Chapter Four
Alison crossed her arms and leaned against the large desk in the gym manager’s office, which he’d been only too happy to offer for their little talk.
While Alison didn’t want to talk to the three, she figured it was better to do it there than risk them infiltrating her life any further.
“Cops or not, stalking is illegal,” she said.
The one with a busted nose—and didn’t that cheer her up?—answered. “We aren’t cops and we didn’t stalk you.” He lifted his hand when she went to argue. “That is Daniel, my name is Kyle, and we are FBI agents.”
“Same difference. The law is the law,” she reminded them.
Alison had no love for law enforcement. Sure, some of them were good, she’d bet.
However, she’d seen enough do nothing, had seen them turn a blind eye to horrible things, all because it benefited them to do so.
And even if she honestly believed all cops were good, that they were doing their best, they were still helping a corrupt system that constantly shoved omegas into danger and servitude.
“And him?” She nodded at the largest of the three, the one she’d tangled with the most the other night.
“Trent,” he said. “Not FBI. Just someone in the wrong place, wrong time.”
Well, that she could understand. Wasn’t that how she’d gotten there, too? Still, in the light of the office, she was able to get a better look.
Trent was, by far, the most striking. She wouldn’t call him handsome so much as powerful.
His broad shoulders and height meant he took up far too much space in the small room, and his shaved head didn’t soften him at all.
He looked every bit the dangerous man he’d proven himself to be the night before.
Or perhaps part of that was how different he seemed from the other two. He and Daniel were opposites, with Daniel being soft in all the ways Trent wasn’t. The soft, short, dark hair which Daniel wore offset his brown eyes and his ‘you can trust me’ face.
And Kyle? He sat in between them, smaller than Trent yet more muscular than Daniel. His hair was pushed backward, and a thin mustache and goatee made him look a bit like a stereotypical bad cop. Still, those blue eyes of his were set off by the darkness of his hair.
“So, you tracked me down. Now what?”
“We aren’t going to arrest you,” Daniel said.
“Then again, I ask, now what?”
“We had a chance to talk with a friend of yours.”
“I doubt it. I don’t have friends.”
“Tiffany.”
The name caused a shot of anxiety to surge through her. “If you did anything to her—”
“We didn’t. We were the ones who helped make sure she was safe a few months ago. When we described the omega who did that to Kyle’s nose, she seemed to know exactly who we were talking about.”
“And she told you?” A sickness settled into Alison at the idea of being outed that way. This was why she kept her distance. Being around people was a risk, one she needed to knock off.
“She didn’t,” Kyle cut in. “Trent figured out your gym based on how you fought. Only so many places in town you could have gone to learn that. Kane offered up a bit, but only the basics. Said you were known for protecting omegas, and that you’d fallen off the radar for a while. You’ve been worrying your friends.”
“Again, I don’t have friends.”
“Funny, that isn’t what they say.” Kyle lifted an eyebrow as if that were some telling statement.
It wasn’t. Other people liked to romanticize relationships, and they loved doing it with her. They probably saw her as some lost puppy needing a pack, so even if they weren’t actually close, other people liked to pretend there were connections that didn’t exist.
“Your point? I’m getting bored.”
Trent’s lips curled up at that, but he still didn’t speak.
Daniel kept going. “We know you were going after the slavery ring.”
That got her attention.
“What do you know about it?”
“More than we can share right now. But it seems like we’re after the same people.”
She pressed her lips together as she worked that bit of information into what she already knew. “So you were there doing recon?” She groaned a moment later. “That dark-haired omega, she was your plant, wasn’t she?”
Alison should have felt bad for thinking unkindly, but she’d seen that omega a mile off.
The woman had been entirely uncomfortable and stuck out.
She’d assumed the woman had been playing some ‘sexy strangers’ game, or perhaps had gone there on a first date.
Realizing she was bait for the scouts made it even sadder, though.
“She shouldn’t be anywhere near undercover work. I spotted her the second she walked in.”
“Do you think you could do better?”
“I did do better, and if you three hadn’t tried to play hero, I’d be exactly where I wanted to be.”
“At the hands of scouts?” Kyle asked, his tone dry.
“On my way to getting the information for the auction. Only scouts and buyers are given it. So if I’m with a scout, I get into the auction.”
The simultaneous looks of something between annoyance and horror were nearly comical. It seemed none of the alphas were thrilled with her perfectly laid-out strategy.
Well, it would have been perfect if they hadn’t gotten involved.
“Getting yourself in the hands of people who sell omegas like cattle maybe wasn’t your best plan,” Trent said. “Or hell, maybe it was, and you just have really shitty decision making. Do you have any idea what those people do to the woman they catch?”
Alison’s mind drifted back to a long time before, to when she’d been more personally acquainted with exactly what slavery looked like.
No. I won’t let that grab me. She refused to sink back there, to remember it all.
Instead, she squared her shoulders and met Trent’s gaze.
“Yes, I know exactly what happens to women in that position.”
Trent pulled back, as though the knowledge sat in her expression and he didn’t much care for it.
Before it could morph into pity, before he could ask—because she damn well wouldn’t tell them anything—she continued, “However, unlike you, I’ve actually done my research.
Every scout team has an area and a specialty.
That bar is handled by a few people who always bring wild omegas.
Their buyers want omegas who can be broken.
That means they don’t hurt, rape or otherwise mistreat their products, or else it dims some of that fight. ”
And there it is. Surprise.
I hate being underestimated.
It had always been true, that because of her pretty face and youthful looks, people thought her dumb. They never realized how clever she was until she outwitted them.
“How exactly did you get all that information?”
“The FBI isn’t the only one with sources, and mine are just a lot better.”
Daniel shook his head. “It was still a dangerous game to play.”
“Well, we’re running out of time. The auction is in eight weeks, and if I’m not there—” She cut herself off before she said the rest.
The hell? She normally excelled at being tight-lipped, yet, somehow, she was ready to spill her secrets to these three.
What caused that? She’d been attracted to plenty of people before, so she couldn’t believe it was just that she’d gotten off to fantasies about them.
Could it be that she didn’t deal with alphas like this—not even one, let alone three—and that created the pull?
Whatever it was, she didn’t care for it.
“What happens if you’re not there?” Kyle pushed.
“Nothing that’s any concern of yours. Are we done?”
“Not yet. We have a proposition for you.”
Alison let out a short, harsh laugh. “Yeah, buddy, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I am not an omega you want to proposition.”
Daniel stepped in. “Not like that. The other scouts saw us grab you. Our plant was obviously useless. Now that we’ve been noticed, we can’t keep hoping to find scouts to track. It leaves us with one more option.”
Alison’s stomach sank as she realized exactly where this option was going. It felt like a car crash, when everything slowed down, when she could see the other car heading for her but couldn’t do a thing to stop it.
And just like that car, Daniel kept going. “We want to go undercover and pose as scouts looking to sell at the auction.”
Which, since the other scouts had seen them pick her up, was believable.
“And me?” She didn’t need to ask. She knew exactly where she fitted into the plan. Still, something inside her wouldn’t make that jump on her own.
“You’ll pose as the slave we’re selling.”
* * * *
“I hate this place,” Trent said as he walked into the living room of the sprawling home, scowling as though it had personally offended him.
“You hate everything,” Daniel pointed out.
It was one of those quirks he’d been used to when they’d spent more time together. Daniel was the levelheaded one, Kyle the jokester and Trent the cynic.
“How can you hate this?” Kyle asked. “It’s basically a mansion.”
Trent curled his lips, darting his gaze around the room. “It’s too big.”
“Big is good,” Daniel pointed out. “Big says we’re wealthy and assholes. Besides, Gregory assured us this will sell the story.”
Gregory. Daniel tried to repress the shudder from even saying the man’s name. He’d learned early in his career that to take down criminals, sometimes he’d have to work with people who seemed just as bad.
Gregory was one such man.
He’d been stalking an omega, using his connections to make her life hell, going so far as to abduct her at the end. That wasn’t what had made him useful, though. Instead, it was his involvement with the slavery ring.
He was more of a silent partner—the type who put money in and handled details but never actually attended, saw, bought or sold the girls. That had meant that when he’d been caught, he’d been quick to offer up information in exchange for a lighter sentence.