6. Ethan
Ethan
This is why I like computers. Code. All things electronic. They’re simple. Logical. When there’s a bug, you can fix it, if you can figure out what the problem is.
The problem that’s currently staring me in the face, though? No amount of lines of code can fix this. I’ve never even heard of an alpha presenting at twenty-four.
But it’s the only explanation for him barking at me, the change in his scent, and the way he’s absolutely fucking losing it right now. We’ll know for sure if he somehow gets a knot—but we are not close enough for me to ask that question right now.
“This is right bullshite,” Teddy snaps, pacing the room. “It’s been for’y-eight hours, and you ‘ave no leads! None!”
“Teddy…” I sigh, sitting forward slightly. In the five years we’ve lived together, I’ve never seen him like this. It makes sense, though, given that the woman he’s been hopelessly in love with for the last year has disappeared.
Something in him had shifted ever since he came home from that party, practically singing ballads in honor of the little omega who had captured his attention.
We had been investigating one of the attendees of the party at the behest of a family whose omega had gone missing. Teddy had gotten the information he needed, and then took a smoke break.
The little omega had come bursting into the alley, and then Teddy was never the same.
Wren Sofia Messina. Late-presenting omega and only daughter of Francesco Messina. Kept under lock and key all of her life, not even an Instagram account to be seen. I would think that someone like that would be boring. A robot, indoctrinated with the beliefs of their family. Not Wren.
Her beauty is only surpassed by her innocence, something I found out after Teddy forgot to turn off his mic and hidden camera.
I should feel guilty for being privy to their back-alley and coat closet conversation, but I don’t.
How could I, when it makes me understand Teddy so much better in this moment?
I do feel kind of guilty about pining over the omega who’s never even met me, though.
And for trying to think of ways to steal the sticky note that reads “Caramel Drizzle”. Just the memory of the scent that barely clung to the paper—crisp apple, warm cinnamon, and a hint of allspice—stirs something inside me that I haven’t felt in…well, ever.
“Fuck right off with that, mate. You can call me Theodore ’cause ‘till you find Wren, you’re dead to me,” he growls, pacing the room.
Was I this unstable when I presented?
“It’s not like they keep an electronic record of things like this, Ted,” Brennan tries to reason. As soon as Teddy barked at me last night, I called in reinforcements. The only two guys who I know he would listen to in a situation like this, despite his current behavior.
Maverick and Brennan.
Brennan, ever the stable and reasonable one, while Maverick isn’t afraid to tell it like it is to get shit done.
Teddy only growls again. I exchange a glance with Maverick. He could bark Teddy into submission if he needed to, but…I really don’t want it to come to that.
“We don’t even know if she really was taken against her will,” Maverick adds, and I suppress the urge to growl myself. Not only would Wren never do something like lead Teddy on and leave him, but that statement is not going to help. “What does ‘caramel drizzle’ even mean?”
The sound that rips out of Ted’s throat is rabid, and he takes two steps towards Maverick, murder in his eyes, before he halts, dropping to his knees.
Based on his expression, it’s obvious he’s not on the floor by choice.
Maverick’s dominance is stifling, and I find myself pulling at my collar a little, even if it isn’t directed at me.
“You losing your shit isn’t helping anyone, least of all your girl,” Maverick snaps, staring down at Teddy.
The newly-presented alpha opens his mouth to answer, but then his phone rings.
His ire drops immediately, and Maverick loosens his dominance, allowing Teddy to answer the phone.
“‘Ello? Dove, is that you?” His voice is desperate, and so broken. Whoever is on the other line speaks again. “Wot? ’Ang on.” He frowns at the phone, putting it on speaker. “Say all that again?”
“I…I don’t really know who I’m supposed to be getting a hold of,” a woman says in a hushed voice. “But do you know…Wren? She’s an omega. She gave me this phone number to call.”
Teddy shoots to his feet, his voice lighting up with excitement. “Is she alrigh’? Where is she? What ‘appened?”
“I don’t know,” the woman says quietly. “I’m a private chef. I went to one of my client’s homes to cook them dinner, and Wren was there. She pretended to write down the name of a food dish she needed help with, but the note just said, ‘They bought me. Help.’ and then this phone number.”
Fuck.
“Fuck!” Teddy curses.
But…this is good, right? This means that Teddy was right about Wren all along, and even if she’s with some pack that bought her, she’s obviously alive and in good enough shape to pass along a message.
“Give me the phone, Theodore,” Maverick says harshly, holding out his hand. Teddy gives him a dirty look, but slaps the phone down in his hand.
“Ma’am,” he starts.
“Beatrice,” she corrects.
“Beatrice,” he huffs, “I need all the information you can give me. Names. An address. And if you’re comfortable with it, any schedule details you know.”
“Shouldn’t I go to the police?” she asks worriedly. “I had no idea this pack would buy an omega—”
“Do not go to the police,” Maverick orders, a little harshly. “If you do, they’ll just give her right back to the family that sold her to them in the first place.”
“I…” The woman swallows audibly. “Okay. The pack I work for is Pack Caruso—”
Fuck.
“Dammit!” Teddy shouts, his hands reaching for his hair.
Pack fucking Caruso.
The pack we were investigating the night Teddy met Wren.
I have a few hours of video saved—courtesy of Teddy’s hidden camera—of two of them watching Wren from the bar.
They had talked shit, as alphas tend to do but the third kept approaching her to dance.
Each time, I could see her shake her head politely in refusal.
But…I haven’t seen any evidence of them reaching out to the Messina family. How did I miss this?
“We’re familiar,” Maverick says tightly, fury glinting in his eyes. Well, now he seems to be taking the situation seriously. “Is she well? Have they been mistreating her?”
I reach over and take my laptop off the coffee table. We hadn’t risked hacking into their system before, given that the client was looking for evidence they could take to the police, but it should be easy enough to get in.
The woman on the phone sounds like she might faint. “She seemed a bit nervous and shaky, but she didn’t look to be physically harmed.”
I’m in. I flip through the video feeds, looking at a suspiciously empty house. Frowning, I continue to cycle through each room.
Where is she?
“You did the right thing, calling us,” Maverick says gruffly. “Thank you. We’ll handle it.”
The line goes dead and Teddy lets out a growl, his hands fisting his hair. “Those fuckin’ arsewipes. Those dead men walkin’. I’m gonna—”
“Stay here,” Mav orders, ignoring Teddy’s indignant look. “You’re too close to this, Ted. Plus, you don’t have a handle on your alpha yet. We can’t risk any stupid mistakes.”
“Stupid mistakes?!” He whirls on us, his eyes going dark. “If you fink I would ever do anyfin’ to put ’er danger—”
“You’re not going.” Brennan’s voice is as calm as ever as he looks at Teddy. “Mav and I will handle it. We’ll get your girl back, you have our word.”
Something about Brennan’s calmness has him pausing, and he blinks, his shoulders slumping. “I need to go,” his voice wavers, “she don’t do well wiff new people.”
“Ted.” Mavericks voice is uncharacteristically gentle as he grasps his shoulder. “We’ll make sure she’s taken care of. Promise.”
But despite the fact he’s calmed down, he doesn’t look comforted. He looks crazed. Harried. He has a wild look in his eye that shows a man about to lose it.
“Would you feel better if…” Brennan winces, clearly unsure of his next words. “Would you feel better if you could wait in the car?”
Maverick curses.
My brows shoot up.
Really?
“Really?” Ted echoes my question.
On my screen, a little figure exits out of what has to be a bathroom and goes into a…is that a bedroom? It can’t be a nest. It has a twin-sized mattress with a single sheet. And that’s it. No blankets. No pillows. No…anything.
“That way…” Brennan shifts foot to foot, “When we get her out, there’s a familiar face waiting for her, and she won’t be scared.”
Maverick sighs. Not even he can argue with that.
“I found her.” My voice seems to send a shock through the room, and then all three alphas are scrambling behind me, eager to take a look at the screen.
And I can feel each of our hearts breaking as she curls up on her side in the middle of the mattress, her chest heaving as she sobs.
Heavy, gut wrenching sobs.
“What is that room?” Brennan gapes. “That can’t be her nest.”
“She ’ad so many fings in ‘er nest at ‘er parents ‘ouse,” Teddy whispers, his blue eyes full of pain as he watches the omega.
“Aren’t her parents buying some kind of nesting store?” Maverick growls, his dominance leaking slightly. “And they sell her to a pack that only gives her this?”
Splitting the screen, I keep Wren on the left half while I use the right to keep cycling through the cameras in the house.
These idiots are recording everything. I stop when I land in the kitchen, an older looking woman making dinner as she periodically glances above her, worry etched in her expression.
“That must be Beatrice,” Brennan mutters. “We’ll need to make sure she doesn’t get caught in the cross-fire.”
“That was very clever of the little omega,” Maverick comments, his eyes fixed on Wren’s curled up figure with something like admiration in his eyes. “Getting us her location like she did.”
Teddy frowns, and I also don’t miss Maverick’s use of the word “us”, despite the fact she doesn’t know that Brennan, Mav and I even exist.
Maverick pushes away from the couch, and heads for the door. “Let’s get going. We need to go to the office to stock up on supplies, and then we’re breaking the little bird out.”
Little bird.
My eyes dart back to the screen, and I realize that’s exactly what she is. It’s almost like her parents knew the life that would await her, with what name they bestowed on her. From one cage to another she’s gone, always looking for a way out.
Well, it looks like we’re about to give her the key to her freedom.