When Rainer turned back to her, his expression was blank. “Pack a bag, we’re headed to the compound. When it’s near dusk, my brothers and a few pack mates will head to the studio. We’ll get your friend back.”

She frowned. So “we” didn’t mean him and her. “I’m going with you.”

He let out a harsh laugh. “The hell you are.”

“Unless you plan to kidnap or restrain me, I’m going. That guy told me to come alone. If I don’t do what he says, I have no doubt they’ll kill her. I’m not some weak female you need to protect,” she growled low in her throat. Estrella healed fast—faster than him, as she’d seen last night—and she’d killed before. She could do it again. Anything for Sabrina.

Rainer growled back at her, his frustration clear in every line of his strong body. Finally he nodded. “Fine. I’ll wait outside for you.” He turned on his heel and stalked from the room, the tension practically rolling off him in visible waves.

Estrella hurried to her room and packed a small bag. There were hours to kill before the meet and she wanted her own stuff at Rainer’s. As soon as the sun set, she was getting her friend back. No matter what Rainer thought, she was going and there was no way she was letting those vamps see that he was with her.

She was starting to care for Rainer in a way she hadn’t thought would be possible, but she couldn’t let him have his way in this. She had to be there to help her friend. If those vampires didn’t see her at the studio, for all she knew they’d kill Sabrina. Estrella wasn’t going to let that happen.

Hours later, Estrella tapped her finger against her knee compulsively—as if she could somehow make time go by faster—and stared out the window of Rainer’s SUV where they sat across the street from the art studio. Five of Rainer’s pack mates, including his brother Conrad who had been giving her the cold shoulder all day, had gone into the art studio about an hour ago. They were supposedly going to hide inside and had wanted to get set up before the meeting. Since she hadn’t heard an alarm or seen any cops drive by, it was safe to assume that they hadn’t tripped any alarms. She was grateful for the backup because in reality, there was no way she could take on a bunch of vampires by herself. She knew that. Still, a huge part of her worried their presence might get Sabrina killed.

After the big show last night, Estrella knew the owner hadn’t planned to open up his place for the next three days so as things went, it was a decent place to stage a meeting with no outsiders. She wondered how the vampires had known it would be unoccupied. Maybe Sabrina had told them.

God, Sabrina. Estrella couldn’t stop the worry spinning out of control inside her as she thought about her friend. It was like a tornado assaulting her insides.

Rainer’s hand on her knee stilled her movements, causing her to look at him.

“We’re going to get her back.” He watched her with wary green eyes.

All day he’d been distant, even though he’d been physically present. He’d taken her to his pack’s compound and he hadn’t been kidding about the place being a mansion. She’d been introduced to a lot of wolf shifters and even a vampire who was mated to one of the warriors. Everyone had been friendly enough. She’d seen a lot of surprise and some jealousy on some of the females’ faces, though she knew that had everything to do with Rainer being suddenly unavailable and nothing to do with actual jealousy of her. She couldn’t blame them. Rainer was definitely a catch, even if he was acting distant from her right now. She didn’t think he was angry, but he was holding back.

Nodding, she looked away from him, hating that there was a wall between them now. It was her own fault, but she didn’t know how to tear it down. She didn’t know enough about him and pushing him away to handle things on her own had been her instinctive response after receiving that phone call. If she had to go back, she’d do the same thing again.

“Damn it,” Rainer cursed.

She swiveled back to him again. Before she could ask him what was wrong, other than the obvious, his mouth was on hers, claiming and taking. His tongue invaded her mouth with no hesitancy, as if he had every right to kiss her. He stroked against her in a frantic dance while one of his hands cupped her cheek, holding her possessively.

When she’d allowed him into her bed, she’d let him into her life. All day, even with the walls between them, he’d been like her shadow, silently making a claim on her for everyone to see. His hand had never left the small of her back when they’d been outside his room.

Eventually he pulled back and she was pleased to see he was breathing just as hard as she was. “Whatever happens after tonight, you’re still mine,” he growled, a possessive note in his voice.

She blinked, surprised by his statement. He’d been the one to pull away from her, even if she had helped mix the mortar to build the brick wall between them. “I know.” She wasn’t walking away from him, even if her original instincts had told her to run far and fast. She had to see where this thing between them went even if her heart was shredded in the end.

Now it was his turn to look surprised. Those gorgeous eyes of his widened for a moment before a harsh smile settled on his face. “Good.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but the sound of her phone buzzing in her pocket made them both freeze.

She’d turned it to vibrate earlier and now felt frantic as she struggled to fish it out of her jacket pocket. When she saw Sabrina’s number again, her blood chilled. “Hello?”

“Hello again—”

“I want to talk to Sabrina, now! How do I know you haven’t hurt her?” This wasn’t part of their plan, but Estrella didn’t care. She wanted to hear her friend’s voice.

“Your friend is fine and we would never hurt her without a reason, so don’t give us one.” His voice was razor sharp.

Steeling herself, she said, “I talk to her now or I’m not meeting you.”

He sighed and as she heard a rustling in the background, she watched as an SUV with unusually dark tinted windows pulled into the parking lot of the art studio across the street. The vehicle drove through it, then around the corner toward the back of the building. Next to her, Rainer straightened and she was under the impression he was having a telepathic conversation with Conrad.

“Estrella?” Sabrina’s voice was slurred.

Estrella’s heart soared. “Sabrina, are you okay?”

“Fine...jush really tired. Dunno whash going on.” Oh yeah, she had to be drugged.

Before Estrella could respond, the same male came back on the line. “See? Your friend is fine. I gave her a little sedative to keep her compliant.”

It was more than a “little” for her friend to be so out of it, but she was alive and seemed relatively unharmed. Though Estrella wouldn’t know for sure until she saw her. “Okay. So what do you want?”

“You.” A simple, one-word answer.

“Why?”

He paused long enough that even more panic took root inside her, clawing its way through her like out of control vines. “You really don’t know?”

“I wouldn’t be asking now, would I?” she snapped, angry and confused.

“Meet me in the studio we discussed. The back door will be open.” He disconnected before she could respond.

“They’re already inside,” Rainer murmured, drawing her attention to him.

“What did your brother say? Has he seen Sabrina?”

Rainer nodded, a frown marring his face. “She’s unhurt, though clearly drugged. From the way they’re talking, the vamps truly don’t plan to hurt her. They plan to free her.”

“Why is that a bad thing?” His expression confused her.

“It’s not. We just don’t know what their end game is and their behavior isn’t what I’d originally expected. They didn’t want to hurt you the other night, though they didn’t care about my well-being,” he muttered, his own confusion seeming to grow.

“How many are there?”

“Five.”

“And there are seven of us so we can take them. I can’t believe the vampires haven’t seen your pack mates yet.” Estrella had hated this part of their plan, but Rainer had been unwilling to allow her to walk in there alone and now she was actually grateful to have backup so close.

“They’re in the rafters and have masked their scents—though that will only last so long.”

She pushed out a sigh of relief as she wrapped her fingers around the door handle. “I’m ready then.” She planned to use the shadows to get across the street unseen.

Rainer brushed his knuckles down her cheek, hating to let her get out of this vehicle. But the most primal part of him knew that if he tried to stop her, she’d never forgive him. While he told himself he could live with her hate and rejection, he couldn’t. So now he had to shove his protective, possessive wolf side down and let his mate walk into a room of vampires.

The only real reason he was doing it was because his pack mates were already there as backup and he’d seen how fast she healed. She was only twenty-six compared to his four hundred-and-fifty, yet she’d healed with the speed of his thousand-year-old Alpha. Rainer still didn’t know what to think of that, but it soothed his inner animal that she could take care of herself.

Cupping his cheeks, Estrella leaned closer, brushing her lips against his softly before pulling back. She tasted as sweet as the subtle jasmine scent of hers. “Thank you for helping me and my friend.” Then she was gone. Like a shadow, she slid from the vehicle and disappeared into the darkness.

And he wasn’t far behind. It didn’t matter that she had protection inside, Rainer planned to be a scant step behind her, guarding her with his life if necessary.

The two-lane street wasn’t well lit and even though it was a nice part of town, this strip of shops closed down early, which meant there were no random humans strolling down the street. There weren’t any restaurants nearby and most of the shops were wholesale places that did a lot of business over the internet. It was probably one of the reasons the vamps had chosen it.