Chapter 28
The room spins, my grip on reality slipping with each word Travis speaks.
In front of me, Sebastian’s expression shifts from confusion to alarm, but I can’t focus on him over the roaring in my ears and the threat of the man who has my best friend.
“I can hear you breathing, Elliot. Or do you prefer Micah?” Travis’s words carry a sing-song quality that raises the hair on my arms. “You didn’t say, and your little friend wouldn’t tell me which one you like better.”
My tongue feels swollen, too large for my mouth. “Where’s Saint? Let me talk to him.”
A shuffling sound comes through the line, followed by a muffled thump and a groan that tightens my chest. I know that sound. I’ve heard it from Saint before, back when we were younger and the older kids in the group home decided we needed to be taught our place.
“Saint can’t come to the phone right now.” Travis’s breathing quickens with excitement. “He’s a bit tied up at the moment.”
Sebastian reaches for the phone, but I turn away, holding it tighter to my ear. “If you hurt him—”
“You’ll what?” Travis cuts me off. “Send your Alpha dog after me? I can smell him through the phone, Elliot. That rich, entitled prick who put his hands on what’s mine.”
Gabriel appears at Sebastian’s side, his casual demeanor replaced by the coiled readiness of a predator. He taps his wrist, reminding me to keep Travis talking while he traces the call.
“What do you want?” I ask, forcing the words past the lump in my throat.
“You.” The simplicity of his answer chills me more than any threat could have. “Alone. No Alpha scent anywhere near you, or your friend loses fingers. Then toes. Then, other parts he might miss.”
I bend forward, fist clenched over the pain building in my stomach. “How do I know Saint is still alive?”
Another shuffle, then Saint’s words spill through the speaker, ragged but defiant. “Micah, don’t you dare—”
His words cut off with a sickening crack, followed by a strangled cry that turns my stomach inside out.
“Saint!” I scream, panic clawing up my throat.
“Thirty minutes,” Travis says, turning businesslike. “The coffee shop on Elm Street in Brickwell. Come inside, order a coffee, and sit by the window. Alone. If anyone else comes, your friend dies.”
“Give me an address now,” I demand, desperation pushing past my fear. “I want to see Saint.”
“Coffee shop first. Then I’ll call with the next step.” His breathing quickens again, excited by my distress. “Don’t tell that Alpha who’s been hovering around you. Don’t bring him. Don’t call the police. Thirty minutes, Elliot. The clock is ticking.”
The line goes dead, and silence crashes down around me.
“Micah.” Sebastian pierces through my panic. “What did he say?”
My phone slips from my numb fingers, and Sebastian catches it before it hits the floor, his scarred face tight with concern.
“He has Saint,” I choke out. “He wants me to meet him at a coffee shop in Brickwell. Alone. No police.”
Sebastian’s expression darkens. “Absolutely not.”
“He’ll kill Saint,” I whisper. “Travis hurt him while I was on the phone. I heard it.”
Gabriel moves to the main console, fingers flying across the keyboard. “I’m trying to track the signal. He’s bouncing it through multiple towers.”
“I’m going,” I say, the decision crystallizing in my mind even as I speak it. “Saint has had my back my entire life. I wouldn’t be here now if not for him.”
Sebastian steps in front of me, blocking my path to the door. “No. We’ll find another way.”
“There is no other way!” I try to move around him. “He gave me thirty minutes, and Brickwell is nearly that far from here. After that, Saint dies.”
“And you think he’ll let Saint walk away if you go?” Sebastian grips my shoulders, his touch firm but not painful. “This is a trap, Micah. We’ll lose you both.”
The truth of his words registers but doesn’t change my resolve. “I can’t abandon Saint.”
“No one’s abandoning anyone,” Gabriel interrupts, pushing between us. “Sebastian, we’ll follow in a separate car and keep our distance. Let Micah appear to comply while we track him.”
Sebastian whirls on his cousin. “You want to use my mate as bait?”
“I want to keep everyone alive.” Gabriel meets Sebastian’s glare without flinching. “This Travis guy expects us to either hold Micah back or send in an army. He won’t expect a middle approach.”
Fury radiates from Sebastian in waves, his Alpha pheromones filling the room. “If anything happens to him—”
“Then we’ll already be dead,” Gabriel cuts in, calm in the face of Sebastian’s rage. “But this gives us our best shot.”
My heart hammers, counting down the seconds we don’t have to waste. “I’m going with or without your help, Sebastian. But I’d rather have you behind me.”
Sebastian’s expression shifts from anger to fear to resignation before settling into grim determination. “We do this my way. Every step.”
“Twenty-eight minutes left,” I remind him, already moving toward the door.
Gabriel grabs a case from a cabinet by the wall and flips it open, revealing an array of surveillance equipment. “I need ninety seconds to set up comms.”
Sebastian’s hand finds mine. “When this is over—”
“When this is over, Saint and I will both be safe,” I finish for him. “And Travis will wish he never subscribed to my channel.”
Gabriel approaches with a flesh-colored communication device.
His fingers brush the hair near my temple as he fits it into my ear canal.
“This is a two-way comm. We’ll hear everything around you.
Tap once to activate your microphone, twice to mute.
” He demonstrates with a gentle touch to the outer edge.
“Once for yes, twice for no if you can’t speak freely. ”
Sebastian pulls me into his arms while Gabriel works, his arms encircling me in a brief, fierce embrace. “Follow the plan. No heroics. You verify Saint’s alive, then you get out. We handle the rest.”
I nod, breathing in his scent to steady myself. “Keys?”
Gabriel presses a fob into my palm. “Take the black SUV in spot three. We’ll be in the silver sedan behind you. Once we near Ashford Heights, we’ll start giving you distance, so don’t worry if you lose sight of us. We’ll still be with you.”
My fingers close around the fob. “He said no Alpha scent. He’ll smell you on me.”
“Not through these.” Sebastian opens a cabinet and pulls out an aerosol bottle. “Military grade scent blockers. Turn around while I spray you.”
A minute later, as we rush out, we almost crash into Jade and Milo, on their way back to take a shift monitoring the computers.
“What’s happening?” Milo demands.
“No time to talk,” Gabriel calls back. “Man the computers. We’ll fill you in from the car.”
Sebastian leads me to the elevator, and we ride it down to the Rockfords’ private garage.
Five precious minutes later, I sit behind the wheel of an SUV. The earpiece sits snug in my ear, Gabriel coming through with crystal clarity as he runs a final check.
“We’re locked and loaded. Trackers are active on the vehicle and on you. Say something.”
I touch the earpiece. “I can hear you.”
“Good.” Sebastian stares at me from the silver sedan in the spot next to mine. “We’ll be right behind you, Micah. Promise me you won’t try to be a hero.”
Unsure if I can keep that promise, I tap the communication button once for yes and start the engine.
As I pull away from Rockford Manor, the gravity of what I’m doing settles over me. I’m driving straight into a trap set by the man who’s been stalking me, a man who’s already proven he’s willing to hurt the people I love.
But Saint would do the same for me. Has done the same, more times than I can count.
The earpiece crackles to life with Sebastian’s reassurance. “We’ve got you, Micah. Every step of the way.”
I just hope he’s right.
The SUV’s engine purrs beneath me as I navigate the winding road down from Skyhaven, each curve taking me farther from safety and closer to Travis. Streetlights flash across the dashboard in rhythmic patterns, counting down the minutes until I reach the coffee shop.
My palms leave damp prints on the leather steering wheel as Sebastian speaks into my ear, steady despite the fear I hear underneath his words. “Traffic cameras show clear roads all the way to Brickwell. How are you holding up?”
Not trusting myself to speak, I tap the communication button once. The clock on the dashboard reads eleven forty-seven. Eighteen minutes until Travis’s deadline, and I still have to pass through three cities to get to Brickwell and find parking.
The road stretches empty before me, a black ribbon winding down the hillside between the mansions of Skyhaven and the historic district of Rockhaven.
“There’s so much empty space,” I murmur, tapping the comm button. “Once we hit Brickwell, you’ll stand out if there’s no traffic, even with the distance between us.”
“We’ve thought of that,” Gabriel says. “We’ve got three more vehicles converging from different directions. By the time you reach the coffee shop, we’ll have a full surveillance perimeter.”
The plan should reassure me, but my stomach twists tighter with each mile marker. Saint’s pained cry echoes in my memory, driving me forward even as every instinct screams to turn back.
The lights of Rockhaven appear ahead, historical buildings illuminated by antique streetlamps that cast warm pools on the cobblestone streets. I ease off the accelerator as the speed limit drops, the SUV slowing to a respectable crawl through the sleeping district.
“Twelve minutes to destination,” Sebastian reports. “We’ll start distancing now, but we’ll keep you in sight. When you go inside the coffee shop, don’t look for us. Act normal.”
A laugh bubbles up my throat, tinged with hysteria. Normal. As if anything about this situation could be normal.
The road widens as I pass through Rockhaven, transitioning to a four-lane street that will carry me down to Ashford Heights, and from there, to Brickwell.