5. Colt
Colt
It was hard to focus on anything when my wolf wanted nothing more than to hunt down our mate, no matter how long it took.
How I wanted to give in to that need, but I was responsible for more than just Finley.
Plus, we had one of our own wolves leak our evacuation plans to the Senate, and who the hell knows who else.
Lane and I still had to decide what to do about Peggy. Neither of us was ready to make the call that had to be made with what she’d done. With her actions, she endangered our whole pack, no matter her intention.
Elias still felt like the vampire might be part of some other party looking for Finely. Maybe even the Dark Ring themselves, if the rumors of how they turn supers against their own kind to survive are true.
I sat at my desk staring at my phone, willing it to ring and it be Finley on the other side.
If I knew she was alive, it would take such a weight off my shoulders, but the not knowing part was torture.
It was as if I was reliving losing my brother all over again.
Cory had been my responsibility to keep safe just as Finley was.
Now, I’d failed them both when it mattered.
When we got her back, I didn’t care what I had to do.
Even if it meant chaining her to my side, I wouldn’t lose her again.
Just then, my phone started to vibrate and ring loudly, scaring the shit out of me until I realized that the number calling was blocked. Diving for the phone, I snatched it up as it almost skittered off the desk, hitting the answer button. “Hello? Finley?”
There wasn’t an immediate response on the other end, making my heart beat wildly in my chest. “Finley, if that’s you, I expect you to answer me this moment,” I snarled using my alpha voice, knowing she couldn’t refuse my command.
“Yes, alpha, it’s me,” she answered with a whimper in her voice at the forced response. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please don’t be upset with me,” she begged.
“Hand me the phone,” a male voice insisted. “I will speak with him if he can’t handle his temper.”
A growl leaked from my lips as rage built in my chest. Who is this man?
Did he have Finley captive?
Was he hurting her?
Could she get away?
“Who the fuck are you?” I demanded.
The sound of whispers and a soft whine made me wish I could crawl through the phone to throttle whoever was making my omega and mate upset.
“Tell me he isn’t one of your mates? This is why people always say shifters are more like their animals with all the growling and power trips,” the male said as he brought the phone closer so I could hear him better.
His words had an accent I couldn’t place, and the way he talked was unusual, far too elegant for the average person.
The man cleared his voice a moment before speaking directly to me, “I am Rathal Zintris, Finley’s elven mate and Guide. I presume you are one of her Alpha Mates that’s claimed her?”
My mind and body froze at his words… elven mate? What the fuck is going on?
I rushed out of my office and barged into Lane’s. Seeing him on the phone, I rushed over and snatched the phone out of his hand, ending the call.
“What the hell, Colt?” Lane snapped. “That was an important phone call with a lead that might tell us where Finley is.”
Hitting the speaker button on my phone, I set it down on his desk. “Repeat what you just said.”
“My, how polite you ask,” Rat-Zin-elven-fuck-all drawled. “I hope whoever has joined in on this phone call will be more reasonable to deal with. I’m Rathal Zintris, Light Elf, mate to Finley, as well as the Guide in our Nos. Whom am I speaking with?”
“Did he just say Light Elf?” Lane asked, eyes wide in shock as he looked at me, then back down to the phone. “Wait, are you with Finley right now? Is she okay? Where the hell are you and what the fuck happened?”
Rathal let out a heavy sigh as if he was dealing with a pair of idiots. “I can see you are more reasonable to talk to but still just as demanding, full of that alpha need to control everything.”
“If you told us what we wanted to know, we wouldn’t have to demand it,” I shot back, my wolf feeling the need to establish our dominance over this man.
“Finley is fine. She completed her mission and, in the process, freed me. I was shot, but she saved my life and in doing so, completed our mate bond. So remove any delusions you will be able to get rid of me. We are in Miami, Florida and would appreciate a ride home. Finley shared that there was a plane that could come get us?”
Lane grabbed his phone and shot a text to Zander, who was still at the pack house with the betas working on finding our girl.
“Yeah, that won’t be a problem. We’ll be heading that way the moment we can get the plane in the air.
Now let us talk to Finley. I need to hear it from her that she is okay and confirm who you are. ”
Rathal scoffed. “Elves cannot lie, wolf.”
“How the hell am I supposed to know you’re really an elf when we are talking over the phone?” I challenged. “Also, it’s Colt or alpha to you, not wolf.”
“There will never be a moment in our extremely long lives together that I will ever call you alpha, so Colt will have to do,” Rathal stated.
“I will give the phone back to her if you promise not to bully her. Your effect on her even over the phone is overwhelming and we haven’t had the easiest few days. ”
As much as I hated to admit it, I knew he was right. Finley needed to be strong while she didn’t have us to watch her back. This douche might be claiming to be all these things, but who knew if it was true—I didn’t know the elf.
“You both still there?” Finley asked, sounding more like herself.
“Yeah, little one, we are here. You okay?” I asked, keeping my voice light even as my wolf and I needed to hear it from her lips.
“I’m fine. We both are,” she added.
Lane leaned forward, elbows on his desk, and he got closer to the phone. “Zander is calling to get the plane ready. Then we will head out there.”
“He needs to do whatever he can to ensure that no one knows it’s his plane that’s coming here.
It’s not safe, the Dark Ring is after me, and they have people in the Senate giving them information.
I need you to know that it’s dangerous for me to come back to the pack.
The job was a set up. They tried to kill me when I completed the job.
They planned on me getting caught so they could use me to make more omegas,” Finley said, speaking swiftly.
Even though her voice was calm, I could feel there was a hint of fear mixed in. If there was one thing an omega would hate more than upsetting an alpha, it would be putting the pack in danger.
“Sweetheart, we will deal with whatever comes, but we need to be together for anything to work. I’ll make sure Zander knows about the danger.
He’s a rock star. If anyone knows how to get around unnoticed, it would be him,” Lane answered, trying to soothe Finley’s fears.
“Do you have someplace safe to be while you wait for us?”
“Yes, I have contacts here in Miami from working with the Organization. I’ll be able to keep a low profile until you get here. I’m using a burner phone. Let me send you the number so you guys can call me when you get here,” she offered.
“Please be safe, little one, we just started our lives together, and I don’t know that I could survive losing you so soon after Cory,” I pleaded, needing her to know how much she really meant to me.
At my words, I heard a sharp intake of breath at Cory’s name.
I knew it had been hard on her not being able to save him.
It unsettled my wolf and me that she would hesitate to return to the pack, thinking we couldn’t keep her safe.
Now it was going to be my mission in life for her never to doubt us again.
“I promise I’m not going anywhere. I’m done running and hiding things from you.
I thought I owed it to the Senate, the Organization, and myself to finish this job, but it turns out, the Senate doesn’t deserve my loyalty,” Finley growled, surprising me at her anger about the situation.
“Once I’m on the plane out of here, I’ll fill you in on everything, including what happened with Rath. ”
“We’ll see you soon, sweetheart,” Lane called out before she hung up, leaving us to stare at each other.
Lane and I have gone through hell and back the last ten years looking for Cory, starting this pack, and now being mated to the same woman.
It seems the universe decided that we needed to journey through life together, and I couldn’t think of a better man to have my back.
Zander’s name flashed on my phone, and I realized I’d seen a whole new side of him over the past week, and even Lane was warming up to the guy.
Answering his call, I once again put it on speaker.
“The plane takes off in twenty minutes. I’m coming to get you guys,” he informed us, not bothering with a greeting. “What the hell is going on that we need to go in stealth mode? Did you talk to her? Is she okay?”
“Yes, we talked to her, and she’s fine for now, but we got a lot to discuss. Are the others with you?” I asked, knowing they wouldn’t want to be left behind.
“Did you really think you could make us stay home?” Mason yelled from somewhere in the car. “If you try, I’ll fight you right here, right now, because that’s not happening.”
I could hear Noah groan in the background. “Twin, you need to calm down. He hasn’t said one way or the other on the matter.”
“Yeah, well, he doesn’t need to because I’m going,” Mason bit out.
“Enough!” Zander snapped. “Shut the fuck up and let the adults talk.” The line went silent and I almost questioned if he hung up or not until he spoke. “Why do we need to sneak into Miami to get our mate?”
“She didn’t tell us much, only that the Dark Ring set her up, and they have people in the Senate.
Seems they tried to trap her, and when that didn’t work, they resorted to killing her.
Thank God she’s good at her job and made it out of there along with a new friend,” I muttered at the end, still not at all sure how I felt about an elf we didn’t know already bonded to our mate.
Zander and the others let out a snarl, picking up on my energy about the matter. “What friend?” Elias demanded, an icy edge to his voice.
“Like I said, we didn’t get a whole lot of information.
She said she would explain it all to us in person once she got on the plane.
Right now, she is laying low and has contacts in the city.
We just need to be there to pick her up,” Lane cut in before I said something that would make the situation worse.
Being stuck with six pissed-off werewolves in a plane for two hours wasn’t an experience anyone should have. The sound of an engine roaring up to the building we had our offices in told me they were here.
“We’ll be out in a moment. Just have to grab a few things first,” I said before hanging up and walking over to the wall safe in Lane’s office.
Opening the door, I pulled out two guns, checked to make sure they were loaded and handed the second to Lane.
“There is no fucking way I’m taking any chances or letting anyone take her from us.
I will use whatever means necessary to ensure her safety. ”
Most supers felt it was beneath them to need to use a gun since we were enhanced predators as it is. But I wasn't fooling around when you were dealing with the Senate and possibly a company that trained the best assassins in the U.S.
Lane took the gun and nodded in agreement, tucking the holster into his pants as we headed out to meet up with the others. Time to get our omega back in our arms safe and sound, even if it meant we needed to burn the city down. Nothing would stop us, that’s for damn sure.