Chapter 6 Luca
Luca
I slowly blink against the pale light of a screen. Warmth and low rumbling are trying to pull me back under, but something niggling at the back of my mind is trying to get me to wake up. I have to wake up now.
My body jerks into action, but an arm over my shoulder makes it hard to move, keeping me in place.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. You can go back to sleep.” Caleb’s deep voice has a soothing tone, the same he uses with Vera and Mathew, and it almost works on me too.
Until my brain starts to become louder and louder. Anxiety setting in.
Caleb’s soft grey eyes fully focus on me and he immediately lets me go, reaching for the drawer next to the couch, taking a clean mask from the box. “Fuck. Didn’t realise how long it had been.”
I now sit up straight. My brain’s screams become louder. My body tight, frozen in fear.
“Hold your breath.” He reaches out slowly, carefully, but I flinch all the same.
A different fear shoots through me, irrational, but there all the same. What if he gets angry?
“Luca.” Riley slowly gets up from her place in front of the couch, right in front of me. I hadn’t even noticed her there. “Let me help.”
This time, I make sure not to flinch, and she carefully takes the old mask from my face. I notice her dark red rose pheromones pooling around me, and take shuddering breaths, trying to fill my lungs with it.
She’s one of two people in the pack whose pheromones don’t set off my fear response, and while it’s a relief, I also always feel guilty that I can’t do this with the rest of the pack.
Caleb gives her the new mask and throws the old one away.
“Take a few deep breaths.” Riley keeps her voice soothing as she leans close, waiting for me to do it. Then she puts the new mask over my face, making sure it’s properly in place. “This better?”
I slowly reach up, relieved that the screaming in my head has eased and I’m able to move again. The mask is perfectly in place, no gaps, comfortable, as much as can be expected.
“Thanks.” My voice is creaky, and she smiles, touching my cheek carefully, like I’m made of porcelain and could break at any moment.
It’s interesting how the Alphas in the pack treat me, their softness and care. But it also feels good, it feels good to be treated like I matter, that my safety and comfort matters.
Riley sits back down on the floor, her back against the couch. the same place as before, almost at my feet, like a barrier to make sure I can’t fall off. Then she returns to reading through what looks like reports of some type.
Caleb has his arm on the back of the couch, his laptop on the armrest, various security streams visible on the screen, but his eyes are on me.
“You’re free to go back to sleep. With the new mask, you should be safe for a couple of hours. I’ll try to keep my pheromones in check.” His voice is soft, like he’s talking to a scared Omega.
And, maybe, that’s what I’m like the most in their eyes: a frail and scared Omega.
Wait.
No.
They might see me as a scared Omega, but they would never presume an Omega is automatically frail. That’s not who they are, that’s not what they’re like.
The Alphas, and Vera and Mathew, they care, they care that I’m safe and comfortable. They treat me like this not because they think I’m lesser or frail in some way, but because they simply want me to feel safe and secure, helping me heal.
The thoughts make me emotional and I fight against tears. I don’t want them to misunderstand them. They’re tears because I’m grateful for having found such an amazing pack.
Caleb raises the blanket that’s pooled around my waist, raising his arm so I can sleep against him again. It takes me a few moments, but I scoot closer, into his embrace, my heart beating fast, but my brain is still fine.
He carefully lowers his arm, pulling the blanket over me, and starts up his soothing ‘sleep well’ rumble. It works as well on me as it does on Vera, as it eases my heart rate and lets me relax against him.
I don’t fall asleep immediately. Instead, I watch the security cams with Caleb and from time to time I catch glimpses of the reports Riley is reading.
From this angle, I can sometimes spot a date in a header or a security code, though I can’t read any of the text of the reports. Even with that little information, it’s not hard to figure out what they’re about. They’re from previous times Mathew and his organisation have been in danger.
Mostly, Riley seems to skim-read them, but from time she makes notes or copies something into a new file. She’s really focused on it, her eyes intense, as her lips move, probably mouthing the words she’s reading. It makes the imposing Alpha look almost cute.
The quiet way Caleb and Riley work, each doing their own thing, but clearly appreciating having pack members nearby, is comforting. And it doesn’t take long for me to drift off again.
The table in the library is covered in all the maps and other information we’ve got about the brothel.
We’ve been over them more times than I can count now, but with the raid only two weeks away, we’ve got to pin down the final details.
Plus, with the pictures of the pack in the media these last couple of days, we need to account for the Hearts changing their security and anything else they might get up to.
Derrick has sent a couple of his people to keep an eye on the place around the clock, so that if the Hearts do make any big changes, like moving large groups of people out or receiving suspicious deliveries, we’ll know about it immediately.
They probably won’t change anything structural about the building. Even if they would like to, they can’t just hire any construction company, they can only use specific ones and it’s not likely they’ll be able to get to the top of the work list in just a week or two.
But they might add extra security cameras, which means that we might be visible at angles we weren’t aware of before. That’s something we’ll have to plan for, especially any cameras they might add that overlook the street or alleys and things like that.
“They’ve put some extra people outside last night. Though only during the night and they seem to be on the same schedule as normal.” Derrick points to a few locations on the map. “They’ve doubled the security that was already there.”
“That shouldn’t change the plan much.” Mathew reaches out and wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me close, like having me in his arms brings him comfort.
“I’m more worried about extra security inside and how all of this impacts the kids and other people there.
They used to severely restrict where we could go if the people in charge got nervous.
They used to lock us up in two or three rooms in the basement instead of letting us sleep in our own rooms.”
“They still do that.” I point to a new set of stairs they put in four years ago, when they also did other work on the basement.
“The new doors downstairs are much stronger, reinforced with metal, from what I recall.” When they carried the doors inside, they looked very heavy, and when we’d been locked downstairs in the time since, I’d also noticed that sounds had been extra muffled.
“Nothing some tools shouldn’t be able to get through.
” Weston, the leader of the security team Erika left behind grins.
“They’re not vault doors and from what you said, they’re also not that high security.
Just extra strong doors. Some good tools should make easy work of them.
We’ll just need to make sure that we do it in a safe way, as we won’t know how the kids on the other side are doing. ”
“We’ll make sure that nobody’s going to disturb you while you work.
” Derrick stands up, walking around the table.
“I’ll draw up some extra plans in case the doors do turn out to be more of an issue than expected.
We can’t leave the kids inside, so we have to get them out, preferably in a way that they’ll see as little of the rest of the raid as possible. ”
If my own rescue was anything to go by, making sure that the kids don’t see any of that is going to be a priority.
I don’t have any feelings for any of the people who run the brothel, but I want the kids and the people who are there under duress —like I was— to get out of there as safely and as little traumatised as possible.
Vera climbs out of Riley’s lap, where she was listening in on us. “We’re still going to try to get the kids out through the back?” She eyes the maps. “That route is longer than getting them out through the front or side door.”
“Yes. It’s the safest route. Most of us will be in the front and on the higher levels, there’s going to be more violence and danger there. We’ll just have to try to keep the escape route for the kids as clean as possible.” Mathew eyes her, raising an eyebrow. “Which we can, right?”
She flashes him a smile, her eyes sparkling. “I’ll make sure to try. I can’t promise anything. I’ve not been trained to do this work for the last decade, so I might ‘forget’ about that...”
I fully believe that if Vera gets pissed off by anyone she encounters in the brothel, that she might find taking out her emotions more important than making sure to keep things as clean as possible.
Derrick makes a sound in the back of his throat. “On that note, I’ve made some changes to the teams.”
That seems to get everyone’s attention, as Caleb, Riley and Jorge are now also at the table, everyone staring at Derrick, who looks a little uncomfortable under the attention. That can’t be a good sign, as the guy normally has no problem with it.
He closes his eyes, letting out a deep sigh. “Vera and Riley will be on one team and Mathew and Caleb on the other. Jorge and Luca are still going to stay outside, waiting for the kids and coordinating things from that side, just like before.”
The mood in the room shifts. Yeah, they’re not happy with that change.
“Vera and I work together the best. We’ve been working together for years. Not putting us together is a bad idea.” Caleb crosses his arms over his chest, glaring at the other Alpha.
“Yes... I’m aware of that. That’s part of the problem.
” Derrick looks around the room, his eyes finally landing on Timothy, who takes a step back, holding up his hands, clearly not wanting to get involved.
“Putting Vera and you together on a team makes sense when I look at it from a practical and efficiency point of view. But the risk that you two break from the plans and go off on your own is too large for something like this.”
I look from Caleb to Vera, who don’t seem to disagree with his assessment.
“Putting Vera and Mathew on a team is a no-go from the start.” Derrick shoots Mathew a look and then raises his eyebrow at Vera when she tries to object.
“You would be two loose cannons. You might want to stick to the plan in theory, but if you see something bad, you won’t correct each other, you’ll just encourage whatever idea you come up with.
Not a bad team-up in other situations, but we can’t have that this time. ”
I can’t help my smile as I look at the two Omegas, who seem to agree with what he’s saying. I’ve seen how they feed on each other when they get ideas, and doing that in such a controlled situation is dangerous.
Vera is starting to look upset. “That makes it sound like I’m the problem. Like you can’t trust me.”
“I do trust you.” Derrick holds up his hands, like he’s trying to protect himself.
“But teaming Mathew or you up with an enabler isn’t going to help us this time.
Plus...” He lets out a deep sigh. “Both Caleb and you have no experience with these things. This way, you’re both teamed up with someone who does know what they’re doing. And hopefully balance you out.”
Riley steps behind Vera and wraps her arms around the Omega, pulling her close, grinning. “It means we get to have the boy team against the girl team. One Omega and one Alpha each.”
I feel Mathew’s chuckle against my back. “I like the sound of that.”
“No.” Derrick tries to be firm, but he’s losing control over the conversation as everyone starts talking through each other. “There are no competitions. No competing. Just follow the plan!”
But his exasperated words don’t seem to reach anyone, everyone is too excited now.
Poor guy...