Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
SASHA
“She’s all I’ve got,” Flynn whispers, his voice barely audible. I wish I could say something to ease him, but I can’t.
We make our way to Allegra’s house. The drive is tense, none of us knowing what we’ll find when we get there. Flynn’s eyes stay glued to the window, like he’s hoping that somehow Allegra will be waiting for us, safe and sound. The quiet hum of the engine fills the space between us, but it’s not enough to dull the worry in the air. The sour and rotten stench of the guys’ scents irritating my nose. Every mile we drive feels like it’s stretching on forever.
I glance at Flynn, his face pale, his jaw clenched, and something inside me twists. This is my family. This is what I fight for. And it kills me that he’s going through this. That I can’t ease his pain. I reach over and grab his hand, my fingers curling around his. I run my thumb over his knuckles, a soft and steady gesture, trying to ground him, trying to remind him that I’m here. It’s times like this I wish I could purr and soothe his senses.
Flynn glances at me, his eyes catching mine for a second, and he smiles just a little, almost like he’s trying to hold on to some piece of normalcy in the midst of the chaos. I return the gesture, my lips curving just slightly. I mouth the words, “I got you.”
He nods, a small but noticeable shift in his expression, like the weight on his shoulders has lightened just a fraction. He turns his attention back to the window, his gaze fixed on the passing scenery, but the tension in his body is still there. He’s trying to be strong. But I know the fear is gnawing at him, just like it’s eating away at me.
When we pull up to the house, something feels off immediately. The door is slightly ajar. It’s enough to send my heart into overdrive. No one in their right mind leaves a door open like that, not when you’re an unbonded omega.
Something’s happened to Allegra. I know it even without confirmation.
I’m the first one out of the truck, my boots hitting the pavement with a sharp crack. Flynn stays right behind me, his hand gripping mine tightly. I don’t waste time with pleasantries or looking around. I step inside the house, my senses on high alert. The air feels heavy, stale, like something’s definitely wrong.
Flynn’s steps are hesitant, like he’s afraid to see what we’ll find. He’s not the type to back down, but right now, fear is a living, breathing thing beside him. I can feel it in the way his breath hitches, the tightness in his grip. That goddamn rotten orange filling the air again.
“Flynn, stay close,” I murmur, glancing over my shoulder at him. He nods, his eyes darting around nervously as we continue moving.
Levi and Stone follow close behind, their eyes scanning every corner, every inch of the house.
Levi’s voice breaks the silence, low and tense. “It’s not good. This doesn’t feel right.”
I glance around, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as we make our way through the living room. The place looks… off. It’s not destroyed, but it’s disheveled. The kind of mess that doesn’t come from a typical fight or struggle, but from a sudden, chaotic departure.
There’s something else, too—a sharp chemical smell hangs in the air. Strong disinfectant, maybe even scent eraser. Someone was here recently… and they didn’t want us catching their trail.
We make our way into the kitchen, and the first thing I see makes my stomach churn. The fridge door is slightly open. I reach for it, my fingers cold against the handle as I push it shut. On the door, there’s a note. It’s written on a piece of scrap paper, the ink smeared slightly, as if it was written in a rush.
I can’t breathe for a second. I feel my whole body freeze.
Flynn’s voice, quiet but certain, cuts through the silence. “It’s Tom’s handwriting. It’s unmistakable.”
The note reads:
I loaned something to a friend, and you stole it. So I found a little something as a replacement. Hope she’s just as sweet.
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I can feel my blood boil as I read and reread the note. He’s taken her. He’s using Allegra to get to Flynn. I’ve seen this kind of vile manipulation before—when an omega becomes nothing more than a pawn in a twisted game. But this? This is beyond anything I could have imagined.
I ball the note up in my fist and throw it across the room, the paper hitting the wall with a harsh slap.
“Fuck!” Levi curses as he moves to my side. His eyes flicker over the room, his jaw clenching.
I feel it in the pit of my stomach, the confirmation of what we already feared. She’s not here. Tom took her. And now we’re left with the wreckage.
I turn to Flynn, his face pale, the fight drained from his body. But there’s still that flicker of determination in his eyes, the will to find his sister, to save her.
“We’ll get her back,” I say, my voice steady. I walk over to him, taking his hand in mine. “We’re not losing her, Flynn. Not after everything you’ve already lost.”
I inhale and exhale sharply, while turning to face Levi and Stone.
“We need a plan,” I say, my voice tight. “We can’t waste time. Tom’s already made his move. We need to get her before he does anything worse.”
Levi nods, his eyes dark. “I’ll track him down, find out where he’s keeping her.”
“No,” I say, my voice firm. “We don’t have time for that. We can’t stalk him, we can’t hunt. We need to know everything right now.” I can feel my heart pounding in my chest, my mind racing through the possibilities.
“Dexter,” I say suddenly, my voice low. “We need to call Dexter. He’ll be able to get it all. We need everything—every property, every house, everything we can use.”
* * *
Back at the house, we waste no time getting to work. The old wooden table is covered with papers, maps, and laptops, looking more like a war room than a simple meeting space. My eyes dart between the various screens as Levi and Stone map out their plans for the operation. It feels like everything is moving too fast, like we’re about to step into something we might not walk out of.
“I’m calling Dexter,” Levi says, stepping toward the stack of papers on the table. He picks up the phone and dials.
"Dexter," he says. "I need a list of every property Tom owns. Anything that might be linked to him, even under different names. It’s time. It ends now."
“I’ll get it to you in a few,” Dexter replies.
“Don’t make it take longer than that,” I snap. “We don’t have time to waste.”
Stone is already pacing, too. He’s itching for something—anything—to do. “I don’t like this,” he mutters under his breath, shaking his head. “Waiting. We should be there already.”
“I know,” I say, my voice even, but my chest tightens with the same frustration. “But we have to be smart. We don’t rush in without the right intel. We need that list first. It’s the only way we can be sure where Tom is hiding Allegra.”
Flynn is sitting in the corner of the room, surrounded by a bunch of pillows and blankets like he dragged them in from all over. His legs are tucked under him as he stares out the window. He looks tense, like he’s about to snap. He hasn’t said much—just kind of shut down—and every now and then, he looks at me. I don’t push. He’s still reeling from everything that’s happened—everything Tom’s done. His trauma runs deep, and I know it’ll take more than a few words to break through it.
Levi, ever the strategist, leans over the table, his finger tracing a route on the map. His brow furrows as he mumbles the plan to himself before turning to Stone. “We hit him hard. Fast. We don’t let him get away.”
Stone, always the quiet one, nods sharply. His dark eyes glint with something dangerous. He’s got that look on his face—the one that says he’ll burn the world down to get what we want. And right now, that’s exactly what we need.
I pace, my boots tapping softly against the floor, the only sound in the room beside the faint hum of the air conditioning. I can feel the nerves gnawing at the edges of my calm. No matter how much I try to shake them off, they’re there. The fear of losing Flynn, the terror that we’ll make one wrong move and everything will fall apart.
It’s not just about Flynn anymore, though. Allegra, even though she’s essentially a stranger, is our family now. She’s Flynn’s sister—an omega, just like him. And if anything happens to her… I can’t even stand the thought. I know what Flynn went through, what my best friend Nadia went through. No one should ever have to experience that kind of hell. Not when they should be safe. Not when they should be loved.
I feel my jaw tighten as I remember Flynn’s haunted eyes, his shy voice barely audible when he spoke of his trauma. And then Nadia, always quick with a joke, always smiling, until the day she finally broke down, unable to carry the weight of her own nightmares.
No. Not Allegra. Not her.
I push those thoughts away, focusing on the plan. For her. For him. For us.
Levi’s phone buzzes with a text. He checks it, then turns the screen toward me. My heart leaps in my chest, but I don’t let it show as I scan through the list of properties Dexter managed to dig up. One in particular catches my eye.
“There’s a property in Pine Ridge,” I say, tapping the screen to show the map to Stone and Levi. “It’s an old massage parlor. No reason Tom should have something like that unless he’s hiding something.”
Stone’s eyes narrow, and I can practically hear the wheels turning in his mind. He’s already calculating what this means, what it will take to move in.
Before he can say anything, his phone chimes, and I see the shit-eating grin spread across his face. “Sasha, you beautiful, brilliant beta,” he says, his voice low with admiration. “Your thoughts match my informant. The text just came in. It says, ‘I hear getting a massage at The Velvet Touch in Pine Ridge is nice.’”
I raise an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at the corners of my lips. "Perfect. Let me grab my knives, and we head out."
“We go in tonight,” Levi growls. “We don’t waste another minute. We move fast, hit him before he knows what’s coming. We don’t give him the chance to run or fight back.”
Stone straightens up, his eyes hardening. He looks ready to charge into Hell. “Agreed. We’re doing this now. No more waiting.”
I glance at the clock, the weight of the decision pressing in. “Pine Ridge is at least a two-hour drive,” I say, the plan already forming in my mind. “So, we leave as soon as everyone’s packed and ready. No delays.”