hand this over to him.

I need to get into this, though.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, running down the facts. Simone had gone outside without me hearing her. A car had approached her while she had been outside, and someone snatched her up. She dropped her phone, at some point in time screamed for me, then the car she was in tore out of here.

Damn it, for all I knew she was in a fucking pick-up truck.

“Fuck!” I shrieked.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and raked my fingers through my hair. I’d never felt so off-kilter and worried in all my life. Was it possible Simone had been taken by this threat that had her so fearful?

No. No. This kidnapping was much too close to the moment I finally tracked down something about Skeleton.

“That fucker has her,” I murmured to myself.

I set her phone beside me and dug my own out. Part of me wanted to call the local police, but I knew they’d know even less than we did about Skeleton. They were trying as hard as they could, but federal officers were stretched thin nowadays. And even the ones that cooperated with us and helped us out along the way had been off the radar for a while now. There were always new demands for their kind. They weren’t just law bringers and people-protectors. They had to be community outreach as well as counselors and on-the-spot paramedics, if the situation called for it.

So, I decided to call Bowser and fill him in instead.

I dialed his number and closed my eyes as the phone rang in my ear. Every second that slipped by was another opportunity Skeleton had to slit Simone’s throat, and the idea made me more furious than I’d ever been in my entire life. I was angry with myself for letting her get the upper hand with me. I was disappointed in myself for not demanding more answers from her once we finally got to this motel. And what was worse, I fully regretted bringing her along.

Even though I knew damn good and well I would’ve been distracted anyway.

“Shit,” I hissed.

“That can’t be good,” Bowser said.

I sighed. “We got an issue, man.”

“Tell me what’s happened.”

I swallowed hard. “Simone’s been taken.”

He didn’t skip a beat. “Any chance it’s whatever threat she’s running from?”

“I never even got into it with her. But I’ve got a feeling it was Skeleton and his fucking men.”

“How do you figure?”

“Dude, I found the only link between Skeleton and this area he supposedly has a warehouse in or something, and two hours later Simone is taken? Really?”

He paused. “You got a point.”

“And before you ask, I don’t know shit about the car that took her. All I’ve got are tire treads outside. I can send pictures.”

“Send them straight to Ash. I just told him to open his laptop.”

I stood up. “Give me a few seconds. I’ll send them while you’re still on the phone.”

I charged back outside