6. Cross
Chapter six
My head is already pounding and we haven’t even gotten Joker on the line for our nightly debrief.
Bones paces like a caged animal behind me, his boots pounding on the dusty floor of our temporary base like a heartbeat.
My heart aches for him, but it’s not like the rest of us aren’t also tense as hell these days.
Phantom and Siren are sitting at the busted-up card table, Siren on their tablet, and Phantom cleaning his side arm for the fourth time today.
He’s been tense all day, ever since he got off with Joker this morning, not that he’s offered any insight as to what’s set him off this time.
“Where is he?” Bones snarls, stopping at one of the mostly boarded-up windows, glaring out of the crack in the direction of the facility.
I sigh deeply. “He’s fine. I know you can feel that,” I drone, not for the first time since we started this mission.
My bond with Joker isn’t as strong as the one he has with our prime alpha, but even I can tell he’s happy and safe, just like he always is. I try to give the invisible string between myself and Joker a little tug, to get his attention. But all I get back is a soft pulse of reassurance.
“I know,” Bones concedes through gritted teeth.
“And we all know that he won’t do a damn thing before he’s good and ready, B. Learn some patience,” Phantom drawls, not looking up.
Bones throws a warning growl at his second-in-command, but Phantom just rolls his eyes.
“You’re one to talk,” I toss at him, spinning my chair away from the comms station.
“There’s a difference in patience and tolerance, Cross,” the alpha replies coolly.
It’s Siren’s turn to laugh, not looking up from their tablet. “You’ll tolerate a whole hell of a lot when someone’s got their mouth around your—”
“Joker to base, checking in.”
Everyone perks up as our omega’s voice comes through the speaker, Bones coming close to lean over me.
“Where the hell have you been?” he snarls, sounding to anyone who doesn’t know better like he’s pissed. But this close, I can scent the earthy concern on him.
“Well, it’s been quite the day, let me tell you. I had the worst lunch in the world, and then went on a tour, and then played chase and hide and seek with the staff, and then—”
I laugh as he rattles off the laundry list of activities he did, but I look up and watch Bones’s eye twitch.
“I’m glad you had a good day, Joker. But we really need to focus on the mission,” I say, gently interrupting.
Joker lets out an overly dramatic sigh, and there’s some rustling of fabric, on his end.
“If we must,” he says wistfully.
Phantom chuckles from the table, making Bones growl.
“Did you ever learn where they’re keeping the servers? How many alphas are on site?” I ask, directing the conversation away from confrontation with practiced ease.
“Not really. I have a suspicion where they might be but can’t confirm anything. As far as alphas, there’s a big courtyard on our side of the facility, and most of the walls have windows looking out onto it. But the south wall is solid, reinforced concrete.”
I look over my shoulder at Siren, and their fingers are already moving on their tablet. In moments, the large monitor beside me lights up, displaying a schematic of the building. They locate the courtyard and let out a small ‘hmph’ of confusion.
“I don’t see any living quarters or anything there. Just a big empty room,” they mutter.
“My source says there aren’t any alphas in the facility, but she kept looking over there when they were mentioned,” Joker goes on.
“Might be the auction room,” I mutter thoughtfully.
Bones grunts in wordless agreement, and a chill runs down my spine. I’d had half a hope that maybe we were wrong, and this wasn’t anything more than a resting place for broken omegas.
I hate it when we’re right.
“We need to find out more about the operation, and soon. I want you out of there,” Bones says, breaking through my thoughts.
Joker lets out a sigh that makes my brows twitch down. “What’s the rush, big man? I’m not in any danger, except maybe from boredom,” he says, trying to sound casual.
There’s a very pregnant pause where the silence stretches into something tangible. I look around at my pack, taking in their expressions. Siren looks as confused as I am, and Bones is just reading as annoyed through the bond. But there’s a hard glint to Phantom’s expression I’m not sure I like.
“Does this have anything to do with your…source?” he asks darkly.
Joker’s silent for a heartbeat too long, and I feel the faint flash of panic and an odd pulse of protective affection along our bond. What is that about?
“Look, you all sent me in here, so you have to trust me to do the job right. It’s been less than twenty-four hours since I got in here. Give me time.”
Bones sighs, but my eyes are still on Phantom. He knows something we don’t, but I’m not going to push the subject right now, not with everything so tense. So I turn away from Phantom, switching my focus back to our omega.
“Have they given you any meds that I should know about?” I ask, letting my clinical mind take over for the moment.
“Not yet, but we’ll see what happens in the morning,” Joker replies.
I nod, taking a mental note. “Do the other omegas seem to be in good health? Any signs of mistreatment?”
Joker lets out a huff. “Half of them look like extras from a zombie movie, just shuffling around.”
Swallowing around the acidic burn in the back of my throat, I take a deep breath to calm down.
I go back and forth with Joker for a while, getting his read on the state of care in the facility, but I’m not particularly reassured.
Love Wins advertises itself as a rehabilitation facility where people can go if they’re experiencing designation distress.
But it sounds more and more like a psych ward with every new thing I learn about it.
And not a good one, if even half the stories are to be believed.
“Lights out, omega!”
The muffled shout comes through the comms, one of the nurses.
“Night, night, Drake-y poo! Come tuck me in, if you dare!”
Joker’s sing-song taunt cuts the tension in the base perfectly, making all of us laugh, even Bones. I look up at my prime alpha, noting the more relaxed state of his shoulders even if the rest of him is screaming with unresolved frustration.
There’s a warmth along my bond with Joker and Bones, making a flush rise on my face as it grows stronger with each moment.
“Baby boy,” Bones growls in warning.
I look behind us to Phantom and Siren, who take that moment to beat a hasty retreat upstairs. I switch over to headsets, handing Bones his before I go to leave as well. But a hand on my wrist stops me.
“No, you stay, too,” Bones practically purrs.
I look into his eyes, trying to read his expression behind the mask he almost never removes. His pupils are blown wide, his scent turning smokier by the second.
“Do I get a treat for being such a good boy today, Alpha?” Joker asks in our ears.
“I don’t know, does he?” I say pointedly, quirking an eyebrow at Bones.
His returning purr rattles me to my core, and I shiver at the hunger staring back at me. I can’t see his mouth, but the predatory smile I know is pulling at the corners of his lips lights up his eyes like nothing else.
“How about a story to get you off to bed, baby boy?”
Joker’s giggle makes me smile despite myself. God, our omega is five gallons of trouble in a three gallon bucket sometimes, but damn it if he doesn’t know how to make even the most dangerous alpha I’ve ever known melt.
“Get yourself ready, Joker. This is going to be a good one.”