Always Been Mine by Victoria Paige

Author:Victoria Paige [Paige, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Gabe cursed the car that pulled into a parking spot closer to his house. Thankfully, there was no vehicle behind him, so he backed up to another space a couple of cars down. Exiting his Chevy Silverado, he collected the grocery bags, bumped the door close, and bleeped the locks. Balancing the bags, he took a leisurely pace to his home.

When he turned on his street, he grew alarmed to see a crowd gathering right in front of his house and a smear of red on the pavement.

“What the fuck is going on?” Gabe demanded, shouldering past the throng. What he saw brought him to his knees. He dropped the bags.

Rhino was bloodied, panting hard, and whining softly.

“Buddy?” Gabe whispered, checking quickly for the source of the bleeding.

“He crawled home,” a person in the crowd said. “Some of us tried to help him, but he was growling and snapping at us.”

Gabe found the wound near the neck.

One of the spectators shoved a roll of gauze in front of his face. “Here. I ran home and grabbed this.” Gabe recognized his neighbor next door.

Recovering from the shock of seeing his dog bleeding out on his front stoop, the implication hit him like a ton of bricks.

Beatrice!

While working first aid on Rhino, Gabe asked. “Did anyone see a redhead?”

Everyone started speaking simultaneously. Frustrated, Gabe decided to finish treating Rhino before interrogating any witnesses. When he lifted him, Rhino tried to fight the movement and cried in distress.

“Easy, boy,” Gabe fought the heart-rending emotion of seeing his dog injured. He lifted a chin to the nearest person. “Did you see what went down?”

“Yes, I—”

“Come with me,” Gabe ordered. He wended his way through the assembly, which parted easily before him. “Tell me everything. How many? What car.”

As the details of what happened were revealed, Gabe tried to quell the rising panic in his chest. Beatrice was rendered unconscious and dumped into a white van. There were three men wearing ski-masks—one would be sporting a dog bite on his right arm. Gabe thanked the man for the information and loaded Rhino in the vehicle. Police cruisers turned into the neighborhood, but Gabe had no time to talk to them.

Pulling up emergency veterinary hospitals from his phone, he was relieved that there was one a couple of blocks over. Afterward he called Travis.

“Blake.”

“Travis, it’s Gabe.”

“What do you want?”

“Cut the hostility, Lieutenant,” Gabe snapped. “Beatrice was taken. They shot my dog, and I’m on my way to the emergency vet.”

There was a muffled curse before Travis said, “What can I do?”

“I need you to scope out my neighborhood. The cops just got here. Get them to back off. Find out more from witnesses if you can.” Gabe dictated his address as well as the intersection where Beatrice was nabbed. “See if you can gain access to traffic cams.”

“Porter should have it.”

“He’s been off the grid for almost two months. But I’m calling him next.”

“Gotcha. Anything else?”

“Hurry, Blake.”

“Will do.”

Gabe punched the admiral’s number. It went straight to voicemail.

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