Chapter 41
Chapter
Forty-One
ZANDER
“Dr. Black is here,” Hamish called from the doorway. He stood with his arms crossed, his face etched in a scowl. “I don’t like all of these alphas in my house. How long until you’ve got everything you need?”
“Not much longer,” I told him, straightening from a crouch. Perhaps I should have arranged to transport Reid elsewhere, but according to Nathaniel this was the safest building in town, and that’s exactly where I wanted my mate to remain.
I waved to Nathaniel. “Why don’t you head out to make room for Dr. Black?”
Nathaniel nodded and brushed out past Hamish. “We’ll be out of your way soon, Protector.”
Hamish’s eyes narrowed. “Glad to hear it.”
Behind him, Dr. Black tsked. “Not all alphas are bad, Hamish. Some of us only want to help.”
To my utter astonishment, Hamish’s cheeks turned pink and he ducked his head, mumbling something incomprehensible as he hurried away down the hall.
Huh.
Did big, tough Hamish have a thing for the handsome older doctor?
Dr. Black entered and I moved out of the way so he could approach Reid. I watched him closely, my bear on alert for any potential threat to our mate.
The lack of mating bond chafed and I wished I could sink my teeth into his shoulder and claim him as fate had intended, but I’d never forgive myself if I hurt him or rushed him. I just had to clench my jaw and summon a level of patience I’d never known I’d need.
Dr. Black examined him thoroughly but kept his touch clinical—probably the only thing that stopped my bear from plucking him away from our little warlock.
“As far as I can tell, the baby is fine,” he said, standing and giving Reid the kind of look a stern parent might.
“But that’s purely down to luck. You’re overtired and dehydrated.
I want you to focus on resting and getting plenty of fluids over the next twenty-four hours.
Preferably water but I’ll leave some flavored electrolyte powder you can add if you’d like. ”
Reid nodded, then winced. “Thank you.”
Dr. Black’s lip curled. “You can thank me by taking it easy, okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
Dr. Black packed his case and left. I glanced at Milo and Danny, who were both lingering with guilty expressions and their heads down, like scolded children.
“Can I trust you to take care of him?” I asked them, not entirely certain they could be relied upon to ensure he didn’t use his magic again.
“Yes, Z,” Danny said, scuffing the carpet with one foot. “We’ll look after your mate.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and then at Milo, the weaker link.
Milo’s eyes widened and he nodded furiously. “We won’t leave his side.”
“Good.” I was sure Everett and Knox would appreciate their omega mates also being secure in the safest building in town.
Reid reached for me, his fingers brushing my sleeve. “Will you let me know what you find?”
I bit the inside of my cheek to prevent my instinctive reply. I wanted him far away from any trouble, but if I tried to hide anything from him, there was every chance he’d find some devious way to learn the truth without me. “I will.”
His gaze searched mine and then he settled, apparently satisfied. “Thank you.”
I looped my fingers through his and gave his hand a slight squeeze, then released him and headed out.
I drove Nathaniel back to the police station. The deputies were hard at work in the bull pen, Bea on her computer while Hawk was discussing something heatedly with Neil, the cop who usually worked the night shift.
“Any luck on those sites?” I asked, speaking loudly enough to be heard by everyone. I’d asked Clay to send them the details Reid had shared so they’d be able to get a head start.
“The rural site looks promising,” Bea said, motioning to her computer screen.
I strode over and looked at the satellite imagery that showed a cluster of buildings in the middle of nowhere, with a long gravel drive and a country road that passed by.
“I’m almost certain this is the location that Reid described.
The address matches, there’s a similar number of buildings, and it’s about the right distance from Grayton.
See these”—she pointed at several long rectangular structures—“they’re shipping containers.
If I was going to hold omegas captive, that’s where I’d put them. ”
My back teeth ground together and my stomach plummeted as I imagined Reid being kept in one of those ugly metal boxes. Were there other omegas inside at this very minute? If so, what kind of condition would they be in?
“Send the address to my phone,” I told her. “I’ll let the feds know.”
Nathaniel touched my arm. “They won’t have gotten a warrant yet and they might not be pleased that a tracing spell has been done without approval, or that evidence was stolen to do it.”
I grimaced. “I still have to tell them.”
Surely the PBI had bigger fish to fry than a desperate, traumatized omega warlock who only wanted to help.
Nathaniel hesitated, but then nodded. “Ask for SSA Rainier.”
“Thanks.” Already getting my phone from my pocket, I headed to my office and called the main contact line for the PBI.
When it connected, I asked for SSA Rainier as Nathaniel had suggested and explained that a tracking spell had been carried out and a location of interest identified.
SSA Rainier grumbled about not following protocol but he gave me less trouble than I expected—perhaps because I’d name-dropped Nathaniel.
“Will you investigate?” I asked him after he’d finished quizzing me.
He sighed. “We’ll follow up, but we have a strong—authorized—lead on another trafficking ring that we’re preparing to infiltrate.
That’s our current priority. Once the operation has wrapped up, we’ll shift focus and by then, we might have got the sign-off to use the information your source provided. ”
“But Amato will realize his guys are missing soon,” I protested, knowing as I did that it wouldn’t change anything. “What if they move up the auction or relocate the omegas?”
There was a moment of silence.
“We don’t have solid evidence that omegas are being held there,” Rainier said eventually. “I know it’s hard to sit on your hands and wait, but the other case is urgent and can’t be delayed. I’m sorry.”
I accepted this, unsurprised but still frustrated, and said a brief goodbye before ending the call.
As soon as the call disconnected, I rang Dad and asked him to come down, then I headed to the Search and Rescue base of operations and gathered Garrick and Everett in a meeting room.
Knox accompanied them, apparently sensing something was up.
Once Dad arrived, I explained the situation.
“I understand where the feds are coming from, but it doesn’t sit well with me,” I tacked on when I finished.
“Right now, I doubt the traffickers will realize they’ve been compromised, which means we have a window of opportunity.
As soon as that changes, we might lose any advantage we have over them. ”
Dad rubbed his jaw, his palm rasping over the stubble as his eyes flashed gold. “This is likely only one site of many. If we were to attack it, there’s no saying what might happen to omegas being detained at other sites.”
“We can’t abandon them!” Everett growled, claws bursting from the tips of his fingers.
“They might not even be there,” Garrick said, proving once again why he was the next in line to become Clan Alpha.
He was less hotheaded than Everett and more willing to play games than me.
“As the PBI said, we don’t know for sure.
We need more information before we decide on our next steps. How can we get that?”
I tapped my chin, thinking quickly. “I’ll ask Hawk to fly overhead.”
Everett paced from one side of the room to the other, fur sprouting and retracting along his bare forearms. “Will it take long?”
I considered the distance. “Perhaps an hour.”
Dad nodded. “Do it.”
I radioed Hawk with instructions and waited to get the affirmative before moving on. “Say he does find omegas there. What then?”
Everett started to speak but Knox held up a hand to cut him off.
“We go in with stealth,” Knox said. “We make sure we capture a couple of the higher-ups so we can extract information about the organization, then we free the omegas.”
Everett rumbled. “The omegas should be our priority.”
Knox hurried to agree. To be fair, if anyone disagreed, Everett looked like he might take a swipe at them.
“Perhaps Nathaniel can mask our presence so no one realizes anything is wrong and reports back to Amato, at least for a couple of hours,” Garrick said thoughtfully.
“If he does a truth spell on anyone we take prisoner, we might be able to get answers quickly—although we run the risk of them being subject to the same silencing spell as the others.” He turned to Dad. “What do you think?”
Dad’s brow was furrowed with concentration and he looked older than his years, reminding me that while he was a strong and capable Clan Alpha, he wasn’t accustomed to leading our usually peaceful clan through situations like this.
After a while, he inclined his head. “I don’t like to risk losing the element of surprise.
If the plan goes wrong and news gets back to Amato, he could go to ground.
But we also need to rescue those omegas and the PBI is busy with something else.
Let’s make a plan to go ahead with the infiltration but wait until we hear from Hawk before confirming our course of action. ”
“Right.” I straightened. “I’ll get Bea to print a map of the terrain and brainstorm methods of entry to the compound.”
Half an hour later, I received a call from an unknown number.
“Boss, it’s Hawk,” a quiet male voice said as soon as I answered. “I have bad news. There are omegas being held here, but a truck just arrived onsite and it looks like they’re going to be moving them soon. Perhaps someone tipped them off that we’re onto them.”
“Fuck.” If there was a leak in the feds, we’d never catch them if we waited. “Lie low, Hawk. I’ll be in touch. Can I call you on this number?”
“Yeah. Be quick.”
I hung up and cleared my throat to draw everyone’s attention. “The omegas are there, but they’re moving them. We need to go.”
And damn, that meant I had to call Reid as I’d promised to update him. Hopefully he wouldn’t do something ridiculous like try to insist he come too.