DAYNE
Dayne knew if he didn't start getting more sleep, sooner rather than later it was going to get him in trouble.
But saying and doing were two different things, and once again the ghosts of his family and the fear Talis would join them had haunted his dreams, making sleep almost impossible.
Although Luka had given him a long look when he'd offered to drive into Dawley that morning, he'd chosen not to comment on the obvious signs Dayne hadn't been sleeping.
Still, after sighing at his beta's thoughtful expression, Dayne had tossed him the car keys and told him he could drive, to Luka's obvious relief.
He hadn't thought he looked that tired.
Dayne planned to get all the information they could from whichever Merrick pack member was unlucky enough to fall into his hands.
Once they had some idea of what they'd be walking into, depending on the information they received, Dayne wanted to be ready to move that night.
Glynn Merrick would receive the response to the package he'd sent either that day or the next, and the last thing Dayne wanted was to leave Talis within hand's reach of Glynn when he did.
But if Dayne wanted to be ready, he couldn't be surviving on less than an hour's sleep a night. Not when he needed to be at the top of his game, because he couldn't picture Glynn just handing Talis over without a fight.
"Dayne," Luka murmured, keeping his voice low.
Dayne narrowed his eyes. "I see him," he replied in the same low tone.
Though they were careful to keep their voices down, the possibility of the alpha of the Merrick pack and his beta hearing them from across the street wasn't high.
It also helped Luka had parked far enough away from the entrance of the bank, Dayne doubted either of the shifters would spot them.
Still, there was little doubt in Dayne's mind why Glynn had been paying a trip to the bank, which is why they'd arrived before they opened and waited to see if Dayne's instincts were right.
Not even five minutes after the bank had opened their doors, and they were rewarded with the sight of Glynn's truck, as he and his beta were among the first to enter.
The situation must be desperate, Dayne guessed.
As they'd waited for Glynn and Abel to emerge from inside, it hadn't taken long before Dayne got to work planning out how they'd snatch at least one-or preferably both-of the men off the street without attracting attention.
Then, when they'd stepped out, Abel had wandered off, leaving Glynn distractedly pacing outside the entrance on his phone.
So, the perfect target.
If they hadn't been on the main street when people were heading to work in the businesses close by, that is.
The problem was that any attempt they made, at least someone would see them.
Dayne couldn't see how they could do it any cleaner than pulling up and hoping for the element of surprise.
But even if someone did see them, the risk would still be worth it.
If they got their hands on Glynn, it would all be over.
Dayne would rip out his throat and then all they'd need to do was drive up to the Merrick pack house, knock back any attacks, and grab Talis.
He imagined any other pack members eager to fight would soon have their spirits dented when Dayne tossed the body of their alpha out of their car.
Dayne could envision the end of this nightmare so clearly, he was reaching to unbuckle his seatbelt when Luka's hand landed on his arm, halting him.
He turned his gaze to see what had caught Luka's attention and was just in time to see another car pull up close to the bank's entrance.
Glynn's beta spun, and for the first time, Dayne glimpsed his face, or rather, his eyes.
The cruelty in the shifter's blue eyes left Dayne in no doubt that he was staring at the wolf who'd been the one to terrify Savannah.
At the sight of him, his wolf snarled his need to rip his throat out, and Dayne silenced him.
Not now. You can have at him later.
No wonder Savannah had been so afraid. There was something about this shifter that made Dayne nervous at the thought of him being anywhere near a woman.
And Talis had lived under the same roof as this shaggy-haired shifter with dead eyes.
When Dayne had first caught sight of Talis crying beside the stream at the meeting of alphas all those years ago, it'd been dark, but he'd seen enough of her to think her pretty.
But seeing her during the day, he'd learned he'd been wrong. She wasn't pretty.
She was beautiful.
With her shoulder-length glossy sable hair, heart-shaped face, and those large chocolate brown eyes, she was perfect. And then there was that warm, golden skin his wolf wanted to take a bite out of whenever she was close.
More often than not, it was a battle to keep his hands off her.
While he hadn't missed how insecure she was about her body whenever she'd tried to cover her nakedness from him, Dayne knew that was something else he could lie at Glynn's door.
Somehow, he'd convinced her she was worthless when everywhere she went, eyes followed her, and she had no idea.
Dayne certainly hadn't missed the way Fisher from the grocery store had been watching her, grinning at her that first day he'd stopped to fill the gas.
He'd been paying, but something had made him glance out of the shop window and he'd been in time to catch the interest stirring in Fisher's eyes.
Then when he'd found Talis gone to the grocery store, Dayne had been ready to charge down there.
All he'd been able to think about as the minutes ticked by was the thought of where she'd gone, and who would be helping her.
But this guy, there was something about this guy that made the thought of his being anywhere near Talis deeply unsettling.
"Dayne." Luka's voice brought him back to himself, and Dayne fought to concentrate as they watched the shifter with the dead eyes approach a car that'd pulled up close by.
It didn't take long for Dayne to realize the woman with short dark hair was a shifter.
A shifter who watched Abel's approach with anticipation, doing nothing to hide her interest in him as she shoved her car door open and started to get out.
Because of the distance separating them, it was impossible to know what Abel said as he approached her car.
But whatever it was, it soon wiped the flirtatious grin off her face.
With Abel's face twisted in a snarl, he grabbed her wrist and practically forced her back in her car before he was slamming the door in her face and stalking away.
"Nice guy," Luka muttered, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
Dayne had to agree.
There was no way he'd ever treat a pack member like that, especially in public, but it looked like there was more wrong in the Merrick pack than just Glynn.
It shouldn't have surprised him, given Glynn had been alpha for more than a decade now, and someone who ruled with that much fear and cruelty soon infected the pack with it.
For a long moment, the woman sat unmoving, her face completely without expression, then she started up her car and accelerated into the traffic at a speed Dayne fully expected her to smash into someone.
Yet, miraculously, she didn't, and after a few cars beeped their horns at her recklessness, her small purple Hyundai disappeared around a bend further up the road.
When Dayne's eyes returned to Glynn, he mentally swore when he saw the alpha had finished the call that had kept him so distracted and was chatting with Abel.
It looked like their golden opportunity to grab the alpha of the Merrick pack when he was nice and distracted had disappeared.
"We should go," Dayne said, never taking his eyes off them.
Everything in him, his wolf included, was fighting him hard to march over there and put the two shifters out of their misery.
Although he felt Luka glance over at him, Dayne didn't turn to face him.
He had a feeling Luka would have something to say about him having his wolf in his eyes.
Luka pulled away, and they were silent as they continued through the town.
"Where to?" Luka asked after a long moment of weaving through the traffic.
Since it was still early, just after nine, the streets were busy with people in suits and office wear rushing to work.
There were also more than a few tourists in town, and it explained the reason they'd struggled to find a place to rent.
"Let's-" Interrupted by Luka's phone ringing, Dayne watched as Luka grabbed it from the center console and passed it over.
"Answer it, will you?"
Taking the phone from him, he glanced at the number before answering. It was vaguely familiar, only he couldn't think where he'd last seen it. "Luka's phone, what do you want?"
There was a brief pause, and then when Dayne heard the voice on the other line, he regretted having answered at all.
"Am I speaking with Mr. Blackshaw? I can't help but recognize your voice."
Dayne ground his teeth.
This was the fucking last thing he needed. "Yes, this is Dayne."
"I was hoping you had some time to pop into the rental office, so we might discuss some of the additional features of the rental property. Were you interested in purchasing it as an investment property or…?"
The realtor's voice faded into the background as Dayne glared at Luka, who was doing nothing to hide his amusement.
"You know what, Bob?" he said, cutting him off mid-sentence.
"Actually, it's Brad. Brad Ho-"
"That's great, Bob," Dayne said. "I really appreciate your call, but now isn't the best time. I'll call you."
"Did you want to take my personal number in case I'm not in the office? It's-"
Dayne glared even harder at Luka, who shook with silent laughter. "That's great, thanks." Dayne tore the phone away from his ear and hung up. "Next time, answer your own damn calls," he snarled, shoving the phone back into the center console.
Now that he'd gotten rid of the realtor, Dayne turned his attention back to the streets as Luka continued to drive with no real direction in mind.
While Dawley came close to resembling a city in size, it wasn't as large, and with all the Ma and Pa shops they passed, it still had a small-town feel to it.
With all the people they spotted ambling into the outdoors and adventure shops, Dayne guessed the national forest made Dawley popular with tourists.
It was good news for them since the more tourists there were, the less likely Glynn or any of the other Merrick pack were likely to bump into them.
Still, he'd make sure his pack stayed out of town as much as possible, which would be easy to do since Dean and some of the others had stocked up the pantry and refrigerator their first day, which left none of them any reason to leave the rental.
"Wind the windows down and let's see if we can't pick up a fresh scent that way," he said, already lowering his own.
If they couldn't nab Glynn or Abel, he was sure at least one of the Merrick pack worked in town. Hopefully, they wouldn't be driving in circles for the rest of the day trying to sniff out a shifter.
They'd been driving for at least another couple of hours and Luka was hinting at stopping to grab some breakfast or an early lunch, since they'd left without eating when they caught the scent of a shifter.
"Luka," Dayne murmured as his eyes probed the people on the street, trying to pin down the shifter among them.
"Yeah."
It was slow going tracking a shifter in a car when it would have been easier to get out and track by foot.
As the minutes ticked by as they lost the scent, had to backtrack before they found it again, and carry on the dance until Dayne was ready to get out and have Luka follow him in the car while he went on foot.
But before long, they were pulling up to a small restaurant, not quite in the center of the town, but close, and parking up beside a battered Toyota in a near-empty parking lot.
Since the restaurant looked more like a fancy dinner type of place, it was still closed, so they sat in the car watching the entrance.
They didn't have long to wait before a leanly muscled man in chef whites emerged out of a side door carrying two bulging refuse sacks, he easily flung into the large bins outside.
But he didn't immediately retreat inside as Dayne was expecting.
He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pants pocket, and after pulling one out, lit it and leaned against the side of the bins, out of sight of the side door, as if he was trying to hide from anyone who might follow him out.
Dayne took in the empty parking lot. Then he turned to smile at Luka before he reached for the car door.