Chapter 57 Callisto
Chapter fifty-seven
Callisto
Abducted by Clarissa Jones. Headed west.
The legal objection on my tongue fizzles away as Red’s message flashes up. Abducted? Say what?
“Did you have something to add, Councilor Wren?” The judge looks at me like I’ve grown a second head as I stand frozen, half out of my chair. My brain empties, and I glance around, mouth agape.
Prosecution, defense, the crowd gathered to see if I can top Shiloh Laurance’s record 102-case win streak. None of it makes sense.
The judge shakes his head. “If you have nothing to say, the defendant may continue.”
“Wait!” my shrill voice echoes in the ancient room. My career, the win streak, what does any of it matter when Red’s in danger? An acidic scent lodges in my nose, burning through my stupor. Grabbing my phone, I shove my chair back with a loud squeak. “I have to go.” I turn toward the barricade.
“Callisto!” my client lunges after me and grabs my sleeve. “You can’t leave now!”
What was I doing again? Right. Suing for false advertising after a product didn’t live up to its claim.
My client has everything—valid professional evidence it didn’t work and an engineering team on standby ready to claim it was impossible in the first place.
He has everything except a lawyer who gives a damn.
I snatch my arm away. “Figure it out on your own,” I snap, pushing through the wooden gate. “Sorry, Your Honor!” I call over my shoulder.
People shout at me, but I ignore them, already dialing the OCB. We need agents and eyes in the sky. Running through the corridor, I run smack into a court clerk I recognize. He sprawls on the floor, scattering files and his phone.
I swoop up the phone, blind to everything else. “Hey, sorry, but can I borrow this?” The screen’s unlocked, so I keep running without waiting for his reply, dialing Ricky’s number by memory.
The moment he answers, I hear Zack screaming in the background.
“Calli—” Rickon sobs.
“I’m on my way, and I’ve called the OCB,” I tell him.
The other line answers and I juggle both phones to my ears as I wave down a car. “Hello, my omega’s been abducted,” I say.
“Sorry, sir, but you’ll need to call nine—”
“Get Leroy on the line immediately,” I snap. “He’s already got her under surveillance!”
The woman’s protests die away, and she asks for our names instead. A moment later, the line blips. “Callisto? What’s going on?”
“Clarissa Jones just abducted Red Jones from . . .” I juggle a phone to each ear. “. . . Are you still at the racetrack, Ricky?”
“Yeah.”
Zack’s howls in the background tear at my soul, and I know exactly how he feels. I growl under my breath as I run down the courthouse steps. “You can trace her phone, right, Leroy? She just sent us a message.”
Leroy hisses. “Yeah, I’m on it. Stay on the line.”
Good. Better agents who know about Red than starting from scratch with a clueless sheriff.
Leroy asks for all the details we have, and I put them both on speakerphone as I dive into the back of a taxi and give the racecourse address.
I flip over to my driving service and order a car to arrive before me at the set location.
And as my fingers fly, my heart pounds with a foreboding drumbeat. I only just found Red, claimed her, and was claimed in return. All the dreams I’m having for our future can’t stop here. And of all people in the world, Red Jones shouldn’t have to endure any more shit in her life.
Just stay alive, Red. We’ll do the rest.
Leroy’s agents beat me to the racetrack, the entire parking lot lighting up with their flashing patrol lights. I wince, thinking how stressful they’ll be for Zack while also feeling relieved we aren’t facing this alone.
I pay the taxi driver and throw myself out of the vehicle. Agent Pierce sees me coming and lifts the barricade himself.
“Where are they?” I ask.
He points through the crowd.
Zack crushes Rickon to his side with one arm while shouting for his omega and shaking a man who dangles from his grip.
Looks like a film crew member, judging by the black shirt and dislodged headphones.
Ricky’s mascara runs, turning his cheeks black.
Although his face looks fragile, his aura’s anything but, steaming with a rage that physically repels me. Zack’s even worse.
I swallow hard and reach them. “It’s okay, Zack,” I tell the seething alpha. “Let him go now.”
Zack spins, dragging the man in his grip with him. “Cal-ee! Red gone!”
“We’ll find her,” I promise, running my hands down Zack’s taut arms. “Let this man go.”
“I try!” the enraged alpha shouts. “I try to obey but can’t lose ohm-ga!”
“Yeah, I know.” Feels like I have glass in my throat as I swallow. “I feel the same. We’ll find her, Zack, but you have to release this man first. It’s not his fault.”
He drops the man instantly but growls with rage. One glance at Ricky’s inert body tells me the feral alpha’s taken over the bond again, but at least this time he hasn’t seriously hurt anyone.
I gently extract Rickon from his grip, making sure the slender alpha can breathe before towing them with me toward the OCB agents. Zack flinches away from the lights, covering his eyes, and I keep one hand pressed on his back to reassure him.
Rickon looks up at me, gaze tortured. “It was Clarissa. How could she go this far?”
My heart twists and tears mist my eyes. “It’s not your fault, Rickon,” I assure him, before turning back to business. The first hours are the most crucial, so we don’t have a second to waste.
An agent I recognize from the bureau sees me coming. “Her phone stopped moving at Jordan Avenue. Agents are on their way now, but we expect they tossed the phone.”
I nod.
The agent groans and rubs his neck. “Should we assume the motive is money?”
“Yes,” I say immediately. “She already approached Rickon for that reason.”
Pierce slips in at my side. “And she had a restraining order put on her because of it.”
I nod to him, and he returns the silent greeting, glancing at the fuming alphas locked in my arms.
Rickon groans and doubles over. “Fuck! She’s hurt.”
My heart plummets as Zack howls with fury and Rickon spasms, gasping for breath. No doubt their powerful bond feeds each other’s emotions, but it’s impossible to know if what he’s feeling comes from Zack or Red. If we stand around here, Zack could implode completely.
The big alpha turns pleading eyes on me. “Cal-ee help,” he begs, tears in his eyes. “Trust.”
“We’ll hit the road,” I say, looping my arm around the distraught alpha. “Pierce, I’ll get you on the line once we’re moving.”
My car service pulls in, and Rickon groans and points. His words come slowly from a winded throat. “It was a service car, so we need to find how Clarissa stole one.”
“I’ll take care of it,” the lead agent promises before assigning a pair of agents.
I haul my gasping alphas off to the car. The driver gets out, eyes widening as he spots us. Thankfully, he’s a man I recognize.
“Lewis, I need a special service today to track down our missing omega. You got time?”
“Yes, sir,” he says, opening the door.
I planned to shove Rickon and Zack into the back and sit in the front, but Rickon’s barely breathing. After giving the address, I pile in the back and strap him into the seatbelt.
Leaning over him, I grab Zack’s knee hard. “Zack! Listen to me. You need to calm your emotions. You’re choking Rickon.”
Zack looks at me, chest heaving with deep pants, eyes glassy with rage. Then he glances down at the smaller alpha beside him. “Choke?”
I tap the place on Ricky’s hip where his bond mark sits. “He’s feeling everything you’re feeling, and it’s too much. It happened before too, when you fought at the prison. He’s not strong enough for that.”
Zack snarls at me, and a trickle of fear runs down my spine. “Wrong! Ri-ckon powerful! Magic!”
I groan inwardly. “Yes, he’s powerful in his heart, but his body is small.” I transfer my hand to Rickon’s chest, twisting to the limits of my seatbelt. “Your rage is the size of your body, so it won’t all fit inside Rickon. You need to calm down. Look, he can hardly breathe.”
Zack studies Rickon and sets his hand on his bond mate’s chest, feeling him struggle for every breath. When he looks up, the pain in his gaze is unmistakable. “Can’t calm,” he mutters. “How, when Red gone?”
I reach over Rickon’s head to grasp Zack’s shoulder. “She’s not gone. You can still feel her inside, right?”
He nods in misery.
“As long as you can still feel that, she’s alive.
” My voice breaks. What if the emotions from Red’s bond stop?
I can’t bear to think about it. And I won’t.
She’s a survivor, so she’ll hold out for us.
Clearing my throat, I tell Zack, “If it’s hard for Ricky to breathe, then it’s hard for Red.
She might need to run or talk, so please try. ”
I can’t say what possesses me, but a faint memory of how Red reacted to Zack’s arrest flits through me and I start to purr. Zack jerks in shock, but a moment later Rickon sucks in a deep breath.
“This is Jordan Avenue, sir,” Lewis says as we turn onto a road.
I lean forward and point toward the parked OCB car. “Pull up next to them.” When we stop, I order Zack to stay in the car. He snarls at me, but thankfully it seems more like an instinctive response than disobedience because he remains with Rickon.
“I’m the missing omega’s alpha,” I declare when the agents look at me sideways. “What did you find?”
The female agent holds up an evidence bag with a crushed phone inside.
“Fuck,” I mutter, turning back to the car. The rear window rolls down, and Rickon’s green eyes beg me for an answer. My soul dies a little as I shake my head.
I dial Josef and thumb open my maps while the phone rings, scanning the surrounding streets. “Your old house is in the opposite direction,” I mutter to Ricky. “Can you think of anywhere you went as a kid out west?”
“No,” he grinds out. At least he has enough breath for that much.
Zack sits silent beside him, one hand on Rickon’s knee and the other tensed into a fist, but it seems he’s getting himself under control.
“We never really went anywhere together,” Rickon muses, pressing his belly.
My heart squeezes. We can’t lose Red now. “No workplace, shopping, friends to visit, camps—?”
Ricky’s eyes widen. “We went camping once, out at Rhiteson National Park.”
“Let’s try there.” I sling myself into the front seat, and the driver takes off, plugging the park into his navigator as he zips down the street.
The system shows a ninety-minute drive, and I growl under my breath. It could take us so far out of Red’s path that we miss her, or it could lead us right to her. I twist to look over my shoulder, and Rickon nods to me.
“We can’t sit and do nothing,” he whispers.
Yeah, that’s not an option. Not when Red’s relying on us.
“And,” Rickon continues, resting his palm over his breast. “The bond will tell us if we’re getting closer.”
I nod. “Let’s go.”
No one should underestimate the power of the bond between my pack and our omega.