Chapter Twenty-Three
DYLAN
Istared at the yellow note in my hand, confused as fuck.
It was . . . strange. Why didn’t he come get me himself?
I was out with Minnie earlier, picking up those temporary tattoos I’d committed to this morning.
He knew that. He could have joined us and swung by the place since it was on the way.
Unless he was busy. I’d gone to find him as soon as we returned, but his office was empty.
Probably called out for pack stuff, and he’d left me this for when I got back.
How long ago was that?
The clock showed it was almost half three.
Joles wasn’t far. I could probably walk there, to be honest. It’d only take me twenty minutes or so.
I wasn’t exactly fond of the idea—being so exposed, even with security—but after dropping us off, Brian said he had an errand to run.
He and George disappeared with the car to fuck knows where, leaving me and Minnie in the care of all the guards and Edith.
I would’ve asked Rae to shed light on the situation, but she wasn’t here either. Presumably with Caine.
Wherever he was.
I lifted the paper to my nose and sniffed.
It smelled like him. His rich, woodsy scent, which reminded me of a walk through the forest at night.
It was definitely his paper, though it was Brian’s handwriting.
Why hadn’t he said anything before he left?
Maybe it was supposed to be a surprise. I wasn’t keen on surprises and Caine knew it.
“Daddy?” Minnie called up to me. I stroked my fingers through her hair.
“Daddy’s going out for a bit, okay? You stay here, and be good.” I gave her my best warning stare. She wilfully ignored it. I faced Edith, who was arranging animal figures into a neat line. “Caine wants to meet me at four. I’ll be an hour. Tops.”
She grinned as if she knew something I didn’t. “Have fun.”
My eyes narrowed. “Has he planned something?”
Her lips thinned, barely containing her excitement. “You’ll like it.”
“Fine,” I sighed before kissing Minnie goodbye and heading to my room to grab my coat. I hesitated at the door, a weird sensation in my gut.
Uncertainty.
It was probably just nerves at the prospect of leaving the house—as usual—or anticipation for whatever surprise Caine had in store.
Joles was a high-end bakery selling super expensive and artsy pastries that were almost too pretty to eat.
After our conversation months ago about him building me a work space at the house, I dreaded to imagine what extravagance awaited me.
I’d do my best to remain impartial until I was there, though it might be difficult with this feeling of doubt hanging over me.
I spun back around, wrenched open my drawer, and snatched up the knife Caine had given me when I first arrived here.
A precaution. I tucked it inside my belt, shifting it so it wasn’t as visible and there was no risk of being stabbed in the arse, before heading downstairs.
Two guards were already waiting for me at the bottom.
I’d recently learned their names were Preston and Lina.
“We’ll be escorting you to Joles,” Lina remarked, her mouth twisting with a slight grimace. “Though, there’s a delay for another car. We’re sorry for the—”
“Don’t trouble yourself,” I reassured her with a smile. “Do you mind walking? It’s only twenty minutes or so, and Caine can give us a ride back. I just know he’ll pop a blood vessel if I’m even a minute late, and I don’t want you guys punished for it.”
She glanced at her companion, unused to such geniality, no doubt.
Or conflicted on who’s orders to follow.
“If that’s your wish? Although, we are under strict orders to drive you there.”
“By Caine?” She nodded. “Let him seethe to me about it later.”
Preston clearly decided it was the best outcome for everyone involved to listen to me. Very smart man. “We’re at your command, omega Devereux.”
“Then call me Dylan.”
He nodded, and Lina spoke up again. “There is a shortcut. It’s through the woods at the back of the house. It’ll lessen the journey by half, at least.”
“Even better.”
It was autumn, but the air was still warm with a slight breeze.
British weather was a mystery, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it started pissing down with rain before we reached the end of the path.
Maybe even hail, just for shits and giggles.
I’d savour the clear skies and sunshine filtering through the dense trees while they lasted.
It was nice, and the walk through the forest was actually kinda bracing—even if the terrain was a tad rough.
There weren’t any wooded areas near my old house in district forty-two, only a play park that had seen better days, used mostly for drug deals.
I’d have to bring Minnie out here sometime.
She’d enjoy the leaves crunching under her feet and the birds chirping overhead.
The fresh air would do her good too. She had the garden, and she loved it, but it would get boring after a while.
Caine had been right, even if his delivery was shit—I needed to loosen her leash a little.
Let her experience what the world had to offer.
Let her have a life. My goal was for her to have everything, but she never would if I deprived her of basic adventure.
It wouldn’t happen overnight—I wasn’t completely delusional—but I’d learn. I couldn’t let my trauma dictate her future. That was my anxiety to bear, and if Caine could make an effort to change, to grow, then so could I. For her.
For us.
We were almost at the end, the path growing slightly less obstructed the closer we got to the row of high-end shops on the other side.
I was surprised we hadn’t met any more of Caine’s guards.
They patrolled the area, or so Lina had said earlier, but they’d probably been instructed to stay out of my way—as they did in the hallways.
I turned my head toward Preston, a teasing smile on my face. “So, do you guys know anything about—”
Two gunshots fired out, cracking through the trees. I flinched, but my feet rooted to the spot as I watched, almost in slow motion as Lina and Preston slumped to the ground beside me, the wounds in the centre of their foreheads gushing red.
Awareness smacked into me at full pelt, and the background noise—birds squawking and tyres on tarmac—whooshed through my ears as if I’d surfaced from underwater.
The scent of the forest assaulted my nose, tainted with the stench of gunpowder and blood and .
. . an Alpha. My stomach roiled, but I swallowed down the glut of bile gathering in my throat as I faced the direction the bullets had come.
A beta male and an Alpha female sauntered out from the thicket up ahead.
I didn’t recognise them.
“You just had to change the plan,” the Alpha said, tutting.
She was tall, muscular, and she aimed two guns directly at me, one in each hand, the barrels smoking.
“We were supposed to grab you outside Joles, make a spectacle of it, give your Alpha a movie to watch on repeat as he helplessly searched the city for you.” She shrugged.
“Never mind. You just made it a lot harder for him to find you.”
“There are no cameras out here,” Lina’s voice echoed. “Not this far out.”
The beta held up a gun too, but he obviously wasn’t the keen shot. He said nothing, just stared me down as if he wanted to eat me alive. Was he the muscle?
I backed up, my heart hammering in my chest while they advanced slowly, smirking as if they’d already won. It should’ve irked me, raised a fire in my belly, urging me to prove they couldn’t have me—that I wouldn’t go down without a fight. But they had guns, and they’d killed Lina and Preston.
I was fucking terrified.
The Alpha sniffed the air. “Fuck, I smell your fear. It’s delicious.”
The beta laughed. Not much behind his eyes, clearly.
“Do you smell like that when your Alpha takes you? Heard he’s a brute.”
I wanted to defend him, to tear his name right out of her mouth, but my tongue wouldn’t move.
My eyes were starting to water, and it only coaxed their grins wider.
“Aw,” she cooed with false sweetness. “Don’t cry, little omega.
I can make you feel better, just come with us.
We won’t hurt you. Our boss only wants a chat. ”
Boss? Who were they working for? I scanned them for any hints, anything I could use, any indication of who had sent them. They both had tattoos, and right there on her neck and his inner wrist, they shared the same design.
A crow.
The Rovina pack.
The beta tripped on a branch sticking up from the soil and cursed, and it was enough of a distraction for me to whip around on my heel and run.
“You fucking idiot,” the Alpha snarled, but I didn’t look back to see if they were following, didn’t listen for their footsteps pounding the earth behind me.
I just ran.
I shouldn’t have left the house. Caine told me he could protect me as long as he was there, beside me.
I should have known it wasn’t him who left the note.
My gut instinct had screamed at me that it wasn’t right, that it wasn’t like him, but I’d ignored it.
I’d been blinded by how much he’d changed.
I didn’t want to be stubborn and ruin his plans, but I knew he wouldn’t have left a note. He would’ve come to me himself.
Tears tracked down my cheeks, blurring my vision.
I thought of Minnie, and my legs carried me faster, my lungs burning as I leapt and weaved through the small gaps in the trees.
I was so fucking stupid. Why didn’t I wait for Brian or Raegen to come with me?
Why didn’t I ask more questions? I was going to die.
I was going to fucking die and leave my daughter without her dad, leave my mate with a broken soul.
No, I couldn’t. I had to get back to them.
I had to keep running. It hurt, my legs were shaking, my feet already raw, but home wasn’t far.
I could almost see it if I squinted—or was that wishful thinking?
Caine would feel my emotions, he’d already know something was wrong.
If I could just get to the field, to the perimeter of our lands, they would see me, and I’d be safe. I’d be alright.
It was going to be alright . . .
Another shot rang out from behind me, the earth-shaking sound echoing, battering against my eardrums and knocking me off balance.
My ear throbbed, and pain lanced through my body as I fell on top of a solid root, hidden under the leaves, my palms indented with sticks and sharp stones.
I was disoriented, my head spinning as the vibration ricocheted through every corner of my brain.
Blood trickled down the side of my face, but I ignored it, ignored the scorching agony building at the shell of my ear as I tried to crawl away, to get back to my feet.
But tattooed arms wrapped tightly around my waist, lifting me up roughly from the ground.
The beta’s hand covered my mouth, and despite the rattle in my head, I thrashed—kicking, screaming even though it was muffled, and clawing at his face.
He grunted, shifting his hold to restrict my arms as the Alpha advanced.
She gripped my hair and wrenched my head backwards before shoving a needle into my neck.
I faltered, the shock forcing me limp. I felt whatever was in the vial rush through my veins, hot and stinging, but as soon as she withdrew, I kept struggling.
Weaker.
And weaker.
Dark spots swirled behind my eyes, my consciousness waning from whatever shit she’d injected into me, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I had to get back to my baby. I had to get back to my mate, to my family, to my pack. I had to get home to—
A familiar scent hit me, pungent and cloying. I froze.
My heart was already racing, my chest heaving from exertion and terror, but I could’ve sworn it stopped beating entirely. The sound of my blood rushing through me was like thunder in my ears.
It struck me where I’d smelled it before, and I should’ve recognised it sooner.
I’d been inhaling it faintly all over the house for months, but never thought anything of it because the connection hadn’t clicked.
It was a distant scent, as if the bastard wearing it had ceased for a while, but the fumes still adhered to their old clothes, and the furniture.
Though recently, I’d perceived its undiluted concentration again, but had been too distracted to grasp it.
I’d forgotten. How could I forget? My mind had stored it, sweeping it under the rug so I could move on. Heal. But with the same height of fear and adrenaline rushing through my veins I’d felt the day Minnie was taken, it knocked all the pieces firmly into place.
It had been clinging to the masked men who’d kidnapped my baby.
It was . . .
Everything went dark.