by Kian Rhodes
“Understood,” Connor agreed immediately.
Lachlan stood, gesturing for Connor to follow, and dipped his head to me. “Give us until dawn.”
I nodded. “Be safe.”
Lachlan nodded back, a smirk crossing his lips as he led Connor from the room.
In the hallway, a kitten cried and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Bastard.
Chapter Nine
Ralph
My brain was throbbing. The blood in my veins was pounding. The light was piercing my skull through my still-closed eyes. I wasn’t dead.The jury was still out on whether or not that was a win.
“Alpha?” an unfamiliar voice spoke in my ear. “Are you okay?”
Ah, that was going to be a negative.
I was nauseous, disoriented, and hurting, so, not okay.
Thanks for asking.
“Yeah,” I managed to lie through gritted teeth even as my very blood ached. “Just..give me a minute.”
Cool fingers stroked my blazing forehead and I groaned, regretting it when the fingers stilled. “Feels good. Don’t stop?”
To my relief, the cool skin began to gently stroke me again.
After several long minutes, I was finally able to force my eyes open, only to be blinded by the light overhead.
Well, crap.
I steeled myself and struggled to a sitting position on the hard, concrete floor. I regretted it immediately when my stomach roiled and I had to swallow against the bile rising in my throat. Sagging back against the wall that was conveniently located behind me, I took slow, careful breaths through my nose until I thought it was safe to open my mouth.
“You’re not hurt?” I finally thought to ask, since the Omega sitting with me was just as much of a prisoner as I was. At least, I assumed.
Unless he was a plant to squeeze me for information.
Hm.
“Hurt?” the Omega repeated before shrugging. “Not hurt, no. A little scared, I guess, but they haven’t really done anything but ignore me since I was delivered to the auction house.”
The auction house? Was it possible that this was all just some screwed up introduction to the black-market Omega I’d been trying to buy?
I caught my brow just as it began to creep up and gave serious thought to cursing my insistence that Rafe not tell me about the Omega they’d sent in. At the time, it had made perfect sense. After all, I didn’t have a lot of faith in my acting abilities and I wasn’t sure I could pull off a convincing nice to illegally buy you as we meet for the first time vibe if I was familiar with the other party. Now that I was locked in a tiny concrete room with someone who was either an ally, another victim, or one of the bad guys, I rather wished I’d chanced it.
Rafe had informed me that the Omega had a safe word, of sorts. Not exactly – nothing would suddenly grind to a halt when it was spoken – but a kind of marker that would help us identify each other. The only problem was that, for the life of me, my still fuzzy brain couldn’t figure out how to work oatmeal into the conversation.
Luckily, the Omega didn’t seem to have the same problem.
“Do you have anything to eat?” he asked, his voice hesitant. “I haven’t had anything since my oatmeal this morning.”
There it was.
Confirmation that we were on the same team. But that still didn’t explain if this was Beatrice’s screwed up way of introducing us or something darker.
My gut was telling me it was the second one.
“Sorry,” I said with a shrug. “I’m more of a bagel man, myself, but I didn’t expect to be here long enough to need a snack.”
The tension leaving the Omega’s face was subtle when he heard my response, but I caught it.
At least we were at a point where we should be able to trust each other. It was everyone else that we needed to be concerned about.
I stretched my neck, trying to look casual as I checked for cameras. Sure enough, there were three – two on the ceiling and one over the door – and it sure looked like they were covering every inch of the cell.
“I’m sure someone will be here soon,” I said firmly, assuming the cell was wired for audio too and not wanting to tip our captors off. “I’m supposed to be buying an Omega and it can’t be good for business to lock me up and throw away the key.”
The Omega scoffed. “What’s to keep them from just taking your money?”
I clucked my tongue. “No manners, huh? I guess we know how you ended up here.”
The Omega rolled his expressive brown eyes, making me snort. There was a correction on the tip of my tongue – after all, if anyone was watching on those cameras, we needed to put on a convincing show – when a flash of silver caught my eye just before the faint ping of metal on concrete.
I watched the screw bounce and then followed the reverse trajectory up to the ceiling, I was surprised to see the vent that the gas had passed through silently wiggling up and out of sight. I breathed a sigh of relief when it was quickly replaced by a familiar face.
“Hey, Chief. How's tricks?”
Chapter Ten
Casen
Startled didn’t begin to cover my reaction when I followed the Alpha’s eyes up to the ceiling and watched a large, muscular man contort his body until he was able to squirm through the ceiling where a rectangular metal grate had been only a minute before.
He dropped gracefully to his feet – foot, I corrected myself silently when I noticed he was missing his left leg – and flashed a grin, his teeth brilliant white against his ebony skin.
The Alpha stepped forward, clasped his outstretched hand in one hand and clapped his other to the man’s shoulder. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Lachlan.”
“Back atcha,” the new arrival laughed. “Colby was fit to be tied when your tracker disappeared. Glad to see you’re still kickin’,” He turned to me, curiosity glowing in his brilliant green eyes. “I’m Lachlan. You’re Casen?”
He was easily one of the most attractive men I’d ever seen. Sadly, his scent screamed claimed. I sighed. The good ones always were. “I am,” I acknowledged with a frown, “but I thought real names were supposed to be taboo in here?”
“We’ve temporarily disabled the recording equipment,” he said with a careless shrug. “And the guards are currently distracted, so there’s no chance of them wandering in.” He turned back to the Alpha. “Rafe said how we play this out is up to you. I can pull you out or I can leave you with a few party favors in case things heat up. Your call.”
The Alpha studied me for a minute. “How are you feeling? Do you want to see this through or go home?”
Whew. No pressure there. “Who are you?”
“My real name is Ralph Coraine. For the purposes of this case, I’m going by Roger Sorden.”
“You’re an Alpha?” I asked even though I knew the answer.
He nodded.
“You could just use the voice and make me agree,” I said sourly.
He shrugged. “But I won’t. Rafe said he’s known you for a while, right?”
It was my turn to nod.
“Then you know he’s a big believer in Omega rights. I am, too. We work together.”
Lachlan cleared his throat. “I hate to rush you, but we are tight on time here. I’m not sure how long Connor can keep them chasing him.”
The Alpha raised a brow at that but continued to watch me.
“Rafe swore you could keep me safe.” I watched Alpha Coraine’s face. He was calm, no sign that my hesitation was annoying him. I sighed again. “I’ll stay.”
Alpha Coraine’s eyes lit up, glowing an almost sapphire color. “Great.” He turned back to our guest. “What do you have for us?”
“We’ve got the office wired for sound,” Lachlan said, passing him something so small that I could barely see it.
Alpha Coraine popped it in his ear. “That should give us a heads up. Can you disable the gas up there?” he asked, gesturing to the ceiling.
“Already done,” L
achlan said with a smirk. “Devlin had mentioned the gas coming in through the grates to Rafe when they interviewed him. Once we knew this was where you’d gone, we assumed that was how they took you out.”
“Would have been nice if Rafael had remembered to put that little nugget in his report,” Ralph grumbled.
“Yeah, well,” Lachlan shrugged again. “You know now. There’s no sign that anyone has been up in these heat ducts in years, so your stash should be safe up there. I’ll use some double stick tape to reattach the grate.”
“Won’t they see us going up there to get it?” I wondered out loud.
Lachlan shook his head. “We’ve spliced their last few hours of footage of the cell into a random loop with a little static, they’re not going to realize anything is off.” He pulled one more thing from his pocket and passed it to Alpha Coraine. “I’d like to see them block this signal.”
Alpha Coraine grinned, his face suddenly looking much younger as he studied it. “No kidding.” He stuffed it down the front of his shirt and clapped Lachlan on the shoulder again. “Tell the boys they did good.”
“Will do.”
I gasped as Lachlan propelled himself into the air with his one leg, easily catching the ceiling supports and wriggling until he disappeared through the hole.
Then, the grate reappeared and Alpha Coraine and I were once again alone.
“Um, can I ask a question, Alpha?”
“You never have to ask,” he responded softly. “And do you want to call me Ralph?”
“Yeah, okay,” I muttered. “Um, what do you think they are going to do with us?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” he said with a laugh. “We thought that they would sell you to me off the books, but Rafe explained that to you, right?”
I nodded.
“Well, now, all we can really do is wait and see.” He reached over to pat my arm. “We’re going to be okay, though. I don’t have any doubt about that.”
The warmth of his touch through my sheer sleeve radiated through me and I found his calm confidence oddly comforting.
“Okay, thank you.” I looked around our cell. It seemed smaller somehow, almost as if Ralph was suddenly taking up more space. “What do we do now?”
Ralph lowered his lanky frame to the floor, patting the concrete beside him. “I’d imagine that someone will be checking on us eventually. In the meantime, why don’t we get some rest?”
I was about to agree when a scuffling noise came from the hall. Ralph was back on his feet in an instant. One arm hooked my waist, maneuvering me behind him as he placed himself between me and the door.
It creaked open and revealed the same skinny guard who had shoved me into the cell earlier. Except, instead of the annoyed hostility that had radiated off him then, the pistol that had been strapped to his hip was clutched in his right hand and he seemed nervous.
Or scared.
“Time to go,” he announced gruffly, gesturing with his wavering gun hand for us to walk out before him.
“Where are we going?” Ralph asked, his voice admirably calm. “To complete the sale?”
The guard shook his head. “The deal is dead. Now walk.”
Chapter Eleven
Rafe
As promised, Lachlan and Conner were back in my office about thirty minutes before the sun broke over the horizon. The worknight was over and the rest of the office had long since emptied out, leaving just Colby and me sitting in the early morning light when they walked through the door.
“Did you find them?” Lachlan hadn’t even crossed the threshold into my office when Colby started peppering him with questions. “What happened? Where are they? Are they okay?”
Lachlan held up a calming hand and I had to smother my grin. Most Omegas wouldn’t have a problem, would probably even respond as expected, but, well, we all know my Omega isn’t like most others.
“Are you fucking shushing me, asshole?” Colby demanded, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end as his hackles literally rose. “What the serious fuck is wrong with you?”
“Hold on, Colby,” Connor said calmly as he followed Lachlan in. “They’re fine, but we just got back and we’re wiped. Let us sit down and get some water, okay?”
Still seething, my Omega grabbed a couple of water bottles from my under-desk stash and threw them.
Hard.
Lachlan tipped his bottle in the air and caught it on the way back down without comment, but Connor’s flew over his shoulder and skidded down the hallway floor. Shaking his head, Connor chased after it instead of commenting, but I couldn’t help the disappointed look I threw Colby’s way.
Yeah, he’d always been his own man, but that was pretty damned close to a temper tantrum and not the sort of shit I’d accept from a man under my leadership. Colby caught it immediately and offered a chagrined shrug and a mouthed sorry before returning to his customary chair, pretending to wait patiently.
Lachlan had already claimed the remaining chair, so Connor drained the last of his water and tossed the bottle into the trash before leaning against the wall and clearing his throat.
“They’re at the rehoming center, like we thought,” he began only to be interrupted immediately by Colby.
“I thought you were supposed to be keeping an eye on that shithole?”
“I have been,” Connor said patiently. “From the outside. I was told not to go in, remember?”
I nodded. “That would be trespassing unless we had a reason.”
“Exactly,” Connor continued. “Anyway, the reason that we missed them moving back in is that they’re only in the basement levels. The upstairs is still in the same condition it was in after the raid. The boards that the county put over the broken windows and the holes in the wall are still there and the other windows are covered with a kind of dark canvas black-out shades. You’d never know it was in use.”
“How are they coming and going?” I asked, my pen poised over my notepad.
“Through the escape tunnels,” Lachlan volunteered. “They’ve unsealed the ones that approach from the back, near the densest part of the forest, and left the rest locked down to keep hidden.”
“Well, it fucking worked,” Colby huffed.
Lachlan ignored him and kept on, “Once we got there, Connor distracted the guards – there were only three – while I let myself in. I found our men locked together in a cell on the lowest level.”
“Guards?” I repeated, curious. “Human?”
Lachlan nodded and slid his finger over the screen of his phone, tossing it to me once it unlocked. “These yokels.”
“No shit,” I murmured with a laugh. “I knew I recognized that guard’s voice.” I passed the phone to Colby. “See anyone you recognize?”
“What the hell?” Colby whistled. “That’s that fucker that was working with Jack, right? Peter?”
“Paul,” I corrected him, taking the phone and returning it to Lachlan. “But yeah.”
“The same Jack who ran the kidnapping ring that started all of this?” Connor asked, his eyes wide. He hadn’t been around back then, but, naturally, he’d heard all the stories. “Shouldn’t he be in jail, then?”
“That is an excellent question,” I admitted, flipping up the lid on my laptop and entering my password. “Let’s just find out why he’s not.” I typed a few words into the search box and drummed my fingers while the database whirred. “Here it is.” I scanned over the case synopsis that appeared under the case number and frowned. “That’s weird. The case is showing inactive with no disposition.” I scribbled down the case number. “I’ll look into it tonight. For now, at least, we know where to find him.”
“I gave Ralph the options,” Lachlan said quietly. “He let the Omega decide.”
I felt my brow scrunch up. “Okay.”
“The Omega seemed to think Ralph has it under control and decided to stay.” Lachlan grinned. “I passed him the Morse coder. No way they can block that dinosaur.”
I laughed. The
coder was definitely technology leftover from a time gone by; specifically the time we’d spent in the Böxenwolf Brigade. It was a handheld device, about the size of a small flip phone, and, instead of a cellular signal, it operated on radio waves.
“Good call,” I complimented. “That was pure genius.”
“By the by, Boss says he appreciates you having put the information about the gas cells into your report,” Lachlan said casually, his smirk giving him away.
“Oh, hell,” I groaned. “So, it’s my fault he got nabbed.”
Lachlan laughed heartily. “Naw, he isn’t upset. Just wanted me to rib you for him. Anyway, I left the color and the atomizer hooked up, but replaced the gas with water. If they try it again, Ralph and Casen will get misted instead of gassed. And I left a sidearm and some snacks, in case they need them.” He paused for a minute, his gaze landing on Colby. “Why is he still here?”
“I beg your fucking pardon?” Colby huffed, his jaw tightening.
“It’s nothing personal,” Lachlan assured it. “But all the rest of the Omegas are with Clint’s crew.”
Colby opened his mouth to retort, but I sighed and intervened. “He’s right, Colby,” I said quietly. “The kids and other Omegas are already there with Trevor. It’s time for you to go, too.
Chapter Twelve
Ralph
Sudden, drastic changes in illegal plans aren’t a great thing, historically speaking, and, as I took in the guard’s grayish, sweaty face, I quickly decided that I didn’t have a good feeling about this one.
“Let’s go!” The guard’s already nervous voice rose another octave as he took a shaky step toward me.
“Okay, pal,” I said calmly, trying to make my words as soothing as possible. “We’re coming. Just relax.” I held my hand out behind me and silently praised Casen for immediately clasping it.
“Just you!” the guard snapped impatiently. “Now!”
“Just me?” I repeated, squeezing Casen’s hand before letting it go and hoping he caught my hidden message. I had promised to protect him and there was no chance of me leaving him behind.