by Celeste Raye
Jake was also a little concerned that Donovan was even talking about choosing sides. He was shocked that he did not want the power of alpha. Jake had always thought that's why he and his brother didn't get along very well. Now, he wondered what changed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Donovan and Jake didn't get to the docks for about an hour. There were some shipping containers that were supposed to have some product. It was a different type of product, one that Jake hadn't even realized was sold.
“So, when did we start getting product on the docks?”
Donovan shrugged. “I don't know. I don’t come here often. Other people take care of this area.”
Jake shook his head. He would have never agreed to get into all of the things that his father was dabbling in. He had his hand in every pot that Jake could think of and then some.
“So how much do we have to get?”
“Few pallets and all we ‘ve got to do is load the truck and take it where it needs to go. After what happened with the last shipment, we've been riding double ever since. We will be in one truck and the other truck will come later. That way, we won't lose a whole shipment if we get hit again.”
“Is that even an issue now?”
“I don't know. I don't really think so. If someone wanted to hit it up, it would end in the same way that it did the last time.”
“No, it won't because...” His voice trailed off, and Donovan asked him if he was still thinking about that chick.
“Yeah, I’m still thinking about her. I guess I will for a while. I just never met anybody like her, that made me feel anything. It was good, you know.”
“Can't say that I do. I haven't gotten close with a woman before.”
“Well imagine one day that you do, you fall for her and just like that, she's gone. I know that we never had a chance, but it didn't stop me from hoping for it. And shit, I miss that possibility.”
“But you can't go on worrying about her forever. She's gone. So, what are you going to do?”
That was what was making it hard for Jake to move forward. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. Before Alexis, his whole life seemed to be figured out for him. He was just along for the ride. Now, things were different. He knew that they could be so much more, and it was hard for him to go back to such mediocrity. Life did not have to be that way. Alexis was the one that had shown him that.
“I don't think I'm going to ever let it go, Donovan. One day, I'll find her.”
His brother had a strange look on his face, but when asked about it, Donovan just shook it off.
“It's nothing, man. It's just weird to hear you talking like that. I don't think you ever have talked like that before about a girl.”
“I didn't even know I could feel this way. I’m telling you, Alexis changed everything.”
They had been talking the whole time they walked the docks.
“So, where are the containers?”
Donovan shrugged. “Let's go ask Jimmy. He'll know what's going on.”
They got to the little shack used for inquiries and rang the bell, waiting for Jimmy to get up there. When he finally did, the young man directed them to the slips that had their stuff.
Donovan asked him why there were three instead of two, and Jimmy just shrugged.
“I don't know, Don. There are always three that come in, and one goes out. It’s always been that way. Hey, why did your dad send you? This isn’t usually your deal.”
“One goes out?”
“Yeah, it's just right over there. You'll see it when you get over there.”
Jake was confused by what Jimmy said. It didn't make sense that there were three coming in, and it certainly didn't make any sense that there was one going out. What in the world where they sending off, and to whom?
When they got to the row of containers that held the three that were for the Rebel Bears, Jake started getting a bad feeling, and he looked over at Donovan to see if he was feeling it too.
“Do you know anything about the third container? I knew that we had some dog food coming in this port, but I didn’t realize that we were sending something out. You don’t know anything about that?”
Donovan shrugged. “I usually don't take care of the docks. This is something that Dad usually takes care of, or one of the elders. It was just one less thing that I had to deal with, you know? I didn’t ask any questions.”
Jake’s curiosity was getting the best of him. Instead of opening the first two containers and getting on the forklift to start loading it up, he went to the third one. There was a padlock on it, and Donovan said something about just leaving it be.
“When it comes to Dad, Jake, it is best just to let it go. Sometimes you learn something that you wish you hadn't.”
Jake just shook his head. “While that’s fine if that's how you want to live, Donovan, I can't do it that way. I need to know what this is. I need to know what he's into.”
He ripped the padlock off and let the door swing open. His brain was unable to take in what his eyes were seeing.
“What the hell is that, Donovan? Have you seen that shit before?”
Jake looked at his brother and shook his head slowly. “No, man, I definitely haven’t seen that.”
The two men stared for several moments before Jake realized that he wasn’t going to be able to stand there any longer. There were about fifty to a hundred young women that were in the container. They were doped up, and it didn’t take much imagination for Jake to realize what it was he was seeing.
“This is what my father does now? This is who he is?”
Jake felt disgusted. It was all too much, and he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t leave them in there, even though they all seemed content to stay where they were. They were too far gone to know that they were in danger.
“I can’t believe Dad would do this.”
Donovan was in shock as well. “What are we supposed to do, Jake?”
Jake wasn’t sure, but he knew that something had to be done. They couldn’t call the police, so he was going to be responsible for getting those girls back to where they belonged, wherever that may be.
First, though, he needed to get them somewhere safe, because now he was going to have to talk to his father and see what was going on. It couldn’t be what he thought it was; it just couldn’t be.
“I don’t know, Donovan, but call Charlie and Fred. I think they need to see this, and they’ll be able to help us get them somewhere else. We have to get to the bottom of this. It’s time to ask questions, Donovan.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The four brothers were all standing in silence. Nobody knew what to say, and now that the women were starting to come to, they weren't much help either. They were asking for drugs, but nobody had any.
It wasn't like they had some kind of rule book for this. Jake had asked everyone if they knew about it. He had looked them all in their eyes and he was sure that it was as much of a surprise to them as it had been to him and Donovan. Jake would have thought that Donovan would be part of it, but he had seemed more disgusted than the rest. It was probably because Donovan had always followed Dean so closely.
“I don't know what we're supposed to do. We can't take them to the hospital, though, can we? I think we're going to have to bring them all somewhere to dry them out and try to convince them not to say anything. This could get bad if the cops get involved.”
It was a horrible plan, Jake knew that, but he didn't know what else to do with them. There were sixty-two women and they were to be sold into slavery. His mind was overwhelmed with the whole idea of it. He didn't know how long it had been going on or how many people the Rebel Bears had trafficked over the years.
“What I wonder is how many people back home know about this? Father couldn't have done this by himself. He had to have help, a lot of it. So, who is helping him?”
They tried to brainstorm who it would be that Dean would trust with something so immoral. A few names came to mind almost
immediately, the type of people that would have no problem with any of it.
Charlie and Fred started to work their way through the women and took them in small batches to a hideaway house the motorcycle gang used from time to time. Whenever there was particular focus on one or two members, they could go out there until the heat was off of them. It would be the perfect place for a bunch of women to sober up. It was far away from other people, isolated just enough so that they would be able to roam.
Jake and Donovan were still there when the last women were put into trucks to be taken to another place. Jake was still trying to wrap his head around everything, and Donovan didn't look like he was doing much of a better job than Jake was.
“I just can't believe that Dad would do this.”
“We have always known that Father has a darker side. It doesn't surprise me all that much. I mean, it does, don't get me wrong, but I knew that he was capable of this.”
“And you think I'm stupid for not seeing it, don't you?”
Jake had always had something against his brother for that very reason. He had never understood why the two of them had been so close. He had been jealous of Donovan for many years, but now he just kind of felt sorry for him. His younger brother had just found out that his hero was a fraud. That was going to take some time to get used to.
“Not at all, Donovan. There is nothing wrong with wanting to think the best of someone that you love. He is our father, after all. I don't think any of us wanted to believe that he was capable of something like this.”
“But he is. Look at this. Look at this mess. We can't let this go on or we’re a part of it.”
Jake sighed heavily. He knew what had to be done, and as much as he had wanted to be leader of the Rebel Bears, it was going to come at a price he was not expecting. Was he willing to pay it?
Dean paced back and forth in front of his four sons and asked them again what it was that brought them all there. He was not used to being ordered to meet. Dean was the leader. It was his choice when and if he spoke with someone, but it wasn't just anyone that was asking to talk. He had to find out what was going on, and from the look on his favorite son’s face, it was not going to be a good conversation.
“What is this? I need to know why my sons have brought me here and are carrying on like sullen children. What is it that makes you act in such a way?”
He looked over at Donovan. “That has made all of you act this way.”
Donovan couldn't meet his gaze but looked to Jake—the ringleader. Dean immediately keyed into the fact that it was probably all about Alexis. Of course, it would be about Alexis. She was the one that had caused problems from the get-go. It was all because of that damn woman. He should have taken care of her sooner.
“We found out something, Father, something that we can't believe, and we don't need you to admit it, because we already know it's true. What we need to know is why you did what you did.”
Dean was sick of waiting to find out what they had learned. It wasn't like he had only done one thing. There were lots of crimes that could have been discovered.
“What are you going on about Jake? Donovan? What the hell is this?”
“I don't think Donovan is going to take your side on this one, Dad. None of us are. Even if you give us a damn good reason, I can't think of one. I have searched my brain for the last day and a half, and I can't think of one damn good reason that you would have a shipping container full of drugged-up women, apparently ready for auction.”
Dean paused. He had been pacing back and forth, but now he stood completely still. He had done many things that he wasn't proud of, but it would be the most lucrative and disgusting one of all that his boys would find out about. It would have been worse to Jake if he had found out about Alexis, but to know that all of his sons were not going to get behind him on this one was hard to swallow. He had never been able to push past their mother's moral code that she had installed in them when they were young. It was wrong on so many levels, and he could see in their eyes that they were not going to forgive him. None of them were.
“It was a necessity.”
Jake just sighed. “I told them that you wouldn’t have a good reason, and it looks like I'm right. It is all bullshit out of your mouth. There is no way that our gang has ever needed to traffic human beings to get by.”
Dean was about to launch into this whole explanation, but he stopped before he even got started. Who the hell were they to ask him anyway? He was the leader, and he would do it over their head or in front of their face. Nobody was going to tell him what to do—certainly not the very people that he had brought into the world. He did not owe anybody an explanation.
“Yes, I traffic human beings. What does it matter? They are beneath us, always have been, and just because most of the other shifter clans want to make peace with them doesn't mean I do. Every time we make a deal with them and pretend that they are our equals, it makes it worse. They have grown into seeing us that way as well, and that is a mistake.”
Dean looked at them, their mouths open in shock, and he smiled. Of course, they would see it as wrong. He was sick of pretending that they weren't the dominant species. Just because humans wanted to propagate like rabbits did not mean that they were on top of anything. They were certainly not the top of the food chain, and Dean felt like that needed to be said.
“I can't believe that you have no remorse, Father. After all the time we spent together and all the things I learned from you, I looked up to you. You were the very law, but this is not right. How are we ever going to coexist with humans if we're doing these things to them? And why would you even want to?”
He looked at Donovan because Dean was still thinking that he could get one of them to understand. If anybody was going to ever come to his side, it would be the second born. The boy that looked almost like him and had been his shadow for the last ten years.
“It is not that I want to hurt humans. I just don't care what happens to them. It is really about the money more than anything else. You would not believe how much money you can get for a person.”
“Did you ever stop to think what they would do to them, Father? Why do you think they would pay so much, and what type of people would buy a person to begin with?”
Dean scoffed at Donovan. That was whole point. Why should he care so much? He didn't care about ants that scurried around on the ground. He didn't pick them up when it was raining and they were about to drown. And he certainly wasn't going to lose money to make their lives better. If he could sell them for as much as he got per person, he would just as easily traffic little ants. Dean didn't see the point of letting morals come in the middle of business. To him, it was just business and the women that he trafficked, human or shifter alike, were just another product.
“It doesn't matter what they do with them, Donovan. What matters is they pay us a lot of money for the girls, and that is what has kept us going for so long.”
Jake intervened because he was a little afraid that his brother was going to take up for Dean.
“That's crap, and you know it. We make plenty of money selling everything else. We don't need people. And besides, where is all this money going that you were supposedly making? It isn't going into the club. Rebel Bears keep books like any other business, don't we? There has never been a deposit mysteriously made that I didn't know about. Or did you forget that I take care of that stuff, too?”
“I remember, Jake. I remember, but it doesn't matter what you think or say. You're just a little shit that lost the chance to be alpha to one of the biggest shifter clans in the area. That's all you are.”
Donovan was the one that spoke up. “That's not exactly true, though, is it? While it would usually be the case that you get to choose, I don't think that the rest of the club is going to feel as easy and breezy about what you did as you do. There will be a vote this time, and I can guarantee you that Jake is going to win. And you, Father, are going to be banished.”
“You can't banish me
! I'm the leader.”
Jake moved closer to Dean, and his body was flexed, ready to engage at any moment if needed.
“You leave now, Dad, or we will throw you out. Either way, you're leaving right this very moment.”
Dean wanted to attack, but it wasn't the time.
“You think you won, Jake, but you haven't. I will be back, and you will lose everything. Again.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Alexis couldn't believe that so much time had passed. She didn't know exact days, or even what month it was half the time, but she knew that it was enough for her to get well into a pregnancy. It wasn’t easy to guess a roundabout number of months. It had at least been eight months, maybe more. All she knew, no matter where she was, or how many times she’d been sold, was she needed to get away from it all. The baby was coming, and Alexis had to get away.
Her current location was a hard one to pin down. She knew that an affluent family somewhere in Latin America had bought her for a discount. She was to be their housekeeper, and apparently, Alexis was very poor at it. It didn't seem to matter that she was heavily pregnant; she had to do her duties.
Every day it was the same, and most of the time, she was bored to tears. It gave Alexis a lot of time to think because she had no one to talk to. Most of the people in the house did not speak English; the one person who did was the wife, and she had nothing good to say. The only time she did speak to her was to order her or tell Alexis she was doing something wrong.
Alexis had been there for a couple of months, and it felt like she was just barely being tolerated. Her worst fear was that they were going to take her baby when it was born. Why else would they have bought her in the first place?
After she had done her morning chores and was just getting back to her tiny room to sit on her tiny bed, Alexis had to push back the feelings of helplessness. She felt like there was no way she was going to get out of the situation she was in; however, there was also no way that she was going to let anything happen to her and Jake’s baby. It was a baby made out of love, and she felt a fierce protectiveness. She was not above shifting into her true form and killing everyone that stood in her way. It would be against all rules that she had ever known, but Alexis was teetering on that very decision the longer she was there and the closer her baby came to entering the world.