Chapter 20
Twenty
HOLLIS
“I love how you kidnapped me from the office today,” I drawl, lifting my coffee to my lips. I swear, I was unlocking my office door when Caleb and Lars jumped out of the car and rushed over to me.
What’s a girl to do but lock back up when they mentioned they’d take me out to breakfast? Work’ll wait for a few hours.
“I was willing to take the gamble that you haven’t eaten yet,” Caleb defends. “You also haven’t been picking up your phone. Looking at your throat, I can see why.”
Blushing, I know that my bite marks are very visible.
I’m willing to use them as a little extra armor to keep people away from me today.
It’s the first time I’ve left Pack Ledger’s home in two weeks, which means that I’m on edge.
Mal dropped me off at my apartment to get my car, and then I drove over.
I still have my usual weapons under my clothes, and a ton of work to follow up on to keep me busy.
Thankfully, it’ll be mostly phone calls today. The extra boost of food and caffeine will help.
“I think we knew that my heat would catch up to me at some point,” I say. “At least it didn’t suck this time.”
Caleb gives me a hard look before sipping his coffee. “If that pack sucked in bed, you’d have a big problem.”
Snickering, I shake my head. “We are not going to talk about big things, thank you very much. Now, were you just concerned that I’d decided to slip blissfully into pack life and never emerge, or are you going to tell me about what you’re hiding from me?”
“Now you sound brainwashed, or knotmatized,” Lars mutters.
“I don’t think that last one is a thing,” I say, cheeks hurting from how hard I’m smiling. I’ve been getting teased by these two for so long, it’s as effortless as breathing.
“I’m positive it does,” he rumbles. “Here are our cards on the table, Hollis. We have been keeping something from you, but I don’t have anything to corroborate it with.”
“Continue,” I say, glancing over at the waitress as she comes over.
“Are we ready to order?” she asks. We’re at a cute diner not far from my work, and it’s somewhere I’ve been before with them.
“I’ll have the western omelette and pancakes, please,” I say.
“That’s a lot of food?—”
The waitress doesn’t get another word in as Lars says, “I’ll finish whatever she doesn’t eat. If she wants it, it’s hers.”
My nannies used to try to limit what I could eat, and that’s another reason why I used to run away and stay with the Finnigans. Lars and Caleb both know this, so this is how we deal with my eyes sometimes being bigger than my stomach.
“Of course, sir,” the waitress mumbles. “I just wanted to let her know.”
“You must be new, because this isn’t our first time here,” Lars says with narrowed eyes. Oh shit, she’s pissing him off.
Caleb and Lars place their orders and then ask for another waitress to serve us. We all tip well, it looks like she’s not going to get it. Huffing in annoyance, she all but stomps away.
“I would have already fired her,” Lars mutters angrily.
“Rein it in, big guy,” I murmur.
“Okay, I’m fine. These are not my monkeys, but you are,” he says, his gray eyes returning to me. “While Caleb and I were guarding your door at the hospital, something really weird happened.”
“Define what weird is?” I ask.
“It was really late, and you were sleeping. An omega was wandering the halls, kind of in her head as she walked. I don’t even really know how she was allowed onto the floor,” he grunts.
“Anyway, she walked by us,” Caleb adds. “I think we scared her, because she was almost hugging the other wall as she passed us. She glanced through the window and saw you, and that’s what pulled her to our side of the hallway.”
“Do I know this person?” I ask, confused. They both look really serious. “Even if I didn’t know her, I was badly beaten, guys. That’s enough to bring out sympathy in anyone…especially when you two lugs are together guarding my door. Where are you going with this?”
Caleb groans as he leans his elbows on the table and his fingers pull on his hair.
“Do you want the easy version or the bandaid torn off, Hollis?” he asks.
“Bandaid,” I whisper, my heart starting to pound. I bite back the words where I tell them that they’re both scaring me. I force my breaths to stay even though they know my tells.
“Her eyes look like yours,” Lars rasps. “She has crazy hair, and it’s blonde, purple, and pink. But…Hollis. Her eyes. It was like looking into yours.”
“Lars,” I whimper, shaking my head. He can’t be saying what I think he’s saying.
I’ve looked for years, and I haven’t been able to find Maree. How would they just find her like this? It’s the only thing they could possibly be saying to be this upset and hiding shit from me.
“Please don’t cry, fuck,” Caleb whispers. We’re too exposed, sitting in the middle of the diner instead of a corner.
Letting my hair fall forward to hide my face, I gasp in a breath.
“Who is she?” I ask, my voice ragged and fucked. “I mean, are you really telling me that she’s Maree?”
“We are. I don’t think she knows that’s who she is, though,” Caleb says.
“We scared her,” Lars whispers, as if telling a secret. “She ran away like her hair was on fire. The girl is your height, and I swear everything else other than her eyes is different. I can tell when people are hiding things, Hollis. She definitely is.”
“We tried to find her later at the hospital,” Caleb adds, sighing. “I didn’t want to leave Lars for too long at the door without me. I overheard that she’s a midwife and she was with a client who needed her.”
No. Shaking my head, I try to focus on their words. There’s only one person who that could be. How many others have fashion colored hair who are also midwives? There’s too many pieces that all point in one direction.
The one where I am currently living. Mal asked that I stay with them for now. I have to make some decisions, and I don’t want to let my loft go for now in case I need some space. However, all of that pales in comparison to what my two childhood best friends are telling me.
“Hollis,” Caleb hissed. “Fuck. We should have just picked up takeout and gone to the bar.”
“Not too late,” Lars grunts, exploding out of his seat to find the manager.
“I…” I gasp, trying hard to put two words together.
My phone goes off on the table, and Caleb growls as he reads the name. I think one of my alphas is feeling my distress.
“Let’s go, Hollis. Up,” he says. Grabbing my giant shoulder bag, he helps me stand and escorts me out. “Hello?”
He walks me all the way to the car, and helps me in before shoving my head unceremoniously between my legs.
“I’m fine,” I rasp, my breaths wheezing in and out.
“We’re talking and she got upset, Remy,” he says. “Yeah, I’m talking her through it now. I’ll have her call you later…No, she can’t talk now because she’s hyperventilating. Gotta go.”
I glare at him as he hangs up the phone and dumps into my bag.
“Don’t fucking lie to me,” Caleb growls, tossing my bag into the seat beside me to crouch down to meet my gaze. “What did you just figure out? You’re always the smartest fucking person in the room, Hollis. It’s rare that you’re not ten feet ahead of me. Tell me.”
“Give her some space,” Lars barks at him, opening the passenger side door to put bags of food inside. There’s no power behind the words, simply worry. “The manager was nice enough to pack it all for us.”
“Did you pay at least?” I ask, struggling to focus on normal things. I need to do this to ground myself.
“Yes, Hollis, I did. What’s two more things around you that you can see?” Lars asks, coming to join Caleb in front of me, despite his earlier insistence for space.
These men just know what I need, but that’s from growing up together. Grounding techniques help when I’m freaking the fuck out.
“You,” I say, a weak smile tilting my lips. “The sidewalk behind you. That’s helping. I know who the girl you saw is.”
“Who?” Caleb asks, eyes narrowing.
“Nova. She’s the new midwife that’s seeing Adira and Quinn,” I say, voice cracking. “Ugh, guys she’s a tenant on Pack Ledger’s property.”
“Then, maybe we should give her a visit soon,” Caleb says. “I don’t know, Hollis. Something isn’t adding up. Lars and I went after her because there were too many questions. Why the fuck is she in our city?”
“Your mafia roots are showing,” I say weakly, sitting back in the seat. “Let’s go to the bar before I perish of low blood sugar.”
“Brat,” Lars laughs. “You know you’re more likely to attempt to take a bite out of us first.”
He’s not wrong.
I feel more normal when I get back to the office after eating, but I have a new fixation. I really wish I had a damn photo of her or had a last name for Nova so that I can dig up information on her.
There’s not much that has trickled through the gossip channels about her, which means I’m going to have to ask my alphas about her. How the fuck am I supposed to do that without sounding like a stalker?
Mal mentioned that Nova was going to sleep in her van before he extended an offer for her to rent out his tiny home. This means that she’s nomadic, and I want to know why. If she’s Maree, then it somewhat explains the pull I experienced when I saw her driving.
“Fuck!” I yell, throwing a pen across the room.
Unfortunately, Hayes walks in as it skitters across the ground and hits his boot.
“Rough morning?” he asks, bending down to pick up the pen.
“No, just a confusing one,” I admit. “It looks like you’re here to help distract me, and I’ll gladly take that option.”
I haven’t been able to concentrate for long enough to make any calls, or do very much work as my mind goes round and round. I think a break is necessary before I lose my fucking mind.
“Fair enough,” he grunts. “Can I lock the door? I have some news about Emilia and the injunction for protection to keep her away from you.”