43. Phoenix
Phoenix
I knew Honey and Lazarus shouldn’t have gone alone to this appointment. I knew something bad would happen. I fucking knew it. I’m seeing red the entire ride to the nexus, and it’s more than just the red lights Zephyr and I are blowing through on the sports bikes.
We left Salem and Techno in the dust, blowing out of the compound, and haven’t looked back. We’re just lucky to be traveling against traffic rather than with it as people speed out of the city while we’re rushing into the heart of it.
We pull up in front of the nexus, right in the way of what would be the pickup lane for nexus visitors. Police officers stand by the exit to the building, and when I look through the glass vestibule into the lobby, there are a ton of cops and people wearing suits.
“That’s Abraham and Xavier in there.” Zephyr points more to the right, where we can see the tails of a white lab coat and the broad back and dark hair of what could be the club’s attorney.
“We just go in and bring her outside, right?” I throw my leg over, getting ready to march through the automatic doors and steal away what’s mine.
I get closer to the door, but from behind me, Zephyr’s shadow holds me back. “No, sometimes the best thing to do is wait. We don’t want to go in there with our attitudes high, not with all those cops. Think about what happens if we get arrested — I go back to prison.”
That sends cool dread through my body like a bucket of ice water.
I back up to my bike and lean against it. Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I settle in, looking through the crowd, trying to get a better view of Honey.
“Come on, come on.” I urge the cops inside to step aside. “I just want to see that she’s okay.”
As if they can hear me, the cops begin to file out. Behind me, Zephyr is just as tense, and his shadow is rigid against mine. But the rigidity doesn’t give us away. Sure, one or two of the cops note our cuts, but the majority of them leave without a second glance.
“Now can we go in there?” I grumble despite the fact that I can see Honey perfectly.
Her side is toward me, her beautiful profile catching light from the windows around her.
“We were told to come to follow.” Zephyr reminds me of the objective. “We don’t know what we’re following yet, but part of following is to not get caught. We really should move our bikes off to the side and follow whatever it is from a distance.”
Honey’s hair shifts over her shoulder as she steps closer to Lazarus.
And the light catches on an irregularity on the delicate column of her neck. An irregularity that wasn’t there before.
I squint, not sure what I’m seeing, but my heart beats faster at the prospect. “Zephyr, what is that?”
“What’s what?”
“On Honey’s neck?” I frantically tap on my neck where I’m seeing it on hers.
“I don’t know, looks like a trick of the light.” He huffs, almost brushing me off. “She’s with Lazarus, calm down, I’m sure she’s fine.”
“It looks like a mating mark.” I turn and look at him over my shoulder. I can’t believe what I’m seeing, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. I circle my arm, trying to get him to take this more seriously. “Come here and just look.”
Zephyr steps around his bike and comes to stand next to me. He leans forward, bent at the waist, and shakes his head. “It could be anything. Besides, it’s Lazarus. Do you think he would really have claimed her? He barely even pretends we’re a pack. He’s shown very little interest in Honey.”
“You mean aside from the kiss in his room the other night?” I grit my teeth.
Why isn’t he as excited about this as I am?
“What?” He turns in my direction, looking me over. His eyes are wide, and his mouth falls open. “Where was I in all of this?”
“Sleeping. You were groaning in your sleep again, keeping me awake, when I heard Honey get out of bed. I don’t think they saw me though.
They kissed. He shrouded her. He fucking shrouded her just like we could.
I couldn’t see through the shroud, but I think they kissed some more.
” I look away from Zephyr back to where Honey is tight against Lazarus’s side.
His shadow is wrapped around her, holding her close while he talks to some guy in unusual clothing. It’s not a suit, but it’s not exactly not a suit either.
“Okay, so . . . let’s say it is a mating mark, for argument’s sake.
” Zephyr swallows hard and, after a few breaths, continues his thought.
“We don’t know what it means. Like, he’s been living with us for years.
Or did we move in with him? Never mind. We’re well on our way to being a pack.
He’s just having a hard time accepting it. ”
The low growl of motorcycles coming up the street reminds us that Techno and Salem are still coming. They pull into the side lot rather than right up front with us and park by Lazarus’s bike.
My phone vibrates. I ignore it.
Zephyr’s phone pings, and he picks it up and reads it out loud. “Laz and Honey have to go with the other two alphas in there back to the HOA. X wants us to follow them loudly and have Techno and Salem do so quietly. That way, when we pull off, they aren’t expecting a second tail.”
“Since when do we take orders from Xavier?” I snap.
Zephyr just lets out a big sigh. “Since he’s here and Revenant’s not.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t like it. We can’t let Honey go with someone else.”
“Laz will be with her.” Zephyr argues, but his words are sharp and cutting.
“I don’t care if Lazarus is with her. This feels like a bad idea.” My heart is beating too fast in my chest, rattling my rib cage. “Not a good idea.”
“They might lead us to where the other omegas are. This is about more than us and Honey.” Zephyr’s words are strained like he’s wrestling with the same thoughts I’m having.
He tucks his phone away and moves from my bike around to his.
“Come on, we need to get out of the way so we can follow.” Zephyr starts his bike, and it roars to life, drawing Honey’s attention to us.
Her hair now hides her neck, but it doesn’t hide the tightness of her jaw and the worry in her brow.
I refuse to move. I’ll make these assholes, these people who want Honey, walk right past me so that I can see their faces. I want to know exactly who I’m dealing with.
We’ve spent too many hours chasing unknown people looking for omegas, and this is a chance to see up close and in person who the bad guys are. I’m taking it.
And, if it’s possible, I’m yanking Honey out of Laz’s hand, throwing her on my bike, and jetting out of here at full speed.
For that, I toss a leg back over my bike and kick the engine over. Zephyr can tell I’m not moving. He doesn’t try to get me to roll ahead with him.
The people I don’t know exit the building first. They walk out the door two by two.
Their noses wrinkle at the smell of fuel and the casual disgust alphas like them have for alphas like us.
They turn away, going down the sidewalk.
Next, it’s Honey and Lazarus. His arm is wrapped around her protectively, and we lock eyes. He gives a solemn head shake.
I know from the three months of it just being him and me what that headshake means. The subtle way he’s telling me not to start shit. But I just need her. I need her the same way I need Zephyr, and I don’t know why he doesn’t understand that.
My shadow pulls forward toward her, and Lazarus’s raises up and shields mine off.
I snarl, my shadow darkening, ready to shift into the maned wolf and chew him to pieces, but two more alphas we don’t know file out behind, following close. Their shadows are tamed, but that isn’t what makes me stop. The glint of gunmetal as they adjust their odd folded shirts does.
We’re severely outgunned. Lazarus probably isn’t carrying. The two handguns Zephyr and I carry are nothing compared to what looks like the start of two semiautomatics.
Xavier and Abraham come sliding out of the nexus after them. Xavier sidles up between Zephyr and me. He speaks low enough that he’s just barely audible over the purr of our engines.
“They might be taking them to where they’re housing omegas. Based on the information, if they are trafficking omegas, this could be our opportunity to catch them.” Xavier is driven. Focused on the end results. “Don’t fuck it up.”
“Like you did in letting them get caught?” Zephyr glares at Xavier. “I thought we were supposed to be off the books.”
“And I’m firing the employee. As you like to remind me, I cannot control everything. Incompetence of a new hire is simply a fact of life.” Xavier grits his teeth, muscles twitching near his eye.
He’s just as upset about this as we are. But he’ll never outwardly say so.
Lazarus and Honey are put into the middle row of a large white SUV.
It doesn’t have front plates, and I’m betting the rear ones will be ‘magically’ unavailable.
It doesn’t matter though. Our job is to make sure they know we’re following them.
So they’re on high alert and they don’t pull anything dumb with our omega inside.
Once we drop back, ‘giving up,’ then Salem and Techno will follow more traditionally, from a distance, until we’re led straight to their hideout.
Zephyr pulls his earbuds out of his pocket and puts them in. My phone starts ringing, and I’m quick to answer, tossing mine in also.
“Ready?” he asks, the sound coming in more clearly over my bike’s engine.
We should have brought helmets for better sound, but we need just enough coordination to be annoying. Something we don’t really need to talk about in order to do.
I push forward on my bike, the white SUV, sans back plate, pulling out of the parking lot. No, an SUV without plates isn’t illegal or suspicious. Not at all? Why do you ask? I bite my cheek to stop from making those outside thoughts.
It’s an easy enough drive at first. The SUV follows all the road rules, using their blinker, driving the speed limit.
“I’m going to get up in their space,” Zephyr says as he pulls his bike up alongside the SUV, lane splitting, amid traffic.