They often start by torturing small animals.” And around the time they were teens, there had been a rash of small animals reported as missing in their neighborhood. Kai and Jared’s, not Squirrel’s. And they’d lived in a poor neighborhood. Pets went missing. They got out of crappy fences and got lost.
Or they got caught by the blossoming killer.
Kai stood up, the hair on his arms standing on end as he remembered some of the things Jared’s best friend had said. Not to him but to Kori. She’d mentioned it because she’d thought it was odd and she’d been annoyed at the time. He’d asked about Kori’s car, saying something about how he’d been surprised that it hadn’t been Kai’s. That had been the day after Kori’s tires had been slashed. She’d told Kai she’d wished it had been his car, too.
“What are you doing?” Jared moved in behind him as he started to pull up his search engine.
He typed in the name of his neighborhood and the years between Jared’s last year of high school and the time he got signed on for Dart and the words missing girls. “Following my instincts.”
He waited for a minute while the screen whirled, pulling up stats and news stories. He had to move around because there were years of data but he came up with two names. “Do you know these women? Emily Glass and Patsy Huss?”
Jared leaned over. “I went to school with Emily, and Patsy was a model in the first agency I signed with. I lost touch with Emily, and Patsy left the agency.”
“They went missing. Patsy’s body was found three years ago with the same MO as the other women. Emily was raped and only saved because a couple of joggers came along. Jared, did you have a relationship with these women?”
Jared had taken a step back, his face going white. “He wouldn’t. He’s my best friend. He’s the only person in the world I’ve been able to count on.”
But sometimes those people went bad. And now that man was at Kori’s. Oh, he might be after Sarah, but he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Kori. Kai stood. There was no time to waste.
“Sarah,” Jared said. His phone was already in his hand.
Kai’s was too. He dialed Kori’s number as he moved toward the front door. Nothing. He went straight to voice mail. At least he was fairly certain someone had gone with her. Erin wouldn’t have let her leave alone.
That was when he got the text from Big Tag. Your sub needs a spanking. Get to her place because she and Sarah snuck out of here and I’ve got a meeting. Tell Sarah she’s up shit creek and I will find a Dom with a paddle for her.
“Shit.” She was there alone. She was there with a killer.
“I’m calling the cops,” Jared said, following him.
Kai started running. They would need the cops because there was no way he allowed anyone to touch his sub.
He’d played the spy this week. But it was time to be a warrior again.
* * * *
Kori stepped inside her place with a heavy heart. How long would she stay here? How long before this house was nothing more than a memory and the people she’d come to care for were distant and faint in her head?
What was she going to do? Go and pack and run right this second because she was such a damn child that she was going to let another man run her out of her own fucking life?
She might have spent too much time with Erin. And Charlotte Taggart and Chelsea Weston, who had shown up for breakfast this morning. Phoebe Murdoch had been there, laughing and joking about how tired Big Tag looked. They were all waiting on Drew Lawless, who was flying in and was planning on meeting them.
“I think we’re going to get in trouble for this,” Sarah said with a sigh. “Like real, not erotic trouble.”
“You didn’t have to come with me.”
“Yeah, I did. If you’re going to defy the Doms and do something stupid, then I am obligated to be stupid with you.” She set her purse on the bar. She was still wearing her clothes from last night, which she tried and failed to smooth out. “I think I’m going to argue that we’ve had enough punishment. We had to do the walk of shame public transportation style. I had a guy offer me a hundred bucks for a hummer. E I would