Chapter 2
2
Jude
My head was fucking pounding, but it was the rank scent of terrified omega that ripped me from the dark.
Hissing out a breath, I sat up and pushed the heel of my hand into my forehead, like that would make the mother of all migraines go away. “Fuck.” I blinked, trying to get my gaze to focus as I looked for…
Hazel .
My stomach pitched dangerously, and I knew I was seconds away from throwing up my breakfast. Swallowing down the wave of bile, I pushed myself to my feet as Crew’s little sister, Calla, crawled over to me.
Her big blue eyes were wild with fear. “Jude.” She croaked my name, the scent of bitter honey and wilted lilies was pulsing in waves from her.
Not Hazel.
Where the fuck was my girl?
“Bowen won’t wake up,” Calla managed, twisting to look back.
I lurched to my feet, planting a hand on the wall for support as I stared down at Bowen’s unconscious form. To my left, the front door was wide open. “Hazel?—”
Calla stifled a sob, but not very well. “They took her.”
I took a deep breath, steadying myself before stumbling to Bowen. My legs folded like wet paper, my knees cracking on the hardwood. I grabbed his shoulder. “Bowen, come on. Wake the fuck up.”
Calla scrambled back over to us, protectively pulling Bowen’s head into her lap. Blood dripped from a cut above his left eye, and the area was already turning a blackish shade of purple.
I didn’t remember much after the OS agents had cuffed us, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out we’d been cold-cocked by the butt of a gun.
Wait.
We’d been cuffed.
I glanced around, surprised to see two pairs of silver handcuffs twisted together on the other side of the hallway. My gaze shot up to Calla. “You got the cuffs off? OS let you go?” I frowned, my head thumping. “I thought they were arresting us.”
“They were,” Calla whispered, shaking her head. Tears made her eyes glassy. “But then the others showed up.”
My heart dropped. “What others? What happened, Calla?”
She paled and shook her head. “They pushed me into one of the SUVs when another one came zooming up the drive. They were shooting before they even stopped the car.”
My chest went tight, my vision wavered. Was this what having a heart attack felt like? “Shooting?”
She nodded weakly. “Yeah. It happened so fast. They killed every OS agent out there. Even Hillary. Then they pulled Hazel out from under the other car where she was hiding. I didn’t hear what they were saying, but I think Hazel knew them from before.”
Before.
When my sweet little mate had been kidnapped before .
“They got her into the car before I could climb out the front of the car I was in,” Calla finished, tears rolling down her porcelain cheeks. “I tried to go after them, but I couldn’t?—”
“No,” I cut her off. “Calla, they might’ve shot you or taken you, too.”
“I came inside to find you and Bowen, but both of you were unconscious. I went back out and grabbed the keys from one of the agents.” Her bottom lip trembled, her unease broadcast in sharp waves of pheromones that I didn’t have to be an alpha to read.
She was scared and probably more than a little traumatized. Brave omega.
I didn’t know Crew’s sister all that well. Sure, we’d met more than a few times, and our pack frequently visited her family, but Calla was always sweet and quiet. She had a playful side that she would let out around her family, but she locked it down whenever a non-immediate family member was near.
I knew a lot of people considered her the Pack Dutton princess. She was coddled and protected. I also knew she’d been on track to bond with another pack, but that had been abruptly called off. Crew had worried and wondered about her failed pack engagement, but Calla always assured him she was fine.
But now, watching this omega find the courage to survive a shootout and then comb a dead body for keys to free us from our handcuffs, I was starting to think differently. There was an untapped depth to her.
Bowen groaned, grabbing our attention. “What happened?” His words were clumsy and slurred as he tried to blink awake.
“Shh,” Calla soothed, smoothing his dark red hair back.
“How long has it been since they took her?” I demanded.
“Ten minutes?” Calla guessed. “Maybe fifteen? I don’t know. Shit, I should’ve called my parents or Crew. I can’t remember where I left my phone.”
Remembering the weird feeling I’d gotten before OS arrived, I reached out through the bond to my pack. I was met with static, almost like they were sleeping.
But I knew my pack. No way did they just randomly all decide to take a nap while at the FBI field office.
Losing Hazel was like having my heart carved out with a rusty spoon.
But losing my entire pack and my girl? That was devastating. Crippling.
I could feel myself starting to spiral, panic overriding all of my instincts and training as a federal agent.
The crunch of tires coming up the driveway snapped me out of my funk. I stood on shaky knees. “Calla, you need to get upstairs and hide.”
“I’m not leaving you guys,” she insisted, still holding onto Bowen.
I gritted my teeth. “Cal?—”
“Pack,” Bowen muttered, rubbing his forehead. He tried to sit up, but collapsed against Calla’s legs. “My pack.”
The slamming of car doors came with a breeze from outside that brought familiar scents of the other two members of Bowen’s pack and was enough to have Bowen summon the energy to fully sit up.
Oakley and Silas entered the house at a run, guns drawn.
Calla let out a shrill whine, skittering back and curling into a ball as she tried to hide.
“Fucking stand down,” Bowen snapped.
Oakley was all business, his nearly black eyes sweeping the foyer. “Anyone else in here?”
Shit. I assumed no one else was, but I hadn’t checked for myself. “I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so?” Oak’s voice was cutting. “There are bodies all over the front drive.”
I turned to Calla, my head still pounding. “Cal? Was there anyone else?”
She dropped her chin to her chest with the barest of nods. I could see her jaw tighten as she trembled. She was terrified, and the big bad alphas looking—and smelling—like they were about to raze the world wasn’t helping.
“Check the house,” Oak ordered Silas, and the second man started his sweep of the downstairs. “What the fuck happened?”
“OS came for Hazel,” I answered. “They knocked Bowen and I out before taking Calla and Hazel.”
“You okay?” Oak’s gaze narrowed on Bowen.
Bowen gave a tiny nod. “Yeah. I think so.” He pushed himself up with a grunt and shot Calla a worried look. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”
Her lips were turning white from being pressed so hard together. Her bright blue eyes locked on Bowen.
With a grunt, Bowen scooted across the floor until he was beside the terrified omega, then he wrapped an arm around her. “You’re safe now.”
“Calla said another SUV showed up and killed the OS agents,” I supplied, shoving to my feet and weaving unsteadily as the world tilted for a beat. “Probably the APA coming back for Hazel. We need to go after them.”
Oakley’s eyes went wide. “Fuck. You’re sure?”
“Makes the most sense,” I muttered, rubbing my temples. “I can check the security cameras, but I also can’t feel my pack.”
“Explain,” Oakley demanded.
“The bond is just static. Like they’re asleep,” I admitted, breathing heavy.
Silas thundered down the steps at my back. “House is clear.”
“We need to find my pack and get Hazel back,” I told them, my gaze swinging between the two alphas.
“And get a doctor to check you three out,” Oak added.
“We’re fine,” I started to argue.
“You both were unconscious,” Oak snapped. “You could have a concussion, or worse. You’re getting medical treatment—you’re no good to your girl if you pass out. And Calla needs to be looked at, too.”
Silas crossed the foyer to crouch in front of Calla and Bowen. “Was she hurt?” He directed the question to Bowen.
“Don’t think so,” Bowen answered. “I think she's in shock.” He turned his face to Calla, nuzzling her cheek gently.
Frowning deeply, Silas started to reach for Calla, but then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he pushed himself up and faced Oak. “What’s the plan?”
“Jude said his pack bond is off,” Oak replied. “I think we need to look at the security footage of what happened outside first, then we can make a plan. I want to see what we’re dealing with, but I have a feeling we’re gonna need two rescue teams.”
“Two?” Silas echoed warily.
Oak gave a grim nod. “First we need to get Pack Dutton, then we need to find their omega.”
My entire body was numb as I watched the security footage in Crew’s office. Oakley and Silas crowded against my back with Bowen and a silent Calla standing to my left.
My breath caught as I watched Donovan Ellis drag Hazel out from under the SUV she’d hidden beneath. I wished like fuck we had audio, as he spoke before indicating two of his men should grab my girl.
I recognized them from my time at APA—Ellis’s brother, Hayden, and a sadistic fucker named Daryl. The realization that Hazel had been alone with those men for over thirty minutes made my insides roil.
We all watched the SUV whip around, the tires spinning before they caught traction and left a rubber mark on the drive.
“Freeze that,” Bowen said.
I tapped the cursor and waited as Bowen snapped a picture on his phone and started typing a message.
“Odds are they swiped the tag from another car,” Silas pointed out.
“I know,” Bowen muttered, finishing his message. “I sent it to this hacker I met on the Vega mission. He created a program that merges with traffic cameras. Odds are they’re trying to put as much distance between us and them as possible. They won’t have taken the time to swap plates again. Hopefully my guy can find them and track where they’re taking her.”
I stared at the screen, hearing Bowen’s words, but also knowing that we were losing precious time. Each minute was a mile separating me from Hazel.
Oak sucked in a sharp breath, and we all watched Calla tumble from the SUV. Her fear was palpable as she took in the bodies, the carnage, before running back to the house. Minutes later, she was coming back outside, hesitating for a breath before she started searching the first dead man for the keys to unlock Bowen and me.
“Brave omega,” Silas praised softly.
Calla let out a soft little breath. Her eyes lost some of the abject fear as she absorbed the kindness like a balm.
Then Oak ruined it when he retorted, “Fucking reckless omega. What if there had been someone inside?”
“Back off,” Bowen warned, a protective arm still wrapped around Calla’s thin shoulders. “Most people—omega or not—would’ve run and saved themselves.”
“But she is an omega,” Oak pointed out, looking like a pissed off grizzly bear. “And she could’ve been killed, or worse, going into an unknown situation after a fucking gun fight.”
None of us corrected him that there weren’t things worse than death. We’d all been agents for too long. And there were absolutely things worse than death.
Things that my omega might be going through at that very moment.
Donovan Ellis had waited impatiently for Hazel for years . I doubted he’d make the same mistake again.
My eyes slammed shut, but all I could see was Hazel back up on that dais as Ellis prepared to rape her. To force-bond her.
If he bonded her…
Bile crawled up the back of my throat, and I shoved the rolling chair back, not caring that I slammed into Oakley and Silas. I lurched to my feet and sprinted for the half bathroom attached to Crew’s office.
I hit my knees as I started to retch into the toilet. My head pounded as I threw up my breakfast. My insides twisted like a gourmet pretzel as I dry heaved.
A soft hand landed on my back. “We’ll find her, Jude.” Calla’s voice was trembling, and I turned to see her kneeling. “But I need you to do me a favor and send a copy of the security tape to my dad.”
Bowen stood behind her, grabbing a paper towel before passing it to me.
I wiped my mouth with the paper towel and stared at Calla. “Why?”
A determined glint entered her eyes. “Because I lost my best friend to these douche canoes before, and I’m not losing her again.”
“Maybe let the professionals handle this one, princess,” Oak drawled, shaking his head behind Bowen.
Calla stood and turned, waiting for Bowen to shuffle aside so she could face the massive alpha head-on. “My father is Kevin Dutton, CEO of the country’s biggest media company.”
“Congratulations,” Oak deadpanned.
Silas shoved him. “Let her finish.”
Calla’s chin lifted a notch, defiance steeling her resolve before our eyes.
Hazel would’ve been proud of her.
Oak sighed. “Fine. What’s the plan then, princess?”
“We announce to the world that OS agents were murdered and that an omega has been kidnapped,” she replied.
“And the rest of my pack?” I asked.
She looked over her shoulder. “Let’s see your boss keep my brother and his pack locked away when their omega has been taken. I’d love to see him explain that to the reporters who will latch onto this story.”
“A kidnapped omega?” Bowen let out a low whistle. “The eyes of the whole damn world will be on it.”
“Which means fewer places for those assholes to hide Hazel,” Calla agreed.
I flushed the toilet and got to my feet. “I’m in.”