73
THERON
There was so much more I needed to say, but for now I just wanted to hold her, look at her, revel in the fact that she was alive—she was here.
There was a watery look of hope in her eyes as she gave me a tentative smile, and the thought that I’d never see her again and the fear of the last three years assaulted me anew.
I pulled her head into my chest and kissed her hair.
I closed my eyes to savor this moment a little bit longer.
I knew we had an audience though, so after another greedy minute, I opened my eyes and nodded at Nyx who disappeared back into the house. I didn’t want to let Emersyn go, but I needed to handle the situation actively happening before we could move forward.
“Are you okay, baby?” I asked her.
She pulled back slowly, but it was obvious neither of us wanted to let go, so I held her hand and looked at her in concern.
“Yeah, I’m good,” she said.
I nodded, and my attention shifted and hardened as I looked over her head at Albatron’s man who stood at the SUV. His face was expressionless behind the aviators, but he inclined his head respectfully when he caught my eye.
I heard Nyx clear his throat and turned to see him descend the steps with Albatron.
Albatron’s attention jumped immediately to the man near the SUV who nodded again, and something loosened in Albatron’s shoulders. I didn’t have time to analyze that before he stopped in front of me and adjusted his cuff links.
“Well, this all worked out rather nicely, didn’t it?” It wasn’t really a question.
Albatron looked around at all my men that surrounded us. Hands on weapons, stances tight and tense, ready to take him down the moment I gave them the nod.
“Get out,” I snarled.
Albatron’s smirk faded as he held my gaze and inclined his head without breaking the contact.
His stare said a thousand things I didn’t have time to think about right now.
There was still too much anger. Everything was still too raw.
Albatron went to walk past us but stopped at my shoulder.
I could feel Nyx and Atlas shift closer.
“My quarrel isn’t with you, North,” Albatron said quietly. “It never was.”
I was nearly consumed with the urge to kill him. I could barely keep my breathing steady enough to speak. The tension between us was obvious in the way everyone seemed to hold their breath, as they waited to see what I’d do.
I leaned closer. “If I ever see you again,” I said, my words clear. “I’m going to kill you.”
Albatron’s eyes darkened, sharp and deadly, like a pool of water at night, a reflection as endless as the abyss.
“We’ll see.”
The violence oozed from me and collided roughly with his cool nonchalance. His attention ever so briefly flickered over to Emersyn, and when he gave the barest wink to her, I felt my control slip.
Luckily the driver of the SUV stepped between us, and subtly ushered Albatron into the backseat before he slammed the door. He climbed into the driver’s seat and with a squeal of rubber, the vehicle made its way back toward the gate.
The moment the vehicle pulled away, the door of the house flew open and Kaelin descended. She drank in the sight of me and Emersyn, and I saw the unshed tears that glistened in her eyes.
“This is Kaelin,” I said.
Kaelin took Emersyn’s hands in hers and an absolutely beautiful smile lit up her face. She looked like she couldn’t believe my daughter was here any more than I could.
“You both must be exhausted,” she looked over at Griffin. He definitely looked a little rough around the edges. “Let’s get you settled in some rooms so you can clean up.”
I didn’t want to let Emersyn go, but Kaelin gently extracted her and led her into the house. Nyx came up and put a hand on my shoulder.
“You good, T?”
I nodded, unable to speak. Nyx quickly ordered everyone back to their duties, and then he and Atlas followed me into the house. I stood in the entryway and experienced a brief moment of disorientation at what to do next. I’d been fighting for so long—searching for so many years—
But, Albatron was out there, and so was Mahoney.
“I want Albatron followed,” I growled.
“Already done,” Nyx said.
“West is working on it now,” Atlas replied.
I looked at both of them. These men who’d been there with me through every single tumultuous turn. I ran a hand over my mouth and nodded.
“We have it handled,” Nyx smirked. “Why don’t you chill out for a bit.”
“Yeah, Nyx will make dinner, and we can all just take a breath,” Atlas agreed.
I glanced over at the open doors of the war room where the idle monitors sat dark. Nyx frowned when he saw where I was looking. He shut the large french doors and turned with a shake of his head.
“Nope. That room is closed for at least twenty-four hours,” he said firmly.
I scowled, but it was weak. “You ordering me around again?”
Nyx flashed a cheeky smirk and didn’t even hesitate. “Yup—now get out of here before Atlas and I take more drastic measures.”
I sighed and relented because I suddenly felt the exhaustion of the last few days—fuck, no, more like the last decade—weigh down. I disappeared into my study and shut the door before I collapsed into a chair and buried my face in my hands.
My daughter was here. My daughter was home. I broke down—
Silent tears ran down my face as I lost the battle with holding everything back.
I shed tears for the family I’d lost and everything I’d gone through the last sixteen years.
It was so heavy, but I also had an immense sense of gratitude for the people I still had in my corner.
I was going to protect that with everything I had.
I’d fought tooth and nail to get here, and I wasn’t going to let it go.
After I composed myself, I poured a glass of whiskey and stood at the window.
The view was of the back of the house where the lawn sloped away towards a small copse of trees that lined the far edge of the property.
I let my mind wander and naturally it turned to the future—to thoughts of how I was going to make the remaining men on my list suffer.
There was a knock on my door.
“Enter,” I called.
Nyx and Atlas walked in, followed by Griffin.
“Deathwing needs to talk to you—I asked if it could wait—” Nyx cut off and shrugged.
I looked over at Griffin. He still looked exhausted, but he was freshly showered and looked better than when he’d stepped from the SUV.
“There are things you need to know.”
“Yeah, sit down.” I went and poured him a glass of whiskey as he sat down in an armchair by the window. He took it gratefully. Nyx shut the door and perched on the edge of my desk while Atlas hovered nearby.
“Mahoney had her,” he said, without preamble.
My lip curled in displeasure. “Did he now…” I growled.
“She was being held on his island. But, it gets worse.” Griffin said grimly. “I received information before we went in that I have a mole on my team—they were feeding information to Mahoney—”
The anger coiled as he continued to speak. I abruptly rose from my seat, unable to sit any longer. My suspicion that Mahoney had something to do with all of this had been correct. Nyx exchanged a look with Atlas.
“How long?” I demanded.
“Years,” Griffin stated.
I let that settle. The implications of it were far too dark and vast for me to do anything but feel the rage seep through my blood.
“Do you know who the mole is?” Atlas asked.
“No,” Griffin admitted.
“You don’t know? How the fuck don’t you know?” My voice was deathly calm even though on the inside, I was primed to murder someone.
“We found out all of this, including Emersyn’s coordinates, with only twenty-four hours to infil—” He paused. “Seven was the only one I knew was clean—”
“Where did the information come from?”
“The driver, Angel, is Albatron’s man. He sent the coordinates of the island and gave us the information, but no name.”
“You trusted one of Albatron’s men?” I asked, incredulously. “How do you know Seven is clean? Rune? Your entire operation might be compromised—”
“I didn’t know Angel worked for Albatron until after extraction. The email specifically said Rune was clean and Seven, well, Seven is dead,” Griffin said bitterly. “So it doesn’t matter. I haven’t heard from the rest of my team yet.”
Nyx shook his head. “I’m sorry about Seven, man.”
Griffin’s lips thinned. “Thank you. My tracking chip has been back online since we arrived. It’s only a matter of time before they show up here.”
I looked at Nyx who nodded. He’d make sure they were detained upon arrival. I wasn’t about to have men I didn’t trust wandering around my house.
“How did Albatron end up with you two?” Atlas asked.
Griffin frowned and didn’t look happy with what he was about to say.
“He’s the one who extracted us.”
I stared at Griffin. “What?” I was shocked I could even get the word out.
Griffin stared at each of us in turn. “I think I should probably start at the beginning.”
He tossed back his drink. It took an hour, but Griffin told us every excruciating detail from the island. I stood frozen, locked onto every word of their ordeal. Once he finished, silence descended.
“Emersyn had a conversation with Albatron after exfil,” Griffin said. “I think you need to talk to her about it—”
The thought that Emersyn had been alone in a room with Albatron was too much.
I threw the drink in my hand at the nearest wall, the sound of the glass as it shattered cut off his words, and the tension skyrocketed.
No one moved as I leaned over my desk and fought to contain the violence.
I looked up at Atlas and he nodded, already knowing what I was going to say.
“I’ll tell West to locate Mahoney.”
Atlas left, and Nyx crossed his arms over his chest, still leaning up against the desk with a look on his face I knew well. He was waiting for me to decide what I wanted to do.
I straightened and took a deep breath. “I’m going to have dinner with my family,” I said, my words deathly quiet and clipped. “And then we are going into the war room and figuring this shit out.”
Nyx ushered Griffin out of the room, and I watched the door shut behind them.
I was torn between wanting to be pissed off because it was his team that had a mole, and also gratitude for how he’d taken care of Emersyn on Mahoney’s island. But, Nyx was right to take him away—I needed to gather myself before I said or did something I regretted.
Truth be told, his words confirmed something that hadn’t been far from my own thoughts.
I’d started to worry that one of our teams had a mole problem.
It just didn’t make sense that in almost three years we hadn’t been able to reclaim Emersyn.
That wasn’t Griffin’s track record, and it certainly wasn’t mine.
The fact that the traffickers had always stayed one step ahead of us had irked me to no end.
Now I knew why, and this mole better hope he stayed far away from here.