Chapter Twenty-Two
True
I understood why Lindon wasn’t in complete contact with us while he was out there killing the bastard. He couldn’t be. It wasn’t safe for him. But gods, did I hate it.
At least I had my research to distract me.
I was still trying to find everything I could on Hazel’s father, who he was connected with, and what he was up to.
After I touched base with Lindon and learned the mission was complete and he was coming home, I had the added information on the contracts he’d found.
My stomach churned at the fact that people bought omegas before they were even adults.
At least the “delivery dates” on these contracts hadn’t happened yet.
I still wasn’t sure what we were going to do with all this info.
It was far more than we could handle. We were probably going to have to find some agency to help.
But first, I needed all the facts because I’d learned from a young age I couldn’t trust those in power to care as much as I did, or at all.
When Lindon told me the bastard was dead, the omegas were safe, and the compound was gone, relief flooded me. I’d been so scared it would go terribly wrong.
The only place I could find that was safe for him to take the omegas and still had space was in the wrong direction, adding time to his trip. None of us liked it, but we loved the idea of omegas suffering so much less.
He checked in more often since he’d completed the mission, which was good because I had so many questions about the contracts—ones I didn’t expect him to be able to answer, but that talking through helped.
I could talk to Shiloh about them, but keeping an eye on our mate was his priority.
Was she going to be mad when she found out what we did? That without telling her, we killed the man? I didn’t think so. But if she did, I’d rather her be mad at us and safe than happy with us and in danger.
She still didn’t know why we came here, that our original job was to bring her to that piece of shit. It made me sick thinking about it, and lying to her repeatedly had only made it worse. We were protecting her, but shielding her from danger and from the truth didn’t feel very compatible.
The buyer was dead now, which was good. What wasn’t so good was on more than one message board, I found her father looking for Hazel.
If there was some place dark and shady on the internet, he was freaking there.
I had no reason to believe he knew where she was, not based on what he asked.
I planned to keep it that way. She’d escaped him once, and he didn’t learn from losing her.
I refused to allow her to be in a position to need to do so again.
I got a new hit. One in a chat room which was supposed to be private, as if private could stop me.
Looks like the bastard had enemies. Guess she’s mine again, and I won’t even have to pay the fine.
That explained why he had been looking for her despite there being a contract out for her that he hadn’t paid for. He was trying to dodge a fine. It also explained why he now wanted her more than anything, offering to split his sales price with the person who helped him find her.
Did he have someone lined up already? Fuck that. I wished her sperm donor had to die, too.
Lindon was able to kill the buyer and effectively end the contract.
That was good. Protecting the omegas, also good.
Finding the other contracts, potentially lifesaving.
But all of it felt insignificant after learning Hazel’s father was still actively searching for her, and he was now recruiting help.
He might not have money to hire an agency, but finder’s fees?
For some, it was enough. It was almost like a game.
I longed to call Lindon and beg him to go kill her dad. But at the end of the day, he was her father, and it was not our decision to make. She might hate him and see all the evil he’d done, but that didn’t mean she didn’t, on some level, love him. Emotions didn’t care what logic had to say.
So now what? She could decide he deserved to die, but if not, we’d be sitting ducks. Strong ones, but sitting nonetheless.
We knew how to disappear. The three of us had the skills to do that, to take her where no one could find her, but doing so would equal no freedom again.
She wouldn’t like it. She wouldn’t like leaving the shop she’d worked so hard for.
She wouldn’t like leaving Augustine, Goldie, Clover, Alice, Belladonna Woods.
She’d built up so much here in the time since she’d escaped.
They were all choices she’d made for herself.
So, sure, we could take her and run. But that would make us not much better than the people we were supposed to be protecting her from.
Freedom didn’t mean constantly moving and looking over your shoulder, leaving the dreams you worked so hard to make come true, leaving your friends, changing your name over and over again, hiding.
Until Lindon came back, I didn’t feel right telling Hazel about her dad or any of the things that had transpired.
This was something we needed to do together as a pack.
It wasn’t necessarily that I wanted to shield her from it, although I didn’t hate the idea, but it was something we needed do in a well-thought-out way, with all of us there.
Lindon was going to be back in another day. I’d probably know more by then. At least, that was what I kept telling myself, along with the lie that one more day wouldn’t hurt anything.
Please let me be making the right decision.