Chapter 2 #3
“This is an information-gathering excursion only. Don’t make contact with the human, and don’t be seen by Deadwalkers. Stay outside the estate if anyone is home. No exceptions. Get intel, and get out.”
“Understood,” Caelan nods.
“Alright,” Gav throws back his whiskey before placing down the glass and standing to address the rest of us.
“Ford, your pack is on patrol down by the docks. I already sent the other teams out. From now until I say otherwise, their focus is the missing Omegas. Your pack will run point as usual, so they all answer to you. I don’t need to reiterate how Fatesdamned important it is that we bring those females home. ”
Ford nods solemnly in agreement.
“Caelan and Vae,” Gav continues, “I want you caught up on every piece of information Dax has pulled on Alexander, Varenthrall, and the missing Omegas. Read it. Memorize it. Discuss possible theories. When you’re done, get some rest. I have a feeling things are going to start getting busy soon.”
Chairs scrape across the floor as everyone stands to leave.
On the way out, Silas trips over the leg of Evander’s chair and shoots him a dirty look, like it is somehow Evander’s fault that he nearly ate shit. Ford sighs, laying a fatherly hand on the back of Silas’s neck, and directs him out of the room like he’s herding a puppy.
Catching Caelan’s eyes, I give him a slow shake of my head. Stay.
Vae groans dramatically and throws himself back into his own seat.
Gav pauses at the door, hand gripping the wooden frame. “You think this is different. Bigger than just run-of-the-mill Omega trafficking.”
It’s not a question. It never is with him.
I meet his eyes. “Yea, I do.”
This situation has all my internal alarms blaring at full volume. Something is wrong. Off.
Gav’s jaw tightens, and I catch his eyes flicking toward the table where the picture of the wolven Omega lay discarded, her smiling face out of place among the documents and intel.
“Keep digging,” he orders. His voice is soft, but it holds the weight of importance.
“We need answers. Those girls need help, and they needed it yesterday. I understand why you waited until now to bring it up, but the next time you see an uptick in missing Omegas, I want to know right away. I don’t care if you don’t know why it’s happening yet. This is unacceptable.”
It’s an Alpha’s biological imperative to protect an Omega. Even nameless, faceless Omegas they’ve never met. I knew this would hit my brothers hard, but Gav is right. I should have come to him immediately.
Gav isn’t just a leader—he genuinely fucking cares about the people we help. He wants to do good.
The only thing Gav cares about more than those we protect is the six of us. He’ll burn a thousand Omegas if it means protecting his team. It’s what makes following him so Fatesdamned easy.
“You’re right,” I concede, lowering my eyes in a primal show of submission that appeases both our Alpha biology. “It won’t happen again. I apologize.”
Gav grunts in reply, sighs warily, then visibly straightens his shoulders like he’s going to battle. He leaves without a word, and I know he’s going to his study, where he’ll dedicate the next hours, days, weeks, and months to saving the missing Omegas.
The moment the door clicks shut, Vae narrows his eyes at me. “Alright, talk.”
He swaps his gum for a fresh piece and tosses the wrapper over my head and into the trash bin.
“There’s not much more to say,” I reply. “There’s just something fucking off with this human Alpha. Something that’s eating at me, but I can’t figure out what it is.”
“Could it just be worry over the Omegas making you more sensitive to an unfamiliar situation?” Caelan asks.
He won’t outright say that I’m being paranoid, but the implication is there.
“Or maybe,” he continues, “it’s the idea of dedicating so much time to the missing females when you have so much else you feel like you need to concentrate on, and it’s screwing with your instincts?”
I nearly scoff, but stop myself before I let my true feelings show.
It isn’t that I don’t care about the Omegas.
I do. The same way I care when any innocent is targeted for something nefarious—with professional concern, rather than biological obsession.
I’m just able to separate myself from it while the rest of the Bastards—the name assigned Bloodbound warriors centuries ago—can’t.
It’s not because I’m an unfeeling asshole, I just have enough experience to know that Omegas aren’t the end-all, be-all.
Alphas and society in general put Omegas on a pedestal, convinced they are innocent females who can do no wrong. It’s ignorant and will fuck them over eventually.
Omegas are people, and just like anyone else, they exist in various ranges of good and evil.
Alphas tend to ignore that they’re biologically designed to fall to the whims of an Omega, and that Omegas have the ability to manipulate their own biology in order to get what they want. It’s a glaringly obvious biological flaw, in my opinion.
I’ve yet to meet an Omega who doesn’t use her whine, her scent, her pheromones, or her body to get her way.
The worst are those who act like damsels in distress, pretending they have no ability to help themselves and are totally reliant on Alphas.
Even if they don’t realize they’re playing us, it’s just what they do.
They’ve been groomed by society to believe they deserve anything they want simply because they’re rare and treasured.
So, no. I don’t think this has anything to do with the missing Omegas making me more susceptible to paranoia because I’m worried for their well-being, and letting it cloud my judgment.
The issue is, I can’t tell Caelan what I really think. My pack and team know I distrust Omegas as a whole, but they have no idea how deep that distrust runs, and I’m going to keep it that way. For all our sakes.
I clear my throat, making sure that my feelings aren’t showing on my face. I also make sure our pack Bond is shut down tight on my end. I don’t need residual hatred trickling through and prompting more questions.
Before I can respond, Vae leans forward and shoots us a cocky grin. “I don’t see what’s so bad about having to concentrate on finding these females. I could easily be convinced to play Knight in Shining Armor for some damsels in distress. They could thank me with their—”
Thwack.
The pen Caelan launches across the table nails Vae in his temple before bouncing to the ground with a clatter. Wide, accusing eyes meet Caelan’s annoyed expression.
“Try not talking,” he suggests. “Just for five minutes.”
I bark out a laugh at Vae’s indignant expression.
Vae thrives in chaos, and Caelan—steady, constant Caelan—is always having to bring him down a notch.
We bicker constantly, but I would kill for these males, and I know they feel the same. There’s no one and nothing that can rip us apart. I’d go to hell itself and pull them out of the fire with my bare hands if I had to.
“There’s something worrying you. Something more.” Caelan pushes, but he doesn’t need to. I’m not hiding anything; I’m just frustrated. I need to vent, and the only males I can admit the extent of my fear to are my packmates.
Standing, I cross the room, stopping in front of a window facing the back of the compound.
Outside the main estate, the lights of the sprawling compound that houses just under two-hundred warriors—seasoned Bastards and trainees both—gleam in the dark.
Gav purchased this land long before anyone even considered developing it.
The entire area, including the sprawling forest and hills beyond, is secured with the best tech I could get my hands on and reinforced by perimeter checks every fifteen minutes on rotation. No one is getting on our land.
We’re safe.
But for how long?
I crack open the Bond and allow my anxiety to trickle through. It bleeds into our pack Bond like ink bleeding into water. This is the closest I’ll get to admitting the extent of my fear.
“I don’t know what you’re going into tomorrow, and I hate that,” I admit.
“Things are ramping up so much faster than I thought they would based on the previous data. Whatever they’re doing, they’re pushing to do it faster.
It started with a few Omegas randomly, but now they’re snatching a few a week.
Two days ago was the wolven Omega. Day before yesterday, a vampire Omega from a minor house went missing on her way to meet a friend for coffee. ”
I pivot, pulling my gaze away from the window and facing my pack.
“I feel like things are going too fast for me to keep up, but my main concern right now is your recon mission tomorrow. I’ll do everything I can to get you intel beforehand,” I promise, making it clear his safety is my priority.
“But the fact is, without time to set up surveillance or eyes on the inside, there’s only so much I can do. ”
“I know,” He replies, full of confidence in me, I’m not always sure I deserve. “There’s no one else I trust to have my back. I’m not worried. Whatever you can’t get, I’ll handle. I always do.”
I snort, but can’t argue. He always handles his shit; he’s not wrong about that.
“We’ll find the Omegas,” Vae adds, expression serious. “Whatever we have to do, we’ll do it.”
Caelan nods in solemn agreement.
“Yeah,” I add, clearing my throat. “We will.”
Vae stands, stretching and yawning dramatically. “Alright, you two, I’m fucking starving, and if Dax is going to make me look at screens all night, I need some fuel. Let’s go eat.”
“I’m not hungry.” I wave them off, but Vae snatches my wrist and halts me, mid-gesture.
“Get serious. You need to eat. You’ve been holed up here for days.
” He wrinkles his nose. “You also need a godsdamned shower. If you go much longer in this room without one, we’re going to have to fumigate the entire fucking wing.
The scent neutralizers in this place have to be working overtime. ”
I flip him off.
“Seriously, Daxen. Food, now. You can’t live on blood bags and cashews.” The no-nonsense look Caelan pins me with is enough for me to realize I’m not going to win this battle.
“Alright,” I concede, and follow them out of the room.
Just as we make it to our wing, my phone vibrates. I pull it out, glancing at the notification.
Fuck.
Vae leans over my shoulder. ”What?”
“Another Omega’s gone missing,” I reply, and pocket my cell with irritated, jerky movements. “They took another vampire from Tralista.”
Vae stills. “Tralista? That’s one of the clubs in Boston, right? That place is fucking packed on Thursday nights.”
“They’re getting ballsy,” I seethe. “And there were no witnesses. Apparently, she was there one minute, gone the next. This is escalating too quickly.”
I turn back, intending to continue searching and ignore my growing hunger, but Caelan stops me with a solid hand on my shoulder.
“We’ll get them,” he promises. “And we’ll figure out what the fuck is going on with the Severed and this human. We need to move fast, I agree, but you can’t ignore your basic needs. Shower. Food. Then you can lock us all in that room, and we’ll find those females.”
“We need to hurry,” I mutter, but I let him lead me—under protest—through our sitting room.
“We will,” Vae swears as he grabs bags of A negative and passes one to each of us. It’ll tie us over until the chef sends someone up with our meals.
“We’ll figure this out. We still have time.”
I sigh warily and throw myself onto the giant leather sectional in the open living room. He isn’t wrong. Technically, we still have time…
I can hear the countdown clock ticking in my mind.
Something is coming. Something is going to happen. I don’t know what, but I can feel it in my bones.
We may have time, but I’m almost positive it’s running out much faster than any of us thinks