Chapter 17 #2
As much as I didn’t want the guy anywhere near Irian, it would at least keep him where I could see him, and for the immediate future, kept him away from the omega.
“Whatever. Sharkey, come back here. Bruce can do the babysitting. You’re gonna visit the Leongatha pack with Agelius. We need to talk this out.”
As the omegas disappeared out the door, Sharkey shot me a look of loathing through narrowed eyes.
Yeah, I’d been right. He’d had plans I was almost certainly sabotaging.
The least respectful of the betas, bordering on insolent, it would not have surprised me if he’d been planning on going behind his Alpha’s back and messing with Irian.
He’d probably have gotten away with it too – Zarbius wasn’t the most observant of leaders.
It confirmed what I’d suspected - Irian was safer with this guy kept close to my side.
Talius wouldn’t appreciate me bringing this piece of shit to his property, but then, I wasn’t sure what sort of a reception I was going to get anyway.
For all appearances, Irian and I had disappeared on the same day.
Under the circumstances, just that fact would be enough to raise suspicion, especially when I turned up with a ransom demand.
Somehow, I would have to ditch Sharkey and get Talius on his own for a few minutes.
Try and explain. Goddess help me if he wouldn’t listen and decided to take justice into his own hands.
“Right, you two,” Zarbius growled, interrupting my thoughts. “Come to my office now and we’ll get the details sorted. You’re gonna leave today. I’ve got a truck coming to pick up a consignment day after tomorrow, and I need to know if I’m putting that omega on the truck or not.”
And fuck, that put paid to the faint hope I’d still been hanging on to of sneaking Irian and Tosca out of here under cover of darkness.
Tonight was going to be too late. The sweat trickled down the back of my shirt.
Fuck, fuck, fuck… I was going to have to bring Talius here.
I couldn’t do this on my own, and I wouldn’t put it past Zarbius to double-cross all of us.
The ransom could be paid and Isca returned to him, and Irian might still end up on that truck.
There was also no way in the world that Talius would let Isca return here.
But that was a problem for later – hopefully when I had spoken to Talius and explained everything.
Maybe we could work out a plan together. If I could just ditch that damn beta.
It was a relief to step outside the blazing hot shed.
Although the sun was overhead, a breeze moved the air about and even that small movement felt like a cool fan across my flaming cheeks.
The contrast and the relief I felt, reminded me that Irian was probably not in great shape.
I could see the two omegas halfway across the grass clearing on their way to the cabins in the trees.
Irian was leaning heavily on the other omega who had his arm around his waist supporting him.
The beta trailed behind them. He didn’t seem to be hassling them, and I couldn’t hear him at all, allowing the pair to take the time they needed.
Maybe he was a decent guy – well, decent was relative in this pack. The bar was low.
We followed after the little group struggling its way across the grass.
Taller and more powerful than the two omegas, with longer legs, it wasn’t long before we passed them as we headed for Zarbius’s cabin.
The two omegas with their beta guard were still making their way to the cabin furthest from Zarbius’ when we stepped onto his porch.
I entered ahead of Sharkey and as there was only one visitor’s chair, I made sure I sat in it in case Sharkey had any misdirected ideas about where he and I stood in the pack hierarchy.
Sharkey stood off to the side, glowering, then moved over to the window.
His eyes were little more than slits as he tracked the movement of something outside, probably the omegas.
“Right, this is what you’re gonna do,” began Zarbius, leaning back in his chair, feet comfortably resting up on the desk.
The sharp rap of a pen hitting the wood, punctuated his words.
“The two of you are gonna go down there and demand to see that Alpha. You tell him I’ve got his omega and I wanna do a deal.
Tell him… I’m willing to give him back his omega – unharmed – in exchange for the one he wrongfully took from me, and a million bucks transferred to my account, for my trouble. ”
I sighed. “That’s too much. He’s not going to be able to put his hands on that amount of money.
I’ve seen the pack accounts ‘cause I do some work on their computer system. If you’re trying to get this deal done quickly, it needs to be an amount that’s feasible for him to get his hands on easily.
Half a mil would probably be more realistic, I reckon. ”
“And there’s no need to go down there today. We can send him a message and get him to transfer the money tonight and then do the omega swap once we’re sure the money’s in our account,” I went on. It was worth a try. I only needed one night.
Zarbius shook his head. “Nope. No cell service here. Besides, I don’t wanna give him time to call anyone else in. I want you to go down there, tell him the terms, catch him off balance. Get him to make the transfer and bring my mate back here.”
“And how will we give his mate back to him? Should we take him with us?”
“That’s the first dumb idea you’ve had since you got here,” Zarbius said rudely.
“I let you take him down there, that’s the last I see of my money or my mate.
Nah, we’ll do it my way. As for the omega, we’ll just let him go, he can find his own way home.
He can follow your trail back through the forest. Or…
” he grinned toothily, the stains on his teeth as ugly as his next words, “maybe we’ll send him in the consignment anyway. Make money both ways.”
“You, Sharkey,” he pointed a rough-skinned finger at the beta. “You’re the muscle. You make sure nothing goes wrong, okay?”
“Sure, boss,” the beta drawled, from where he was leaning indolently against the windowsill. “You know I don’t mind getting my hands dirty.”
I looked him up and down. He was thin and wiry, all lean muscle and snarl.
“What makes you so dangerous?” I asked him.
Sharkey grinned. There was a gap in his upper teeth. “I’m full of surprises,” he said, an edge to his voice. “Don’t test me out… or do, if you want.”
“Quit the pissing contest,” snapped Zarbius. “We’ve got more important things to worry about than you two flexing your muscles at each other. I want you on your way within the hour.”
Sharkey pushed to his feet. “I’m good to go. I’ll get the truck.”
Overachiever.
“No truck,” Zarbius corrected. “Don’t want no vehicles coming up here.
You drive off in a truck and they’re liable to follow you.
We’re the only ones who know the road here, well, us and the consignment truck but they want to stay on the down low anyhow.
Want to keep it that way, don’t want nobody interfering in our business. Go through the forest.”
“We’ll have to shift then,” I said.
“That gonna be a problem for you?” Sharkey’s lip curled, his comment addressed to me. “Worried about someone seeing your private parts? Ashamed of what you got?”
His insolence was a borderline request to get his face punched, and I struggled not to curl up my fists, trying to look unaffected by his taunts.
“Nope, don’t wanna show you up is all. But if you are, they keep a stash of clothes for visiting shifters to borrow.”
Sharkey gave me one of his trademark looks of loathing that I was becoming accustomed to.
“I ain’t got nothing that needs hiding,” he snarled.
“Are you trynna start something?” A muscle twitched at the corner of his eye, his orbs little more than slits.
His lip had started to curl, and the light glinted off a canine that was descending.
“Knock it off, both of you!” Zarbius interrupted. Despite his words, a small twitch at the corner of his mouth suggested he may have been enjoying our little exchange. “I said you’re shifting.”
I shrugged. “As you wish.”
“They could still follow us,” Sharkey admitted.
“As long as they can’t get vehicles up here, we’re good. We can handle a couple of no-good shifters. Now, go on, get outta here. Remember, this has all gotta be sorted before the shipment goes out. Okay?”
“Sure, I’m good to go,” Sharkey was clearly going for brownie points. I decided to exercise my authority as pack second. It didn’t hurt to remind this guy of his place.
“We’ll leave in an hour. Think I’ll go and burn off some energy with that omega you got me. He could do with some extra training. He’s a bit of a useless shit in the sack but I’ll get him there.”
“You coulda picked any of them, and you picked that one, so that’s on you. You can swap him out for another though. Don’t really care what you do.”
I shrugged. “I’ll train him. He better be a fast learner or it’s gonna hurt.”
Zarbius grinned a sleazy, toothy grin. He looked more feral in that moment than at any time I’d seen him.
“Sounded like it hurt plenty last night.”
Revolting bastard. He was relishing the idea that I’d forced myself on one of his omegas. The fact that it was my omega he was thinking about in that way just added fuel to my ire. But I had to be careful not to show my true nature.
I looked around the room, disinterestedly. “Yeah, well, like I said, he’ll learn.”
Zarbius’ boots slithered off the desk. Metal squeaked as he leaned backwards and wrestled with a drawer behind him. Something landed with a thump and a scrape on the desk in front of me. A collar. A dog collar. Shit. No way.
“Stick this on him. No-one’ll touch him,” Zarbius’s lips curled up in an evil grin. “Hell, we could get a tag made up for him. ‘Property of…’ or something like that. Put your cell number on it. Ha!” he chuckled away to himself.
I hated that I said nothing, just grinned along with him.
“Okay boys, go get ready. I’m going to go see the boys now, remind them to leave the new omega alone - they’re stupid enough to have forgotten already.
I’ll let them know about the omega with the collar.
” Zarbius signaled the end of our ‘meeting’, standing up and stretching, the chair dragging across the wooden floor with a screech.
Moments later when we stepped out the door, Sharkey’s upper lip curled in a sneer and he leaned in towards me, the smell of his rotten teeth foul in my face, and murmured in a voice only I could hear, “Having trouble keeping your little bitch in line, eh?”
The crack as my fist hit his jaw was satisfying, though the pain radiated from my knuckles and through my entire hand.
But it was worth it. It could have turned into a full-on fight, except before Sharkey could take a swing, I had his arm twisted hard behind his back.
Living outside the protection of a pack had taught me some skills.
“Careful,” I warned him. “So far, I’ve played nice. But I’ve had about enough of your insolence. I’m Number Two here and you’d better remember it. You wouldn’t want Zarbius to know you’ve been touching up his prisoner, would you?”
He glowered at me.
“Just watch your step,” I told him. “You’re so very close to crossing the line.”