Only Her (A K2 Team Novel)(63)

“Easy, darlin’. I’ll get you to him. I don’t sense anyone still in your house, but better safe than sorry.”

Although it seemed like it took forever, he led her to Arthur in only a few seconds, and she knelt, putting her fingers to his chest, letting out a relieved breath. “He’s alive. Where’re Merlin and Pelli?” They should have come to her at hearing her voice.

“Stay here. I’ll go look for them.” He eased away, his tense body alert to his surroundings.

“I have to get Arthur to the clinic.” She grabbed the afghan from the sofa and gently nestled her sweet boy into it. Tears freely rolled down her cheeks. Who would have hurt such an innocent creature and where were Merlin and Pelli? If they were . . . no, she couldn’t even think it.

“The house is clear,” Cody said, returning. “Merlin’s under the bed, but he won’t come out. Can’t find Pelli.”

Riley handed an unconscious Arthur to Cody. “I need to get him to the clinic so I can take care of him, but I have to get Merlin and Pelli. I’m not leaving them here.” She ran into the guest bedroom, got the cat carrier out of the closet, and then raced to her room. “Hey, Merlin, it’s all right. Come on out, baby.” He let out a yowl as he crawled to her. She got him in the carrier and looked under the bed, hoping to see Pelli. He wasn’t there.

“Pelli,” she called as she headed back to the living room. The little thing could be hiding anywhere, but she couldn’t take the time to search for him if she was going to save Arthur. Not seeing Cody, she glanced around, noticing that her kitchen door was open.

“Riley, come here.”

She found him standing in the carport, staring at the doorframe with Arthur held in the crook of his arm and his gun still in his hand. If there was one thing Riley hated, it was guns, but at the moment, she appreciated that he had one. When they found the person responsible for so much heartache, Riley would be tempted to shoot that person herself.

“What?” she asked, frowning at the crunch of glass at her feet.

“They broke the window, and then it was a simple matter of reaching in and unlocking the door. You need a good alarm system. I’ll take care of it.”

The door had four small framed-in windows, and they’d broken one of the bottom ones. “Bastard.”

“Find Pelli?”

“No.” She tried calling him again, but didn’t get even a small meow back from him. “He must be hiding somewhere, but I can’t take the time to find him.”

Cody pulled the door wide. “Let’s get you to the clinic, then I’ll come back and do a search while I’m waiting for the alarm company.”



Two hours later, Riley settled a sleeping Arthur into the carrier next to Merlin. “He’s going to be okay.” She watched for a moment as Merlin gave his friend’s face a bath before curling around Arthur as if to protect him. She’d almost lost him, and anger that someone had given him poison burned low in her stomach.

“I’m so glad,” Maria said. She got up from the chair in the corner where she’d been sitting and came over, giving Riley a hug. “Ready to go home?”

“As soon as I get things cleaned up.”

“I’ll stay and take care of it,” Brooke said from the sink where she was washing her hands.

The K2 team had jumped into action the moment Cody had called his boss. An alarm company was at her house, installing the best available system, and Maria’s husband, Jake, was patrolling the clinic parking lot while Maria had stayed with Riley, giving her support whenever possible. The clinic had been closed until Riley could return, but Cody had called Brooke, and soon after both she and Michelle had shown up.

She gave Brooke a hug. “I’m planning to be here tomorrow, but don’t schedule anything. We’ll go over the appointment book and start rescheduling everyone we cancelled this week.” She was tired and her head pounded like the devil, but that was nothing compared to what Arthur had just gone through.

“I’m going to go check on Jake while you’re finishing up,” Maria said.

She smiled at her friend. “I don’t know how to thank everyone. You guys are like movie superheroes the way you spring into action. I really appreciate it.”

“Like my brother said, we take care of our own.” Maria waved as if it were nothing, and then left to go find her husband.

As a feminist, Riley thought she should probably resent that they believed she couldn’t take care of herself, but she was also a realist. Whoever the person was, they had tried to run her over and had managed to sneak up on her, so she wasn’t invincible. The K2 guys had circled the wagons with her in the middle, and she wondered how she’d ever thank them enough.