Chapter 30
I came crashing into the apartment to find Ransom on the couch with Dusk and Decebal. Dusk was almost out of his mind, arguing.
Ransom was out cold.
Not dead. I had to remind myself of that.
My heart was pounding, their words barely making sense. Shatter was gone. Really, truly gone this time. Mord had taken her.
Did that mean they knew they could bite her? And if not, how long until they realised they had a bargaining chip that would get their agreement?
“We can’t do anything without a location.” Dusk was snarling.
“Kai’s on it. Been pissed since the moment you mentioned Sato called him out. I think he’ll find him.”
“Can he?”
“Said Sato gave himself away, too. Limited ways he could have dug up as much as he did on your pack, and they can’t be hidden either—not completely. Involves getting into Institute databases. He pulled the rest of the data he’s collected on Sato over the years. Might get him close.”
“If we do, we could get a location?”
“There’s a chance.”
“How long?” Dusk demanded.
“He’s working as fast as he can.”
It wasn’t enough. How long until she vanished from the bond with us? My throat almost closed entirely at that thought. This was it. The ending I’d known was coming, and I wasn’t going to let the others pay the price.
What Shatter had taught me last weekend was that she was so much stronger than I’d ever imagined. I’d felt what she’d suffered, what she’d survived. Despite her fear, she was strong enough to survive the Lincoln pack’s cruelty so she could save us.
And I couldn’t let her do that.
Because if she was gone, and Ransom was like this, would we lose him, too? I knew the answer. It was the same answer that made me convinced that if I didn’t do something, Dusk would make himself a martyr.
For her. For Ransom. For me.
I could see it in his eyes as he held Ransom close. I could feel it through the bond. His terror was everything we’d claimed back over the last few weeks. The happiness. The joy. Now, it was all being ripped away.
I had to get to the Lincoln pack before Decebal could lead Dusk to his own demise.
I realised I might have a way to do that. I’d lingered at the kitchen island, which was why I had caught the faintest trace of oranges and the others didn’t.
A hint of Christmas. And I realised the door was open a crack.
I waited, not closing the door or even looking in it’s direction, not until the conversation had died down.
“I’m checking their apartment,” I said.
“What?” Dusk asked.
“The Lincoln pack. Gonna see if they left anything they shouldn’t have.”
Dusk stared at me like he was trying to process what I was saying, then nodded.
I slipped out, peering down the hallway to find no one there. But instead of going downstairs, I knocked on Roxy’s door.
It opened almost instantly, as if she’d been waiting.
Her face was pale, eyes wide as she looked up at me.
“How much do you know?” I asked.
“She’s in trouble,” Roxy whispered. “I didn’t… I didn’t understand anything else. I just called her but she won’t pick up. She doesn’t have her phone most of the time anyway, but?—”
“Do you want to help get her back?” I asked.
“Yes.” She swallowed. “It’s the Lincoln pack, isn’t it? They’ve taken her?”
I nodded.
“But they can’t… they can’t bite her if you don’t give up the bond…” She trailed off, eyes glittering. Roxy was smart enough to know that if it were that simple, we wouldn’t be reacting like we were.
“What do you need?” she asked, voice hoarse.
A unique in. One only she had. “The Lincoln pack. Do you think you can get one of them to come to you, alone?”
She chewed on her lip, eyes darting between mine as she thought.
“They took her,” I said quietly. “It will have to be good.”
“Yes. Eric. I think… He’s desperate. I had to block his number yesterday. He heard I uh… I was talking about my heat to other packs.” She opened her phone, scrolling through texts. “He was pissed, saying… here uh…” She wrinkled her nose, reading out one of the texts. “You’re a filthy whore… No pack will pay a dime for your heat after you were ours.”
“You said desperate?—”
“That is as desperate as it gets.” She scrolled back through some texts. “If I tell him I’m in preheat and no one wants me…”
“You sure?” I asked.
“Oh, he’ll come.” She nodded. “You’re going to kill him, right? After what he did to her…”
I coughed, scratching my head. “Right.”
I didn’t think I was supposed to say that out loud.
It was the truth, though.
Eric Harrington was going to die, but only after he gave up the location of my omega.