Chapter 21 The Chase
The Chase
Sebastian
Shadow has completely lost the plot. He pulled out a damned machete out of thin air (I assume) and ran out the front doors after the convoy of black SUVs that pulled out of the driveway moments ago.
I’d called Jake down here when Man-ho arrived.
Well, I didn’t see him, but his four SUVs pulled up and Cynthia exited wearing a red qipao dress.
Her blonde hair was wrapped up with sticks.
She was asking for parking passes for all the vehicles.
The lot for the club doesn’t allow individual club members more than one spot, so the club valet was arguing with the drivers.
I called Jake down to deal with this. Also, so he could see for himself that Man-ho was, in fact, coming.
I didn’t expect the jolt of fear and trepidation to come through the bond from Shadow, and then, moments later, the SUVs peel out of the driveway into the street, leaving a frantic Cynthia.
“Where did Shadow get a machete?” Freddie asks next to me.
“I don’t know. Why did he take off after them like that?” I gesture down the darkened road.
Cynthia rushes over to Freddie and tries to fling her arms around him, but he bends backwards and stops her.
“Freddie! Oh my god!” His face is all screwed, and he keeps taking steps away from her.
He ends up hiding behind me to avoid her.
Jake rolls his eyes at the woman and says to me, “I’m going to go to Ondine upstairs. You’ll have your guys follow Man-ho, see where they ran off to so fast.”
I go to answer him, but Cynthia cuts in. “Ondine isn’t in there, Jake. She’s left with Mr. Man-ho.”
Freddie, Jake, and I give her all our attention. She has the audacity to preen under it. She does a little pose, like we are looking at her outfit.
“What the fuck did you just say?”
“They weren’t supposed to leave me here. But yeah, they came to talk to the omega and bring her back to the school. I have it all set up for them.”
Maybe I’m losing my hearing, but did Cynthia just admit to a plot to kidnap my omega?
“Setup for what?” Freddie asks, because Jake and I are speechless. Freddie sounds angry. Good. I’m glad we are all angry.
“For the scent test. Mr. Man-ho wants to do another scent test. He’s found two other scent matches for his alumnus.
Can you believe it?! I would sooner eat my own foot than be scent matched to an omega.
But they’ve formed a pack and everything now.
I told him about your unbonded, sleazy little omega, and he was very sure he’d be able to do it again. ”
Jake sweeps his foot against the ground, causing Cynthia to fall right on her ass, and then he turns to me. “How far away is the school?”
Cynthia is crying on the ground, but I think she’s fine. There are no actual tears, just crying noises. “Miles. You need a vehicle. Or take the train.”
“If I run?”
“30 minutes.” He looks like he’s going to bolt, so I grab his arm. “Jake, Shadow is running now. He’s right on them. He’ll get there first.” My brain finally catches up with my racing thoughts. “I have men there already. I’ll tell them not to let those vehicles get into the campus, ok?”
I get on my open radio channel and tell my men waiting outside of the school all we know. I also berate them for not telling me four fucking SUVs left the school an hour ago. They claim only one did. So I’m assuming the other vehicles came from other locations.
Jake bends down and pulls the crying Cynthia up on her insanely tall heels.
“You’re coming with me.” Valet heard everything, so they threw Jake a set of keys to a fleet vehicle that was already parked there. Jake throws Cynthia in the back of the van, slides the door closed, and then hops in.
Freddie and I are left. He stands and listens to me on the radio channels with my various teams. He’s awfully close to me. I can smell him. Freddie is like that strong black tea smell: citrus, bergamot, and orange. It’s honestly potent as hell. I have to breathe through my mouth.
I’m trying to remember smelling him before this, at all. And no, he’s been scentless.
He asks, “The vehicles came from other locations?”
“Yeah, from his house. His restaurant. School. And I can’t track the last one.”
He pops a pill and swallows it dry.
“And all we have to go on is Cynthia’s word that they are headed to the school.”
I nod and try to step away from him, but he matches me.
A breeze comes down between the buildings, and I smell him again.
I wonder if Ondine has smelled him. Did she like it?
She smells like vanilla ice cream. Would that compete with Freddie, or smell nice together? I breathe in deeply and consider.
I shake my head.
What the fuck am I thinking about right now?
“You don’t seem to be worried.”
I cock my head to the side and make eye contact with Freddie. “I’m freaking the fuck out, Freddie. But I’m also thinking.”
“Tell me.”
In lieu of telling him he smells insanely good, I tell him what’s also brewing in my head.
“I don’t know if I trust Cynthia. I’m sure she is telling the truth, but they left her here. Why did they leave her here?”
We stare at each other. I turn back to the club. “Jake left Ondine upstairs. Shadow was watching her. You were with him. What did you see?”
Freddie shakes his head. “She was standing by the bar. Shadow and I were talking. He was being a little shit, as always. He told me I couldn’t go talk to her, but wouldn’t go talk to her himself.
Next thing we know, she’s not there. Shadow looked out the window and saw the cars and ran out of the building. ”
“How did they get Ondine from the bar upstairs to the cars down where I was?”
He smiles at me. “That’s the question. Let’s go upstairs and figure it out.”
On the way, I get responses back from my teams. All four SUVs have gone in different directions. I tell them to keep on them. Do not lose them. They know this. We all know this. But I don’t have anything else to go on.
I grab a staff member, Jessie, and tell her the situation.
She looks horrified. “Someone took her from upstairs. Freddie last saw her here.” We arrive at the spot by the bar.
It’s one of those roll away carts they bring out for parties.
Freddie starts sniffing around, but he won’t smell a thing.
The de-scenters here are expensive and thorough.
There are a couple of doors nearby. One is a false door that can open the room up to another annex.
We searched it completely. The other door leads to the prep area.
The main kitchen is in the restaurant on the main level.
Before we head down the elevator to the prep area, we check the last door. It leads down to the hallway offices.
“So she had to be taken down through the restaurant kitchen. It’s the only way to get outside.” I say to Freddie. He agrees, but we both look unsure.
I stop and put my hands on my hips. I’m panicked. That’s for sure. I keep thinking about what Man-ho will do with her. He’s not going to hurt her. That would be insane. She’s an omega. But my greatest fear? That’s her finding her scent match.
I rub my chest and, for some reason, say “oww”. Freddie grabs my wrist and pulls my hand away from my chest. “Stop that. Unless he took her through the front entrance, the restaurant kitchen only opens up to the back. There’s no way they could have gotten her out through here.”
I sigh and suggest we go back up and start again. Jake is on their tail. Shadow, wielding a mystery machete, is also on it. I have three different security teams tracking the vehicles. All that’s left is where she was last seen.
By the time we get up there, Jessie has got everyone to leave. All that’s left is the staff.
“Freddie, you go explore the property. I need to stay here where she was last seen. Until we get eyes on her, we have to cover our bases.”
“You got it, boss,” he says, but stays right next to me. And he lights a cigarette. The party has cleared. The staff is cleaning. I realized he was being sarcastic when his arm brushes mine.
“Why are you still standing here?”
Freddie gives me his classic punk-ass half smile. “Don’t you work for me, Sebastian Meier? Second off,” I don’t remember a first off, “I agree it’s a good idea to be here until we know for sure where she is. What is Jake saying?”
The app on my phone I use to move radio channels from my different teams, also has the line for Jake. But I call him instead. He’s pissed. Only one vehicle made it to the school. It only has the driver. Shadow took his machete to the whole thing. So that’s fun.
Cynthia snuck off and closed the gate.
“Jake, I’m freaking out. What if…what if…” I’m about ready to say the stupid thing out loud.
“What if she finds her scent-match?” Oh, thank god. Jake said it first.
“No, I mean, what if they hurt her?”
“They won’t fucking hurt her. If an alpha hurts an omega, the consequences are insane. Not just legally. They could turn feral.” God, I don’t even want to think about that. They won’t even get a chance to go to court. We’d take care of it ourselves.
I resist the urge to rub my chest again. And why the fuck is Freddie standing so damned close to me?!
I nudge him with my elbow and step away, but he just follows me.
Then he mutters something about the “fucking de-scenters” before taking a long drag on his cigarette.
Which doesn’t make any sense for him to be mad about because his cigarette is only allowed because of the state-of-the-art filtration system and de-scenters.
Jessie walks up to us to give me a report on the building. She says that all the guests have been asked to leave, but a lot of them are waiting on valets to get their cars. There are also members in the restaurant. She apologizes and asks if we should call the police.