LITMIR.BIZ

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he could check his search engine and his GPS monitoring equipment. Bloody stubborn male. Though she knew he was right, they couldn’t waste time, and Maker only knew none of them wanted to be far from the equipment Dax had designed, in case Alison’s chip showed up.

      Once Tam was inside, the first security hurdle over, the door slid shut. She was caged inside the bulletproof glass box that was the entrance to Dax’s house. She punched the four-digit code that he had given her into the metal keypad on the side, and then pressed her hand against another scanner. The code was another override, no one could get in or out of Dax’s fortress without him personally authorising it. Because he wasn’t here and didn’t have his phone, she had to bypass the system apparently.

      The keyboard flashed again, signalling her to put in the next code. She hastily typed in the next set of digits, at which a small box popped open with a microphone in it. Tam sighed and rolled her eyes as she held her phone up to the speaker and pressed ‘play’.

      “Override authorisation code.” The recording of Dax’s voice sounded out from the tiny speaker on her phone. “Willing recording. Code 0-1-5-3-2-6-7-9. Allow access.” There were a few seconds of silence while the little computer reviewed the complicated process Tam had just gone through, before the word ‘Accepted’ flashed up on the little monitor and the interior door slid open.

      Tam huffed again, walking through the glass panel and letting it slide shut behind her. She felt more trapped in this damn fortress than she had on that boat. Wolves were not good at being in confined spaces and a boat seemed like hell to her. This ‘house’ felt more like a prison; she had absolutely no idea how Dax managed to live here.

      Not wanting to spend any more time here than was necessary, she walked straight into the main room of the building which held all of Dax’s computer equipment. There was a loud frantic beeping coming from the speakers, which did little more than irritate Tam as she searched for his ‘box of spare laptops’.

      Christ that beeping was loud enough to wake the dead.

      As she searched the house, she found herself processing the information she’d learnt over the last day. How had none of them thought of the Circle using boats before? Seriously, the submarine was a little farfetched but hell; Alison had been taken from the beach. The damn beach! How had they not thought of boats? At least they now had their own boat. They had of course taken the big black beasty from the mini-dock in Chatham and had driven the thing all the way back to Folkestone, where they had paid to dock it in the harbour in town.

      Who knew Dax had known how to drive a boat? That man seemed to know everything. And have stupid equipment that just wouldn’t stop beeping.

      She stamped her foot in frustration, searching frantically for the source of the noise. It was only then that she noticed the huge map pictured on one of the glass-panelled walls of the room. There was a giant red dot flashing in the centre of the map over the vast ocean. Now what the hell would that mean? It was literally bang smack in the middle of the North Sea, between Denmark and England.

      The circle may have purchased an oilrig off the coast of England, her inner voice pointed out. Crap. Crap. Crap. There’s only one reason that one of Dax’s GPS dots would be showing up in the middle of the sea.

      Alison.

      With urgency heating her veins, Tam all but launched herself at the desk, fumbling with the drawer, where the hell were his laptops?

      She literally turned Dax’s house upside down in a matter of seconds, finally coming across a metal trunk in the bedroom. All but ripping it open, she found about six laptops, neatly stacked in their cases in a row. She grabbed the first one she saw and tore out of the fortress. She didn’t even bother setting the alarms; surely this was more important than that damn male’s security.

      Running as fast as her feet would carry her she thundered up to Julian’s mansion’s entrance. Sticking her head in the camera section so it could scan her retinas she cursed the lot of them for their stupid security. It really slowed you down when you were in a rush.

      Crashing through the door, she all out ran into the clinic, shouting her heart out for everyone to get there.

      “DAX! JULIAN!” she screamed, launching herself into the medical room Dax and Julian were in.

      “Good Mother of the Earth, WHAT??” her Alpha barked, as she fell through the door.

      “Dax… Open…” she heaved, out of breath from her frantic sprint up here.

      “Alison…” she choked out.

      “What?” Dax snapped the laptop open and hit a few keys and that damn beeping sounded out once more.

      “Thank you, Maker! We’ve got her, Julian. That dot there is Alison’s chip,” Dax roared, shooting off the gurney he was sat on.

      “Hell yes. Let’s get moving!” Julian barked, launching himself to his feet and clapping Tam on the back hard enough to wind her.

      “Ready when you are, boss.” Leyth grinned from the doorway. Tam spun on her heels and gasped. There in the doorway was every damn wolf and shifter that lived on the land, including the Djinn and Minotaurs.

      “We all came running when we heard you screaming like a little pup,” Jake shrugged.

      “Well, let’s get going then!” Julian boomed, storming out of the clinic.

      “Yes. Let’s go get our female.”

       Chapter Four

      Dax held in a curse as he hefted himself onto the back of the giant black boat they’d confiscated from the Circle. The little dinghy they had rowed over in swayed violently as he pulled himself up from it, his shoulder screaming in agony with the motion. That damn bullet wound needed to hurry up and heal.

      “You OK,man?” Leyth muttered from above him. The male obviously wanted to help him up but was smart enough not to offer.

      “Yup,” Dax grunted, standing and subtly steadying himself using the railing that ran around the boat.

      His gut did a little flip-flop as he stalked his way to the cabin. Thank Maker they’d actually done it – they’d found a signal on Alison’s chip. They were so close to finding her it was difficult not to do a little jump for joy. But not yet, they didn’t know what sort of state she was in – hell, if she was even alive. The chip would show up no matter the body’s state.

      Telling his gut to cool it, he roared the boat’s engine to life and carefully guided it out of Folkestone’s harbour. It may be a giant black beast of a boat, but it was fast. The double engines did a fantastic job – and when they were finally out on the open blue sea, they picked up speed nicely.

      “Raught,” Dax barked, glancing over his shoulder. The male in question sidled over, his silver hair gleaming furiously in the sunlight streaming through the cabin windows.

      “What can I do for you, Dax?” The male’s throaty voice reverberated through the small room, bouncing off the walls.

      “I need you to drive the boat while I look around for any tracking devices,” Dax mumbled. He hated asking the pack elder to do anything. That male was old, hundreds of years old in fact. He should be put on a throne, not asked favours. He cleared his throat. “If that’sOK.”

      “Why, Dax, I think that’s the politest I’ve ever heard you!” The male’s silver eyes sparkled with amusement as they met Dax’s own almost black irises. “I’d be happy to help, though I must admit, I have no knowledge of boat driving. It’s not something I’ve ever felt the need to learn.”

      Dax quickly took the male through the motions of boat driving. It was pretty simple: steering wheel to turn the boat, lever goes forward to speed up, back to slow down. Follow the GPS dot on the computer screen, any problems holler at him. To his credit Raught was a damn natural at anything driving-related. Actually he was a natural at almost

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