Chapter Twenty-one — Theo
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
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THEO
The wasteland of warehouses I currently drove through didn’t look like Clarity.
Clarity Coast wasn’t a place that was filled with a lot of warehouses.
The wealthy people who lived here cared too much about the aesthetics of their neighborhoods to let that happen.
But they had to go somewhere, which was how an isolated, sprawling section of multi-level warehouses had cropped up on the inland east side.
And where the address of the hacker led. Aiden Fletcher, her text said. Not sure why you’d need an office in a warehouse as a hacker, but I wasn’t planning on asking him that question.
I turned down the row I needed, seeing the warehouses here were even more rundown than the ones behind me.
Yeah, there was no fucking way I would have let Trinity come here alone. There were workers here and there, but there were also quite a few places that looked creepy and abandoned. I didn’t like it. The thought of her here by herself made me more than a bit feral.
Was it over the top and a bit possessive? Yes.
Did I care? No.
Trinity was both my Omega and my submissive, and her well-being came before everything else. And when I got my hands on her later—
Let’s not go meet a hacker with a hard-on, Theo.
I parked outside the warehouse in question and double-checked the address. It looked like nothing inconspicuous, but I guessed that was the point.
Theo
About to head inside. Feels a little cloak-and-dagger.
Trinity
Isn’t that the fun part?
Theo
I see why you’re a reporter
Trinity
The cameras weren’t subtle, but I wasn’t trying to sneak up on anyone. I entered the code he’d given Trinity and waited.
A voice with a posh Albion accent came from an invisible speaker. “I have to admit you’re much more masculine than I imagined for someone named Trinity.”
“Wasn’t going to let her come meet you alone. No offense.” I also wasn’t going to let him know who I was to her yet.
An amused chuckle. “None taken.”
A buzzing sound made the door open, and I stepped into a very dim, very narrow hallway that had a door at the other end and no other doors branching away.
“Why do I feel like this hallway is meant to kill people?”
“Because you have basic common sense,” the same voice came from speakers in the ceiling. “And yes, there are both explosives and firearms lining the walls in case someone who’s not welcome shows up. Don’t worry. You’re not on that list.”
“That’s very reassuring.”
“It should be. My communication style is very direct. If I were going to kill you, you’d either be dead before you knew the difference, or I would tell you to your face and revel in it.”
I paused. “All right. I think that’s less comforting than you imagine, but I’ll take your word for it.” Not like I really had much of an option now that I was standing in the middle of a kill box.
“To each their own.”
The hallway was a bit longer than it looked. When I reached a door so thick it seemed like a bank vault, I felt like I was in the belly of the beast.
The door unlocked, and I entered, heaving the heavy door open. “You don’t think this amount of security is overkill?”
“Probably,” he acknowledged, his voice now not filtered through speakers. “But you know what they say. Better safe than dead.”
“I think it’s better safe than sorry?”
He chuckled. “Not in my line of work.”
I wasn’t sure what I pictured, but a suave man in a button-down and dress slacks wasn’t it.
For some reason, I thought I’d be walking into a space lined with fast food wrappers and empty sodas along with a person in old basketball shorts and greasy hair.
Not a space so neat and clean it barely looked lived in, and someone who looked like they were on their way out to a date.
Spinning in his chair, he looked at me, and we sized each other up.
Something shifted, and I let the shock show on my face.
Feeling the connection with pack members was a much subtler sensation than meeting your Omega. With the others, it had been that quiet feeling of knowing. No way to describe it unless you’d felt it happening. And right now? It was happening.
All awkwardness slipped away, both our instincts recognizing the other as pack. What the actual fuck?
Aiden leaned back in his chair and grinned. “Well… that’s different.”
“Yeah…” I shook my head. “Not really what I expected.”
There was no protocol for the way packs formed. Just because the connection was there didn’t mean you were obligated. Most of the time people did, because it made sense to stay with the people whose instincts matched yours, and we had them for a reason.
“I didn’t catch your name,” Aiden said, standing and holding out a hand.
I shook it. “Theo Pierce.”
He paused. “You’re the swimmer.”
“Yeah.”
“Nicely done last Olympiad.”
“Thank you.”
We stood there for a second, staring at each other. What did we do now? “Do you have any pack members already?”
“No.” He shook his head and sat back down at his computer, typing quickly.
The screens all around the room began to turn off until it was only the security monitors that were live.
“It had gotten to the point where I thought I’d be on my own.
Which would have been fine. But I guess that’s not true now.
” He laughed once. “Unless you’re not looking for additions. I promise I won’t be offended.”
“Well, there’s three more of us, so I’m not going to make that decision on my own. But I wouldn’t say no. I’m more blindsided than anything else.”
“Four of you? Damn. Well, thankfully, due to the unique nature of my job, I have a very flexible schedule. I’m happy to come meet the rest of the pack. If you’re interested.”
I startled out of the daze I was in. “Yeah. For sure. Our lives have been a bit hectic the last few days, so it makes sense.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“That’s an after-you-meet-them conversation, but nothing bad.” The opposite of bad, but I was going to be cautious until I didn’t have a reason to be.
“You have a car here? Mine hasn’t been delivered from Albion yet.”
I nodded toward the entrance. “Yeah. And you’re having a car brought all the way from Albion?”
“They’re much better cars, and I’ll be the first to admit I prefer the finer things in life.”
Laughing, I pushed the outer door open into the afternoon sunshine. “I think you’ll fit right in.”
He slid into the car and looked over at me. “Oh?”
“Well, do you play or did you play a sport?”
“Rugby.”
“Should have known. You know me. All of us are athletes or former ones, and we all have one other very big thing in common.”
“What’s that?”
I pulled my sunglasses from the cupholder and put them on, now that I was driving towards the sun. If he was on board with this, there was no doubt about the accuracy of instinct. “We’re all heavily involved in kink and BDSM.”
Aiden tipped his head back and laughed. “That will not be a problem. Fuck me.” He laughed once more. “A clear matchup if I’ve ever seen one.”
“I’d ask you what your interests are, but I don’t want you repeating yourself multiple times.”
“I appreciate that.”
Small talk ruled the rest of the drive. Thankfully, it wasn’t too long. The others were going to kill me for not giving them a heads up. But if I was going to be surprised by this, then so were they.
I dialed Brooks as I stepped out of the car. He answered on the second ring. “What’s up?”
“You’re all home?”
“Trinity isn’t yet. How’d it go?”
“It… went fine.”
His voice turned suspicious. “That sounded completely natural.”
“No, it went fine. It just didn’t go completely to plan.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I need all of you guys by the front door. Be there in five.”
“What—”
I ended the call. He was about to get all his questions answered.
Aiden shut the door and looked around the parking garage. “Not the best security for the garage.”
I led him to the elevator with a chuckle. “Most of the world doesn’t need a bomb bunker just for their car.”
He shrugged. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Planning on renovating the garage and you haven’t even seen the apartment yet?”
“Renovate? No. Place as many extra cameras as are actually needed? Yes.”
My laugh filled the elevator. “If you say so.”
“I do.”
My brain was still doing gymnastics. One life-changing encounter in a week was a lot. Two? We would be reeling for a while.
No one could tell when pack bonds were going to happen. Finding Trinity at Element was the perfect example. You had to roll with it. Like right now.
“Tell me,” Aiden said. “What am I walking into?”
“Probably confusion. Not like we expected this.”
“Fucking right,” he said under his breath.
The elevator opened onto the small hallway in front of our door. “Try to resist the temptation to turn this into a kill box.”
“I’ll try. It is a significant temptation, though.”
I shook my head and pushed open the door. Everyone was where I asked them to be. It only took a second for them to understand.
Logan looked at Aiden. “What the fuck?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said. “Walked in, and it clicked for both of us.”
Aiden took a step forward and held out a hand. “He’s right. I’m Aiden Fletcher.”