Forbidden Hunger by R.L. Kenderson

Two

Ram Warin closedhis bedroom door and walked out to the living room to meet up with Saxon. Being a vampire in a home full of cat-shifters had its challenges, but he had grown used to living with them, and Saxon was probably the one he was closest to.

Saxon looked up from the fridge when he heard Ram. “You ready?”

“Yeah. You?”

Saxon sighed. “I was hoping for something to eat, but it looks like we need to go grocery shopping.” He shut the fridge. “You mind if we stop somewhere and pick up some fast food?”

Ram grinned. “I’ll never say no to food.”

The two were headed to the door when the sound of feet slamming into the floor had them freezing where they stood.

Last fall, they had added another hallway and set of rooms off the main area of the house. Ram’s room was still on the original side, but the sound seemed to have come from the addition.

A few seconds later, the sound of a door hitting the wall and footsteps running came closer before Demi, Saxon’s mate, emerged.

“Saxon, wait,” she called and shifted the phone she had pressed to her ear to her mouth. “He’s still here.”

Next to Ram, Saxon’s body went rigid. “What’s wrong?”

“Hold on. I’m going to put you on speaker,” Demi said. She moved her phone again and hit a button. “Okay, Siya, Saxon can hear you now.”

It was Ram’s turn to go stiff. Hearing Demi’s friend’s name conjured up images of her in his mind. Her big, dark eyes, her beautiful brown skin, and her thick, long hair that he wanted to wrap around his fist while he—

“Two shifters came into the ER tonight.”

“What the hell?” Saxon said with a furrowed brow. “How do you know?”

“Because I’m now able to recognize shifters from humans. But that’s beside the point. They were here instead of at the shifter infirmary.”

“What were they there for?” Ram asked.

That statement resulted in silence on the other end, which probably meant that Siya had recognized his voice.

About seven months ago, Saxon and he had come to the rescue of Demi and Siya. Demi was not yet Saxon’s mate and was a half-shifter, half-human, hiding from the shifter world. On the order of the cat-shifter alpha, they’d brought Siya and Demi to the bunkhouse for protection. Saxon had been in charge of Demi, who he had already been having sex with, and Siya had been put in Ram’s care.

He and Siya had had chemistry from the start, and Ram knew if he’d wanted to have sex with her, she would have said yes. Even though Ram wasn’t one to turn down a free screw, something in him had held back from getting intimate with Siya. That all had been fine until she kissed him the night she was planning to leave. He’d wanted to pull her in his arms, but he’d needed to feed, and he’d been afraid he might hurt her.

The situation had only gotten worse from there because Ram called a friend to feed from. When Siya had walked into his bedroom and found Ram sucking on her neck, she’d assumed they were getting physical. But Bianca had only been sitting on his lap to give him better access. He had tried to run after Siya to tell her it wasn’t what it looked like, but she had fled in her car before he could get to her.

And Ram hadn’t seen her since.

Demi always went to Siya’s home or somewhere that wasn’t the bunkhouse when she hung out with her friend.

Ram was surprised—and a little flattered—she’d recognized his voice.

Siya cleared her throat but made no acknowledgment that she knew she was talking to Ram. “This part is difficult to talk about. I’m breaking so many HIPAA rules, but I realize it needs to be done.” A large sigh followed, as if she had come to the conclusion that she had to break the law. “A young girl came in with someone pretending to be her mother because she had been injured…vaginally.”

Ram, Demi, and Saxon all shared looks of alarm.

“It was so bad that the doctor had to stitch up the girl.”

Demi closed her eyes and looked like she was going to be sick.

Ram could sympathize because he felt the same way.

“So, I was able to find out that the girl is a cat-shifter, and her name is Emery Telfort. The woman pretending to be her mother is a wolf-shifter, but I didn’t get her name. That woman said it was Jane, but Emery confirmed that was a lie.” Siya snorted. “She couldn’t even come up with something original. Hello? Jane Doe.”

“Definitely fake,” Demi said.

“Oh. But I did get a picture. It’s not the best because I had to take it in secret, but hopefully, someone recognizes her.”

Two seconds later, Demi’s phone beeped as the image came through.

The three of them exchanged looks and shook their heads.

“We don’t know who she is,” Saxon said into the phone. “But I’m going to get this to Vance right away, and he’ll probably contact Damien. If she’s a wolf, hopefully, he knows.” He looked at his mate. “Forward that to me, please.”

“You got it.”

Saxon kissed her and turned to Ram. “You ready to go speak with the alpha?”

Ram nodded. Saxon didn’t have to ask him twice.

As they were heading out the door, Ram heard Demi say, “I’ll keep you updated, but please be careful.”

The distance from the bunkhouse to the main house was short, and Saxon gave a loud knock on the back door before entering.

Vance was already in the kitchen, and Saxon gave the alpha a rundown of the conversation with Siya.

“Let me see the picture,” Vance said. “And, Saxon, call Reid. We need to find this young girl’s parents. And ask him to run a facial match on the woman.”

Saxon handed his alpha his phone with the image, but then he seemed to realize that he couldn’t call Reid.

“Here,” Ram said, holding out his own cell.

As Saxon made his call, Vance looked up from Saxon’s phone. “Can you help me get this sent to me, Damien, and Reid?”

Ram couldn’t see it as much as he sensed the blood that filled Vance’s cheeks as he flushed.

“Sure.” Ram leaned over the cat-shifter alpha’s shoulder and showed him how to forward the message to all three numbers.

“Thank you,” Vance said but wouldn’t meet Ram’s eyes. “I need to call Damien.”

The wolf-shifter answered on the first ring.

“Why did Saxon send me a blurry picture of Monica Dahl?” he said in lieu of a greeting.

“Who is Monica Dahl?” Vance asked.

“She’s the woman who is running a human trafficking ring. Or shall I say, a shifter trafficking ring? Hell, it’s probably both.”

Ram’s body stiffened. Siya was at the hospital with this vile female. He snatched the phone from Vance’s hand and pulled it toward him. “A human source came into contact with her tonight at a human hospital. She was with a young girl who had been raped.”

Vance’s eyes snapped to his.

“She said the young girl had tearing,” Ram said through clenched teeth. “You can’t tell me it was anything else.”

Damien cursed. “If your human saw this and fed you this information, then there’s a good chance he or she might be in trouble.”