Protection for Danika (Safeguarded By The SEAL #1)

Chapter 7

Ezra hated delays. Two hours. Two fucking hours on top of the other freaking delays for snow. And he still wasn’t home yet. Totally unacceptable.

To top it all off, Danika stopped answering her phone. Where the fuck was she? Maybe he shouldn't have allowed her freedom. She'd been weird recently. Maybe weird wasn't the right word, but she'd been too nice. She'd been helping him, asking if he needed more food or drink, doing everything he asked. Her whole attitude had been off. And now she wasn't answering her fucking phone.

When he arrived home, he would make her pay for not answering or texting him back. Whatever her excuse was, it wasn’t good enough.

The snow on the main path wasn't too bad, but outside their flat, the white stuff had accumulated to nearly knee-deep. There was only one set of tracks, and that set crossed the street long before their door. Luckily, the entrance to their flat was up three steps, so he didn't have to move too much snow to enter.

Anger swirled with fear, prodding him to take the stairs two at a time. By the time he made it to the third floor, he had to pause and gulp in air to fill his lungs. Maybe he'd run a little too fast, but Danika still hadn't texted or called, and he'd left plenty of messages.

Where the fuck was the bitch?

Shouldn’t have given her any freedom. Shouldn’t have trusted her. Shouldn’t have taken her on. Should have left her before she knew anything.

Back when they lived at the other place—the small cottage with no neighbors—he could keep her chained when he left town. Didn’t think it would work so well here because there were too many neighbors. He’d thought he had control of her, but why hadn’t she contacted him?

With the key in hand, he opened the door, expecting the lights to be on, but all that greeted him was darkness. The place felt like a tomb inside. There were no cooking smells, no scent of soap used in a shower, no food left out, or other scents that stayed around just from people living. Instead, the place smelled stale, like no one had been here in a while.

When had she stopped returning his calls? He grabbed his phone from his pocket and yanked it out. The device flew from his hand and landed on the floor with a thunk.

“Fuck! Danika, you’d better be hiding somewhere. If you’re playing a game, I’m going to make you pay. You know how much I hate games.”

He grabbed his phone from the ground and opened his messaging application. She'd stopped responding in the middle of the day yesterday. Why hadn't he realized something was up then? Frustration bubbled up as he thought back over the last eighteen hours. Distraction held him after he'd picked up the truck, and he'd wanted to sample some of their wares. His guy had found two beauties he couldn't keep his hands off of. They'd taken his attention for most of the night. Now Danika was missing. Should've never moved to this place where he couldn't use the chains.

After searching each room and all the closets, which didn’t take long, he pulled out his phone, checking the tracking application he’d installed. It took a moment to load her location, angering him further. When he saw her location pop up in Glasgow, anger lashed through him hot like fire.

Instead of throwing his phone, he squeezed it in his hand as the desire to punch filled him. Hitting the wall wouldn’t solve his problems, but finding Danika would. He would go to Glasgow and track her down like the dog she was. He would find her and make her pay for running off to one of their friends. After this, he would never allow her freedom again. She would obey him until she gasped her last breath.