Chapter Twenty-Three
Having Sergio back went a long way to keeping me from breaking down again.
I was still embarrassed for having done so at all, but I couldn't change that it had happened. Besides, Eric’s hypothesis was probably right: I’d been separated from my alpha for too long, even if we didn’t have a bond in place.
Add to that my worries over Sage, especially knowing that he was being held in a cell where he couldn’t properly access his dragon, and it was all a recipe for disaster.
I think it was thinking of Sage alone, his dragon out of reach, which had properly set off my panic attack.
Having lived without my own dragon for so long, it wasn’t a fate I would wish upon even my worst enemies, let alone one of the men I loved with all my heart.
If I could take on that torment for him, I would. Especially considering his condition.
A condition he was unaware of.
It broke my heart a little more to realize that one of his deepest wishes was coming true, and he had no idea.
Not only that, but he would be the last to know.
He wouldn’t get to experience the excitement of discovering the secret first, of considering how to tell his mates and family, of enjoying those first few minutes (days, or even weeks) of private reflection and joy before letting others in on the news.
I knew that he would still be happy about the baby, and that he wouldn’t resent any of us for the circumstances by which we had come to know about it first, but it just seemed like one more injustice against a sweet omega who hadn’t done anything to deserve it.
In fact, the unfairness of it all rankled deeply.
As we all convened again in Beck’s meeting room, waiting to be put on a conference call with the lawyer Brandt had hired, my anxiety slowly began turning to a simmering rage. Not even Sergio’s hand in mine, squeezing reassuringly, seemed to quell it.
“We’re getting him out, dear-heart,” he assured me, “I promise.”
I didn’t know whether The Magic was telling him that, or if he just had that much faith in karma and fate, but I didn’t have it in me to ask.
Not when a growing part of me resented him a little bit for his part in all this, too, which felt unfair.
It was only the previous day where I’d tearfully told him it wasn’t his fault if it wasn’t mine…
but with my growing anger, that felt like a lie.
Like I had absolved us both too hastily.
We’d both wronged our mate, and he was the one suffering for it, not us.
In response to his too-positive assertion, I muttered, “We’re both going to grovel at his feet when we do.”
Sergio was not a stupid man. Hearing the bite in my words and clearly feeling the tension radiating off me, he wisely chose to nod and keep his mouth shut.
My omega felt as torn as I did about the whole exchange.
On the one hand, projecting our rage onto our alpha seemed cruel and unfair, on the other…
well, Serge had left us behind for too long and that really had played some part in Sage being frustrated and distracted when he had gone to that dealer’s place.
“Hello everyone,” the smooth voice coming from the speaker in the middle of the conference table jolted me from my spiraling musings. I’d missed the dial tone and whatever greetings Brandt and Eric had issued, but I was completely focused now. “Let’s get straight to business, shall we?”
I nodded, but let Brandt take the lead in talking to the attorney. “Please,” he answered firmly.
On the other end of the line, Warwick Barnes cleared his throat. “I met with Sage earlier today. Physically, he’s all right, though he’s exhausted and understandably stressed.”
I growled while Sergio’s hand tightened on mine.
The lawyer kept speaking.
“I’ve reviewed his case and, after some discussion, I have recommended that we try for a plea deal—”
“Absolutely not!” I was up and out of my seat, leaning over the table and glowering at the speaker as if I could intimidate the waste-of-space on the other end of the call through the power of thought alone. “He’s innocent!”
“Dexter,” Eric was trying to pull me backwards, but the simmering anger from earlier had boiled over into a blinding rage.
I brushed off his hand, turning back to the speaker.
“Now, you listen to me, you overpriced furball. You can do your damned job instead of taking the shortest and easiest way out. Sage deserves better than this. Better than you, clearly.” I glared across the table at Brandt, whose expression seemed to mirror the murderous urges I was feeling.
“Find another lawyer, Brandt, or I will.”
I righted myself and then turned on my heel, incensed beyond belief. I didn’t spare anyone in the room a backwards glance as I stormed out, slamming the door in my wake.
A plea deal? A fucking plea deal? I had half a mind to take to the sky and raze that lawyer’s offices to the ground.
“Dexter, sweetheart, wait,” Sergio pleaded just as I made my way through the front door and out onto the front lawn. “We’re with you on this.”
“We?” I asked, turning around to face him, only to find Brandt hot on his heels. They wore matching thunderous expressions, their lips pressed into thin lines as they nodded.
“I was not as blunt, but I informed Barnes that I agreed with you and requested that he revisit his plans,” Brandt explained. “I walked away before I could do something stupid, like tear Beckett’s meeting room apart.”
Serge nodded again. “I’m not waiting around to see if that lawyer can do it, though. I’m taking action myself.”
My hopes lifted a touch. “Do we finally get to tear the building down and rescue Sage ourselves?”
“As a last resort,” Brandt answered seriously, making me blink back in shock. His lips quirked and he shrugged. “My loyalty to my brother extends beyond my loyalty to the pack or shifterkind in general. If starting a war with the humans is what it takes…”
“We’re not starting a war with the humans,” Beckett’s voice cut in, sounding exasperated but also mildly amused. We turned as a group to watch as he jogged down the front steps from the porch, Rex, Eric, and Jamie on his heels. “Thanks for leaving us to deal with the rest of that call, Bran.”
“If we’re not going to fly to Sage’s rescue, what are we doing, then?
” I demanded to know, not leaving any room for them to banter.
This was not the time for that. Irritation itched under my skin.
“Like Serge, I’m done sitting around and waiting to resolve this legally when it is clear that the humans’ system is anything but fair. ”
Beckett turned his attention to my alpha, his expression becoming serious again. “What are you suggesting, then?”
Serge straightened his back and jutted his chin up defiantly. “I am going to see my mate.”
“And I,” Brandt cut in, craning his neck to glare in the direction of the town proper, “am going to track down the person truly responsible for Sage’s incarceration and make them see the error in their ways.”
I shuddered at the danger in those words, made all the more terrifying when I knew how placid and kind he generally was.
“I’m going with you,” I said, and I think I surprised everyone by directing the words at Brandt and not Sergio.
While I felt a pang of longing to see Sage in person, to find reassurance that he was okay, I knew I would be more useful if I helped Brandt in his search.
Besides, I was still burning up with rage and a thirst for vengeance.
Going with Brandt would probably satisfy those urges more, while seeing my mate in a cage would only exacerbate them.
The big, bulky, dark-haired man seemed to understand and, despite our differences, he nodded. “Good.”
“Where did you get the damn scent blockers?” I seethed as I shoved one of the pack’s betas up against a wall. He let out a grunt of surprise, his eyes widening with surprise and a hint of fear.
I’d recognized him as one of the men who had attended the same party Sage and I had.
The style and color of his peroxide blond hair was distinctive, even if he had worn a mask and concealed his scent.
When I had seen him leaving the diner on Main Street, I had pounced, dragging him around the corner of the building before he could blink.
Now, he stared at Brandt for help, then whined as my companion growled menacingly, “Answer him.”
“S-some guy. ’Bout t-two hours’ drive south-west of here. Th-there’s a house in the middle of nowhere,” the beta stammered, his eyes darting between me and Brandt. “I already told Sage all this.”
Brandt growled again. I matched the sound deep in my throat and it took all my willpower not to shake the man I was accosting for information.
While he had given Sage the information, it was not his fault that Sage had gone investigating on his own.
I couldn’t blame him, as badly as I needed someone to take the feeling of hopeless frustration out on.
“Where else does that dealer frequent?” Brandt demanded. “How did you find him originally?”
“I…I…” the beta swung his gaze between us as he scrambled for words. “He, uh, he came to town, asked around about the parties. He, um, he was the one who suggested using the blockers to make it all more exciting and anonymous.”
At this point, I did give in to the urge to shake the guy. He yelped, but I ignored him. “Did he give you any other way to contact him?”
“A number! He gave us a number, okay?”
No, it wasn’t okay. None of it was okay.
“You are going to give us that number,” I hissed, “and you’re not going to warn him that we’re coming for him.”
“The anonymous orgies are over either way,” Brandt added grimly. “The Unlocking events were never intended to be this way.”
“You can’t police how people enjoy themselves,” the beta found the balls to argue.
On some level, I agreed with him on that point. There wasn’t anything wrong with consensual adult fun. But the anonymity added levels of complications and questions about whether things could be truly consensual…not to mention how very unsafe it was to use chemical solutions from an unknown source.
“You’ll have to find other ways to get your rocks off,” I retorted, backing Brandt up despite my mixed feelings on the concept as a whole.
Still, I lowered the beta to the ground, even as I lectured, “The Unlocking process exists first and foremost to advance shifterkind and restore balance to our world. The ruts and orgasms are a happy side-effect. And those blockers aren’t safe.
That dealer could have put any number of harmful chemicals into his product. ”
Our captive rolled his eyes, and I had half a mind to pin him against the wall again, but Brandt demanded, “Just give us the number. And if I get any inkling that you have warned him off, I will find you, and I will not be as kind or understanding next time.”
“He’s saying he’ll shift and eat you,” I explained, watching the guy’s eyes widen. He looked to Brandt for confirmation and paled as Brandt nodded.
If I hadn’t been so intent on finding the man who had set Sage up, I might have found the whole situation amusing.
Who knew Brandt and I would eventually find common ground over the threat of violence?