check in with everyone and make sure they’re all accounted for.” Xeon tossed money onto the table and got up.
His gut told him that something was wrong. He’d thought for sure Mara planned to meet him. What if someone heard her talking to him and stopped her? The phone call had ended abruptly, after all.
Chapter Three
Mara left work a few minutes early. She made the last round with her patients and hurried back to her office to get her things. The diner wasn’t too far from the hospital, and she could be there in fifteen minutes. The parking garage had a few lights out, but the sun was already rising so she wasn’t in total darkness.
Pulling her keys out of her purse, Mara pressed the key fob, but she didn’t hear the familiar click the locks made when unlocking. Had she forgotten to lock her doors when she came in yesterday morning?
Mara checked the back seat before she got in, making sure someone wasn’t hiding there. When she saw no one, she got in her car and locked the doors. She’d worked seventeen long hours straight, and exhaustion threatened to take over. Thankfully, she didn’t have to be back into work until Saturday.
Traffic was light. Luckily, it didn’t get bad until eight o’clock in the morning. Which meant she had plenty of time to meet with the alpha and get to her house before the roads were flooded with cars. Music blared from her radio, and she turned it up another notch to keep from drifting off.
Suddenly, her car began to wobble. Her steering pulled to the left. She turned off the radio to listen to her car acting up. The moment the music stopped, she knew what had happened, she had a flat tire. She managed to get the car to the side of the road with no issues other than the wobbly tire.
“Son of a bitch!” She hit her palms against the steering wheel. She threw the car into park and pulled her phone from her purse to call AAA. When the screen didn’t come on, she remembered it was dead. She plugged the device in and sat back to wait for enough charge to make a call. Her eyelids drooped quickly.
Instead of waiting and falling asleep, she opened her door. There were no passing cars. No one to help her. At least walking around had her wide awake. Examining the tire, she kicked the flattened rubber.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” She growled while she went to the trunk for her jack and spare tire. Maybe she could get a start on it, so whoever came to help would get done faster.
She cursed under her breath and pulled out everything she needed. It had been a long time since she changed a tire herself. She hoped it was like riding a bike. Once you knew how you didn’t really forget. At least she didn’t have to change the tire in the dark.
Before she could jack the car up, she needed to bust the lug nuts loose. Placing the tire iron on the nut, she applied pressure with her foot, effectively making the nut move. Three of the five loosened with no problems. When she got to the fourth, her efforts were futile. It didn’t budge.
“Come on!” She jumped with all her weight onto the tire iron, but the nut didn’t budge. The issue with the lug nut had her so distracted, she hadn’t noticed that someone had pulled up behind her.
“Can I help you, ma’am?” a man asked as he walked over to her.
“I got it. I just can’t seem to get this lug nut loose.” She tried again, pressing her weight onto the tire iron.
“Here, let me help. I’m good at busting nuts.” He smiled at his own comment.
Noticing a familiar tone in his voice, she looked closer at his face. Suddenly an arm came around her from behind, and she felt a prick along her neck. Within seconds her body went limp, and she sagged.
“What have you done to me?” Her voice slurred, then everything went black.
Slowly Mara’s eyes fluttered open. The bright lights stung, forcing her to squint. The ice-cold metal beneath her sent chills down her back; she was on a lab table! She tried to sit up, but restraints prevented her from much movement. She turned her head to look around.
Immediately, she recognized the basement room at the hospital, where she previously saw a patient laying. She couldn’t see past the opaque