Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Ares
Ledger rushed ahead of me as we stepped outside. I heard him send Ansel off with the others, which was probably for the best.
I wasn’t slowing down for anything.
My gaze landed on the holster at Ledger’s hip. I’d pretended not to notice the sheer amount of weapons he’d concealed earlier. He’d need them.
“You better truly know how to use that thing,” I said as I caught up to him. We both knew damn well he could but I couldn’t help but warn him. I didn’t need him to make mistakes. He was more than a little out of practice now.
He didn’t dignify it with a response, just spared me one glance before he approached the shed.
He didn’t bother saying a word to the men waiting outside. They were Alliance agents who I told to meet us here. They knew they were backup and simply stepped aside for him.
Everyone had been briefed. I’d bet the Chief knew exactly what they would do the moment we showed them the armory truck. We just all had to feign ignorance for the sake of ending this, once and for all.
We’d handle the mistakes and fallout later. There would be plenty of pointing fingers as we called out the depths of corruption hidden away here in ARC.
Once it was all said and done, and we had Audrey back, I knew it would be even more of a battle to get them released. We had to prove that they were safe to be in public, that they’d made progress here despite the corruption.
That she was stable after yet another round of trauma.
My reputation was on the line right alongside them. The Chief and everyone else knew I could be trusted. The Board of the Omega Network did not. The higher-ups in the Alliance also did not. To them, I was likely seen as a wild card.
“What’s inside?” I asked, just before Ledger reached the door.
“It’s a typical shed,” one of my men said with a shrug. “As far as we can tell, there’s no sign of anyone there. Just some lawn tools and supplies and some old boards.”
“I don’t understand how that’s possible,” I argued, refusing for this to become yet another fucking dead end. We’d run into far too many. “They came this way. Where else would they have gone?”
I trusted everything Ansel said, and they knew better than to question me at this point. If there were doubts, they kept them to themselves, but I’d seen a few doubtful looks. Especially when I said one of my pack omegas saw Malik.
Everyone just assumed that the people in the center were mentally unstable, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The people here might’ve had broken bonds, dealing with more pain and grief than anyone should ever have to, but they weren’t incapable of proper thought.
I hated the stigma that followed this godforsaken place. I couldn’t wait to see the end of it.
Ledger had already torn past the men while I was talking to the agents. I could hear the crashing inside as he tore the place apart, and who could blame him?
They’d known Audrey far longer than I had. I was sure the protective instincts I had were nothing compared to the way his alpha was likely riding him, demanding that he see her safe again.
“Ares!” Ledger yelled, getting my attention.
I hurried inside in time to see him throwing a stack of plywood aside. There was no garage door anymore, it had been long sealed over with a makeshift metal wall. Someone had created a door in one side, tearing out the metal and stacking the boards over it to go unnoticed.
Sure enough, hidden behind the supplies was an exit, small enough that a person could slide through easily and cover their tracks. As long as the gardner didn’t see them, they were golden.
“How would they have carried her through here, though?” I asked.
“I’m not sure they did,” Ledger said, crouching down to study the tracks. “But someone sure went through here. These are fresh tracks. I’m seeing two sets, but they couldn’t have squeezed through with Audrey over their shoulders. Ansel said he saw Malik and two soldiers, not her.”
My heart pounded as reality sank in. He was right. There was no way they’d taken our girl through here. But someone had left through here, which meant Malik no longer had our omega.
My earpiece beeped and Sanchez’s voice filtered into my ear. “You need to get your pack back here. There’s an auction going up and you’ll never guess who is the prime pick,” he said, voice shaking and frantic. I’d never heard him anything but calm.
“No,” I gasped, horrified at the thought of her being put out there for someone to purchase. To do what they wanted with.
They were trying to auction off my omega.
“To the highest bidder?” I asked carefully. Maybe we could fight back under the radar. Walk in there invited.
“Not just any auction,” Sanchez said. Something in his voice had my blood running cold. “A heat auction. They’re inducing heat.”
Ledger was only catching pieces of the conversation since he didn’t have a comm like I did. He was inches from my face now, demanding answers.
“What is he saying?”
“They’re trying to auction off Audrey,” I said. “Sanchez has a lead. If we want to find our girl, we have to let Malik go for now. The agents will track him down.”
“Damn straight we will,” Ledger growled. “Send them in after him. They definitely went this way.”
“We’re already on it,” one of our guards said, rounding up the others as they went out through the opening to follow the lead while we rushed back into ARC.
“I know this looks bleak,” I said, “but now we know who has her and where to find her.”
“How the fuck are we going to get there? Nobody’s going to let us bid on our omega,” Ledger growled. “I might have to call my father.”
“No, you’re not,” I snapped. “The Alliance has more funds than you think. We have men of every skill set. Give us a chance.”
“You’re asking me to gamble my omega, Ares. We barely know you.”
I flinched at the words. He didn’t look remorseful at all, and I really couldn’t blame him. They’d only known me a short time, the Alliance even less, but I’d more than proven my worth.
“That’s not fair and you fucking know it. If we turn on each other now, we’re fucked. I’m going in there to see what my team has found and then I’m going to follow that fucking lead. Ledger, you can either stick with me or you can stay here and be out of the loop.”
“Fine,” he bit out. What choice did he have?
We didn’t have time to go searching for the others. Ledger and I ran straight to Sanchez.
“This is one of the rings we’ve been working for years to bust,” Sanchez said as he pulled up the information on the screen. “They move every so often but we suspect they have a central location somewhere that remains under the radar.”
He clicked a tab and the auction site pulled up on the screen.
There was our omega. White tattered dress, crouched down, teeth bared. She looked downright feral.
“Fuck yeah, Wildling. Fight them,” Ledger whispered, eyes misting over.
They absolutely knew what they were doing with that picture. She was ready for a fight, to rip them to shreds the moment they tried to touch her.
What better game for an alpha than an omega who was going to put up a little resistance?
Sick fucks.
“Is this what happened to the Chief’s daughter?” Ledger asked quietly, not wanting the Chief to overhear.
“No,” Sanchez said. “I searched these sites for years for her. Unfortunately, we never found her. I even used facial recognition software because they love to use shitty disguises. Wigs, dye, anything to make it look like you’ve got the wrong girl. Never got a single hit.”
“They didn’t bother to do it with her,” I said, unsure what that meant for our mate. “Why didn’t they try to hide her?”
“She spent ten years in that place,” Ledger said.
“They didn’t need to hide her. A high-profile girl like the Chief’s daughter?
Oh yeah, they’d disguise her every way they could.
But Audrey? Not her. They wanted those men to recognize the girl they tormented.
She’ll go quickly to the alphas who used to buy time with her.
They’ll do anything to get their hands on their prized omega again.
If she survived ten years in that place, then it’s because she was an asset.
He looked sick as he said it, probably about as sick as I felt. Audrey had deserved so much better, and we’d failed her, let her fall back into the clutches of the man who’d spent over ten years tormenting her.
“Stop,” Sanchez said. “You don’t want to start that shit. You can’t go down that road blaming yourself. That’s not going to help you find your girl.”
“You’re right. It won’t,” I said. “But you will. You’re gonna get us into that auction. I want us to make the highest fucking bid. One no one else could even attempt to make.”
“Already on it,” Sanchez said. “Like I said, we have our guy on the inside. These funds are never gonna go through, but they’re going to look legitimate. We’ve spent a lot of years fucking up a lot of sinister plans. That tends to earn you a penny or two.”
“And how the fuck do we know we can trust this guy?” Ledger asked. He had to stop fighting us but there was no point in reasoning with him.
“You don’t,” Sanchez shot back. “Same way you didn’t know you could trust us. Yet here we are, helping you guys out. You don’t know if you can trust me, either, but what else are you going to do?”
Ledger glared but didn’t argue. It was a fair point.
“Enough,” Sanchez said, waving his hand around as if to swat away the useless conversation. “We can’t waste time on this. Let me fucking concentrate.”
He was locked in now, eyes on the screen, ignoring any protest Ledger might put up. I knew I could trust him so I kept my mouth shut in that regard.
I put a hand on Ledger, forcing him to look at me. “Let him work. He’s got this. We can trust him.”
Blue eyes met mine. “With her life?”
I nodded. “With mine and hers. They’re good people.
I know you haven’t had a lot of chances to trust anyone, but now is the time.
You need to let me take care of this pack.
I have the resources you unfortunately don’t.
That’s not a dig at you, just the harsh reality of our situation here.
You are strong, and you’ve kept her safe up to now. But it’s my turn now. And his.”
“He’s not her alpha,” Ledger argued. At this point he was just being stubborn.
“No,” I said. “But he might’ve just saved her fucking life. If we had missed this lead, we’d have lost her for good.”
“Ha!” Sanchez said, a flash of triumph in his voice. “They just closed down the bets after I put in our bid for one million.”
“Hold on, one million dollars?” Ledger’s eyes widened. Maybe he was finally seeing that our reach was far bigger than he expected.
“Like I said, we have the funds. And now you have the lead you need. But you’re not leaving this fucking building,” Sanchez said as he stood, kicking back his chair and going toe to toe with Ledger.
“Unless you can calm your alpha instincts down and let our men work, you could ruin everything if you let him take the lead. It’s not just your girl in there.
There are a lot of omegas waiting for someone to rescue them.
All of them deserve the same peace Audrey does. ”
Ledger was breathing hard as he faced off with the beta, his nostrils flaring with each angry breath. This time, no argument fell from his lips.
“Get the rest of the pack up to date for me,” I said to Sanchez, stepping between them. “Tell them to wait here for more info. We can’t risk all of us coming. And speak to Chief on how to handle her heat.”
“I will,” he promised, going back to his screens to see the auction through.
“Ledger, come with me. They’ll get us to the drop zone,” I said quickly.
“I’d never do anything to harm my mate,” Ledger growled as we stalked out, a delayed response.
“Then prove it.”