Ruler (Wolves of Royal Paynes #2) - Kiki Burrelli Page 0,61

daytime, there wasn't a single person in the image.

"This is how the place is most times," Huntley added. "Without a single soul anywhere."

"How does a major investment building operate with no staff?" Jazz asked.

"It doesn't," Jagger replied. "But we did catch the few employees we spotted coming and going. They didn't seem to come with any discernible regularity. Sometimes during the day, sometimes in the middle of the night. We were hoping to be able to go undercover, pose as employees, but we never had a shot." Jagger's words twanged with frustration.

He slapped each photo down like they'd personally kept him from learning more.

Not every reconnaissance ended with knowing everything you needed to know, and they shouldn't have been so hard—

I hissed, snatching the last picture Jagger had thrown down, depicting a woman's profile as she entered in a side door. Her hair was lighter, and her lips turned down in a scowl, but that wasn't a face I could forget. I'd only been staring at her for days.

"Selene."

"Shark! Shark! Shark! Shark!"

Both Hallie and Storri screamed, their voices so loud they crackled the speakers before the sound cut out entirely. My heart lunged into my throat, but this wasn't the moment to panic. I dropped the picture. Diesel thrust an earpiece toward me while hastily donning his own. Huntley turned around, sliding back behind the driver's seat. Neither twin could know the reason for our haste, but they didn't need to. Jagger took the passenger seat, reaching beneath for their swords.

"Go," Knox ordered, staying back to protect Jazz. We'd learned that lesson once already.

Huntley took off down the driveway before I'd shut my door all the way. Dog fell into my lap, knocked off balance as Huntley yanked the Hummer hard to the right, the tires spinning up gravel before they caught the pavement.

"They can't be that—"

"They're at the cliffs." Knox's voice sounded in my ear.

"Of course they fucking are," I snarled. The last time we'd been here, I'd gone over the edge and plunged into the ocean. I couldn't let that happen to Storri.

"I see a car—what the fuck?" Huntley sped forward, slamming the Hummer to a stop several feet away from Selene's car, where it had been haphazardly parked on the side of the road. The engine smoked, and the car was empty.

Selene stood along the side of the road with her profile toward us, gun drawn and aimed at a large mountain lion. Behind the mountain lion was a pile of limbs. Orange, furry, and clawed, but I spotted a human hand and Hallie's bushy brown hair. They were under a mountain of mountain lions. If Selene hadn't fired yet, that must've meant she didn't trust her aim, and she wasn't here to kill Storri. Too bad that wouldn't help her.

Judging from the sizes of the cougars, there was a mother and possibly four adolescent kittens nearly large enough to leave the nest. The mother cougar stood out front and snarled at Selene, swiping her sharp claws through the air in warning while the kittens covered Storri and Hallie like a lumpy, chaotic blanket.

I opened my door, jumping out with Dog after me. "Fetch."

Dog growled and took off like a bullet.

Selene turned in time to see the growling torpedo heading her way. She spun her gun around and fired, but Dog only zigged to the left, leaving the bullet to lodge into the dirt. The mother cougar took advantage of the distraction and lunged.

The woman screamed, dropping the gun before scrambling on her hands and knees in the opposite direction. She'd go over the cliff if she wasn't careful.

I approached the hissing kitten pile, searching for a sign that Storri was okay down there. I kept track of the woman from the corner of my eye. Dog and the twins could handle her, but not if she made it to the cliff's edge like she was currently attempting to do.

Was she trying to jump? This wouldn't be the first time a hostage tried to take their own life before we could question them. But as much as I would've liked to see her gone from this world, she wouldn't get out that easily.

"She's trying to go over," I shouted before dropping to my knees. If I attempted to forcibly remove the large cats, they'd only fight, possibly hurting Storri and Hallie in the process. But with as loud as they were being, I didn't think Storri even knew we'd arrived. "Storri, are you in there? I'm here.