Ellison had opened his mouth to swear, but he sucked in a breath. “What? You mean Bradley?”
“He took her inside the long car and drove her to the house.”
Ellison’s entire body went cold. He’d never been so cold. Numbness spread from his heart down his spine, paralyzing him.
He has Maria.
“Pablo was supposed to protect her,” he said, lips stiff.
Tiger didn’t answer. He never did when he knew it was useless. At least he didn’t offer any meaningless platitudes.
“He’s a dead man.” Ellison said. He started forward, ready to stride down the little slope to the house, but Tiger put a hand on his arm.
Ellison registered that Tiger rarely offered his touch, so this was unusual, but the thought was dim. Ellison’s body was tight, the feral in him ready to kill.
“Your plan is good,” Tiger said. “We stay with your plan.”
Ellison struggled to breathe. At that moment, he couldn’t remember what the damn plan was. Bradley had his mate.
No, Tiger was right. Sneak up on the house, disable the alarm, slip inside, find Bradley, and choke off his empire at the source. They had the guards’ guns. No one needed to know that Shifters had been here at all.
Ellison nodded. “Yes,” he managed to say. “We stay with the plan.”
Tiger released him. He led the way, moving in silence for such a big man, down the slope to rendezvous with Ronan and Broderick.
“That asshole’s history,” Broderick said when Ellison whispered the news. “No one messes with our females.”
For once, Ellison agreed with him. When they played out the Challenge, Ellison would pound Broderick, but right now, Broderick wanted Maria out of there as much as he did.
Ronan had subdued the fourth guard, and he handed Tiger the holstered automatic weapon he’d retrieved. Tiger looked over the gun, and then silently handed it back. Ronan gave him a whatever look and buckled the second weapon over his shoulder.
Ellison took the radio from the guard he’d knocked out and the second one Ronan had and tucked both in his belt. He then searched his guy for a cell phone, switched it off, and threw it as hard as he could into the meadow.
“Here comes the car,” Broderick said.
They hid, the four peering through brush around the house, animals watching their prey. The black limo pulled to a stop in the semicircular drive, and Ellison’s pickup stopped behind it. The back door of the limo opened. Bodyguards emerged first, then a quiet-looking Pablo.
Maria’s shapely leg in jeans came out, followed by the rest of her, her white cotton blouse tugged by the breeze. She waited, looking unworried, for the next man, a smaller guy in glasses with graying hair.
The feral in Ellison rose up again. He knew, from the way the others treated him, that this was Bradley. His enemy. His prey. His kill.
The first bodyguard went into the house through the front door, the second signaling Pablo to follow. Pablo stopped, saying something, and the bodyguard pointed a gun at him.
Maria turned around, planting her feet, and started talking to Bradley. And talking and talking. She gesticulated toward Pablo and back to the limo, but she didn’t look afraid.
“What’s she doing?” Ronan whispered.
“Giving us a window,” Ellison said. Goddess bless her. “The bodyguard’s turned off the alarm. Let’s get inside before it’s on again.”