Track 32 I Wanna Be Your Slave

"Can you tell me how much longer it's going to be?" I ask the night shift cop behind the glass. He's older, has graying hair sticking out in tufts around his temples and ears, and a shiny bald spot on top. His hair apparently migrated south to rest on his upper lip in a very full, bushy mustache.

He sighs, likely fed up with my demand for information, but I don't give a shit. We've been here for hours. All of us have already given our statements. It didn't take long because we weren't at the facility. It was really just us telling them how we realized that something was wrong, that someone had kidnapped Sorrel.

Sadie and the Falcone pack left about thirty minutes after we got here. Hardly any time at all. She'd glared at all of us with her silver eyes but hadn't said anything to us as her pack hustled her out. An hour later, Sylvie emerged and the Werth pack whisked her away. It's been another hour and Sorrel is still back there.

If she was a member of our pack, if I'd bonded her already, I would have rights regarding her treatment. I could demand to see her, demand that they let us take her home. But she's not because I fucked up. And so she's back there alone and exhausted and traumatized.

When I asked about getting her a lawyer, the man behind the counter told me she already had one. Which is good, but I need to know who it is and if I can find someone better. Someone who will go to bat for my girl like I would.

"I've told you, Mr. Cordova, it takes as long as it takes. They have a lot to cover."

I nod, just barely holding on to my frustration. I need Sorrel here with us. Need to have her in my arms and to know that she's safe. I need to never let her out of my sight again.

"The other two women who were kidnapped have already left."

He looks up at me and says slowly, "they're omegas. They can't handle this kind of situation. Their emotional states are more delicate than a beta's."

My hand fists where it rests on the counter and my teeth clench against the need to roar at him. You can't punch the cop, Gray. You'll end up in jail and then you won't be here when they release Sorrel .

Even with thinking that, I can't hide the growl in my voice as I say, "You think she's not also emotionally affected by this? She was fucking kidnapped . She's traumatized and you assholes are making it worse."

A warm hand lands on my back between my shoulder blades and the scent of blueberry lemon cheesecake fills my nostrils, immediately relieving some of the pressure on my chest as my omega slips under my arm and nuzzles into me.

"You need to stop growling at the nice police officer, Gray," he murmurs, nuzzling into my chest. "He's only doing his job." He stops nuzzling me and looks at the man behind the counter. "Though it would be nice if you didn't imply that omegas are emotionally weaker than the other designations."

The cop gives Liam this bored look, which I'm pretty sure no one has ever given him since he got famous at twelve.

Liam curls his hand around my arm and tugs me toward the other alphas. "Come here. There's something you need to see."

He drags me to the chairs in the waiting room where Gage and Rafe are sitting, hunched over a cellphone with a video playing.

"Motherfucker," Gage mutters.

Rafe shakes his head and runs a hand down his face. "They can't actually think they'll get away with this."

"With what?" I ask, standing over them as Liam settles next to Rafe.

"They're saying the girls are radical terrorists. That they broke into the facility and set the place to explode. They're citing Sadie's connection to the Falcone pack as evidence."

"What?" I growl out dangerously. "The police are saying this?"

Rafe gives me a sharp look. "No, Apex is. They released a statement about the explosion at one of their facilities."

Of course they did. If I was CEO of a heinous company who kidnaps omegas and runs tests on them, the first order of business would be to point in every other direction but the one that leads to me.

Of course, I would never do such a thing to anyone, so any statement I make to the press is truthful. Or as truthful as I can be regarding business.

"What are they saying about us?" I ask. After all, we're the ones that released the evidence that Ethan provided to the media in a live interview that I'm sure the higher ups of Apex saw.

Gage wiggles his head back and forth. "They aren't outright calling us liars, but they are implying that we've misinterpreted the data."

Liam snorts. "I doubt they want to go head to head with our pack."

I hum. "And the Falcone and Werth packs too."

Rafe scowls down at the phone. "The comments are… harsh."

"Harsh?" Gage laughs. "They're making death threats against our girl, saying she doesn't… she doesn't deserve to live after what she did to you and now this."

I swallow thickly and look up, back toward where I know our girl is. Once we realized that Sorrel wasn't the one to betray us, to lie to us, we'd tortured ourselves by reading the comments in the articles about her, the ones left on her videos, her social media.

I knew it was bad. We all did, but this is worse. So much worse.

"We'll fix it," I say with determination. "We'll make this right. She deserves it."

"She deserves fucking everything."

Liam makes a noise of agreement. "So let's come up with a plan and figure out how to give her the fucking world."

I take a seat next to Gage and we get down to business. Once we decide on a way forward, we make calls, call in favors, and set things in motion. All the while, our attention is split between what we're doing and the back of the police station.

As the night wears on, it takes every ounce of my control to not storm into the back and drag her out. Even then, when the clock ticks over to four am, I lunge to my feet, ready to do just that. My alpha needs to see her, needs to have her within touching distance, needs to verify that she's okay.

The officer behind the counter gives me a wary look, shifting like he's readying to intervene if he needs to. I pin him with a look that says, fucking try me, asshole.

But then my attention shifts, my awareness grows and I see Sorrel for the first time in hours as she rounds a corner and enters the hall that leads to the waiting room. Leads to us.

My girl looks wrecked. No two ways about it. She's exhausted, swaying on her feet. Dark circles line her eyes. There's a bruise on her forehead, and scrapes all over the bits of skin I can see. Someone gave her a Granton PD sweatshirt that's too big and hangs over her, but her shorts are the dirty and torn ones she was wearing when she was taken.

Fucking taken .

Someone took our girl and held her hostage. Terrorized her and hurt her. Drugged her. And then the stupid cops nearly blew up the building while she was still in it.

She pauses when she sees us, hesitating next to Aurie Whitten, who must be her lawyer. Her pretty aqua eyes scan the room, lingering on all the exits and I know, without a doubt, she's trying to plan her escape. She doesn't want us anywhere near her, and I can't even blame her.

But I'm not one to give up on a member of my pack. We messed up. I will own that fact until the day I die, just like I will strive to make it up to Sorrel until the day I die. She deserves nothing less.

Gage moves first, closing the distance between them and tugging her into his chest. A shot of jealousy hits me, along with relief. Jealousy because I haven't held her in my arms for over a week. The most I've touched her is to stroke her hair as she fell apart on Liam's lap. Relief because while she's still angry at Gage, she's at least letting him close to her, letting him comfort her.

She needs someone who can do that right now. It appears Gage is the lesser of two evils. It makes sense. For years, he's been her best friend and her safe place. Now I need to prove to her the rest of us can be her safe place, too.

I trail after Gage, and Rafe and Liam are right behind me. I come to a stop just in time to hear Sorrel mutter, "I just want to go home and sleep."

Gage slides his hand down the back of her head until he's cradling her neck. "I know, biscuit. We've got you covered."

I watch as Sorrel's face scrunches up and her lips part. I think she's about to tell him she doesn't want us to take care of her, but then she lets out a weary sigh. "Thank you."

He drops a kiss to the top of her head and then flicks his gaze up to meet mine. We discussed what our next steps should be, and it's too late to drive all the way back to Lake Kilrose. Not only that, but Sorrel's cabin is torn apart and not safe in the slightest. We'd considered taking her back to our pack house, but ultimately decided she might not be comfortable there, and right now her comfort is the most important thing.

While we were waiting for her, we booked a suite at the Falcon. It's a lot closer than Kilrose and has excellent security. There should be fresh clothes and food waiting for our girl, too.

I give a slight nod and Gage turns so Sorrel is tucked into his side. We talked about this too. About how she still trusts him enough to let him take care of her, so he's going to take point on that until we can all sit down and I can apologize for my actions.

But it's fucking hard as hell watching her walk away from us with him. Don't get me wrong, we're going with them. But we've all agreed to keep our distance, to not push her too hard, too fast.

Liam lets out a whine that has my alpha prickling. Rafe pulls him into his chest, almost on autopilot. His eyes remain focused on Sorrel, a look that's close to devastation in his dark brown eyes. He thinks we aren't going to fix this.

But we are.

There's no other fucking option.

Aurie's fingers on my elbow draw my attention away from Sorrel. My beta's aqua eyes linger on the spot where Aurie is touching me before she allows Gage to guide her out of the police station. "Can I speak to you a moment?" the lawyer asks.

I want to say fuck no, and hurry after Sorrel. I don't want my beta out of my fucking sight. "It's important, or I wouldn't ask." She presses and I relent, turning my body to face hers.

"What is it?"

Her teeth sink into her lower lip and she looks toward where Sorrel disappeared. "Sorrel told me something rather disturbing during the course of our conversation."

My stomach tightens with anxiety at her tone. "Oh, and what was that?"

Aurie frowns. "She told me she's received multiple death threats from Liam's fans for the… misunderstanding that occurred at the OM interview." That rocks me back on my heels and Aurie keeps talking. "You know she doesn't have access to the security you do. I might suggest keeping someone with her for the foreseeable future until the frenzy dies down."

I nod. "We'll stay with her, keep her safe."

The lawyer's eyes run over me from head to toe, gauging me, judging me. Whatever she sees makes her tense shoulders relax the slightest bit as she blows out a breath. "Good. That's what I want to hear." She hesitates, glancing in the direction Sorrel went and then back to me. "You might issue a statement about Sorrel. One that counteracts what the media is saying about her. It won't stop all the crazies, but it will hush up a lot of the gossips."

I nod again. "Already on it. And we're dealing with the problem at the source as well." I don't elaborate. She doesn't need to know the details of Liam's assistant, manager and studio execs working against our pack. How they made us turn on Sorrel.

But they will be dealt with in a swift and brutal fashion.

If only I could deal with myself in the same way.

She hands me her card. "Excellent. If you need anything else, let me know. I'll be happy to help. I'll be in touch if the detectives need anything else regarding this incident."

I almost snort. Calling this an ‘incident' is like calling wildfire just a little blaze.

"Thank you, Miss Whitten. I'll be in touch."

I tap her card against my palm as I hurry after the rest of my pack.

They're waiting for me in the car. Sorrel's in the front passenger seat, her face pressed against the window, eyes closed and lips softly parted like she's already asleep, exhaustion pulling her under.

I open the back door and find Rafe and Liam smooshed together. The space next to Liam is free and I slide in, putting on my seatbelt, before leaning into my omega. I can feel him in our bond. Anxiety and worry and pain are all buzzing around in his chest. I send him back soothing feelings, reassurance. I need him to believe that we're going to fix this with Sorrel.

She's ours and we'll prove it to her.

On Liam's other side, Rafe's purr picks up. I hope Sorrel can sense it even in sleep, can feel it in the air, the gentle vibrations meant to soothe her and Liam both. It's not long before my purr joins with my packmates. Liam melts between us, his body going slack even as his green eyes stay focused on our girl, on the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she sleeps.

I think all of us are going to be focused on that soft movement for a while, obsessed with making sure it continues.

We're silent as Gage maneuvers us through the city, not wanting to risk waking our beta with conversation. Besides, we've had plenty of time to discuss what needs to be done, plenty of time to come up with a plan on how to win Sorrel back, how to make it up to her.

I can only hope she'll let us.