Free Lost Library: An Urban Fantasy Romance by Kate Baray Page A

the car. She was stuck.
    More than two hours after she’d been dumped in the trunk, the Goon Squad—as Lizzie had dubbed them in her head—pulled on to an unpaved but relatively smooth road, drove a number of miles and stopped. A few seconds later, the trunk lid popped open and two of the men pulled her out.
    The third man addressed her calmly. “You may scream if you like, but no one will hear you.” Lizzie considered how long the car had traveled on the dirt road and decided he probably wasn’t lying. She remained silent, her wide eyes watching him as he spoke.
    “We will bind you and place a cloth in your mouth, but if you create too much noise it will become simpler to drug you. You understand?”
    Lizzie nodded, too worried to even voice a “yes.” Her mouth was drying out just thinking about the possibility of a gag.
    Lizzie really did not want to be drugged and unconscious while under the control of these men. Each was easily well over six feet and broad. Dressed in jeans, polos and baseball caps, they looked like they were trying a bit too hard to blend in. On the shoes they failed, though—not new, but newly polished, and a dress type not commonly worn with jeans. Each had very short hair, as well as a fit and muscular build. Goon #1, the one who spoke, was a little broader and shorter and had dark hair. 
    They all acted with calm efficiency. The kind acquired through experience. Lizzie didn’t like to ponder what type of experience these men might have, to create the competence she’d seen. She reminded herself that she’s a glass-half-full kind of gal, and the darker turn her thoughts had taken after riding in the trunk for a number of miles was something to be squashed like a tiny little bug.
    O n her nod, the men made quick and efficient use of zip-tie cuffs for her hands, duct tape for her ankles, and a clean— thank you —bandanna for a gag.
    Lizzie was thankful she had taken her allergy medicine today. What would she do if she couldn’t breathe through her nose? She reminded herself that thoughts like that would only make her panic, so she tried to stay calm and focus on her environment and the Goon Squad. And that was when she realized they spoke amongst themselves in a language most definitely not English. Lizzie had noticed a slight accent when Goon #1 spoke earlier, but she hadn’t focused on it. Now that her brain was recovering, she realized she had her first clue.
    What her captors likely didn’t know was that Lizzie had dated a really nice German man right after graduating college. That was back when she willingly dated without being constantly harassed by Kenna to meet men. Rainer was a lovely man for a number of reasons, but the one Lizzie was especially thankful for now was his patience. Rainer spoke fluent English. Even so, when Lizzie expressed an interest in German, he’d suffered through her poor grammar and twangy, nasal pronunciation. He helped her with her grammar homework and practiced with her a few times a day. The result? Lizzie learned just enough of the language to understand that the Goon Squad was speaking German and the end destination was somewhere in Idaho.
    Why her? There was no doubt in Lizzie’s mind, it had to do with the book. Had they broken into her house to steal the book? Had they hurt her dogs? Thinking about her dogs lying hurt or even dead made her stomach turn. They had to be fine. Lizzie had to believe they were fine.
    The one thought Lizzie was prepared to cling to, was that Kenna would miss her. Kenna was great in a crisis. Unlike Lizzie, she thought really well on her feet. On top of that, Kenna had John’s cell number. He had explained that his wolfy stalking visits had been an effort to determine if any other Lycan were in the area and aware of her special skills. She really hoped he was up to dealing with some competition.
    John was determined to introduce her to his pack. He had spent a great deal of time and energy convincing her to make