Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Aries
Mountain View Lodge was a new restaurant that opened up in town. It definitely fit the whole mountain theme with its dark wood and rustic decor.
Leon, Nikolai, Luca, Ronan, and I were all seated around a table in the corner. There were low walls and plants on either side of us, giving us some semblance of privacy.
I didn’t miss that Ronan had bribed the waiter to give us somewhere like this, and honestly, I appreciated it right now. This wasn’t the kind of conversation that I wanted spread around town.
It always felt a little like all eyes were on me when I walked through Widow’s Peak. Now that they were here and things were shifting, it was even more intense.
Our waiter walked up, giving us all a bright smile as he dropped some straws onto the table, dividing them up before looking at us.
“Hello, I’m Jensen, and I’ll be your waiter tonight. Can I get you started with some drinks, appetizers, or cocktails?” he offered, rattling off a few specials.
“Champagne for me,” I said, glancing at the appetizer menu. “And we’ll do the dip sampler.” Having something in front of us to nibble on was an absolute necessity.
Plus, you really couldn’t go wrong with queso.
“I’ll take whatever you’ve got on draft,” Leon said.
“That sounds good to me, too,” Luca added.
“Whiskey on the rocks,” Ronan added with a smile that had the waiter blushing. I bit back a growl and from the smirk that flashed my way, he noticed. Luca was right, this alpha was a brat.
I looked at Nikolai, wondering if his stance on drinks had changed, but when he ordered a soda, I knew he was still the same Nikolai.
It was such a stupid, small thing, but somehow, it made him feel more real again. Like I knew him, not just the memory of him.
He must have felt something shifting in the bond. His eyes met mine and the smile on his lips was soft and inviting. My cheeks burned and warmth spread through my chest.
“Still haven’t touched a drop of alcohol?” I questioned, desperate to break the moment that felt too intense for dinner.
“Nope,” he said evenly.
I nodded, and his shoulders relaxed slightly, as if he’d been bracing for my judgment.
I’d say he should know me better than that, but obviously we knew nothing about each other these days.
“So, I’m going to start,” I said when his eyes finally let me go. “Because I’m not doing small talk all night.”
I took a breath.
“The night that I was taken, I was already weak from my mom beating the shit out of me for designating as an omega. When I went to take out the trash at the diner, I struggled to get it into the bin. When I finally turned around a group of alphas were already on me. I didn’t even have a chance to fight back before a needle was plunged into my neck. ”
I toyed with the straw wrapper in my hand, not willing to look them in the eye for this. I was so damn tired of rehashing this story.
“The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a room. It was a concrete cell and two guards were with me. When I tried to fight them, they knocked me out again. They were angry and starting to take their punishment out on me. It would’ve turned out a lot worse if the others hadn’t come back, demanding that it was time. That we were supposed to be unharmed.”
“Time for what?” Ronan asked, his voice too calm, though his eyes were filled with fury.
I swallowed hard, laying it all out. What Gideon’s purpose was, what we endured, what we were trained to be.
Then I told them about our escape.
“We managed to make it here. It was a settlement that had started but never went through. It lost funding or something. Slowly, we built it up and made a community for omegas like us to escape from the rest of the world. It took a long ten years before it started to truly take shape.”
“That’s incredible,” Luca said. “I have a feeling that hacker friend of yours is who found me when I was asking around about it in the hidden parts of the internet.”
I smiled softly. “I’m sure it was Lark. She’s incredible, and thorough. I’m sure she also threatened you not to come here and start shit.”
“Within an inch of my life,” he confirmed with a small smile.
He was handsome. I’d noticed that before, but now there was something softer about him. Maybe this was who he was under all the flirting and jokes.
“I hated how defenseless I was,” I continued as I looked away.
“I dedicated my life to opening a gym and making my body stronger, learning how to defend myself. And then when I perfected it, I started teaching others. Most of the omegas in town know how to take an alpha down if given half a chance.”
“That’s just like you,” Nikolai said. The pride in his voice made me flush all over again.
The way he smiled now was less broken and guarded. I could feel his appreciation through the bond.
“I’m hard just thinking about you taking down alphas,” Ronan groaned, adjusting himself.
“And there he goes ruining a sweet moment,” Luca said with a chuckle.
“Just making sure she knows where I’m at,” he pointed out.
“Noted,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Well,” Ronan continued. “I’m sure you were told who we are. I knew my father was a bit of a player. He liked to sleep around and then toss money at the omegas he knocked up. I’m sure Nikolai and I have plenty of siblings we don’t know about.”
“Ronan and his brother are the ‘legitimate’ heirs,” Nikolai said.
The way he said it had me cocking my head.
“Alessio is my brother, and he is quite possibly the worst human being on the planet. Even worse than our father, who runs the entire operation,” Ronan explained.
“What makes him so bad?” I asked, wanting to know what I was possibly getting mixed up in.
“He’s reckless, narcissistic, selfish, and has an inflated ego, which is honestly a volatile mix.
My father mostly keeps him in check, but he’s always hated who I am and what I stand for.
I’m first in line to take over the Crows, and the fact that I have loyal guards is just another blow.
He uses people and doesn’t form connections.
It’s going to bite him in the ass one day. ”
When the waiter came back, sliding our drinks onto the table, I picked up my champagne and took a sip.
Before I could go back to tearing the straw paper, Leon’s hand covered mine. He didn’t hide it under the table, instead holding it right there in the open.
The other three noticed but didn’t tense or say a word, in fact, Ronan grinned.
“So,” I prompted. “You found Nikolai because you were tracing all the children?”
“In a way,” Ronan admitted. “I had looked into some, but something about Nikolai stood out. Perhaps the pack bond was pulling me that way. When I found out he was a fighter, I went and watched him and decided right then and there that I wanted to bring him in despite my father’s warnings.”
“He knew you were looking into his illegitimate children?” I asked.
“My father knows everything that happens on his compound. And I had asked a few too many pointed questions.” He shrugged, not looking like he cared much what his father thought.
“Wait,” I said, my brain catching up as I looked at Nikolai. “Fights?”
He let out a breath, worry echoing in the bond. “When I said I’d secure us a way out, I’d been talking to someone who ran an alpha fighting ring. He was going to provide us with a way out and a place to live—”
“Nikolai, I never wanted you to—”
“It was never your choice. It was mine,” he said firmly, cutting me off, too. “And it was the only way I could’ve gotten you out. I was willing to risk anything for that. I couldn’t watch her do that to you anymore.”
I looked away, and he continued, knowing I needed to hear it.
“When you disappeared, we looked for you. Everyone involved was fucking useless. They said you must’ve been a runaway omega, even when I explained everything. But you know how your mom had a way of talking the police out of anything.”
“I do,” I said, that old pain rising again. She used her omega side to manipulate them, making them look the other way. She did it enough times that her body became a get-out-of-jail-free card.
“So, you kept looking for me after I was gone. What else did you do?” I asked.
“I fought to earn money on the side and spent every other moment searching. He paid me extra for fights that I wasn’t under contract for, and I took my frustration out on my opponents.”
“He’s undefeated,” Ronan added, amused. “Even after all these years, he’s a bit of a legend. The Hellhound.”
There was brotherly pride in his voice and I was smiling without a second thought. I was grateful that Ronan found him, that my alpha wasn’t forced to face all that grief alone.
Our food arrived and we dug in. This time the small talk wasn’t forced and the tension was gone. For the first time since they burst into our lives it felt like maybe this could turn into something.
“How do you fit into all of this?” I asked Luca.
“He was my best friend,” Luca said, gesturing to Ronan.
“The son of one of my father’s contacts.
We spent a lot of time together growing up and realized we were a pack.
It made sense for me to join him. He’s good with intel and I’m good with computers.
It worked out and Victor Crow liked having an extra asset on board. ”
“So, we’re pack, and you’re heavily involved in crime… how did you see that working out?” I mused. My tone was light but the topic was anything but. “I left that life behind. My life here is peaceful.”
“We’re not all bad. We’ve done more for omegas and knocking out these operations than the government ever could,” Ronan pointed out. That smug confidence was back. I could tell he meant it.
“We’re getting rid of traffickers,” Luca added, begging me with his eyes to believe them.
“It’s a risk to Widow’s Peak,” I pointed out.
Luca raised an eyebrow. “The girl who found me online was in the same circles I was.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
And as far as crime went and ending these types of assholes… hadn’t we done the same with Gideon?
“Some people are better off not being alive—” I admitted reluctantly, y words cut off when I saw the waiter approaching. Thankfully, he was far enough away that he didn’t catch the conversation.
He took our dinner order and slid the appetizer to the center of the table, handing out small plates to each of us before he was gone again.
Then their eyes were back on me.
“So, all the jobs you do are legal? On the up and up?” I asked, challenging them yet again as I filled my small plate. “I want everything out there. I don’t do secrets.”
“Now, darling,” Ronan said, “I know you already know that answer. But we’re not the worst guys out there. We have lines we don’t cross. We also have resources at our disposal. The same ones that helped us get here. All of that helped get those omegas here safely.”
I took another sip of my champagne as I considered that. One hand was still in Leon’s, holding onto my lifeline.
“What about you?” Luca asked.
I looked up, realizing he was talking to Leon this time.
My beta glanced at me, then back at them.
“I was stuck in a breeding facility,” he said flatly. “Forced to breed with omegas in heat repeatedly. Betas are easier to subdue, easier to control.”
Even I was startled by how dead his voice sounded. My hand tightened in his and he finally looked up, eyes filling with life again. There was a lot he still had to work through but I’d be by his side through it all.
Ronan spoke first, his voice icy. “I want names. Places. Anything you remember. We’ll take them down.”
“I got out,” Leon said, almost confused by his reaction. I knew exactly what Ronan intended and I was here for it. That protectiveness proved that this was truly a pack.
“Roaches always regroup,” Ronan replied with a shrug. “Let me just make sure to exterminate them.”
Just like that, they’d accepted Leon as their own. The conversation faded as our dinner arrived.
I dove into my pasta, glad for the reprieve. It was also incredible. Widow’s Peak had come a long way now and this was one of my favorite changes. We had variety when eating out.
“Well,” I said, “That leaves one last thing to figure out. Where we go fr—”
I was cut off as Ronan’s phone rang. He grimaced, looking down at the screen, then back at me.
“I’m so sorry. I can’t ignore this.”
My stomach sank as he stood and walked away.
Luca looked defeated. Nikolai was guarded again, watching me carefully.
“Are you kidding me?” Leon demanded. “We’re discussing whether she’s even going to give you a shot, and you just walk away?”
But Ronan was already gone.
When he came back, he was already pulling out his wallet, dropping several large bills on the table.
“I’m sorry, but we have to go. We can continue this when we get back.”
Just like that, Nikolai and Luca stood. No hesitation.
“What?” I said, stunned. “Where are you going? What’s going on?”
I told them I wouldn’t do secrets.
“I’m sorry, we’ll talk more later,” he said, skirting around the topic, which was just another way to avoid telling me a thing.
“If you walk away, this isn’t going to go as smoothly as it was,” I said, my temper flaring. We’d just gotten past the deep conversations and were forging something real. “This is also important. I have to be a priority if you want this to work. I won’t be an afterthought.”
His face was unreadable. He was definitely keeping something from me.
“Are you going to tell me where you’re going?” I demanded again as he stared me down. There was conflict in his expression but the regret never left.
“Just some quick business,” he said with finality. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. This is too important.”
“And I’m not?” Tears burned in my eyes as I looked at Nikolai. “Nik?”
“I’m sorry,” Nikolai said.
And then they walked out of the restaurant without looking back.