Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Sofia
My mouth drops as Luca’s words slam into me, raw and furious.
The anger radiating from him isn’t aimed at me—it’s aimed at the world.
His wolf is showing, and his breath comes in sharp, ragged pants.
My skin of my neck tingles where his hand clasps me, and for the first time, I’m not torn between the physical desire I can’t pretend isn’t there and the resentment I’ve carried for years.
My wolf purrs at his possessive show. My head tells me this is insane. Those words are crazy. But my heart flutters, and something akin to… safety begins to emerge.
“Is that why you held me back when Aidan and his warriors were here?”
“Of course it was,” Luca growls. His grip tightens. “I can’t lose you. Even if it means you hate me. I need to protect you. I always have.”
“I don’t need your protection,” I bite out, straightening my spine. “I’m an alpha wolf. Perfectly capable of defending myself.”
“I. Don’t. Care.”
Each word drops like a stone into my chest. He isn’t bluffing. He isn’t posturing. He would raze the whole damn world if it meant keeping me safe. And damn it if that doesn’t twist up my insides.
“You’re ridiculous,” I huff out, pushing away from him to rejoin Ryan and the others. But he grabs my wrist and pulls me back to him. I crash into his chest, and he wraps his arms around me.
“And you’re mine.”
My wolf whimpers and preens. My inner child, too.
“I’m going back in there.”
“Fine,” he says after a long pause. “But only to consult. You’re not part of the rescue mission.”
My eyes nearly roll out of my head. The arrogance.
The sheer audacity. Who the hell does he think he is to tell me what I can and can’t do?
My wolf snarls at me, whispering that he’s my mate, that his protective nature is a good quality rather than an annoyance.
But what does she know? She also wants me to be fucking him right here in the hallway, so her judgement is a bit skewed.
“You going to let me go, or am I going to have to show you exactly how capable I am?” I ask, raising an eyebrow and glaring at him.
Slowly—so slowly—Luca slides his arms back from where they are wrapped around my torso, leaving a trail of electricity in their wake across my bare back. I need to stop wearing sports bras as tops.
“After you,” he says, a smug smirk plastered on his stupidly sexy face. And I realize I’ve been standing here way longer than I should have. I’m blaming my disrupted orgasm from this morning for wanting his arms back on me. Wanting his touch.
Fuck. I am not a pushover. I will not forget that Luca has been treating me like crap for years, even if the idea of his protective nature is making me look at those events in a new light.
Was he trying to keep me safe more than trying to exclude me?
But no, it doesn’t explain the many, many times he put me down.
Or why he didn’t want me at the damn movie nights.
I will not forget everything because he is the sexiest male I’ve ever seen, or because his proximity makes me feel like I need to touch him on a cellular level. It’s just the mate bond.
I square my shoulders and stride back into Ryan’s office as if nothing happened, ignoring the burn of Luca’s presence trailing close behind me.
Caleb is leaning over the desk, pointing at the map. Ryan and Jackson are standing on the other side of the desk.
“We do this quietly, and we do it cleanly. They see us coming, and who knows what they could do. From my contact, there are thirty-six omegas in that building,” Caleb says.
Thirty-six. My stomach sinks.
But then I notice it: the flicker in his gaze toward Jackson. Barely a second, but I catch it. Something is going on. Something he’s not telling us.
Caleb arrived on the scene and rescued Emily from a rapist piece of shit, and we have all trusted him ever since. But for the first time, I don’t.
“What aren’t you telling us?” I ask.
Caleb's dark eyes slowly lift to mine, and his mouth turns down. His jaw ticks and his shoulders raise in tension; his body language screams that something is going on. But even if it didn’t, we’re shifters; we don’t need to notice visually to tell when something is going on.
It’s in how he smells. The way his leathery pine scent takes on a bitter edge.
“Caleb?” Ryan asks, frowning.
“It’s nothing,” Caleb says too quickly, even as the bitterness of his scent intensifies to the point, I can practically taste it. “It’s not about the mission.”
“Then what is it? Is it about Katie?” I ask.
My chest tightens, and I feel as though I already know the answer.
Caleb's throat bobs as he swallows and draws to a stand at his full height of 6’5”.
He faces Jackson beside me, and his eyes betray a deep agony and guilt.
Emotion slams into me as I connect the dots. “Is she… is she dead?”
Is that why he isn’t telling us? Because he thinks we won’t participate in the rescue mission if we don’t have someone we care about to save?
Like we need a personal stake in the race?
I guess I couldn’t blame him for that. None of the males in this room besides him have put others in danger to save someone without a personal connection.
Didn’t Luca just say he doesn’t give a fuck about the omegas?
But Katie wasn’t the only omega to disappear from Lunar Eclipse that night.
My eyes bounce between Jackson and Caleb as the silence stretches painfully and the tension in the air ratchets up. Luca steps behind me, and his arms wrap around me. I shrug my shoulders to move him off me, but he stands firm, and I’m too wrapped up in what’s happening to care.
“Katie…” Caleb starts, his voice cracking as pain bleeds through his expression. “She’s not dead. She… she’s my contact.”
All the air in my lungs comes rushing out. Relief collides with shock and hits me so hard my knees nearly give out. Luca holds me tighter, and I let him. Let myself lean on him for a moment while I try to pull myself back together.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” Jackson snarls, his voice barely above a whisper but dripping with anger all the same. “How the fuck would you feel if someone knew Camille was alive and didn’t tell you?”
“I know exactly how that feels!” Caleb yells with a snarl of his own.
The truth pours out of him like it’s been burning a hole inside his chest. “Katie wouldn’t tell me whether Camille is in there or not.
I could have gotten them out, but Katie is the one who stopped me!
She said either they all get out, or no one does. ”
He paces back and forth, taking deep breaths, trying to push his wolf back down. Trying—and judging by the yellow color of his irises and the thick black fur that still coats his arms—and failing to rein it in.
“I was staking out the location where they had the event. I saw a guy about to go in—human—tall, Black guy with a build similar to mine. It was like fate put him on my path. So, I grabbed him. After questioning him, I took his clothes and went inside in his place. I pretended I was one of their… customers to gain access, and that’s where I met Katie.
She told me when and where we need to attack.
And then I left alone because I could have only gotten a couple of them out, and she wouldn’t let me do anything that would separate them. ”
None of us asks Caleb what he meant by ‘customers’ because partly, we can guess, and partly no one wants to speak the words. Jackson crumples into a chair, staring blankly ahead. All the fight drains from him in an instant. He looks hollow. Broken. His face is ashen, and his wolf has gone quiet.
My heart stutters in my chest, aching for him. Goddess, if I knew Ryan was in a situation like this… it would kill me. Knowing she’s been out there all this time.
I shoot Emily a mindlink, asking her to come over here as soon as possible.
She’ll be able to feel the motions through the bond but Emily wouldn’t barge into the alpha office uninvited and Jackson needs his mate right now.
I can’t imagine what he’s going through in this moment.
Not only has his sister been alive all this time, but she’s also been in hell.
And he had no idea. He would have done everything to save her if he had known.
I shrug out of Luca’s arms and walk to Jackson, dropping to my knees in front of him. “We’ll get her back; we’ll get them all back.”
Jackson doesn’t reply; he simply nods and stares past my shoulder. Like I’m not even here. I stand and lean forward to embrace him in a hug, hearing Luca snarl behind me. A ridiculous display of possession, but it works to snap Jackson out of his stupor.
“Seriously, Luca?” Jackson asks. “I’m mated, and Sofia is basically a sister to me.”
“I still don’t see why you would need to hug her,” Luca mutters, low and lethal. I can’t help grinning at how ridiculous he is behaving.
“I hugged him, actually.”
“Can we focus, please?” Ryan asks, his tone weary. This must be horrendous for him, too. We don’t know for sure, but it would make sense if his mate is in there. And that means she could be being tortured or raped, too.
“Right. Rescue mission,” I say, wanting to get back to what matters most: getting them out. Caleb has gotten his wolf back under control, and Jackson is mentally back in the room.
We discuss tactical plans, and I let the planning go ahead as if I won’t be there on the night. I will obviously. But Luca doesn’t need to be aware of that. I may not be able to back down from a challenge, but I sure as shit know how to protect my peace at the same time.
I make some suggestions about bringing clothing and medical supplies. How the omegas have probably been through hell, and based on what Katie said to Caleb, they won’t want to be separated.
“We could bring a bus?” Ryan suggests. “Keep them together, and the rest of us travel in convoy.”
“That makes sense,” I agree. “I think we need to recognize how traumatized these shifters will be. And especially if it’s an all-male rescue party. Anything that would help them feel safer would be good. What about bringing Doc? He could wait away from the building until you’re sure it’s safe?”
“That’s a good idea,” Luca agrees, and my slut of a wolf preens at the barest praise.
There’s something more going on with Caleb. I feel it in my bones. But we’re all on the same side. And he wasn’t lying when he said Katie was alive. I could scent his despair, but no sign of lies.
A knock on the door precedes Emily’s sweet scent, and I open the door to let her in.
She gives me a quick hug before heading to Jackson and climbing into his lap.
She wraps her arms around his neck and nuzzles against him.
All of Jackson’s remaining tension evaporates as soon as his mate is in his arms. That’s what I want.
Someone who is so completely right for me. Someone who makes everything better. Could Luca ever be my person like Emily and Jackson are for each other? Doubtful. Highly doubtful.