Chapter 33 Jo
thirty-three
Jo
I’m getting real fucking tired of being in the car.
I had taken the front seat without thinking, but Kole, Hayden and West don’t let a single complaint fall from their lips in the back, even as we go down the winding hill that leads away from our most recent safe house.
Turnip is snug in my lap, and before I can dial Declan’s phone number, the burner is ringing in my lap.
I answer it on speaker. “I think you have a rat, Dec.” Turnip turns her head to look at me. “Not you,” I assure her, scratching under her chin. “You’re the good kind of rat. Declan has a no-good, piece of shit—”
“What?” His voice is sharp. “Why? Is that why you’re leaving in the middle of the night?”
“How did you know we were leaving?” Sam asks, his voice sharp.
“Turnip’s collar has a tracking device. It alerts me when it starts going faster than fifteen miles an hour,” he grunts.
I’m not surprised Turnip has a tracker. I half expected it, really. “We were ambushed, Dec.”
Declan curses, his voice full of rage.
Sam leans over slightly, “Twenty men—”
“Twenty-two,” I correct.
“Twenty-two men,” Sam rolls his eyes at me, “dressed like mercs, waiting in the treeline. The heat sensor alarm woke me up. We took care of them and questioned one. We were informed that Richard Pierce put a hit out on all of us—with the stipulation of keeping Jo alive and he apparently doesn’t care if his own son gets caught in the crossfire. ”
A pained sound comes from Hayden at the same time I feel a spike of pain through the bond. Without looking, I reach behind me and hold my hand out. His fingers tangle in mine, and I try my best to send him comfort. I’m no stranger to wonderin’ why my daddy never loved me.
“How did they get your location?” Declan’s voice is all business, and I can hear his footsteps echoing down the hall.
Sam growls. “The asshole we interrogated said that the address was on the online bid. So Pierce must’ve gotten it from somewhere.”
“Aidan!” Declan barks away from the phone. “I need two things: For you to remove a listing for a hit on Jo and her pack on the dark web, and I need to find out who accessed the safe house locations in our database.”
Aidan mumbles something back to him, but his attention is back on us. “All our locations have been compromised. You can’t go to any of the Gallagher safe houses.”
“Then where the fuck are we supposed to go?” Sam snaps.
“You’re from the outside, man. You don’t have anyone who could help?”
Sam frowns. “I could call my dad…”
My head is shaking before he finishes his sentence. “No. Absolutely not. We are not takin’ the only decent father in our group and puttin’ him in danger.”
“We…we could contact my brothers.” Kole’s voice, uncertain for the first time since I’ve known him, speaks up from the back.
I glance back, my heart warming at the comforting arm he has around Hayden’s shoulders.
“We came to an…understanding the last time we spoke. Well, shortly before I was sold to Thornfield.”
“...What kind of understanding?” West asks curiously.
Kole looks between all of us, his expression pensive.
“My half-brothers, from a ‘moral’ standpoint, are marginally better than Mikhail Vasiliev. They want out of the skin trade, and to focus on the voluntary sex-work part of business. The day before I got on my father’s bad side, my brothers came to me, wanting to strike a deal.
They requested my help in killing my father, and in return, when they take over, they would let me out. ”
“Out?” Hayden frowns, looking confused.
“Out of the life.” Dec sighs. “Out of the mafia, free to do whatever you want, right?”
“I mean, I don’t see a downside to this.” I shrug, looking at my guys. “I know I’m probably biased, since I don’t regret killin’ my own daddy, but…you get free, your piece of shit daddy is gone, no more sellin’ omegas like cattle…this seems like a win-win-win.”
“She’s not wrong, Kole.” Sam looks at Kole through the rearview mirror. “Do you think they’d help?”
“It is worth a try, I think.” He nods once.
“Okay, call me back when you guys know. If it helps, tell them I’ll owe them a favor.” Declan sounds a bit more settled. “I’m going to go harass Aidan until I know who I can string up by the toes and peel the skin from their dick with a dull kitchen knife.”
“You’re so sweet, Declan.” I grin, even as I watch Hayden’s face go green.
“Nobody messes with my baby sister, Jo. You know that.” Then he hangs up, and I hand the phone to Kole.
“We need somewhere to lay low.” My voice is gentle. “If they’re decent guys, they’ll help.”
“That is what I am not sure of,” Kole mutters before taking the phone and dialing a memorized number. Brief silence. “Ilya, Luka.” He speaks a string of words in Russian. “Nikolai.”
My brows shoot up. He said three names, but I thought he only had two brothers.
“We need to know what’s going on,” Sam hisses, and Kole holds up one finger.
Kole lets out another string of Russian, then grunts, putting the phone on speaker. “Ilya. Luka. You are on speaker phone in the car with my pack.”
“How did you get sold to an asylum, and end up with a pack, huh, Nikolai?” The voice on the other line is a deep timber, similar to Kole’s, but the Russian accent is barely there. I suppose that’s what happens when your formative years are spent in the States.
And…did he just call him Nikolai?
Kole…Nikolai. I suppose that makes sense.
“It is a long story, Luka.” Kole sighs, running a hand over his face. “We have found ourselves in the middle of a plot by Beta Supremacists. You remember Declan Gallagher?”
A second voice, nearly identical to the first, speaks. “Yes, he is where we got inspiration for our…patricide plot.”
“I am scent-matched to his younger sister. You will know her as Josephine Harding, but she will soon be re-introduced to the world as Jo Gallagher.”
“Ah yes,” one of them purrs. “The Destroyer of Alphas. A fitting choice for you, brother.”
My jaw drops, and I hop in my seat as I point at the phone. “See? See? I told you! I told you that’s what they call me!”
Hayden snorts, West shakes his head, and Kole gives me a tight smile while Sam chuckles, rolling his eyes. “She is an excitable one.” The other voice says. “Tell us, Nikolai, what do you need from us? I’m assuming Otets does not know you are out and running wild?”
“Correct, and we would like to keep it that way. Declan has a rat. All of his safe house locations are compromised. We need a place to lay low until they find a way to expose this…Prometheus and anyone beneath him. Declan has said he will owe you a favor if you come through.”
“Prometheus…” one of them muses.
A female voice sounds in the background, and Kole groans. “Are you really talking to me while still in bed after sharing a woman?”
“You are the one who called us at four in the morning, Nikolai.”
He gives me an exasperated look, and I shrug. “He does kind of have a point, Sugar Bear.”
A snort of laughter comes over the line and Kole’s cheeks pinken slightly. “Sugar Bear?” Either Ilya or Luka snickers.
I shake my head and roll my eyes. Men.
“Fuck off, Ilya” Kole huffs, irritated. “Can you help us or not?”
“Calm your tits, Bratishka,” one of them, I’m assuming Ilya, laughs.
“Yes, we can help you, but we’re in a bit of a tough situation.
You see, currently Mikhail has us on lock down.
It’s like he thinks we’re going to kill him or something.
” He chuckles. “My point is, we kicked up quite the fuss when he sold you to Thornfield, and he has questioned our…loyalties. We really don’t have any power at the moment.
If we go asking for a safe house, he is going to ask questions. Get suspicious.”
Luka cuts in. “If he finds out it is you we are hiding, well, the game will be over before it has truly begun.”
“So you want me to kill him first?” Kole sighs, resignation clear in his voice. “How am I supposed to accomplish that, exactly?”
“You are our trump card, Nikolai.” Luka answers, his voice sounding nonchalant. “We have been moving the pieces the last three years, waiting for an opening. We did not imagine it would come in the form of you breaking out of the asylum. He still thinks you’re locked up, so he’ll never expect you.”
“That does not change the fact that we are driving through Maine in the middle of the night, in need of a place to sleep.”
One of the brothers sighs, and we all hold our breath. I’d rather not have to sleep in the car, if I’m being honest. “We own a cabin in New Hampshire. Depending on how close to the border you are, it shouldn't take more than a few hours for you to reach it.”
Relief fills my chest, and I shoot a grateful smile to Kole. They rattle off the address, and I plug it into the GPS. Two hours and forty-seven minutes.
Easy peasy.
“We will meet you there in two days to formulate a plan. And…I think we might know a thing or two about this ‘Prometheus’.” Before Kole can protest, they hang up.
Hayden grins as Kole hands me the phone.
“Welp, looks like we’re gonna have our pack ‘meet the family’ gathering sooner than expected.
Sorry, Hot Stuff,” he reaches forward and pats Sam’s shoulder, “I know you wanted your padre to be the first one, but it’s time to let the Big Guy have his moment to shine. ”
Sam scowls at Hayden through the rear-view mirror, and West sighs. “You’re just asking for it, aren’t you?”
Hayden straightens, his eyes lighting up. “Oooh, asking for what? A spanking? Wait.” He shakes his head. “No-can-do, Daddy-o. The only one allowed to spank me is Jo. You’ll have to imagine the real thing when you’re beating your meat at night.”
Kole snorts, shaking his head. “Daddy-o?”
Hayden has an expression on his face like he thinks it should be obvious. “He’s up my ass enough that he should be referred to with paternal respect. But I already have a dad, and he’s not my daddy, because, ew. Hence, Daddy-o.”
“Whatever makes your tail wag, Sparky.” Sam smirks, apparently deciding that playing Hayden’s own game against him is better than being annoyed all the time. He turns the car onto the main road before getting on the highway.
My Fire Demon isn’t the least bit perturbed though, and simply shrugs. “Woof, woof, Daddy-o.”
Shaking my head, I turn my attention back to Kole. “Who’s older, Illya or Luka?”
“Illya. By two minutes.”
West looks surprised. “Twins?”
“It would appear that way.”
I laugh uncomfortably, playing with the ends of my hair. “Like…real twins, or raised-together-from-birth-to-make-you-think-you’re-twins…twins?”
“They are identical,” Kole says, tilting his head.
West frowns, his gaze intent on me. “Jo—”
“So probably not the second one then, got it.” I laugh again, the noise sounding hollow.
It doesn’t bother me.
Well, it shouldn’t. It’s not like Mabel and I were actually twins, so it’s ridiculous to feel like I lost something when I never had it to begin with.
It’s been easy to lose myself in my guys, and before that, lose myself in my mission to find her. But now, knowing she’s okay, and not having the heat of their bodies to distract me, my emotions run wild.
Twisting in my seat, I look out the passenger side window, watching the car headlights illuminate the trees as we pass them on the two-lane highway.
Tears sting my eyes, and I curse my omega hormones. I don’t want to seem weak. I don’t want to be this silly little girl who cries at the drop of a hat.
“Jo, do you want to talk about it?” West’s voice is warm and comforting, his hand coming up to rest on my shoulder.
“No,” I shake my head, “I’m fine, really. It’s just—”
Lights flash a moment before our bodies jerk to the side, and my head cracks against the passenger side window, making my ears ring.
I can hear voices shouting, but I have no idea what they’re saying.
An arm flies out against my chest, and I’m tossed the other way, the seatbelt burning as it rubs against my neck.
Blinding pain through my head as I hit the window again.
We’re tumbling.
There’s no noise, only spinning as the world turns upside down, again, and again, and again. Until finally…we stop.
Hayden’s pain and panic twirl with mine in my chest, and the knowledge that my alpha is hurt has me snapping out of my daze.
Ears still ringing, I cling to consciousness as I try to look around the car.
Sam’s head is slumped forward, blood flowing from his temple. “S…Sammy?”
I shake his shoulder, ignoring the pain in my head. “Sammy, wake up!”
Behind me, West groans, and I look back to see all three of them—West, Hayden, and Kole, passed out. Turnip gives a terrified squeak from somewhere in the car, but she doesn’t sound hurt at least.
Motion outside Sam’s destroyed side window catches my eye, and I see four figures approaching us. They aren’t the hurried steps of someone who’s witnessed a terrible accident though. It’s the saunter of a predator who’s caught their prey.
“Sam!” I shake him harder, looking out the window. “We have to get out of here! They found us!” We’re surrounded by trees, we could disappear into the forest if I could just get them all to wake up.
Sam’s eyes blink open, and he blinks at me, dazed. “...Jo?” Then, his eyes shift behind me before widening in panic. Pure terror lines his voice. “Jo!”
Blinding pain takes over, and then…nothing.