"I really don't like where this is going, Silver. You’ve already said way too much. And why would you tell me? I told you that I'm part of the Brotherhood. What if I turn on you just to make myself look better?"
I approached him, pointing a finger toward him with a pouted lip. "You wouldn't do that."
"But how do you really know?"
"Because... because I trust you. And I need you."
His head fell back again, the wild unruly hair splayed out around his face as his skull lulled to the side, watching Xander now. My eyes followed his. The child was banging two wooden blocks together, giggling to himself as he knocked them across the floor.
"Think about Xander. Do you want him to get caught up in all of this too?"
I could hear my friend exhale deeply through his nose, his jaw clenching.
"Fine. As soon as Xander is asleep, we'll go."
"I hope you're ready for this. I'm risking a lot just by taking you to his room." Glenn shut the door to his room behind him as I lead the way out into the hall. We both glanced left and right, reassuring ourselves that no one else was around just yet.
"The faster we do this, the faster we can get back," I replied, allowing Glenn to get in front of me as we walked down the halls, captivated with idle chit-chat while he led me out of the main kitchen and hall where the rest of the workers stayed. Well, those that weren't locked back in the cages.
"Hey, I know this way. But isn't that asshole by the door?" I whispered once we got past the kitchen, the same one we'd cleaned together, and the one that led from the back door where Vik had dragged me through to seal my fate and relieve him of his debt.
Glenn didn't reply with words but nodded when he suddenly dropped down low. I didn't know what he was hiding from, so I could only follow his actions, though I did slam my knee pretty hard into the wall. I held in a yelp by biting onto my tongue, wincing as tears began to well at the corners of my eyes.
"Shhh," Glenn shushed, and I quelled my whimpering. It was pretty dark, and only after I heard the footsteps did I realize what my friend already had. Carl was stomping by, walking right past us and down the hall to the kitchen we had just walked out of. He must have been on patrol to check the cages or to get a snack. Either way, he was out of sight for now. Glenn ushered us forward, and we crawled ahead.
I knew exactly where we were headed now-the room with a single hookah inside where Leon was when I’d first met him. But I hadn't seen a bed or anything in there. Was that where he slept?
"Are you sure this is where he'll be?" I whispered, a bit louder now that I felt safe with Carl gone for the moment.
"I am," Glenn replied coldly, both of us still crawling toward the end of the hallway that opened out into the massive room. He peeked his head around the corner before he leaned back, giving a nod.
"Be quiet. Stay right here. I'll grab his phone," he said before slipping into the room. I crawled forward next, staying by the entryway as I'd been instructed to do, though I looked inside to watch. He practically slid across the floor on his belly, staying flat so as not to disturb Leon. The new Grey Brotherhood leader was sprawled out on the many cushions surrounding his hookah, laying in nothing but his boxers, his pants thrown to the side and white dust covering his left nostril.
'Please be careful,' I thought to myself, my fingers clenching into a fist while I tensely stared at Glenn and every careful, precise movement he made to avoid making any noise. I'd never seen anyone quite so… capable of what they did. The way he moved, the glare of a bit of light on his eyes making them glow. He looked dangerous. He could easily move in and kill Leon right now if he really wanted to.
He was beginning to remind me of Jude.
But Glenn was no Alpha, and perhaps because of that, he'd be accepted into the pack. No, now wasn't the time to daydream about that. We were on a mission, and Glenn was already right next to Leon, rifling through his belongings. He first checked the pockets of a jacket on the floor, tossing it to the side when nothing came up.
Then, the jeans. He turned one of the pockets inside out to no avail and repeated the process on the other side. Nothing. Damn.
He flipped the pants over, slipping his fingers into the back pocket to pull out the phone halfway.
Yes, yes, yes!!!
I wanted to scream because I was so happy-or possibly rush in and snatch the phone away.
But instead, I found myself holding my breath, my lungs burning in need of air as Leon's hand lashed out, and he grabbed Glenn by the wrist. He had woken up out of nowhere. Glenn didn't make any noise that I could have picked up.
"Glenn?" he said sleepily, his eyes open wide and wild as he stared at his ex-lover. Glenn had already dropped the jeans to the floor, and he sat next to Leon with a moment of shock and uncertainty before he nodded.
"Yes. Leon. It's me."
"What are you doing here?" He sat up even further, shaking his head to wake himself from whatever drug-induced stupor he was in.
"I'm here for you." Glenn put on a clearly forced smile, raising himself up to his knees.
"Are you, now?" Leon sniffed, his hand slowly retracting away from Glenn. My partner in crime turned, his back facing me as he raised his hands over his head. Leon appeared completely transfixed with him, his eyes hungry for Glenn, who began to trace his fingertips down Leon’s chest toward his hips. Slowly, he began to peel off his baggy shorts, and I blushed as they fell to his ankles. Once they hit the floor and he stepped out of them, he kicked them back, taking another step away from Leon and kicking them hard to land alongside Leon's jeans. They slid across the ground, just a few feet away from me.
Shit. Now was my chance.
Glenn approached Leon, mounting his waist, flipping his hair to the side as he leaned forward to snatch Leon's lips against his.
As soon as I felt the new Brotherhood leader was busy, I swooped in, snatching the jeans and pulling them toward me, the phone in my hand in a matter of moments.
And not locked.
All I had to do now was to text Lucas what Reese had told me, delete the message, and pray that Lucas wasn't that much of an idiot to call this number or message it back. Once I was done, I'd slip the phone back into the jeans and make my way to the room to watch over Xander until my friend returned.
Thank the Gods for Glenn.
16
Lucas
The snow was exceptionally thick, and I was glad for the path that had been cleared toward the entrance of the Gilded Heart. My cab had arrived first, and the guys were following right behind me. I hadn't dared text Silver back after the frantic message that he'd sent me from a strange number. But tonight was supposedly the night. I don't know how he figured it out or what he had been doing in the meantime, but if I found out anyone else had laid a hand on him, I was going to crush them with my bare hands.
I had to adjust the mask to my face as I entered, welcoming the warmth in comparison to the temperature outside. The same bouncer from before was seated on his barstool reading a newspaper that he didn't take his eyes away from as he questioned me once more.
"Why does the moon rise?" He flipped to the next page.
"Because the wolves come out to play," I replied to him, and he gestured toward the door with a nod of his head.
"Go on in."
And so I did.
I stepped inside with a plan in my head. I didn't want to waste time. I needed to find Silver, and as soon as the rest of our pack arrived, we'd break him the fuck out of here and take him back home where he belonged. With me.
There were more people at the club tonight than on the first night I had come and plenty of working boys walking around, some at the bar chatting with customers, others dancing on men in front of everyone with no shame. My lip curled up. None of them were Silver. Where in the hell could he be?
No, that wasn't the issue right now. I had to let the pack know that I'd gotten in just fine and that the password to get in hadn't changed as I'd assumed might be the case. Seemed kind
a lazy, not changing it often. It was as if they didn't care if they got busted or not.
I walked on over to the bar, tapping onto it to grab the bartender's attention. He looked toward me with a cocked brow.
"Restrooms?" I asked.
"Behind you." He snorted, turning away and back to the paying customers who were sliding cash onto the bar toward him.
"Gee, thanks," I mumbled, looking toward the side wall that had a large glowing EXIT sign at the top. Through there then.
It was quiet inside, the thumping of music from the entertainment area, or whatever it was called, barely making a booming vibration even with its heavy bass. It was perfect. I pulled my phone out, flipped through my contacts to find Jude's name, and dialed.
It was a bit before he answered, and I could hear the loud humming from the engine of his car. They must have still been driving.
"Hey. What's up?" Jude asked with a cool tone to his voice.
"Password is the same. Remember what I told you?"
"Of course we do!" Forest called out as well. I must have been on the car's speaker phone.
"All right, as soon as you get in, just find somewhere to sit. I'm in the bathroom right now and-"
"Is anyone in there with you?"
I stood in silence for a moment, mentally berating myself for not checking. It was rather quiet, and I certainly didn't hear anyone inside.
"Just get here," I finished, ending the call and turning toward the stall doors.
No… No one could be in here and have heard that. But I'd need to double check.
The first stall door I went to, I carefully pushed open. Unfortunately, the doors were from the ceiling to the floor, so I couldn't just drop down and look for feet at the bottom or through the cracks.
No one was there.
I let out a sigh of relief and moved on to the next door. And the next. And the last.
Creaking them open one by one to find no one inside.
Until the fourth one stopped halfway, something blocking me from opening it up all the way.
"Hey! Who's in here!" I growled, pushing my shoulder into the door to shove it open with as much force as I could muster. But that wasn't necessary, as it swung open with little resistance and a soft thud from something else.
Inside was Vik. I'd recognize that blue hair anywhere, even behind his mask. His head was slumped against the side of the stall,
Blood oozing from both of his nostrils.
"Oh, shit." I winced, covering my nose and mouth with my hands at the smell that had begun to emanate from the restroom stall. It reeked worse than a wolf's bathroom should. His eyes were slightly open, staring down emptily at the plastic container bolted to the wall that would normally contain toilet paper. On top of it was a mess of powder.
Of course.
"Pathetic bastard." I shook my head in pity and disgust, shutting the door immediately. Hopefully, no one else would come in here and cause a commotion, ruining my chance to run off with Silver.
I found myself a booth to sit at this time and wait until I could spot Silver among the many bodies that were starting to fill the place up. While there was a hookah in the center, I didn't partake of tobacco or any other substance the various butler boys were offering. I wanted to be totally in the zone in case anything went down, even if it made me appear a bit strange to literally just be sitting without a smoke or a drink in hand.
While it was rather cold outside, the sheer number of people in the club was making it almost unbearably warm inside. My palms felt a bit sweaty as I tapped them against the table in front of me, either from the heat or from the nerves. I was unsure which.
"Hey there, boys," a somewhat familiar voice called out from one side, garnering my attention. It was the blonde from my previous time here. He was still wearing practically nothing, no shirt or vest, only tiny little shorts. He greeted a person I determined to be Jude, who was now entering. I could spot him in a crowd just by the way he walked and carried himself.
Jude nodded to the blonde boy, stepping around him as I waved him down to come join me. Trailing behind him were Forest and Jason, all masked and heading straight for me. The other worker frowned but followed after Jude specifically as the three of them sat around me, and he placed himself right next to my Alpha.
"I don't think I've seen you here before. What's your name?" he cooed, snuggling himself up against Jude's side. Jude didn't react, only looked the other guy up and down before facing me again.
"You see him, yet?" Jude asked.
"No. Still waiting." I shrugged, making myself comfortable as much as I could. I wasn't gonna bring up the dead Vik, especially now with the blonde here listening in on our conversation.
"Who'da thought a place like this would be around?" Forest scrunched up his nose in disgust, leaning his head against Jason's shoulder.
"I know, it's our amazing little secret." The blonde smiled, reaching out a hand to brush against Jude's shoulder.
I continued to watch the crowd, not paying attention to the forced conversation between the three and their new plaything, still on the lookout for Silver. While I didn't see his beautiful shock of white hair anywhere in the vicinity, there was someone else familiar. It was the dark-haired guy Silver was talking to before. I only saw them exchange a few words before he’d walked off with another customer, but it was as good a place to stare as any.
"Hey, why don't you go bring that guy over here for us?" I asked the blonde, and Jude sighed with relief. He was obviously over him as much as I was.
"Every time you come in, you already have someone in mind. Why don't you try something new for a change?" He winked and Jude reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet, shoving a fist full of bills into the worker's hand.
"Go get him. Now."
"Oooh, one Glenn coming right up." The working boy's eyes were gleaming at the money in his hand as he quickly scurried away from us and toward the man who was walking around.
I saw them talk for a few seconds before the blonde pointed toward us, showing off the money he had received. The darker haired worker nodded, his face changing from a look of confusion to one of seduction, a half smile on his face, his head tilted low as he approached us like he was on the hunt, zoning in on his prey.
"Hi there, gentlemen." His eyes flicked over each of us, and even with our masked faces, he seemed to be taking in our appearances before coming closer with an extended hand. I took it, pulling him toward me.
"Oh!" he yelped playfully, falling onto my chest, bracing himself with his hands before rolling to my side. There was no time to fuck around, so I made things quick.
"I'm looking for Silver. Where is he?"
His tempting expression faded quickly when I mentioned my mate's name. He scowled, sizing me up before tossing a worried glance to Jude who was on his other side.
"Who are you? What do you want with him?" he snarled, pulling himself away from me.
"We need to see him," Jude piped up, causing Glenn to turn his head to the side and stare Jude down. "Please."
Glenn looked back and forth between the four of us, his eyes starting to widen, recognition dawning there.
"Oh. Oh! I know who you are," he whispered. "Silver said you'd be coming tonight."
I sighed, relieved. "Thank the Gods. Where is he?"
"He'll be here shortly. Maybe we should just keep playing this up for now until he arrives." He smiled as large, burly bald man came walking by. He was eyeing everyone up and down, as most of the employees here seemed to do. As he walked past us, Glenn rolled his head to the side, placing a hand onto Jude's chest and hiking a knee up to rest against the top of his thigh.
"You're pretty handsome," he breathed.
Thankfully, the burly man continued on, not stopping or slowing down to watch us.
"You're pretty good at that," Jude smirked. I could feel myself start to cringe. It was always so weird to see Jude interacting intimately with other wolves. When it didn't come to his pack members, he was
pretty cold.
"Uh, maybe you both really do want a room." I laughed, only to get hateful looks from both Glenn and Jude. I held up my hands defensively. "Hey, hey. Just a joke."
They went back to talking with one another while Jason and Forest continued with their idle chit-chat.
And there he was, finally. Silver, walking out from behind the thick beaded curtains, heading straight toward us.
My face lit up, excited to see him in one piece.
"Silver! You're all right!" I couldn't control myself as I stood up, the urge to rush over to him and spin him around strong. But he held a hand up, his voice shaky as he spoke.
"We need to get a room, right now."
"W-what?"
"Now. All of us. Come on." He glanced around, taking a long look toward the bouncer circling in the vicinity.
"You okay?" Glenn asked him next, leaning off of Jude for a moment, but Silver didn't reply and instead headed straight toward the barkeep.
"We need a room. One big enough to fit all of us inside."
Surprisingly, the bartender didn't even seem fazed by such a request. He just gave our group a sly look.
"Four on two? Woo, that's gonna be a fun night, isn't it?" He smiled to himself, the creep, and grabbed a pair of keys, tossing them across the bar to Silver. Poor Silver tried to catch them, but they slid past him and dropped to the floor, and his face flushed with an embarrassed expression.
"A hundred each for half an hour. First half is upfront. If you need more time, pay it up." Thank God for Jude, who offered up two hundred dollar bills.
"Thirty minutes is plenty." He snorted, but Silver was already scurrying off, the rest of us having to walk quickly to keep up with him.
17
Lucas
If this was supposed to be a room big enough for the quoted orgy, it was vastly overpriced. Standing up, the six of us could barely fit inside. I hugged Silver against me to create more room, leaving Forest and Jason shoulder to shoulder while Jude and Glenn stood in the center, halfway standing on the large mattress that filled much of the floor space.
Solace for Silver: Wolves of Solara Book 3 Page 11