19. Ronyn

19

RONYN

I galloped through the woods until I finally got to the edge of the compound. I shifted back into my human form, huffing and puffing for air. Holy hell, my day trip into town was fruitful. I couldn’t wait to fill the guys in on what I found.

Where are we meeting? Voss’s place? Dom asked in groupthink.

Our Alpha piped up. Bexley’s there. Ronyn?

Meeting house, I said as I stormed toward the lone lookout house on stilts at the edge of the compound, ASAP.

Heading there now, Dom said.

On the way, Voss said.

While it took every single skill I had acquired over the course of my lifetime, I clutched my folder of information in my hand as I kept a cool head. I found her. I fucking found her. I found Bexley’s life. Her old place of work. Pictures of her on the internet. The whole nine. But, that wasn’t the only ‘ her ’ I found. It was all too much, and it took so much more energy not to bolt toward the meeting house roaring the information at the top of my fucking lungs. But, the last thing I wanted was the pack looking out their windows only to find their commander general booking it for the lookout house on stilts. I knew it would panic them, so I kept my head high and moved as normally as I could. Even though blood rushed through my veins, carrying with it the adrenaline of a thousand suns.

Because no one had a fucking clue who we just allowed into our pack.

“Fucking finally,” Voss murmured as I stormed through the door of the meeting house.

“All right,” Dom said as he reached for the file in my hand, “let’s see who we’re dealing w?—”

I yanked the folder away from Dom and shot him a look. “She’s human.”

Voss’s stare grew hot against the profile of my face as the door slammed behind me. “Can’t you at least wait until the door fucking closes?”

Dom pulled an apple out of his pocket and bit into it. “Human? Are you sure?”

“Really?” I asked flatly. “An apple at a time like this?”

Dom shrugged. “What? I’m hungry.”

“Gimme that,” Voss grumbled as he yanked the noisy apple out of Dom’s hand and opened the door.

“Hey!” Dom exclaimed as Voss threw the apple out the front door.

I chuckled when he slammed it closed. But, when he turned to face me, silence descended upon the room.

“Seriously, are you sure she’s human?” he asked.

I waved the folder in my hand at him before slapping it against the kitchen countertop of the meeting house. “There’s no denying it, after what I found.”

Voss rolled his shoulders back. “Tell me everything that happened in town today. Leave nothing out.”

So, I drew in a deep breath and leaned against the fridge. “The second I got into town this morning, I went straight to the library to gain access to a computer. Didn’t take long for me to come across her Facebook account.”

“Ugh, social media,” Voss murmured as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Dom shrugged. “I personally think it’s great. It’s like our groupthink, but for incapable humans.”

Voss and I slowly looked over at Dom, and we watched him shrug again.

“What? Just saying,” he said as he slid his hands into his pockets.

“Anyway,” I said as I cleared my throat, “I came across her Facebook account, but her last public post was months ago. It did, however, have another young woman in the post that was linked, or something?—”

“Tagged,” Dom said.

I slowly looked over at him and pinned him with a look. “Whatever. But either way, when I clicked on that other woman’s profile, I noticed that she worked for the H.R. Department for CIA Headquarters in D.C., of all places.”

I paused and waited for questions from the guys, but none came. So, I continued.

“That, of course, led me down a rabbit hole where I clicked on her friends list and went sifting through things, and a surprising amount of them work for the?—”

Voss held up his hand. “Did you find anything else other than some stupid social media account?”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek as my deadpan stare cased his body. “You got a problem with how I do things?”

Dom chuckled. “Not gonna lie, I thought you had more than that, too.”

I ground my teeth together as frustration filled my veins. “Studying what she had on that profile of hers, including her friends list, gave me everything I needed to contact a woman by the name of?—”

“Sorry, I’m gonna stop you there,” Dom said as he raised his hand. “Punchline? Because seriously, Ronyn, it’s late, and I’m hungry.”

I had to force myself to let out a deep breath before I looked over at Voss. “That’s what you want?”

And when he nodded his head, I shrugged and stared our Alpha down. “Fine. Punchline. Suit yourself. Voss?”

“What?”

“She’s running from who you’re seeking.”

Dom physically stumbled back on his feet. “What?”

Voss’s back stiffened. “What the fuck did you just say?”

I snickered. “What’s the story now?”

Voss stalked toward me and growled. “She’s running from who I’m seeking? What the fuck does that mean, general?”

I held my head high with pride. “Studying her Facebook account led me down a rabbit hole, like I said, of people on her friend’s lists. And eventually, I came across some pictures that I have printed out, among other things, in that folder on the table.”

Voss whipped around me and snatched the folder off the table. Dom picked up the pace, scooting right next to our Alpha as they flipped open the file together.

I waited for them to ask me questions.

“What is this place?” Dom asked.

“It looks abandoned,” Voss said as he slapped a picture down out of his hand. “What gives?”

“That,” I said as I touched my finger down against the picture of abandoned warehouses, “is a CIA black site. Someone has been taking and posting some very reckless pictures on their Facebook page as of lately. These pictures were only dated days ago.”

Voss tilted his head as he sifted through the pictures. “It looks like they’ve been taken from a balcony or something.”

I nodded. “I had to run all the way to fucking Seattle to find that fucking snapshot. Took me forever to track it down, exactly. But, that picture was taken from a back balcony at a café that sits across the water from the black site itself. It’s why it took me so fucking long to get back today. And the closer I got to that black site?—”

Voss snarled. “The more you could smell her.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Dom said.

I didn’t let him get a word in, though. I still had a lot more to be discussed. “That black site is made up of an abandoned set of warehouses that you can only get to via ferry. Which, of course, doesn’t run for the general populace. There’s a very tall, muscular, silent man that guards the ticket booth for the ferry that is supposedly inoperable to the public, so it doesn’t take a genius to know what’s going on.”

“Did you find a way over?” Voss asked.

A grin slicked my cheeks. “Did I find a way—do you even know who I am? One quick shift in the right spot and I swam out to that set of abandoned warehouses on the water and dear god, it smells way too much like Delilah out there.”

“That’s not all I found, though,” I said as I drew in a deep breath. “When I came back from the black site and shifted back, I made my way back to that café. I was starving, and I needed food before I headed back. And as I sat in the corner, watching everyone filter in and out of the café for the dinner rush, guess what happened?”

“What?” Dom asked.

“The H.R. woman from D.C. on Bexley’s Facebook profile walked in.”

Voss’s eyes widened. “Tell me you talked to her.”

“Oh, I laid it on thick. Got her to sit down with me. Asked her what she did for a living. She was very open about the fact that she was traveling for her job because one of the ‘office buildings’ she ran,” I said while using air quotes, “needed her assistance.”

“You think she was there for the black site,” Voss said.

I shrugged. “You don’t? An H.R. representative from CIA Headquarters, and we’re lunching right by a black site?”

“He’s got a point,” Dom muttered.

I pushed myself away from the fridge and pulled a drink out of it for myself. I passed the guys drinks as well before I cracked mine open and continued on with the recount of my day.

“You know how some women are with small talk,” I said before I took a pull from my drink, “so I’ll spare you those details. But eventually, she relaxed enough to tell me that she knew Bexley.”

Dom’s jaw dropped. “Holy shit, Ronyn, you were serious when you left today.”

I nodded. “I was serious when I left today.”

“What did she know about Bexley?” Voss asked.

I pointed my drink at him before taking another sip. “She remembered Bexley, a lot. I guess she must’ve been friendly with everyone that came around to visit. She even told me about a time where she and Bexley had lunch together right in that same café we sat in.”

The guys hung onto my every word while I spoke. “Her name is, in fact, Bexley Anna. She was, apparently, one of their brightest undercover operatives, according to this woman. She had a knack for survival as well as assassinations.”

Dom grinned. “A bad girl. I like it.”

Voss’s eyes grew intent on my face. “That explains her capabilities. Keep going.”

I chugged back the rest of my drink, then crumpled the can in my hand. “These two girls often met, apparently, for lunch whenever this woman was in town. I’m not sure I buy the whole H.R. story, mostly because I’m sure everyone who works at that black site has some sort of cover story in the first place. But, according to her, Bexley just up and vanished one day.”

“Vanished?” Dom asked.

“Yep. Vanished is the word she used.”

“Did she say anything else about Bexley’s disappearance?” Voss asked.

I shook my head. “Just that it shocked everyone, including her boss. According to this woman, her boss is worried sick and still searching for her. She hasn’t been declared dead, so she’s a missing person in action.”

Voss and Dom looked at one another before their gazes came back to me. I knew what they were thinking, too.

It meant that as long as Bexley was around, she was as much of a target as we all were.

“Did this woman happen to say why Bexley disappeared?” Voss asked.

I shook my head. “No. She said no one is sure what happened, but it might have something to do with?—”

“Delilah,” Voss growled.

Dom paused. “You don’t think Delilah and Bexley’s boss are one and the same, do you?”

Before I could answer, though, Voss’s pinched voice pierced the darkness surrounding us as he picked up a picture of that black site that I took. “Completely off grid. Very shaded. Doesn’t catch any of the harsh sunlight.”

“Her smell permeates the fucking place,” I grumbled before I gagged.

Voss set the picture back down. “Delilah works there. She has to. Her smell wouldn’t be that strong if she didn’t.”

“Guess that answers my question,” Dom said with a groan.

Voss was right, too. It smelled like that bitch had fucking pissed everywhere at that damned site. I could only manage to stay on it for so long before I had to get back into the water and remove myself from the stench of death. Death, and that cheap ass perfume of Delilah’s clawed at those walls as I thought back to the intricate way they were laid out.

Almost like a maze…

“Want to know what I think after my day today?” I asked.

Voss pinched the bridge of his nose. “All ears.”

“What’s that?” Dom asked.

I pointed to one of the black site pictures with my finger. “I’d bet my soul on the fact that we just found where that bitch, Delilah, holes herself up. We know she’s not in these woods, we’ve been scouting them for years.”

“A CIA black site job is the perfect cover for a vampire,” Dom said.

“And if I were a vampire with a practically perfect cover story and home base?” I asked.

Voss’s eyes rose to me as I drew in a deep breath. “Hit me with it, general.”

The words hung between us like an omen. A warning, echoing off the walls and foreshadowing our lives to come.

“I’d want to turn the most capable humans into my own personal army,” I said.

I turned around and stared out the window, looking down upon the pack and their homes. If we weren’t careful, we’d have to uproot and move again.

And I wasn’t sure if our pack could tolerate another major move after just getting settled into this one.