Chapter 32
“Babe, since we have a night in Edinburgh, I want to take you out for dinner. There’s this fantastic place called the Wolf Pack Pub…” Slate said as he packed his bag.
“Famous, right?”
“Yeah, you know about it?”
“Only what Theo told me. It’s for shifters, right?” asked Dakota.
“Yup. It’s the best shifter pub in Scotland with a huge menu of dishes specially prepared for shifters from all over the world who eat there.”
“Oh! I’d love that. I wonder if they have a sampler so I can try a bunch of different ones.”
Chuckling, Slate said, “If they don’t, we’ll just order what you want and make our own sampler.”
Dakota blew a kiss to Slate. “You just won the title of ‘Best Mate Ever’.”
“Wow! So all I have to do is take you to exotic places and feed you?”
“Feed me food I haven’t eaten before.”
“Good to know. Are you finished packing?”
“In a minute…have to add something to wear when you take me out to wine and dine me. There…finished.”
“Oh shit, do we need travel documents?”
“No, Steel got those for us when he realized none of us had traveled out of the country.”
“Great, let’s get a move on. I think I can hear the chopper.”
~/~/~/~/~
After giving a short rap on Zane’s computer room door, Jackson opened it and entered. “Zane, do you have a few minutes?”
Swiveling around in his computer chair to look at his brother, he said, “Sure.”
“I sent you some surveillance video from last night…”
“Yeah, I was just looking at it. What the fuck is it with these pricks? Don’t they know ‘no’ means ‘no’?”
“Apparently not. Logan told me one of them looks familiar but he can’t place him. Can you work your magic to find out who these three guys are?”
“Already on it with the two who attacked him. Where’s the third?”
“He’s the one who helps these two guys escape. You’ll see him further on.”
Zane swung back to his screen and hit the fast forward button until he reached that spot on the video. Taking a screen shot of the face of the third accomplice, he started a search on it. “Done. Don’t know when or even if I’ll get a hit.”
“I understand. Groose sent it to the High Council and Dylon is sending it to some of his contacts so hopefully something will turn up.”
“I’ll let you know if I’m successful. Sure hope so because I can’t stand assholes like that.”
“Me neither. Dakota and Slate are leaving shortly to get Fionn and bring him back here.”
“That’s good, I can’t wait to meet Fionn,” Zane said, resuming his work, adding, “I’ll be right up to say good-bye.”
~/~/~/~/~
Slate was surprised to see almost everyone including the pups assembled in the great room, waiting to say good-bye to them. As they made their way to the front door, Dakota hugged his brothers and tummy-tickled the pups. Waiting at the door were his parents, his brother and his Alpha.
Oracle stepped up to Dakota pulling him into a tight embrace while whispering in his ear, “Take care of yourself and your pup.”
“I will,” Dakota murmured.
“I’m counting on you,” Oracle said, giving Dakota a kiss on his cheek, before stepping back.
Looking at Slate, Oracle saw how much her younger son had changed; happiness now radiated from him, something she’d never seen before.
As he approached her, she reached up to hug him, longer than she usually did, but it would never be long enough for her.
Finally drawing back, she kissed his cheek and he kissed her back.
Maximus shook Dakota’s hand, saying, “Don’t let Slate get into too much trouble, Dakota.”
Dakota grinned. “I promise to do as well as you did.”
Laughing loudly, Maximus pulled Dakota in for a hug. “Touché! Well played, son.”
“Serves you right, Dad,” Slate snickered, before giving his father a hug.
Jackson hugged Dakota, and said, “Thanks, bro, for doing this for me…and, have some fun.”
“Will do,” said Dakota. “Take care of everyone for me.” Then his eyes shifted to Steel. “Promise you won’t wreck my kitchen?”
“Moí?” Steel questioned, putting a hand to his chest.
“Yeah you, brother,” Slate said. “Don’t piss off my mate or you’ll face me in the ring,” he said, assuming a boxing pose, which elicited laughter from everyone.
“Neither of you has anything to worry about,” Jackson said, “because my mate has sworn to me it won’t happen.” Opening the door just as Robert was landing the helicopter, he said, “Now, go and bring me home a dragon.”
Slate led his mate outside and over to Robert, who was standing with the passenger door open. “Hi Robert, this is my mate, Dakota.”
“Congratulations! Hello, Dakota. Ever been in a helicopter before?”
“Hi, Robert. To answer your question, nope, but my brother told me I was going to enjoy it.”
“I hope so. Any questions?”
“Not yet.”
“Good. If you have any, just let me know.”
The chopper lifted off, heading for San Francisco, and Dakota found himself sitting inside the cabin, a tightly buckled harness holding him in his seat, and headphones bridging his ears.
He was fascinated listening to Slate talk to Robert about weather conditions, ETA’s, visibility, air traffic and more that he didn’t understand.
During a break in the conversation, Dakota tapped Slate’s leg to get his attention.
“Do you have a question, babe?” Then, pointing to the microphone attached to Dakota’s headset, he said, “Just talk normally.”
Nodding that he understood, Dakota asked, “Do you fly?”
“Yup, I’m a licensed pilot.”
“Cool, so if something happens to Robert, you can take over and save us.”
“Uh-huh. Feel safer now?”
“Definitely!”
Slate grinned. As they got nearer to their destination, Slate directed Dakota’s attention to the window. “See that over there?”
“Yeah…what is…oh my gods, that’s San Francisco! Jackson went there on his babymoon.”
“He did, huh? Did your brother like it?”
“That would be a resounding ‘yes’ if the number of photographs he took was any indication,” Dakota said, snickering.
“Sir, we’ll be landing in five minutes and the jet is ready to go.”
“Thanks, Robert.”
~/~/~/~/~
Zane was dozing on the couch in his computer room, trying to catch up on sleep he missed last night.
Running into dead ends on the two jobs Jackson had given him, he was determined to discover something before he left for Scotland.
When he found out Slate and Dakota were going to Scotland, he briefly thought about asking Jackson if he could leave early but scratched that; it was more important to find out who these assholes were.
Watching the video, Zane’s anger at what happened to Fionn built up inside him until he felt he’d explode.
It brought back memories of what happened to his friend in high school.
He’d never forget the day he entered the boys’ bathroom at school, and found the class bullies pinning his friend against the wall, trying to yank down his pants.
When his eyes connected with his friend’s, Zane saw the terror in them.
Dropping his books, he rushed them, growling at them to stop, willing to do anything to free his friend.
In the end, he was punished for fighting because he refused to tell the principal why he’d attacked the bullies.
He’d figured his friend had suffered enough humiliation and he wasn’t going to put him through further embarrassment by letting anyone else know what happened.
From that time on, Zane made sure everyone at school knew if anything happened to his friend, he’d find who did it and beat the crap out of them.
His need to protect was overwhelming; he was still learning how to control it.
Though he was getting better at it, when he saw what these sonofabitches had done to Fionn, it shot to the surface with a vengeance.
His computer beeped, waking him from his light sleep.
Rolling over to a sitting position, he groaned at the crick in his neck.
That’s what I get for sleeping on a couch that’s too small for my body.
Standing, he stretched to work out the kinks, then padded over to see what his program found.
Glancing at his computer screen, he shouted, “Holy shit!” Sitting down, he furiously began typing on his keyboard.
~/~/~/~/~
Dakota was dumbfounded as he surveyed the luxurious decor inside the jet.
Unlike any commercial jet he’d flown, this one had thickly padded chairs, love seats, small wooden tables and thick carpeting underfoot.
His head was turned to the rear of the cabin where several doors, he assumed, led to restrooms, when a voice said, “Welcome aboard sir, may I get you something to drink?”
Dakota’s head snapped forward, looking at the uniformed man that had suddenly appeared before him. “Ummm, not right now, thank you,” he answered.
“If you change your mind, just push this button.”
Dakota looked to where the man pointed, “Sure, thanks.” Glancing up, he was relieved to see Slate walking towards him.
“Hey babe, everything okay?” Slate asked, sitting in a chair next to his and smiling as he gazed at his gorgeous mate.
“This is amazing,” Dakota said, waving his arm at the interior of the jet.
Slate chuckled. “Yeah, it is, isn’t it? Did you meet Paul yet?”
“Is that the guy who asked me if I wanted something to drink?”
“Yup, he’s my steward. Do you want to see the rest of the plane?”
“You mean the restrooms?”
“C’mon, we have a few minutes before takeoff,” Slate said, getting up and holding his hand out to his mate.
Dakota shrugged his shoulders, wondering why it was important to look at some toilets but then he figured it must be special if his mate wanted to show it off.
Taking Slate’s hand he stood, and then followed him to the back of the cabin.
One of the doors led to a spacious bathroom that even had a shower.
Astonished at its opulence, Dakota wondered what the next bathroom would be like.
He turned to Slate who was standing next to it.
“Babe, do you know what the ‘Mile High Club’ is?” asked Slate.
“Not really. Why?”
Slate opened the door and stepped back so Dakota could have an unobstructed view. Grinning, Slate watched as Dakota stepped into the cabin, staring at a large, luxurious bed taking up most of the space.
Astounded to find a bed in a plane, he sat down on it. Glancing up at his mate’s face, Dakota saw the lust in Slate’s eyes, sending shivers down his spine, and he suddenly figured out what the ‘Mile High Club’ was. “How long is the flight?” Dakota asked.
“About thirteen hours, more or less, depending on the weather.”
“Hmmm, plenty of time to sleep, huh?”
“Among other things.”
“Like what?” Dakota asked. Slate’s low growly voice was doing all kinds of things to Dakota’s body. Licking his lips while thinking of what he could do to his mate’s cock had Dakota perched on the edge, wanting and needing relief.
Slate’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the picture his mate made—eyes filled with need, a pink tongue licking a plump lip, and the bulge in Dakota’s groin telling him how much his mate wanted to join the ‘Mile High Club’.
Taking a step towards his mate, Slate stopped abruptly when he heard Paul’s announcement regarding takeoff.
Groaning at the interruption, Slate reached down to readjust his pants, then said, “C’mon, we’ll continue this later. ”
~/~/~/~/~
After Zane compiled all the information he found on two of the men, he sent a text off to Jackson, letting him know.
Fionn was fucking lucky the enforcers had interrupted the attack and got him out of there.
The only information missing from the dossier about the two would-be kidnappers was who hired them for the job.
Also missing was the third man’s identity but he had no doubt his program would spit out that piece of data eventually.
A quick knock was the only warning Zane received before Jackson burst into his computer room.
“Fuck that was fast! You’re brilliant,” Jackson said. “Cody and Dylon are on their way…Fuck! I can’t believe we know who these assholes are!”
“Thanks,” Zane said as he handed a file folder over to his brother. “Here…I’ll print out a couple more of them.”
Jackson sat down on the couch and began to read the documents on the two goons. Within a few minutes, he was joined by Cody and Dylon and gave copies to them. After he finished reading the file, Jackson looked up at Zane. “Have you sent this information to Logan yet?”
“No, I wanted you to see it first.”
When Dylon finished, he said, “You constantly amaze me, well done.”
“This has to go to Logan and Groose, pronto,” said Cody.
“What about the third man? Nothing at all?” asked Jackson.
“So far, nothing. He might not be a mercenary like those two are but I’m still checking. If nothing turns up with the database I’m using, I’ll try a different one.”
“What’s the difference?” asked Cody.
“One deals with criminals, the other also includes non-criminals. I picked the one I’m using because they were caught in a criminal act so it seemed logical I use that one first,” Zane answered.
Jackson was flipping through the file again, then said in a low voice, “Fionn was very lucky last night. Those guys meant business and I do believe they would have tortured him if that was what they’d been paid to do.”
“Absolutely,” agreed Dylon. “They’re a nasty piece of work and the High Council would love to get their hands on them for questioning about a number of unsolved murders.”
“Do you want me to forward it to Logan?” asked Zane.
“Yes,” Jackson said. “I’m going to call Logan shortly so send it off right away. See if you can find who the third guy is because I think he’s key to finding the other two.”
“If there’s a picture of him out there somewhere, my program will find it,” Zane said.
Dylon stared intently at the photo of the third man before asking, “Does your program search for non-shifter photos too?”
“You think he isn’t a shifter?” Cody asked his mate.
“I’m just saying it’s a possibility,” replied Dylon. “If he is human, does he know his partners are shifters and if so, how did he find out about them?”
“Interesting point. What about it, Zane. Does your program search for non-shifter photos, too?” asked Jackson.
“It does. When I wrote it, I thought some shifters might have been arrested by non-shifter police so I made sure to include everything,” Zane replied.
“Should Zane send this to Slate also?” asked Cody, worried.
“Sure, it can’t hurt but Logan will share it once they land,” Jackson said.
“Will do. Now, if y’all are finished, I’m going to take the rest of my nap,” Zane said, adding, “I need my beauty sleep since I was up all last night working on the missing Silver Point enforcers problem. Now out.”