Mating the Alpha Read Online Free PDF Page A

before.
    “I thought you said Maren’s car was in the parking lot?” I tried to keep my clipped words calm.
    Billy looked at me in surprise. “It is.”
    “That’s a piece of the dress she was wearing,” I said.
    Billy started to hand the envelope to Murray, but I swiped it out of his hands. I grabbed the piece of fabric and brought it to my nose before inhaling deeply. I could still smell her perfume on it. Billy spoke into his walkie-talkie. “Anybody got eyes on Maren Lene, the reporter? She should be somewhere outside.”
    We both stood there and listened as each of the security detail checked in with a negative.
    “Dammit!” I swore. I crashed through the other side of the tent wall and into the night. On this side of the tent, it was quiet. Too quiet. I put my nose into the air and took a huge whiff. I smelled nothing but booze and cigar smoke.
    “Lukas, you need to go back inside,” Billy said as he followed me into the night. “I’ll take care of it.”
    “The hell you will,” I said. “I need to find her. You think I’m stupid? This is a threat, and it’s a threat for me.”
    “Exactly,” Billy said as he tried to grab my arm. “It’s a message for you at the worst time possible. Let me take care of this.”
    “Maren is my responsibility. She was here because I asked her to be here,” I said. “Are you going to help me find her or not?”
    There was a long sigh. “Of course, I’m going to help you find her.”
    I started to make my way around the tent to where I had last seen her. “Then get a move on and make yourself useful, Sheriff .”
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR - Maren
    I sat at a table with a tape recorder in front of me. It was strangely reminiscent of a similar scene, not more than eight hours ago when I went through the same exercise with Lukas. But this situation was entirely different. Every minute that I spent with these men was another moment that I was putting Lukas in danger. But for the moment, I had to play along.
    “Tell me about what your organization does,” I said. They wouldn’t allow me to have a pen and paper when I asked. Just the recorder.
    “We’re a small but powerful group.” The leader sat across the table from me. He was slung back in his chair and had produced a beer from somewhere. It was quite a production for him though to try to drink it with the hindrance of the handkerchief in the way. I was almost grateful for that because I could only think that alcohol would make the situation worse. “We’ve been in existence almost since the beginning.”
    “The beginning of what?”
    “When those half-breed bastards decided to come out into the light of day and started thinking that they were the same or better than the rest of us. Somebody had to do something about it. Too many people just rolled over and acted like it was normal, but it’s not. They’re not human. They’re dangerous. The more people try to act like they’re not any different than us, the more dangerous all of it gets.”
    This kind of vitriol made no sense to me, but I had heard it all before. My father got hate mail to the newspaper as often as he got emails and letters thanking him from shifters around the country.
    “So what exactly does Rally Against Claws do?” I repeated my earlier question a little bit differently because he hadn’t answered it yet. That was typical when dealing with zealots. During my tenure at the college newspaper, I had done interviews with several gang members doing time in a minimum security prison. Their hatred of those different from them ran deep.
    “Our mission is to educate the world about the dangers of an integrated society,” the man said.
    “There are some that would say your methods are a bit…extreme,” I replied.
    “There is always a spectrum of belief on that matter. There are brothers in arms of mine that would say that we have been too gentle. Unfortunately, in this world, the bigger bangs are required to get the attention we need.