31. Searching
Searching
" L aura, I need to talk to you, in person." I gripped the phone so tightly it creaked. "It's about the omega."
"I'm sorry, she's been sent out already. If you want an omega for your pack, though, we can arrange it. Why don't you and your pack come in to discuss it?" Her cool voice grated against my nerves.
"She's already gone?"
The gate slid open as she repeated her invitation.
"Guys, let's go." I jerked my head at the ORC and we all trudged through the gate. I led them straight to the director's office, though a couple of beta guards trailed after us to make sure we didn't wander off.
"James, nice to see you. This must be your pack," Laura stood when we walked into her office. She shook everyone's hands while I stood there, barely containing my anger.
We sat and I leaned forward in my seat. "You said she was already gone. Where did you take her?"
"To a particularly secure heat den up north," Laura said. "She's a special case, far too difficult to place and we couldn't have her escaping a regular heat den. The high security ensures she's protected as much as it protects the alphas who visit her."
I wanted to punch something at the thought of other alphas touching what was ours.
"We want her back," I demanded. "We've discussed it, and we're ready to bond her."
Laura chuckled. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. The high security heat dens are a separate entity. They're not connected to ORC, so they're not designed to release omegas back to us."
"I don't care, find a way to get our omega back!"
She leaned forward, elbows on the desk. "River James, that omega is gone and quite frankly, good riddance.
She couldn't even entice you to bite her, which means she's a pathetic omega.
Not the sort you want in your pack. Now, I have three excellent candidates to show you this morning.
Why don't you go with my guards to the encounters lounge and they'll bring all three.
You can choose any woman you like and I'll take care of the paperwork. "
"You don't understand." Orion stood up, looming over the female alpha. "She's our scentmatch."
Laura burst out laughing. "Oh, I highly doubt that. Who could resist their scentmatch? No one. Also, it's extremely rare to find your scentmatch, so most people never find one. If this omega was your scentmatch, you would never have left her."
"It's true," Kade spoke up. "We were waiting for River to get his shit together."
"Well, I'm sorry, but it's too late now. Guard? Could you please take this pack to the encounters lounge? I'll call down to let them know which omegas to bring in."
"Can you just tell us where Quinn is? We'll do the negotiating with the heat den ourselves," I offered.
Laura shook her head. "That would be highly unethical, James. Are you sure you want to continue on here if you're this upset?"
I stared at the woman and then gave a shake of my head. "No, actually. I resign."
"Very well. I'll have the paperwork sent to your home for signing." She smiled at me. "I do hope you'll be available for our tough cases, as an external contractor."
I ignored that last bit and spun on my heel, following the guard out of the room.
"We're not really picking another omega, are we?" Archer sounded worried. "I only want Quinn."
"Of course not," I snapped. "But I do want to talk to them."
We kept walking through the winding hallways until we ended up in a very nice room with sofas and a whole breakfast bar set up along one side.
A pretty beta woman met us there with a smile, "James Pack? I was informed that you're here to meet some of our most eligible omegas, welcome. Can I get you a coffee while we wait for the first one?"
"Sure," I smiled back, not wanting to cause issues before we'd even started.
A few minutes later, we were all comfortably seated with coffee in hand when the beta escorted a tiny omega into the room.
She was smaller than Quinn, with big blue eyes that stayed fixed on the ground as she moved to stand in front of us. "Hello, I'm Anna. I'm 21 years old and my reassignment was due to my pack leader dying." She clasped her hands in front of her and waited meekly.
I smiled at the beta. "Would you mind if we spoke to Anna alone? She might be more comfortable."
"I'll be right over here." She hurried away to her desk across the room.
"Have a seat, Anna, we just want to talk to you," I said.
She nervously perched on the edge of the seat, keeping her eyes down.
Archer moved to sit next to her, and she flinched. What the hell were they doing to the omegas in this place?
"Here's the deal," Archer said. "We're not actually looking for an omega."
She jerked her head up to stare at him. "You're not?"
"Well, we are, but we want a specific one, our scentmatch. You heard about the omega who ran away a week ago?"
Anna nodded. "Quinn."
"Right. Well, we met her, and we helped her through her heat. She's our scentmatch, but things got messed up and they brought her back here." He threw me an angry look. "They've taken her to some secret heat den, and we're hoping you might know something about it."
Anna shook her head. "I don't know anything about that. I didn't know she'd been caught. We were all . . . " she stopped abruptly, looking over at the beta.
"All what?" I prodded gently.
"Hoping she got away for good," Anna whispered. "At least one of us could."
"Is it that bad in here?" I asked quietly.
Her blue eyes filled with tears. "I'll be in so much trouble if I say anything. Whatever Quinn told you, it's all true." She wiped her eyes quickly. "I hope you find her."
We let the beta know we weren't interested in Anna, but it hurt to send her back to the living hell I knew she was facing.
The next omega was curvier, but had a gaunt face, like her genetics had kept her curves, but starvation was affecting the rest of her.
She had her red hair pulled up in a high ponytail, but a few strands had escaped.
She was stunning, but it did nothing for me.
Apparently, Quinn was the only one who could really catch my attention.
"I'm Amber, nice to meet you," she said, giving us each a handshake. Her hand was delicate, the bones shifting under my own as I shook.
"Amber, do you know anything about Quinn?" Archer began. We'd defaulted to him talking, since he was the nicest of us all and the least intimidating in looks.
"The runaway?" She raised an eyebrow. "No, why should I? I mean, people talk, obviously, but I didn't know her and it was stupid to run when she could have stayed and been assigned to a wonderful pack like yours."
I bit back a snarl. "We met her and we're trying to find her again. She's our scentmatch."
Amber smiled sweetly. "Well, sugar, the fact that she's not with you means she didn't mean much to you or the other way around.
So, why not choose an omega who will do anything you want, anytime you want, and never leave?
" She looked up at me from under her lashes, pursing her lips, then licking them sensually.
"I have top scores in Pleasing Your Alpha classes. I can suck the rind off an orange."
"Well, that sounds great, but we're pretty set on Quinn," I managed.
Kade shifted. "Do you know where she was taken?"
"Taken? Last I heard, she was on the run." Amber shrugged. "But does she really matter? Pick me and I promise I'll make you all so happy." She ran a hand down Archer's cheek. He pulled back, looking upset.
"Sorry, we only have eyes for one omega." I raised my hand to the beta so she could escort Amber out.
"You assholes, wasting my time! I could be so good for you!" she shrieked. A guard appeared and dragged her out of the room.
"Guess there are all types in here." Orion shook his head. "Let's hope this last one knows something."
The final omega was a petite brunette with large breasts and doe-eyes that she turned on each of us in turn. Instead of sitting in the same chair as the other omegas, she moved around the room, sniffing us. She had a light lilac scent, not bad, but nothing exciting either.
I realized that not a single scent in this place had called to me or stood out like Quinn's. Orion was right about the scentmatching.
"I'm Lily."
Archer gave her a quick rundown of the situation and she listened carefully, then nodded.
"I heard some guards talking about her being in the basement.
They said they were taking her to a lockdown facility, but that's all I know.
" She glanced at the beta nervously. "They always beat her and shocked her.
We all get punished, but she was here longer than anyone else.
I saw her in the showers and she was pretty scarred up. "
"We know." I leaned in. "How long have you been here?"
"Not long, only a couple of months. I'm doing really well, though, if they're already presenting me to packs." She gave a small smile. "Quinn is lucky to have a pack like yours. I hope I get a good one, too."
"I hope so," I said gently. "Thank you for talking to us."
"Find her and make sure she knows exactly how much she means to you," she told us. "If she's not with you now and she's your scentmatch? I can only imagine how betrayed she's feeling."
We left shortly after that, all of us silent. Kade was tapping away on his phone, looking for high security heat dens in the area. We would find her if it was the last thing we did.