by Aspen Grey
“Yeah…” I sighed, heading back over to the couch to grab my t-shirt. I had to go out after them. I had no choice. I wasn’t in top shape—nowhere near it in fact—but it was my duty as their alpha. I couldn’t leave them out there alone. If anything happened to them, my life would be over. “Well, I’m gonna go out looking for them. Where do I start?”
“Honestly, I don’t know, Jedrik,” Wendell replied, and I believed him. “Do you have GPS locator on their phones?”
“I don’t think we ever had time to set that up…” I replied dismally. “Fuck.”
“You can track their scents, right?” he asked.
“All across the city? What time did they leave?”
Wendell hung his head. “This morning.”
“That’s gonna be tough,” I said as I pulled the door open. “But I have to try. I’ll see you later, Wendell. Thanks for the drink.”
But as I turned around, I saw Wendell sliding into his loose-fitting shirt and stepping into his flip-flops.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“As your physician, it would be irresponsible of me to allow you to go out like this alone in your condition,” he replied, stepping past me into the hallway. “Now come on. Let’s find your mates.”
Chapter Sixteen
Perry
This is going to work, I kept repeating to myself. It is, it is, it is…
I tried not to think about the fact that Roberto and I were both unemployed, or that my beautiful alpha mate was laid up on the couch recovering from life-threatening wounds, or the fact that we were two omegas, nowhere near tough enough to be putting ourselves in this kind of danger, stepping into the shadows of an old warehouse that looked like something out of a crime thriller where people went to do shady deals—or kill people.
But we have to do this, I reminded myself. Roberto keeps telling me that, and it’s true. Jedrik needs us to help out in this relationship. He can’t do everything.
The images from that night were burned into my mind: Jedrik’s back left haunch bleeding, the scarlet dripping from his cheek and my hands clasped over his wound as I wondered whether or not he was going to make it. I was like a steamer ready to explode from all the pressure inside of me.
As we approached the warehouse, we pressed more and more into the darkness. Trees and shrubs had overrun the place, the grass was high and clearly no one had come in to landscape in years. This was, for all intents and purposes, abandoned. But, for some reason, Sasha had gone inside, and we were going to figure out why.
I glanced over at Roberto as we crept forward, doing our best to keep the gravel and rocks beneath our feet from making too much noise. As we closed in on the old building, I was able to pick out Sasha’s disgusting scent from the scents of at least two other alphas, maybe three. Roberto curled up his nose and so did I.
“Sickening,” I hissed as we reached the exterior brick wall. I raised myself up onto my tippy toes and peered through the slats of one of the windows that had been boarded up a long time ago. There was still shattered glass in the frame, and I was able to peer through, but there was nothing visible besides old pallets and stacks of wood which had rotted long ago.
“See anything?” Roberto asked. I frowned and shook my head.
“No,” I said, looking around. “Let’s try the side over there.”
He nodded and we quietly made our way around to the left side of the building near the driveway Sasha had pulled down, but as I took another step, something crumpled loudly under my foot.
We both froze, and I looked down to see a discarded egg carton poking out from beneath the dirt. Someone had thrown it there obviously so long ago that the ground had almost swallowed it up, only to turn it into what basically amounted to a booby trap for me to step on tonight.
Shit…
We stood there like statues, noses sniffing the air, ears alert for any sound from inside the warehouse. My heart dropped as a gruff voice rang out.
“The fuck was that?”
“The fuck was what?” an even deeper voice replied.
“You didn’t hear that?”
“Probably a homeless bum,” another voice suggested.
“Yeah, well, when you’re the boss you can make those kind of decisions,” the deepest voice snarled—obviously an alpha. “Check it out!”
“Shit! Hide!” I hissed at Roberto. Thankfully, the yard was thick with vegetation, and I was able to hurl myself into a bush as blue light spilled out of the window above us. Roberto crouched behind the thick trunk of a palm tree as a grimacing face appeared from behind the window, a flashlight pointed out like a spotlight into the night.
“Hide that light!” the boss’ voice scolded. “This place is supposed to be vacant, numb nuts!”
“You told me to check it out!” the guy protested, but he withdrew the light and stepped back from the window. I breathed a deep sigh of relief and glanced over at Roberto who was doing the same.
“That was close,” I mouthed to him. He nodded.
“Probably a bum,” the voice said. “Or a goddamn possum.”
The voices faded slightly into the walls of the warehouse and I relaxed slightly. After a few more moments, I crept back over to Roberto and crouched beside him.
“You sure about this still?” I asked. “Sounds like a bunch of alphas in there.”
“We can’t turn back now,” Roberto told me, relighting the fire of determination within me. “We’re so close.”
“You’re right,” I told him. I leaned in and kissed him, feeling the security in his embrace as we joined hands. I kissed him long and deep before finally pulling away and staring into his eyes. “Okay. Let’s keep going.”
Chapter Seventeen
Roberto
That had been a close one, and Perry was right to be concerned. I was. But it was important to maintain my cool. If I broke down now, Perry would start to question what we were doing, which would get to me in turn and form a circle of confusion. That would destroy our confidence and end up with us inevitably retreating, and what was worse, failing Jedrik.
Seeing him wounded like that had been terrifying and absolutely broke my heart. In a strange way, Perry and I were responsible for what had happened to him. If he hadn’t gotten involved with us, Sasha would never have had a reason to attack him. I knew that realistically that wasn’t the right way to think about things. You can’t control other people’s behavior, but I still couldn’t keep the thought from entering my mind from time to time, and this was one of them.
It actually helped, though. My hatred for Jedrik’s psycho ex fueled me forward, overriding my fears and anxiety and doubt and keeping my mind focused on the task at hand.
“This way,” I whispered to Perry, skirting a low row of fallen bricks that led towards the left side of the building and the driveway. The scents of the men inside grew stronger and I saw that one of the corner windows was shattered open and the thin slats that had kept it boarded up were barely hanging on, the nails that had been hammered through them barely holding onto the wood any longer.
I wanted to gag as I reached up and carefully grabbed one of the boards from the wall. The sound of the nail peeling away from the grout between the bricks was barely noticeable, that’s how loose it was. Perry reached up beside me and pulled another away, opening a hole large enough for us to fit through. I looked over at my mate and nodded. He understood. It was time.
We quickly stripped from our clothes and hid them beneath the bushes in the shadows, then shifted into our panther forms. I went first, narrowing my body and diving straight through the window and into the building. I landed just beyond the shattered glass and stepped aside as Perry leapt in and landed nimbly beside me. We gave each other an affirmative look and turned right, following our noses towards the scents inside.
As we stalked down the dirty hallway, the voices grew louder, and as we rounded the corner, the space opened into an enormous room with high ceilings and banks of blue fluoresce
nt lights above.
Instead of dank, rundown, moldy rows of shelving and pallets, or disused bags of fertilizer, the space was absolutely packed with lines of luxury cars. I spotted cherry red Ferraris, yellow Lamborghinis, what was either a Bentley or a Rolls Royce and a striking BMW that looked like the one Jedrik had but in an odd violet color that I didn’t particularly like.
So this is what Sasha’s into? I thought with surprise as I spied him sitting on a folding table, swinging his legs off the edge like a child.
Beside him were two alphas, both wearing black and white pinstripe suits like mobsters out of an old crime noir TV show, and between both of them was the big boss. He was like a seal stuffed into a red velvet suit, with a whiskery beard that fluttered up and down as he puffed on the thick cigar held between his sausage-like fingers.
“So, Sasha,” the big man grunted, plucking a croissant from the arm of his throne-like chair and stuffing it between his fat lips. “What have you got for me?”
“Good stuff, Cash,” Sasha replied eagerly, vaulting off the table and presenting his cell phone to the boss. “Spotted this Maserati in the garage. Some idiot parked there for the last few days. Shouldn’t be hard to grab it. He comes back in the early evenings. If we pick it up before then—”
“Maserati,” Cash nodded. Sasha smiled, but his happiness was cut short when Cash swatted him hard in the cheek with a backhand and sent him sprawling to the floor. “Didn’t I say no more Maseratis, you fucking prick!?”
Sasha scrambled around on the floor, obviously dazed by the big hit he’d just taken, and for a moment I almost felt bad for him. Almost.
“I’m—I’m sorry, boss,” he stammered. “It’s still a pricey car though…”
“Our buyers are sick of Maseratis,” Cash growled, pushing himself to his feet. “Besides, when enough of them start to go missing, the cops are going to take notice. Do you want that?”
“No!” Sasha replied, pushing himself away from the hulking man as he lumbered towards him.
“You sure?” Cash snarled, kicking at Sasha’s feet.
“No!”
“No?” Cash questioned.
“I mean—yes!” Sasha stuttered. “I mean—I don’t want the cops to take notice!”
This response finally pleased the big boss, and he stepped back and placed one arm on his hip as he sucked another puff from the thick cigar.
Revolting.
The big bastard stank like rotten eggs and bad cologne—the kind frat boys spray all over themselves because they see it on commercials and think “the bitches love it” or whatever. I couldn’t imagine the kind of guy who would go for him. Gold diggers probably. Or guys with severe daddy issues.
“Good answer,” Cash finally replied before turning away and thumping back to his throne. His suit was obviously expensive and a thick gold chain hung from his neck, signifying his wealth. It must have been his goons who showed up outside Jedrik’s apartment that night. And that meant there were more to come.
“It’s bad enough you got two of my boys out of commission,” he growled as he took his seat like a king. “Getting all jealous like a little girl over that old boyfriend of yours. If you wanna keep your job, and my foot out of that tight little ass of yours, you better step up the reconnaissance!”
“Yes, sir!” Sasha replied quickly. “I—I will!”
“Got my entire crew caught up in personal drama,” Cash grumbled. “Where’s this son of a bitch live again?”
“Pacific Beach,” Sasha replied. “I could show you where—”
I felt Perry nudge me and looked over at him as he shifted back to human form. Instead of actually speaking, he mouthed the word to me: pictures!
I nodded and we both quickly darted back to the window. I leapt outside, retrieved my phone from my pants and threw it back inside to Roberto. Then I rejoined him inside.
“So, we’re gonna move these tomorrow night,” one of the alphas was saying as we peered out around the corner again. Roberto held my phone up and began recording a video, panning over the scene and showing the cars, the men and Sasha—all of it good evidence for the cops or any jury.
“Good,” Cash replied. “Sooner we get these out of here, the better.”
Roberto finished filming, looked down to make sure the video was good and then raised the camera up again. This time, he took a picture, and this time—the shutter sound went off.
“What the?”
Instantly, the men’s eyes all snapped in our direction. They saw us. We were had.
“Shit!” he hissed, racing down the hallway and back towards the window.
“Who the fuck?” ine of the men roared.
“It’s the pigs!” Cash bellowed. “Get ‘em!”
Roberto was already halfway down the hall when I started to race after him. In panther form, I had a speed advantage over him, and dashed over to the window where an old shelving rack was leaning precariously against the wall. I waited, then as he raced past me, threw myself into the old metal. It cracked once, and I looked behind me to see Roberto chuck the cell phone out onto the grass, shift, and leap through the window, escaping outside.
“There he is!” one of the alphas shouted as he rounded the corner. I watched as the man shifted, tearing out of his pinstripe suit and transforming into a hideous panther with an oily brown coat that made him look like a cross between a slug and a cat. With frightening speed, he dashed towards me.
I slammed into the shelving again—harder this time. The lower leg buckled and the entire thing began to topple. There was nothing left for me to do. As the old shelves crashed to the floor, I leapt through the window and landed on the other side. Roberto, phone and clothes in hand, was sprinting in human form towards the car. He was right to do so. If we lost that phone and the evidence, we’d be fucked and all of this would have been for nothing.
I took off after him, hearing the shouting and clamoring inside as the men tried to get past the barrier I’d created. I reached the car just as Roberto was firing up the engine. He’d left the back window open for me and I dove through it and landed easily on the back seat. I shifted and screamed, “Go!”
He threw the car into drive and floored it. Tires screeching, we sped off into the night.
Chapter Eighteen
Jedrik
It was worse than Wendell had said it would be. It would have been a big ask to track their scents throughout San Diego, especially considering they’d taken their car, but it was going to be absolutely impossible now because of what they’d done; they’d used pheromone blockers.
When we stepped outside, the scent went completely dead.
Idiots!
My heart instantly began to race as a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness came over me. It was something I hadn’t experienced in a long, long time. After cutting myself off emotionally from Sasha, I’d never felt as though the safety of another person was a higher priority than my own. But as I stepped out of my apartment into the night and sniffed the air to find nothing but a cold trail, I was forced to face the fact that there was nothing I could do—and that terrified me.
“They must have—” Wendell began to say, but I cut him off.
“I know…idiots.”
“They don’t want to be sniffed out,” Wendell said, almost to himself.
“They’re going after Sasha and he knows their scent now,” I said angrily.
“Do you have any idea where he might be?” Wendell asked.
“Not anymore.” I shook my head and clenched my fists so hard they started to hurt. “This is the worst thing that could happen. They could be anywhere, and if Sasha was crazy enough to come over here with guys like that—then there’s no telling what shit they might run into.”
Wendell sighed from beside me. “You should go back inside and rest, buddy.”
“How can I do that?” I shouted. “This is my fault!”
“It’s not.”
“It is!” I roared. “If I’d never gotten involved
with that psychopath from the beginning, this wouldn’t be happening!”
“Everything happens for a reason, Jedrik,” he said with that hippy tone that made my stomach turn.
“Yeah?” I snorted. “What’s the reason behind this?”
“You never know until you’re finished with it,” he replied like an old sage. “But I can tell you this—if you’d never have dated Sasha, you’d never have turned into the man you are today, which would mean you may never have met Roberto and Perry and realized they were your fated mates.”
As much as I hated to admit it, the guy had a point. Twisting my lips with frustration, I glanced back at him. He raised his eyebrows, knowing he’d gotten through to me.
“Yeah, you are right,” I told him. “But I know that right now, if I don’t do something, my fated mates that took me so long to meet are going to be in deep, deep trouble!”
I had to do something, but I didn’t even know where to start. Sasha had a friend living over in Mission Beach named Josh or John or Jeremy or something, but I’d never met him and only had a vague idea of his neighborhood and what the place looked like. But if I was going to start anywhere, that was my best bet.
“Come on,” I told him, walking over to my car. It beeped as the locks auto-opened for me, but just as I made a move to slide into the driver’s seat, I heard the sound of a car and spun around to see Roberto and Perry speeding up the alley towards me.
Oh, thank God!
They squealed to a halt and I saw they were both naked, meaning they’d shifted at some point. As they hopped out of the car, I glanced quickly over their bodies, searching for wounds or signs of conflict.
“Are you all right?” I almost shouted as they raced over to me. I swept them up into my arms like a father welcoming his children home. I inhaled deeply, searching for the comforting smell of their scent, but they weren’t there. The pheromone blockers had done their job.