Chapter 34
34
Crew
Carter Martin was an arrogant little shit. I’d met him a few times, and he’d never impressed me. Not as a human being and definitely not as an alpha.
But seeing him now, disheveled, filthy, and tied to a chair, I also knew he was pathetic. Because as soon as I stepped into the room, he started talking like he had verbal diarrhea.
“Crew. Shit. Fuck, I can explain, man, okay?” Sweat dripped down his temples, and I was struck by how similar he looked to his father. Both had the same squinty eyes and soft bellies.
Kellan crowded behind me and scoffed before looking at Oak. “He been doing that long?”
“Crying like a bitch?” Oak smirked. “On and off for the last two days.”
“Sorry it took us so long to get back to you,” I murmured.
He held up a hand. “Your omega was in heat. No apologies needed. Hazel okay now?”
My jaw tight, I nodded as I remembered leaving her with my family to come and handle the piece of shit in front of me.
It wasn’t a surprise to me or my pack when Pack Stone found Carter. They had a knack for finding people who didn’t want to be found. It was why I’d asked Oak for help, and confirmed in my mind Pack Stone would be the right one to help us manage security at the foundation.
I glanced around the small room—probably used as a bedroom at some point— in the one-story bungalow outside of Santa Clarita. The neighborhood heightened all of my alpha instincts.
Most of the buildings were boarded up, and I knew Oakley hadn’t picked this location by chance. It was quiet and remote enough that we didn’t have to worry about being overheard.
Bowen and Silas were in the kitchen, eating takeout at a card table, when we’d arrived. Oakley was watching Carter. Or, more accurately, terrorizing the small alpha with his sheer presence alone.
Oakley Stone was one of the biggest alphas I’d ever met. The man looked like he bench-pressed cars for fun, and he always had this air of ‘back the fuck up’ radiating from every cell.
It was easy to see why Carter was scared shitless.
“Do we need to worry about anyone looking for him?” I asked, not entirely sure how far things would go.
“Considering his friends are the ones who sold him out and his dad turned tail and ran? I don’t think so.” Oak grinned, flashing even, white teeth against tanned skin. Even his smile was menacing.
Nodding, I crossed the room to stand in front of Carter. “How do you know Donovan Ellis?”
Carter swallowed audibly, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “He, uh… Well, we worked together?”
I scoffed. “Are you asking me?”
Carter’s face crumpled. “None of this was my idea.”
Oakley let out a snort. “I can’t take the whining anymore. He’s worse than an omega in heat.”
I shot him a glare as Kellan punched his arm.
“No offense intended,” he muttered, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. “I’m going to grab food. Let me know if I can kill him when you’re finished.”
Carter paled and turned his frantic gaze to me. “Don’t let him hurt me.”
Kellan leaned against the wall and folded his arms over his chest, scowling at Carter. “It’s not him hurting you that you should be worried about.”
“I didn’t have a choice!” The shrill note in his tone made me wince. “It was all my dad’s plan. He never should’ve gotten involved with that group or their freaking omega shit. And it’s not like we knew who she was until?—”
My hand slammed down on his throat as a growl tore from my chest. “Listen to me carefully, Carter. You’re going to tell me everything you know about what your father was involved in. Especially if it pertains to my omega.”
Carter squirmed, his face turning an interesting shade of mottled red.
“If you don’t, I’m going to let Oakley and Kellan start cutting off a piece of you at a time until you do.” I added, “Starting with your balls,” and my nose wrinkled as a new stench hit the air. “Did you seriously just piss yourself?” Disgusted, I let him go and stepped back.
Carter’s breath wheezed in and out as he coughed and hacked. He shuddered and looked close to crying.
“Pathetic,” Kellan muttered, sounding annoyed.
Carter glared at me. “Fine. That damn omega is the reason everything fell apart.”
“Watch. Your. Tone.” I warned, barely able to get the words out as I snarled.
Carter’s breathing was still choppy as he looked away. “I don’t know everything.”
“Why was your father working with the APA?” I demanded, folding my arms over my chest and glaring.
“Ellis offered him a good deal. Dad got a cut of their profits as long as he kept their pipeline open.” Carter licked his cracked lips. “Everything was fine until… Until her .” His face twisted in a grimace.
I exchanged a look with Kellan before focusing on Carter once more. “Explain.”
“The APA dabbled in some omega trafficking, but it was always males. Moving them over the border and selling them to interested parties,” Carter went on.
I stiffened. “And how would they find these omegas?” Though, I suspected I already knew the answer.
Martin had been all too proud, bragging about his son who had taken a position with the Omega Designation Services. Once it came out that Carter was basically just doing data entry in their systems, he’d stopped telling the world about the job.
Still, it meant Carter had access to a lot of omega information. And while the world was laser focused on female omegas, male omegas were almost an afterthought. Most turned to prostitution when they aged out of omega placement centers.
Carter hung his head. “I might’ve given them a few names,” he mumbled. “But only ones that wouldn’t be missed. Ones without families.”
Because that made it better. Disgust churned in my gut. “And how did Hazel factor in?”
“She wasn’t supposed to be there,” Carter replied. “Henry Reed ruined it. He said his niece was a freaking beta , not an omega.”
I folded my arms, letting Carter go on a rant to see how much he’d spill. How much he knew.
“And, as if that wasn’t enough, she’s one of the Infinity omegas.” Carter’s scent was thick with distress. “We told Ellis he had to give her back, but no. Fucker refused to let her go. But they kept pushing and demanding Dad do something. The plan was to have your freaking pack infiltrate the APA and save her.” Carter glared at me. “You were never supposed to want her.”
Kellan’s growl behind me was low and ominous.
But Carter couldn’t shut up now to save his life. “Your pack fucked it all up. We were going to return her so she could go to the pack she was already marked for.”
Kellan shoved away from the wall and crossed the room in less than a second. His hands went around Carter’s throat as he lifted him—chair and all—into the air. “Marked for who ?”
Carter spluttered, unable to breathe let alone speak.
“Kell.” I kept my voice intentionally mild, knowing my pack brother was a heartbeat away from losing his shit. “He can’t talk if he’s dead.”
Kellan dropped him, letting all of Carter’s weight crash to the ground. One of the chair legs shattered and the entire thing tipped over. Carter landed on his side with a yelp.
Planting a hand on Kellan’s chest, I nudged him back. “Easy, bro.”
Still fuming, Kellan stomped back to the wall he’d been leaning on. Rage radiated off him in waves.
Crouching, I didn’t bother helping Carter up. “Who was Hazel marked for?”
“I don’t know,” Carter whimpered. “They didn’t use names, but they kept bugging Dad. Used some encrypted program to communicate. I just know Dad was stressed that he’d messed up their plans. Then she claimed you as her pack, and it all got so fucked. OS was trying to get her back, your pack was claiming her…”
“Then why help the APA take Hazel?” I demanded.
Carter shook his head. “Ellis threatened to go public with what we’d done, and… I panicked.”
I stared hard at him. “Martin had no clue about Hazel being taken the second time, did he?”
Carter shook his head. “No. Well, he knew OS was coming to take her. The pack she was promised to was still pushing for her, and they figured if OS denied your pack and took her away, she would bond with them and forget about you. But I’m the one who told Ellis where to find you. When she was being taken, I suggested Henry Reed file charges to complicate things with her being allowed to stay with your pack. It got most of you out of the house and left the omega alone.”
This time I caught Kellan mid-lunge. I shoved him out of the room. “Take a breath.”
Kellan’s chest heaved, air sawing in and out of his chest around a furious growl. “That little prick said?—”
“I know what he said,” I cut in coldly. “You’re too out of control to be in here right now, Kell.”
“I want to kill him,” he seethed.
I nodded. “Me, too. But we can’t.”
Kellan’s hard eyes met mine. “Yet.”
“Yet,” I agreed, bracing for a moment of self-recrimination. I’d been a fed for years. Long enough to know that vigilante justice wasn’t justice.
But somehow, when it came to Hazel, the rule book I’d lived my life by seemed to hold less and less weight.
Because there wasn’t a thing I wouldn’t do for her. There wasn’t a line I wouldn’t cross, a boundary I wouldn’t obliterate, if it kept her safe.
With a last snarl, Kellan turned and stormed away. When he was out of sight, I went back to Carter.
“I m-messed up,” Carter sobbed.
“Omega trafficking, interfering with pack placement, and the murder of federal agents.” I rubbed my jaw as I ticked off some of the offenses Carter was guilty of.
“I didn’t mean for them to get killed! Ellis said no one would be hurt!” Carter cried, trembling at my feet.
“You think anyone is going to give a shit?” I shot back. “You’re fucked, Carter. Tell me where your dad is and maybe we’ll tell the DA you’re cooperating. Maybe you’ll spend the rest of your pathetic life in a cell instead of getting a lethal injection.”
“I don’t know.”
“Fine. Have it your way. Enjoy hell,” I snapped, ready to walk.
“No—wait,” he pleaded.
I sighed and shook my head. “What?”
“He has friends in D.C.,” Carter said quickly, the words coming out in a jumbled mess. “And my aunt lives there. They’re the only ones he’d go to for help.”
I cocked my head. “We’ll look into it.”
Carter’s breath caught. “And you’ll put in a good word for me?”
I scoffed. “You’re the reason my omega was terrorized. She could’ve been killed.”
“But she wasn’t.” There was a note of hope that had me seeing red. As if the fact that Hazel hadn’t been permanently hurt or damaged somehow made his crimes less significant.
“She’s safe now ,” I answered. “Which is more than I can say for you.”
Carter wriggled, still bound to the broken chair. “Please—we had a deal.”
I chuckled, the sound devoid of any traces of humor. “I don’t make deals with spineless little weasels like you. Rot in hell, Carter.”
Carter’s face twisted as he shrieked. “All this because of that stupid cunt? She’s just another?—”
My boot to his jaw shut him up. Blood sprayed across the floor, his nose and mouth busted. He spit as he hacked out a cough, and I spotted a few fragments of teeth amongst the spit and blood.
Smug satisfaction settled in my chest as I strode out of the room and went to find Pack Stone and Kellan in the kitchen area.
Oakley balled up a wrapper from a fast food burger. “All good?”
I nodded. “He didn’t know much, but did clear up a few things about Hazel. Thinks his dad is holed up with his sister or friends near D.C., so we’ll need to look into them.”
Bowen frowned. “Kellan told us about some of the genetic stuff going on with Hazel. That’s fucking nuts.”
“You really think someone messed with her DNA to make her an omega?” Silas asked, his pale green eyes serious.
“Yeah, and Carter pretty much confirmed it. Plus he mentioned her being an Infinity omega, and we already figured out that Infinity Solutions is behind the designation change,” I replied.
“I know the world is desperate for more omegas since Variant O wiped out a lot of the population, but illegally turning betas into omegas? I mean, that sounds like some crazy science fiction movie.” Bowen shook his head in disbelief. “How would they even be able to get away with it?”
“With help,” I mused, rubbing my jaw. “Carter mentioned that Hazel had basically already been promised to a pack. That they’d paid for her. If Infinity is illegally creating omegas from unsuspecting betas, then who’s to say they aren’t funding the project by selling these omegas to packs who can afford it?”
Kellan straightened from where he was leaning against the sink. “All of the beta born omegas were bonded to packs almost as soon as they were found.”
“Exactly,” I agreed.
“Fuck me.” Oak scrubbed his hands over his face, looking like I’d decked him. “That’s a lot to take in. And how would you even prove it?”
“We need to find Martin.” Even now, the plan was taking shape in my head. “Our pack was invited to the annual Omega Gala in D.C. We’ll go and see what we can turn up. But it would be good to have backup.”
Oakley glanced at his packmates. “We planned on turning in our resignation when we handed Carter over to the authorities. Give us a few days to wrap shit up, and we’ll come with you.”
“Thank you,” I told him, meaning it. Knowing they were there was a massive help. I needed Hazel as protected as possible.
Especially if we were walking her straight into the lion’s den.