Chapter 51
Logan
Clover and our baby were safe. I’d watched them sleep, assuring myself over and over that, despite the fucked-up way our daughter had come into the world, they were both okay.
My parents, on the other hand? If they were okay now, they wouldn’t be for long.
I kissed Clover’s forehead, then our daughter’s, before turning for the door.
“Where are you going?” Avery asked.
“I have some unfinished business with my parents. I’ll be back.”
Parker and Hunter slid into the doorway, blocking my path.
“Move.”
“Be reasonable.” Parker set his hand on my shoulder. “I’ve already started the process of ripping everything out from under them.”
“And it won’t be enough. Not for what they did to Clover and Maggie, for how they put our daughter in danger.”
“I’ll come with you, then,” Hunter announced.
“Stay here with our omega. I’ve already called an old friend.”
“Should we be scared?” Avery asked.
“I’ll make sure none of it falls back on the pack.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Avery glared at me. “I’m just worried about you.”
“They’ve proven there’s no low they won’t stoop to. The police haven’t caught them yet, and the longer they’re out there, the more opportunities they have to hurt our mate and child. If I have to go down to protect them, that’s what I’ll do.”
“Fuck you,” Hunter hissed. “You’re not doing this alone. I’m coming with you.”
“Stay with—”
“Shut up, I’m coming.” Hunter nudged Parker out of the way and gestured for me to follow him. “I’ll make sure he gets back in one piece.”
I sighed, but it was better if he came instead of causing a fight that might wake Clover. She needed rest.
Hunter walked next to me in silence until we hit the highway, zipping through the dark.
“What’s the plan?” he asked me.
“If they’re where I think they are, they’re either leaving that building dead or arrested.”
Hunter shifted uneasily. “Did you pack anything to inch us toward the side of arrested?”
“When would I have had time to pack anything?”
“Greeeat.”
“I didn’t make you come on this trip.”
“It’s been you and me since we were teens, and that’s not changing now.” We drove in silence for a while before Hunter asked, “What friend did you call for this?”
“Damien is meeting us there.”
“The felon?”
“He’s only a felon because he refused to snitch on me. If he hadn’t protected me, we’d both have been in prison for grand theft auto.”
Hunter had been around for that episode of my life, and I’d be grateful to Damien forever for protecting me.
He’d gotten heavily into security and had eventually started his own company with investment from the pack.
He used it to hire others who had rough pasts and struggled to get employment elsewhere.
Honestly, they were damn fucking good at their jobs because they knew exactly how to get into places, so they could shore up any lapses for those who hired them.
“I know, I just remember him being scary as hell.”
“He probably still is.” I shrugged. “He’s a good guy, though.”
We followed winding roads into the desert.
My parents had a ramshackle house out there in the middle of nowhere they’d used when I was a kid, mostly for drug running or other bullshit where they needed privacy.
We had all of their legitimate addresses now, and the police had already checked them, and their credit cards hadn’t turned up any hotels or gas station stops either. That left this place.
A light flickered in the dark as we turned onto the nearest paved road before hitting the final route to my parents’ hideout. We pulled to a stop behind a car parked on the shoulder.
I shifted into park, turned off the headlights, and stepped out.
Damien greeted me with a back-slapping hug. “Good to see you’ve stayed out of trouble. Besides this, I guess.”
Another car was parked in front of his. “Who else is here?”
“I brought some backup. I can vouch for every single one of them. Hey, assholes, get out here and meet Logan.”
Three men slipped out of the vehicle, moving to flank him, and Hunter popped out of my car to stand by my side.
“You brought the rock star?” Damien asked with a laugh.
“Not a rock star anymore,” Hunter pointed out.
Damien shrugged and turned to introduce us to the others he’d brought. “This is Luther, Inferno, and Creed. How many are we going after?”
“Three, unless they’ve invited someone I’m not aware of.”
“Creed, you’re on recon.”
He nodded and vanished like a ghost in the darkness.
While we waited for his return, Damien equipped us with zip-tie handcuffs and Kevlar vests. Hunter looked like he was ready to pass out.
“You should stay here, rock star,” Damien told him. “There’s no room for hesitation with shit like this. Wait here. Call for help if necessary.”
“How do I know if you need help?”
Damien passed him a military-grade walkie-talkie. “We’ll let you know. Don’t talk to us, or you’ll give away our position. Wait for someone to reach out. Got it?”
“Got it.” Hunter nodded.
I hooked one of the walkie-talkies to my belt, and by the time I had psyched myself up to go charging in, Creed had returned, flipping up his night-vision goggles.
“Just the three of them, but they’ve got a fuckload of guns. I’d like to avoid a shoot-out if we can.”
“Well, unless Logan brought a gun, it’ll only be one directional.”
“You’re actually following that law?”
“Today we are. None of us are going back to prison for illegal possession of arms.” Damien handed me my own night-vision goggles.
That was fair enough.
“What’s the plan to flush them out?” Inferno asked.
“Burn it down,” I said flatly.
“Wait. Seriously?” Luther confirmed.
“No one is getting shot tonight. It’s the fastest way to get them out.”
Damien nodded. “Inferno, you’re in charge of the Molotov.”
“On it.”
The five of us stalked through the dark. My rage simmered the closer we got. They all flanked the building while I went up to the door, lowering my goggles around my neck.
My knock was met with a stream of muffled cursing. “It’s me.”
The door swung open, revealing my shitty-ass family. “Jesus Christ. You trying to give us a heart attack?” Dan demanded.
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
My mother swerved around Rick. “How else were we supposed to bring you to your senses? You can’t just cut us off.”
“Oh, you brought me to my senses, all right. Every card we’ve given you is frozen. Every dollar meant to head to your accounts, gone.”
“You selfish, ungrateful fuck.” Dan reached for me, but paused as glass shattered, a rock tumbling across the floor, immediately followed by a Molotov that erupted in flames. He shoved me to the side and bolted for their vehicle, only for Luther to bodyslam him.
Rick used my mother for leverage to leap out the door, chucking her behind him, where she cracked her head on the table and collapsed to the floor.
Fuck.
I crawled into the flaming building and dragged her outside with me. In the flickering light, I could see Dan and Rick face down on the ground, each restrained by two alphas.
Hunter’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie. “Is that a fucking fire? I’m calling the fire department.”
No one said anything over the radio to stop him. I yanked up my walkie-talkie. “Ambulance too for my mother. Age fifty-four, omega female, head injury.”
We dragged everyone farther from the building. My mother was unconscious but still breathing, so I rolled her into the recovery position.
“You okay to handle this?” Damien asked.
I glanced over to see they’d viciously hogtied my fathers. “Yeah, thanks. I owe you one.”
Damien and his crew vanished into the night, taking off down the road, their taillights vanishing over the hill.
“Do I stay here and direct them or come to you?” Hunter asked over the walkie-talkie.
“Bring the car in here, turn it around, and keep the headlights on, facing out,” I instructed. “Don’t mention Damien and the others to anyone.”
Time moved in a warped blur. It felt like I blinked, and suddenly, I was surrounded by flashing lights and sirens.
Hunter navigated the cops, explaining that my parents had kidnapped our pregnant omega, forcing her to give birth in a basement. They quickly confirmed their identities, transferring my fathers to the back of squad cars while paramedics checked over my mother.
“How did this happen?” one of them asked me.
“They pushed her back in, trying to get themselves out.”
“Fuckers,” the paramedic muttered. They transferred my mom onto a gurney and got her into the back of the ambulance.
The fire department chucked a carbon dioxide bomb into the building to smother some of the flames before using the water they carried in their tanks to get the rest under control. There was nothing worth saving in the building, and frankly, it probably should’ve been condemned years ago.
Hunter stood by my side while we gave our statements.
“Omega-kidnapping scum,” one of the officers grumbled. “Your fathers will be held without bail until their trial, and once your mother is out of the hospital, she’ll get locked up too.”
“She needs to be watched,” I bit out. “You’ve already seen what she’s willing to do for vengeance.”
“Don’t worry. She’s still in police custody, even if she’s in the hospital. She’ll be handcuffed to the bed, and an officer will be in charge of monitoring her.”
“Good.”
“Was this a fucking meth den?” one of the firefighters shouted.
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” I muttered. “It was when I was a kid, so they probably resurrected it.”
The lead officer on the case stepped over to us. “Sounds like that caused the fire.”
“But it was—”
“Sounds like it was a meth explosion,” he said firmly, staring me down until I nodded. “They’ve already racked up a million-mile long list of offences. So far as we’re concerned, you arrived to convince them to turn themselves in, and there was an unfortunate accident.”
I stared at him for a long moment, not about to look this gift horse in the mouth. “Okay.”
“Get back to your omega and new baby. We have everything we need for now.”
Hunter hustled me into the car, planting me on the passenger side before sliding into the driver’s seat. “Holy fucking shit.”
“It’s over?”
Hunter turned on the car, the comforting rumble of the engine soothing me. “Sure seems like it.”
“It’s over,” I said again to myself.
“Clover and the baby are safe,” Hunter reaffirmed. “Your chosen family loves you more than anything, and your parents should be out of the picture for a long fucking while. Good riddance.”
“You fucking said it.”