22. Koit
KOIT
The rage that had been building the entire time that we’d been traveling to get here started to cool at the mention of Faulk being dead.
We all knew that he was far too valuable to Vadik to kill him without good reason.
Viv on the other hand had been waiting for the day to kill that mother fucker since she learned he’d created her.
“Are we sure it was her? Does it say how he was killed?” I asked, needing to know.
Darius was now typing furiously on his computer with his serious face on.
“Give me a moment, I had alerts on his name and a few others, but now I need to trace back to where the information came from. I’m hacking into the ranger’s database to see the report they filed since they were the first on the scene.
The police report has already been removed and buried if there was one to begin with, too many of them are under Grayson’s control. ”
There was a moment of silence as we all waited on the edge of our seats. This was the first bit of good news we had gotten in a long time.
“Got it.” Darius blurted. “Alright, it seems that the body was tied to a chair and the head was removed. No other major injuries were found but there was wood shoved under the fingernails...”
“She was torturing him?” Tav asked, shock written all over his face.
“Seems that our mate needed to get some information out of him before she removed his head,” Orion mused, tapping his chin. “Where was this cabin located?”
“Way ahead of you,” Darius muttered, as he continued to attack the keyboard.
Could it truly be this easy? We’d spent so much time and effort looking for her, searching the best way we knew how and it came to this—she’d freed herself.
I couldn’t help but feel pride that my mate was still fighting.
It was a good sign that she wasn’t too broken and that she hasn’t given up.
I thought back to my recent experience having been kidnapped.
Now mine was nothing like what she’s been through, but for those few hours in that dark creepy cabin had a damaging effect on me.
Not that I would ever admit that to the others.
I’d been having nightmares and being in total darkness caused my anxiety to skyrocket, adding to the stress of the nightmares.
This was why I’d always taken the night shift when we were on the boat, I had no problem staying awake, then sleeping during the day on the open deck of the boat.
If the others had noticed my habit of shifting more often they hadn’t said a word.
It was easier to let my wolf brain takeover as I slept knowing I had more of a defense with claws and teeth at the ready. Did Viv feel the same way?
If our thinking was accurate and she was free and on the run, where would she go? Being in a different country with no one to count on and no place to go, what would I do in her situation?
“Orion, I think you are going to need to call Christian and tell him what’s going on. If she is on the run, we’re going to need all the help we can get from anyone in the area who is trustworthy,” I said as I held his gaze. “We have to make sure she isn’t on her own through this.”
Darius paused long enough to hand over a backpack to Orion. “In there is an encrypted cell, it’s safe to use here in the States.”
Within seconds, Orion had the phone and was typing in the number Christian had given him to use. He turned on the speaker and set it down on the coffee table so we could all hear it ringing.
“It is early, he might not be awake yet,” Bentley commented looking at his watch.
“Hello?” Christian said as he picked up his voice heavy with sleep.
“Hey buddy it’s Orion, I hope I didn’t wake you up.”
“No, you’re good, I’m just pre coffee at the moment...aww bless you babe,” there was a pause and we could hear him sucking down the coffee his mate gave him. “You guys just get to the good old US of A?”
Orion cleared his throat giving himself a beat before he answered. “Yeah, we got in about an hour ago, we’re in Idaho Falls.”
“What the fuck are you doing in Idaho? Is there even anything to see there?”
“Look man, I haven’t been real honest with you about why we’re here...our mate was taken and we’re looking for her.”
The other side of the call went silent after a gasp from Kate.
“Please tell me that you aren’t mated to the Dama of Kursar, that Vadik and Jason have been after.”
We all looked at each other with a mixture of surprise and anger on our faces.
“How the fuck do you know about that?.” I growled as I leaned closer to the phone as if I could reach out and grab him through it.
“Who the hell is that?”
“Remember I told you that I was traveling with seven other friends...well they’re more than friends, they’re my mate brothers,” Orion explained. “I have you on speaker phone...”
“I think it’s time we all came clean to each other about what’s going on right now— I haven’t been upfront with you either my friend. I think we need to meet face to face,” Christian decided. “I’m getting on a plane, and I’ll meet you guys at your hotel so we can hash everything out.”
Now it was Darius’s turn to start growling. “You must think we’re idiots if you believe we are just going to offer ourselves up to someone none of us really know. It’s been a century since you and Orion last talked, you could be ready to hand us over to Vadik the moment we tell you where we are.”
“Look, I get you have no reason to believe me, but I am the best hope you have of getting your mate back if Jason has her. That bastard is one of the most powerful people here in the US and if he doesn’t want someone to be found, they won’t be.
I’ll come alone and you guys can pick the meeting place if you don’t want me to come to the hotel, but we need to talk.
Is this a secure line? Forget that question, you have Darius in your group, of course it is.
I’m sending you a different number to my secure phone, the message will be in code but I’m sure your mate brother will be able to figure it out easily.
I’ll call you back once I’ve landed. It will take about six hours in the air, so pick somewhere nice for dinner,” Christian stated before he hung up.
“What the fuck was that?” I demanded, shooting to my feet. “This asshole thinks he can just decide these things? And let’s not forget he knows Vadik’s mysterious half-brother’s name— Jason. I mean really Jason Grayson... that is the worst super villain name I’ve ever heard.”
I saw Tav fighting a smile at that last part I’d said, but I wasn’t trying to be funny. This had been the boogie man that we’d been trying to track down, the leader of Grayson Industries, one of the most powerful men in all of America and he was named Jason Grayson. It made me irrationally angry.
“I know we haven’t really gotten to know each other, but I need you guys to trust me when I say that Christian is someone I would trust with Viv’s life, along with my own.
If he says that we can be of help to each other, then I will hear him out.
The question is will you trust me enough to do the same?
” Orion challenged, leaning back in his seat.
Rik stood and let out a heavy sigh. “None of us have gotten much sleep since we left Kursar. I say we all get a few hours of rest in a real bed and then decide what we are going to do. We’ve got six hours or so before we need to meet with him, plenty of time to get some sleep and clear our heads.”
“That sounds reasonable to me,” Tristan said from where he was already sprawled out on one of the beds.
Everyone grumbled their agreement and drifted off to find a place to pass out for the next few hours.
Unwilling to give into sleep just yet, I stayed where I was and looked out the window at the grey world of winter.
The trees had lost all their leaves, the sky was overcast, adding to the gloominess I was feeling.
A light dusting of snow was on the ground as if it was trying to cover up the ugliness underneath it.
It was well past the holidays, not that any of us even had that register with what was going on in our world.
None of that mattered if Viv wasn’t there, she was the glue to our pack of misfit alphas.
We’d managed to come together for this goal, but if Viv had truly been gone, I’m not sure any of us would have survived that, knowing that she was out there somewhere was what kept us going.
Now here we were, in the same continent, so much closer, and yet infinitely far apart.
When my eyes started to drift closed, I gave up trying to fight it and moved over to the couch, tossing my arm over my eyes. Thankfully, I felt the weariness of my body pull me into slumber quickly, blocking out my nightmares for now.
Most of us got a solid four hours of sleep before someone’s alarm went off.
Once I was awake these days, it was hard to roll back over and go back to sleep.
It reminded me too much of the game I always played with Viv to see how long I could get her to stay in bed with me and be lazy.
Some days it worked, and we would just cuddle up and doze, talk, or things would end up getting a little frisky.
Now, every moment I wasted sleeping or being lazy was a moment farther from finding her.
Now, feeling much more clear headed we all agreed it would be best to have Christian meet us here at the hotel.
What we needed to talk about wasn’t safe to speak about in public, no telling where Jason or Vadik’s men might be hiding out.
None of us knew if they believed we were dead or not, but best not to rock the boat one way or the other.
“Christian should be here in a half an hour, I say we just order room service since I’m starving,” Orion suggested as he was already reading over the menu.
“So, what do we do if this whole thing goes south?” Bentley asked, as his leg wouldn’t stop bouncing.
At that question we all turned our gazes on Darius and Tristan, knowing they would have the best answers.
“I’m currently hacking into the hotel’s video surveillance, so that should help us know what’s coming and I’ve gotten control of the elevators so if I need to trap anyone in there I can,” Darius shared, not looking up from his laptop.
“Why do you have to be such a badass and make the rest of us look so useless?” I teased chucking a pillow at him.
Far too absorbed in what he was doing, he didn’t notice before it was too late and the pillow smacked him right in the face.
The look of death I got from him had me laughing far more than was appropriate, but it had been a long time since I’d had something to laugh about.
A few of the others chuckled as well when Darius sent the pillow sailing back towards me, but I was ready for it and ducked, hitting Rik who was pacing behind me.
“What the hell.” Rik grumbled as he picked up the pillow from the floor, walked to the front door and chucked it down the hall.
“Oomph,” someone grunted from just outside the door. “If I walked into some argument between you guys, I can give you a moment to sort it out before I come in.”
We froze once we recognized Christian’s voice from the other side of the door.
“I thought you said thirty minutes before he was coming,” Darius hissed at Orion.
Orion scowled at him. “So did I, so don’t you give me that accusatory look, asshole.”
“That was my bad. I forgot I didn’t bring any luggage and there was a taxi ready and waiting, so things went more smoothly than I originally thought,” Christian answered, continuing to speak through the door.
“Just let the man in,” Tristan sighed, motioning to Rik who was still next to the door.
Checking through the peephole before opening the door, Rik stepped aside and Christian walked in.
Seeing him in person was far different from the glimpse we’d seen on the video chat.
He was the epitome of what people would describe as a ‘surfer-dude.’ His hair was bleach blond, wavy and just brushed his shoulders with a beanie covering the top of it.
Christian’s skin was bronzed from being out in the sun and even though it was twenty something degrees outside he wore a t-shirt, ripped jeans, and flip-flops.
All he was missing is the Puka shell necklace I’ve seen in every teen movie.
“Sup guys, nice to finally meet you all in person,” Christian grinned. “I have one very important question to ask before we get started… would you guys like to help me lead a werewolf rebellion?”