Chapter 48
Logan
Panic struck me like a bolt of lightning.
“What the fuck?” I hissed, leaning over and clutching my chest.
A cold sweat broke out across my brow as my heart pounded so viciously I was convinced I was having a heart attack.
It wasn’t my own, though.
It was Clover’s.
I staggered into the conference room, where Hunter was leading one of his final meetings before heading out on parental leave. He was in the same position as me, staring at me with wide eyes.
“Clover?”
I nodded, breathing hard.
Hunter yanked out his phone and dialed her number. “It went to voicemail. Shit.”
“What’s happening to her?” I tried to sort through my responsive panic. Rage and fear choked me. I’d never felt Clover this strongly in the bond before.
Hunter dialed Parker next. “Clover—” was all he got out before Parker growled.
“Something’s happening to her. Where are they?”
“I don’t know.” Hunter helped me to my feet, not even acknowledging the people congregated. We rushed down to the car as quickly as we were able, and I slid into the driver’s seat while Hunter added Avery to our group call.
“You guys, what the fuck is happening?” Avery whined. “I almost crashed my car on my way home after picking up more treats.”
“Someone check the fucking app,” I growled.
“Oh shit, right.” Hunter pulled up the phone locations, showing dots for all of us. “Looks like she’s at that French fry place with Maggie.”
“On my way,” Parker snapped.
“I’m like a minute away from there,” Avery told us. “Heading over now.”
I revved the engine and blasted us out of the parking garage. We were only about ten minutes away, but I knew each one was going to feel like an eternity.
“They’re not here,” Avery told us a few minutes later. “I found their phones on the sidewalk.”
“Fucking hell. Avery, ask them if we can see the CCTV. Maybe it has a view of the street.”
“Oh, I don’t have to ask. We own it.”
“What the fuck do you mean, we own it? When did that happen?” I sucked in a sharp breath, forcing myself to focus.
“I may have purchased the restaurant a couple months ago when we realized Clover was obsessed with it. Anyway, they said they need their manager to access it. No one that’s on shift knows how to get in,” Avery announced.
I ground to a stop outside the place. “There’s nowhere to park.”
“Get out, I’ll park and be there in a minute,” Hunter offered.
I practically tumbled from the car and burst into the restaurant, drawing the eyes of curious patrons. Avery waved to me from the kitchen doors.
“Get us to the computers, I can get in.”
A shift supervisor led us to the office. “I already called our manager. They should be here soon. You wouldn’t rather wait?”
“Would I rather—” Of all the fucking stupid questions to ask me right now.
Avery clapped a hand over my mouth. “Our mate is in trouble. If we can’t get in, we’ll wait.”
I slammed down into the chair, quickly getting through their pathetic security. It was slightly better than password1, but the restaurant name and the year was still disgustingly easy to guess.
I found their security recordings and brought them up, backtracking until I could see Clover and Maggie sitting at their booth, laughing happily.
I followed them on the camera until they left through the door.
The street view was limited, but I tracked their feet, a bucket of icy dread pouring over me when I saw two much larger sets of feet approach them, Clover’s and Maggie’s disappearing from view a moment later.
“Someone took them.”
“Fuck.”
Parker bolted into the office, red-faced and frazzled. “Do we know who?”
Hunter was only a few seconds behind him. “What did I miss?”
“Someone grabbed them off the street.” I turned to the staffer. “Do all of the businesses around have security cameras?”
“I’m not sure. Probably.”
I launched to my feet. “I’m going to check the cameras across the street. You guys check businesses next door, see if they have a better view.”
Everyone scrambled in their quest to follow my instructions. I almost got nailed by several cars while sprinting across the road. The cashier looked up at me with enormous eyes when I flung back the glass front door.
“My omega was kidnapped. Do you have cameras pointing across the street?”
“Uh, um, y-yes, we do, but—”
“I need to see the recording.”
“It’s in my manager’s office, and that’s locked when she’s not here. Aren’t we supposed to get a court order or something to share that kind of thing?”
“Do I look like I have time for a fucking court order? The longer this takes, the farther away whoever kidnapped my omega is going to get.” I sucked in a few more breaths. “I’m sorry, I know I sound like a dick, but I don’t have time to waste.”
“Okay, one second.”
My phone buzzed. “Yes?”
“I called the police to let them know Maggie and Clover are missing,” Hunter replied. “Do we have any idea what vehicle they might be in?”
“Not yet.” I turned to the nervous beta behind the desk. “Call your manager. Get them in here, or I’m gonna kick down the door.”
They fumbled the phone, and I had to hold back my growl. Panic churning through every cell in my body made it difficult to think, but I had to keep a grip on myself.
“She can be here in an hour,” the beta told me.
“She can’t get here quicker?”
“Nope. She doesn’t live that close, so that hour is with good traffic.”
“All right. I’ll be back.”
The other security feeds my pack had gotten access to were equally as useless as the first one. The business next door was frustratingly closed, and the one next to it only had fake cameras to dissuade would-be burglars.
“There’s a lot of people looking for them,” Hunter assured me. “We know she’s still alive.”
Alive wasn’t good enough. I needed her safe too.
“Should we wait at the restaurant?” Hunter suggested. “We’ll be able to see when the manager gets here, and the cops are on their way to talk to us.”
“I can’t sit down right now, but you three go ahead.”
“I’ll get you something to eat,” Hunter insisted. “We can’t do anything else until the manager gets here, and I know as soon as we have the hint of a lead, you’re going to rush into action. You need fuel for that.”
I wanted to argue, but he was right.
I allowed my pack to herd me into the restaurant. None of us were really in the mood to eat, but I forced myself to choke down a basket of chicken strips.
An officer came to talk to us, collecting information, though we had precious little to give. They assured us units were out looking, but without knowing a vehicle or even a direction they might’ve gone, they weren’t optimistic.
The wait was fucking torturous, and the manager ended up taking closer to three hours after she got stuck in traffic from an accident.
She had a police officer with her when she arrived. We stampeded into her shop, probably scaring the shit out of her.
“What’s going on?” the officer asked.
The words tumbled out of me in a rush, but he got the gist and nodded for the manager to open her office and pull up the footage for him. We were forced to wait outside.
I was surprised their floor survived me pacing so much.
The officer stepped out. “I’m not sure how helpful the footage will be. We can only see the omegas in question for a second. It looks like the vehicle was a black Chevy cargo express. Do you know anyone who drives that? Could this have been a targeted abduction?”
“Targeted is incredibly likely,” said Parker. “One of the omegas taken is Magnolia Ashcroft, my sister. Our family is worth billions. The other is Clover Wright, our pack omega.”
The officer whistled low. “Shit. Let me update the officers with what vehicle to watch for.” He disappeared briefly. “We saw a face in the footage, but it was grainy. Do you want to take a look and see if it’s anyone familiar?”
“Yes.” Clover’s panic still choked me, but I managed to force the word out.
We followed him into the office, and the manager navigated to a freeze frame. One face was totally obscured, though by their height and breadth, I assumed them to be alpha. The other face, definitely grainy, but with a couple distinguishing features, made my blood run cold.
Fury boiled in my gut.
How fucking dare they?
My fathers had done their best to ruin my life, but that wasn’t good enough for them anymore. Now they had to go and target my omega too? Fuck them and fuck this.
“Who is it?” Parker asked.
“Those are my fathers. Fucking Christ. I didn’t even know Rick was in town again.”
My mother’s relationship with her alphas was very off and on. They disappeared when it suited them and returned like nothing happened whenever they felt like it.
“Where would they go?” the officer asked.
Parker was on his phone again. “Delia Murray has an account we put a stipend into.”
“And Delia is?”
“My mother.” I buried my face in my hands.
“Where does she live?”
“I don’t know. She moves around a lot. I haven’t seen her in person for years.”
“We’ll find out what addresses are registered in her name,” the officer promised. “Write down the names of her alphas, and I’ll update the file.”
“She’s renting. There won’t be anything registered in her name.”
“Good to know, thank you.”
I wanted to spit those words back in his face, but Hunter’s and Avery’s hands on my shoulder kept me quiet.
“What do we do now?” Avery asked the officer.
“You can look for the omegas if you want, but otherwise go home and wait.”
Fat fucking chance of that happening. I wasn’t going to sit by while my omega needed us.