Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
“Tell me again.” I slam my hands on the table. “And remember, it’s not just your fucking job on the line.”
Tyler winces and cringes back from me.
He conveniently took a couple of days off after Crystal got drugged. Kieran said he handled it, and while I believe him, I want to hear for myself that this shit won’t happen again.
“The guys were plowing through the scotch, and I needed to get more. Crystal said she’d be fine, and I knew I could be there and back in just a few minutes.” He brushes his hair out of his eyes. “I know you said for me to stick around, but if I had run out of booze, you know it would’ve been my ass.”
“So you let it be Crystal’s?”
He flinches. “I never meant for her to get hurt!”
I prop a foot against the wall and cross my arms, staring the other Alpha down. “Then how did they get the extra dose of fizz? How did they convince her to drink something?”
“She sells extra doses, you know that!” he snaps, pushing to his feet. “And I don’t know, Puck, I wasn’t there. I get it. I fucked up. You don’t think I know that?” His voice grows shrill. “I care about her! I don’t want to see her get hurt. You know how much she means to me.”
He’s not wrong. I know she’s important to him, and I know they’ve been together through a few heats.
But I still can’t shake the queasiness I feel about the situation. Maybe some of it is guilt for leaving her unprotected. But what was I supposed to do? Ignore Kieran’s request?
That would’ve gone over like a lead balloon.
“I know you were scared,” Tyler says quietly. “I was, too. To think if I had been even a little bit later, if you hadn’t shown up, what could’ve happened to her.” He shudders and wraps his arms around his chest. “She’s tough, but she’s not that tough. If they had touched her…” He growls, slamming his fist into the table. “I would never have forgiven myself.”
“You and me both,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Did Kieran go hard on you?”
He snorts derisively. “You could say that.”
I don’t ask what he means by that. I know the lengths Kieran will go to to protect Queenie.
“Can I go?” Tyler asks after a minute. “I have a bar to stock.”
I wave my hand, dismissing him. “Yeah, man. Sorry for blowing up on you. I just...”
“I know,” he interrupts. “We all would do crazy things for Crystal.”
* * *
Kieran drones on about a new supplier, and my nails dig into my palms as I listen.
Supplier can mean many things to Kieran Cobb.
Supplier of alcohol for the club.
Supplier of drugs.
Or, the worst, a supplier of Omegas.
Which is why I’m here.
“I need you to meet with them tomorrow. They said they have a young one, snatched from the Academy.” He’s picking his nails with a gaudy letter opener resembling a dagger. Does he think that makes him look intimidating? “I need you to pick him up.”
This isn’t my usual task. I focus on heading up the Prism side of his business, not the flesh one. But a few times over the years, he’s asked me to handle a transaction of this nature. Maybe it’s because he trusts me more than whoever is over that line of business.
Maybe I’m just the more convenient choice.
Or maybe he thinks my appearance can scare these Omegas into submission.
Kieran’s shoulders are tense, and I can tell he’s keeping something from me. I’ve learned to read the Alpha well over the years. We’ve worked together for over half a decade, and in that time, I’ve gone from street-level grunt to his second in command. Ricky, who handles most of the drug side of things, is never involved in these sorts of meetings. I made it my goal to grow close to Kieran and become indispensable to him, and he’s rewarded me with access to the organization that is probably well above my station.
“Picking up an Omega from the Academy seems like a high risk, boss,” I say as I cross my arms and lean back. “Is that a risk we can afford to take right now?”
Right now, meaning when the organized crime unit was caught poking around our club a week ago.
Not that they aren’t always trying to find out something about the Conglomerate, but still. Eyes are on us.
He sighs and sets down the faux blade, exhaustion weighing his features. Still, he’s sharp as a tack and replies nonchalantly, “Male Omegas are in high demand, and I have set up a trade for one with a facility that will become our new fizz manufacturer and produce to my standards.” He pours a glass of scotch and holds it up to me in a silent offering. I shake my head.
I don’t drink. Ever. I refuse to let my guard down like that.
“I need access to a resource they have, and they do not have the infrastructure to procure a male Omega like I do.” He sits down at his desk and reclines with his legs crossed on the surface. “So this will be a necessary risk. You can do the handoff, right?”
Nodding, I slowly stand up. My bones creak wearily. “I can do it. Where is the handoff?”
* * *
I stumble into Kieran’s office, blood dripping into my eyes from the cut on my brow.
I’m exhausted, but this part has to be done.
He jerks his head up when he hears me enter. “Puck. What happened?”
“Your contact fucking lied to you, that’s what happened.” I slump down in the chair across from him, taking the offered handkerchief to wipe the blood from my face. “He wasn’t an Omega. He was a Beta hopped up on fizz and synthetic pheromones.”
“Fuck!” Kieran swore, jumping to his feet. “How did this fucking happen? I can’t afford to burn another contact!”
“Well, they didn’t care about burning you, boss. When I called them out, they attacked me.”
“And? Is the problem taken care of?”
I lean forward and prop my elbows up on my knees. My body aches, and I long to go home, soak in the bath, and wash today’s results from my flesh. “It is. No survivors.”
“Good, good,” he mutters, starting to pace. “But the fact still stands that I need to provide an Omega to gain access to these manufacturing facilities! I need to find another male Omega and fast.”
Wincing, I cross my arms over my chest. “You may need to change their expectations. Where else will we find a male Omega on such short notice?”
Male Omegas are even rarer than the female ones. They’re coveted and cherished due to their unique biology. There are many men, Alpha and Beta alike, who are not attracted to women and seek a male Omega over other designations so they can have the opportunity to have biological children.
“I have a few more contacts. I cannot lose this facility. Fizz is growing in demand, and I need another production line that can perform to the standards I require. I’m not about to ruin my reputation now and potentially blow this deal after everything.”
For the past few months, Kieran has become increasingly volatile. He’s still the consummate professional he’s always been to everyone else. But after years in his employ, Kieran has begun to show me his cracks. I’ve seen behind the mask he projects as the leader of the Conglomerate.
Kieran Cobb is losing control of his organization.
It started small, with his dealers taking unauthorized subordinates. Then, his employees at Prism began to grow wise about what this place is hiding. They slowly started pulling out, and he had to replace them with people in his debt. He’s down to only one manufacturer of fizz, which must be why this deal is so important.
And I guess now his Omega supply chain is falling apart.
He doesn’t know who is responsible for it, but it’s causing him to make choices he never would’ve made years ago.
I’ve tried for years to figure out who runs his trafficking ring. I have no idea who maintains the circuit, sets up the sales, or even where the Omegas go after they’re processed through Prism and sent for seasoning.
My side of the business stops and ends at Prism unless Kieran pulls me in deeper. Which he does frequently, especially for the drug side.
But he holds the flesh trade close to his chest.
If I can tell he’s desperate to maintain his place at the top, I know others can, too.
It leaves him vulnerable.
So far, no other criminal organization of this magnitude has been able to survive in Lunarcrest, but if word gets out about how things are going, someone is going to move in, and we’ll be looking at a turf war.
“What do you need me to do, boss?”
“I need you to find me a male Omega. If not, we’ll have to offer something of higher value, so they feel like they’re getting something over on me.” He runs his fingers through his hair, the stress of the situation getting to him.
I can feel in my core what he’s about to say before he opens his mouth.
“I’m going to have to offer them Queenie.”
My stomach twists. The little Omega has never been on offer before. She’s too important to Kieran. And she doesn’t know it, but without her, fizz use at Prism would drop. Part of the draw is its exclusivity, and how you see into the organization when you meet with the Queen. Only about a third of the people who request court get it, keeping demand high.
I wonder if this was always his plan. To make her so off limits, such an elevated figure, that she’d become a rainy day fund.
Because anyone who was promised a male Omega but received one with Queenie wouldn’t dare to complain, knowing just how important she is to Kieran.
“Queenie won’t go for that,” I say measuredly. I don’t want to reveal to him how much she means to me, what I would do to ensure her safety.
I’m barely willing to reveal it to myself.
“She will if she doesn’t want something to happen to her sister and niece,” he sneers, always quick to use her family against her. “Find me a male Omega or Queenie will be on offer.
“How long do we have?”
“I give you six weeks to find a new one before I turn over Queenie for seasoning.”
Seasoning.
Breaking her is what he means. Having her so thoroughly destroyed that she won’t fight back.
I can figure something out. I have to. That’s enough time for me to come up with an alternative. I won’t accept this fate for Queenie.
Not when I’m the one who handed her to him.
“I’ll take care of it.”