Chapter 12
twelve
Jo
We caught the rat.
Well, Declan and Ozzy did. It’s hard to keep my smile under control as I walk down the steps to the basement where my brother and his pack keep their…guests. West follows closely behind, his scent grounding me in a way I’ve never experienced before.
When they finally caught the asshole, a sniveling little man by the name of Victor Byrne last night, they brought him straight here. I had still been passed out from all the heat-spiking, but first thing this morning West woke me up and told me there was a present waiting for me.
I love it when my mates get all romantic.
“Are you nervous?” he asks in a low voice as we reach the bottom of the stairs.
“About confrontin’ the rat?” I turn and look up at him, arching a brow.
“Brooks is down here too.” He takes a step down so he’s off the stairs with me, then tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t want to see him.”
A snort leaves me. “And miss the experience of seein’ the terror in his eyes when he thinks I’ve come down here to take a crack at him? I don’t think so.”
He smirks. “I should have known better.” West presses a quick kiss to my forehead before turning me around by my shoulders and urging me forward. “Come on, the guys are waiting for you.”
I let him gently push me down the hall that leads to the holding-cell area. It’s a brightly lit area with state-of-the-art technology, unlike the one under Senator Pierce’s house, which was dank and reminded me too much of the Cathedral back at Thornfield.
I’ve never seen more than one cell down here occupied at a time, despite the fact there are four.
Once we go past the fingerprint-scanner that acts as a security door and turn the corner, we’ll see the wall to the right that houses all the controls and panels for the cameras, while the left has all four cells lined up, one after the other.
“Brooks is at the end, and our…rodent is the one right next to it,” West murmurs as I lift my hand to the scanner of the security door.
When Dec had first brought me down here five years ago, I thought the door was overkill.
I mean, they’re already locked in cells, so what do you need an extra door for?
But now that Mabel and so many omegas are so close, I’m extra thankful for the security.
The scanner finishes, and the door slides open. As soon as we step inside, I hear Kole’s hushed muttering. “That doesn’t even look like her! Here, let me do it—”
“Fuck off, big guy!” Hayden laughs. “She’s going to love it and my artistic creativity. Look, I even used red for the blood—”
My steps halt as I cover my mouth to hide my laugh. What are they talking about?
West presses his front against my back, his hands landing on my shoulders, and I raise my finger up to my lips in a hushing gesture.
Sam sighs. “Yeah, but then you used the same red for her hair, so it looks like she either has blood coming out of her head, or the guy has hair growing from his neck. Ah! Be careful, you’re going to mess with the bow.”
“It does not matter,” Kole mutters, “for it will be impossible to tell that it is her anyway.”
“Are they always like this?” Nolan’s voice whispers, and then Declan sighs.
“I haven’t had much time around them, but I think so.”
“Buncha idiots,” Rory mutters, but I scowl, still mad at him about the Mabel thing.
Shaking my head, I decide it’s time to see what all the fuss is about.
When we round the corner, I see Hayden crouched in front of the second-to-last cell, orange marker in hand, with Kole standing over him, a black marker in hand.
Our footsteps have everyone looking up, and both Hayden and Kole scramble away from the cell, putting their hands behind their backs.
Hayden wears a cheesy grin while Kole looks sheepish.
Dec’s pack is lined up on the wall across from the very last cell, their expressions ones of varying disgruntlement.
I shouldn’t be surprised, considering this whole situation is about a leak in their ranks.
“Well, good mornin’, fellas.” I smile. I’m not going to let their sour attitudes ruin my good mood.
In fact, my heart beats a little faster when Hayden shoots me a wink.
There’s nothing but giddiness in the bond as I approach, and when I see what Hayden and Kole were doing with the markers, a hand flies over my mouth.
“Oh…you guys.” My voice is choked as I take in the ink on the glass wall of the cell. “This is so sweet.”
Scribbled flames line the bottom of the glass, and above that is a crude but strangely accurate stick figure drawing taking up the rest of the bottom half of the glass, with a female stick figure using what is either a knife or a dildo to stab another stick figure in the throat.
Red marker covers his neck, and suddenly the conversation I was eavesdropping on makes sense.
Then, my eyes are drawn upward to where Kole was drawing. It looks like a quickly drawn cartoon version of me, but holding a knife with a blood-lust-filled expression on my face.
“Whose do you like more?” Hayden asks, smirking. “Mine or Kole’s?”
“They’re both shit,” Rory mutters, and I flip him off before turning back to my guys.
“I…love them both, though for different reasons. We can go over those later.”
My cheeks hurt from how big my smile is, especially when I spot the big red bow on the door of the glass cell. Behind the glass, curled in a ball so small I didn’t even notice at first, is our rat.
“Told you they had a present for you,” West’s lips press against my cheek.
“Does this count as a courting present, considering we haven’t all bonded yet?” Hayden asks thoughtfully, and Kole rolls his eyes.
“You still need to court her, Bratishka,” Kole chides.
Nolan arches a brow from his spot against the wall. “In fact, packs should never stop courting their omega.”
Declan grins, shaking his head, and I can’t help but notice the way their arms are pressed together. Maybe they don’t even notice it, but the sight of it makes my heart happy.
My brother deserves to have someone close to him.
Hayden huffs. “So, yes, this…does count?”
I grin, shaking my head. “I’d say so. Consider me feelin’ ‘specially courted.”
“Alright,” Declan sighs, pushing against the wall and approaching the cell, “I let you have your little moment, now can we please proceed to questioning the bastard?”
He moves to remove the bow, and surprisingly, it’s Hayden that growls. “It’s rude to open someone else’s present, Declan.”
He rolls his eyes, stepping back with his hands raised. “Jo, do you mind?”
“Not at all.” I practically skip to the door before reaching for the bow and pulling it off, gasping. “For me? Aw, you shouldn’t have.”
Declan grumbles something about the guys being lucky I’m attached to them before turning back to the door. “Aidan?”
“On it.” Aidan answers, turning to the control panel and pressing the button marked “Code Enter.” A panel opens on the door of the cell, allowing Declan to input a numerical code, and then the door slides open, letting him step inside.
“I’m assuming you’d like the intercom on for this discussion?” Aidan asks, his voice slightly bored.
Declan is already descending upon the ball of patheticness in the corner, so I turn to Aidan and give him a sweet smile. “Yes, please. Thank you.” Then, I follow Declan inside the cell and close the door.
“Whatever you think I did, I didn’t fucking do it, man!
” the sniveling piece of shit is crying, covering his head with his hands like it might protect him.
The room is tinged with the scent of slightly burnt grass, something I may not have noticed if I wasn’t so close to my heat.
My omega, however, revels in the fact this beta is so afraid.
He should be.
“You’re the only one we told we were having a meeting at Donahue’s Pub, and guess where Xavier fucking Bowen showed up, looking for trouble?” Declan’s boot meets the side of Victor’s head.
“Who’s Xavier Bowen? I don’t know any Xavier Bowen!”
Ugh. This guy’s voice has a pitchy, nasally quality to it that makes me want to plug my ears.
“That’s because the guy you do know is dead, and Xavier Bowen—his boss—was watchin’ his emails.” A pure sense of glee fills my chest as I watch the terror take over his eyes at the sight of me. His gaze jumps from my face to the glass walls of the cell, and amusement fills Hayden’s bond.
Ah. He’s looking at the pictures my men drew of me.
Not that I can blame him, they are pretty magnificent.
“The Senator is dead?” He looks up in horror, and then, as if realizing he just admitted his own guilt, flinches back a split second too late. Declan’s boot meets the bastard’s face this time, and blood pours out of his nose as he cries out in pain.
Then, Dec crouches down low next to him, his fist yanking his head up by his hair. “Now, now, now,” he tsks, tilting his head. “How would you know who we were talking about if it wasn’t you, Vic?”
“I’m sorry,” he sobs, his face a bloody mess. “I’m sorry, I had no choice!”
“Bull. Shit,” my brother snarls, getting in Victor’s face. “Because after you sent that message to Richard Pierce, telling him where you thought he could find and kill my baby sister, we looked into the email address the message came from.”
Victor sniffs, his eyes watering. “It’s not—”
“If you try to fucking tell me that it was not your email address that we found registered to a whole mass of websites that should be fucking destroyed, posting bullshit on the dark web about omegas and selling videos you made back when Cian first dipped his toes into the skin trade—I will put a bullet between your eyes right here and now.” Declan’s face is red with rage as he gets in the bastard’s personal space.
My stomach churns with revulsion. I don’t need to see the videos first-hand to put two and two together.