Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Whispers travel through the ballroom like wildfire as all eyes turn to me.
Cassian and Ian immediately come to my aid, helping me stand.
Ian dabs blood away from my nose with a handkerchief, then guides me through the crowd to the edge of the hall.
I duck my head to avoid the stares directed my way, causing another drop of blood to drip from my nose and onto my gown.
“Easy there, my darling,” Ian says softly, pulling me tight to his chest. “Are you all right?
Saints, what must he be feeling through our bond right now?
I force a nod so as not to worry him further, and, in truth, his cedar-and-bergamot scent is calming my frayed nerves.
“Have you heard from Graeme?” I murmur to my first mate, but Cassian only shakes his head.
Holding my head high again, I scan the room, and my eyes land on Kel, who’s engrossed in something on his phone.
When he looks up and meets my father’s eyes, he nods, flashing him a victorious smile.
I’m tempted to reach out with my affinity to see what Kel read from his phone, but my head is throbbing from their invasions.
My father regards me shrewdly, a faint smile gracing his lips.
“I suspect the raid has begun,” Ian says quietly when Simon and Luca join us at the edge of the ballroom.
Then, I’m surrounded not just by my own pack, but by Doctor Huong and her mates, Daniel and Huy, a soft-spoken Vietnamese man, as well.
“Let’s get you to the infirmary, sweet girl. I’d like to check you over before one of your mates loses his mind. Are you all right to walk?”
Luca snorts derisively, tucks a hand beneath my knees and draws me up into his arms like I weigh nothing at all.
“I can’t go to the infirmary!” I hiss, my voice low as I struggle in Luca’s arms. “We have to get to the safe house. We can’t let Graeme and Jack fight off the Soldiers alone.”
“Princess,” Luca pleads. “I need you to get checked out. You nearly fainted. Please. For my sanity.”
I turn to Cass, who surely must understand the urgency of our situation, but he shakes his head. “Don’t ask me to put you in danger, love,” he says gently, and I swallow hard. “Not like this. Luca is right; you nearly fainted, and we don’t know why.”
But I do know why. Kel and my father forced me to use my affinity, bombarding my mind with their thoughts. Fool that I am, I fell right into their trap, played into their hands exactly as they wanted me to.
Cassian’s face is a thundercloud of emotion, and I reach for him through our bond. His worry washes over me, and I settle instantly in Luca’s arms as I meet my mates’ eyes, one by one. Finally, after a tight smile from Simon, I nod and bow my head.
The moment we’ve left the ballroom, Marcus tailing us to make sure we’re not being followed, Cassian leans in close. “My father’s sending a tactical team. Graeme and Jack won’t be alone.”
I look up at him, wonder swelling in my chest. “Thank you, Cass.”
Cassian’s phone pings with a text message as we enter the infirmary, and he scans the screen of his phone, the light reflected in his dark eyes.
“What is it?”
“Jack and half of the tactical team are evacuating the omegas, but the Soldiers have Graeme and the others pinned down.” I open my mouth to say something, but he cuts me off with a severe look.
“Don’t, Junes. Please don’t ask me to put you in the middle of a firefight.
Some of my father’s best men are there. They’ll see to it that all the omegas make it out alive. ”
“What’s this about a firefight?” Doc asks as Luca sets me down on the edge of the table in her exam room.
“The Soldiers of Saint Aldous are attempting to raid one of Graeme’s safe houses,” Cassian says.
“And you saw it,” Doc realizes, her voice barely above a whisper.
I nod while she listens to my heart, remaining quiet when she shines a light into my eyes. I feel useless here in the infirmary. We should all be out there fighting to keep the omegas we freed from the Soldiers’ diabolical clutches. Saints only know what they plan for them.
I startle, remembering the images my father forced into my mind just before I swooned.
Test subjects. My father is looking to reclaim the test subjects he granted Andrew Radcliffe and subsequently lost when we freed them from Rad’s facility.
“What I want to know is how Kel knew you had an affinity,” Cassian says, leaning against the wall in the exam room as Doc looks me over.
“Rad had his suspicions. He must have passed them along to Kel and my father. And I confirmed it for them tonight.” Like Rad, Kel and my father used my affinity against me.
“I don’t like those bastards knowing what you’re capable of,” Simon says, scowling while he flips through something on his phone.
Ian snorts. “They don’t know half of what our girl is capable of. They caught her in one regard, but her affinity is more than just mind reading.”
“It’s a shame they know,” I sigh. “I’m more concerned that Kel and my father are working together.
I suspected my father was involved in Project Halcyon in some manner.
He supplied Rad with test subjects, but for him to be working directly with the Soldiers of Saint Aldous… I wish I didn’t believe it so easily.”
“I’ve said it before,” Simon says, pocketing his phone. “Your father is villainous.”
“I think he’s experimenting again,” I admit. “And that’s why the Soldiers are raiding the safe house. He wants his precious test subjects back.”
“He made you see something, just like Kel did,” Ian realizes.
I nod. “I think that’s why I nearly fainted. The barrage of thoughts caught me off guard, and I couldn’t hold them at bay.”
“We’ll train,” Ian promises. “Can you tell us what you saw?”
My shoulders slump. “What you’d expect. A scalpel cutting skin. Serial numbers tattooed on shoulders of what had to be omegas. It was… gruesome. I’d rather not relive it.”
“Of course,” Luca says, sending Ian a sharp look.
“So, Kel and my father trapped me,” I mutter, “but how did Kel know about the safe house?”
“We’ve all been coming and going quite a bit,” Doc says quietly, snapping my chart shut.
Simon lets out a heavy sigh. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot.
We need to up our digital security. I’ve been making a new script to run on all our phones to disguise the cell towers we’re pinging from, but it’s slow going.
If one of the houses has already been raided, it could be too late.
Shit, we still had omegas in collars before Ian and Juniper could remove them all.
Maybe they tracked them and just bided their time.
I should have considered that before now.
If the Soldiers tracked the collars to the safe house—”
“Hey,” Cassian says softly, taking Simon’s hand. He uncurls my beta lover’s tight fist and presses a kiss to his palm. “You don’t know that that’s what happened, and you’re working as hard as you can. Our enemy is sophisticated. We all knew Graeme’s safe houses could never be a permanent solution.”
“Then what is?” Ian wonders.
We’re left to ponder that as we sit around the infirmary in our finery.
I’m so restless that I want to kick off my heels and pace the stone floors, but I remain tucked in Simon’s arms, wrapped in the warm wool of Cassian’s suit jacket to ward off the early April chill that seeps into the infirmary this late at night.
Marcus sends me a searching look, but I duck away from his gaze, my thoughts roiling in my head. Even with everything going on, I can’t forget that Marcus lied to me. That he’s kept his lack of immunity a secret from me since the very first day we met. How can I trust him after that?
“You’re troubled, my darling,” Ian observes. “What is it?”
I’m saved from answering when Cassian’s phone rings. He immediately puts it on speaker and sets it on the bed.
Graeme’s voice comes through loud, clear, and utterly exhausted.
“It’s done. The Soldiers retreated when it was clear that the omegas were gone.
We got them out and to another safe house just in time.
Jack and I are getting everyone into a single safe house for the night.
It’ll be tight quarters, but more defensible.
We’re spread too thin to protect multiple locations right now.
Recapturing the omegas was definitely their priority.
The Soldiers wanted to take them alive, but they’re all safe. A few with minor injuries.”
“And you?” I ask. “How are you and Jack?”
“Getting by,” Graeme grits out. “The Soldiers got in a few good hexes, but so did I.”
“That’s our cue,” Daniel Huong says, helping Mai up from her desk chair. “You’ve got patients, honey, and we can help guard the omegas for the night.”
“Pack Huong is coming to assist,” Ian tells Graeme.
“We’re on our way,” Mai chimes in. “Bringing supplies.”
“Thank you, Doc. You’re a lifesaver. Often literally.”
Graeme ends the call, and I slump back against the bed. So, the Soldiers wanted the omegas taken alive. It backs up my belief that my father is experimenting again and needs his precious test subjects back. Villain of a man. Simon is right.
We gather in the family room back at the pack house, sprawled out on the couches, still in our ball finery, Marcus pacing behind a couch.
Simon hunches over his laptop, typing away at the keys and swearing as he works on his new script.
Cassian strokes his back, trying to soothe our beta love, but it’s no use.
“It’s possible the Soldiers found out through other means. You’ve made technological miracles happen keeping all of us safe,” Cass reasons.
Simon scowls at his laptop screen. “We can’t be too careful. What if Junes had been there working with the omegas when it happened? She could have been taken.”
“They could fucking try,” I seethe.
“Our girl’s not going down without a fight.” Luca pulls me back against his hot, hard body, and I let him, sinking into his arms and into the scent of red wine and cherries.