Chapter 19 She has little slip ups

“She’s not here.” The flat reply meets our request to see Haven. Hale growls at the speaker box next to the front gate of the Bell residence.

“Yes, she fucking is,” he snarls back. I wince at his tone and his language, even if I can’t entirely blame him for it. We’ve been sitting here for five minutes arguing for the right to see Haven. “Look man, just tell her the Calloway pack is here to see her. She’ll tell you to let us in.”

“I would, Mr. Calloway, but Miss Bell isn’t currently here. You’ll need to come back later.”

The line cuts off and Hale curses louder, before stabbing at the call button again. A weary sigh filters through the speaker. “Sir, if you don’t remove yourselves from the premises, I’ll have to call the police.”

“Oh, yes,” Creed growls out. “Let’s call the police so you can explain how you’re keeping a woman prisoner.”

“Jesus Christ,” the man on the other end of the line sounds really frustrated now. “She’s not a prisoner. She lives here. They’ll arrest you. Please remove yourselves from the premises before I have to take action.”

I swear as the line cuts out on his side; I hear the sweet sound of Haven’s voice come over the speaker. “Chuck? What’s going on-”

“Not fucking here, my ass,” Tic mutters, running a hand down his face. We’re all exhausted. We’ve been up for nearly twenty-four hours, hashing out the best plan to get our girl safe, everything from breaking in to kidnap her, to moving up the timeline of our revenge plan, which would be difficult, since it has so many moving pieces, but not impossible.

We’d decided to try this approach first, though. Just showing up to see her, hoping against fucking hope that Frederick Bell wouldn’t have thought to bar us as visitors, but it seems that he has.

Hale is readying to jab the button again, but the static buzzing sound of it being activated on the other side comes first. “Please, sir, I urge you to remove yourself from the property. Miss Bell wouldn’t want you to be arrested for simply trying to see her.”

That twists up my heart. He’s right. But more than that, I’m pretty sure our girl is standing next to the guard, telling him to make us go. Not because she wants us to, but because she has to, guided by her father’s commands.

Hale must think the same thing. He glances at us, reading our expressions, the determination in our eyes. His mouth tightens, and he turns back to jab the speaker button again. This time when he speaks, his voice is softer, so much softer. “Haven, I know you’re there, listening like the quiet little mouse you are. We’re leaving, but we aren’t going far, okay? And we’re coming back. I promise you. We’re coming back.” He releases the button and we all wait, holding our breath in case she presses the button on the other side of the line and says something, but just like with our calls and texts, there’s only silence in response.

Hale sighs and rolls up his window, before turning on the car and carefully backing down the drive.

“So that’s it?” I can’t help but ask. “That’s as far as we’re pushing it?”

“She’s scared, Jude,” Tic says, staring hard out the window, hands fisted on his thighs like it’s the only way to keep his rage in check.

“And under her father’s control,” Creed says. “She can’t do anything but what he wants her to right now. And right now he wants her to cut all communication with us.”

Hale backs onto the road and then pulls across the street to park. He wasn’t lying when he said we weren’t going far. I expected him to head back to our pack house so we can regroup, figure out the next step.

But apparently our next step is sitting here waiting for Frederick Bell to come home. Because while we know Haven hasn’t left the house, we also know that Bell left early this morning, and he plans to return home for a ‘private’ meeting this afternoon.

“So, this is our new plan?” Creed asks, sounding pissed off. “A fucking stakeout?”

“We can’t just go burst in there with guns blazing,” Hale says, shutting off the car and leaning back against the headrest.

“I don’t see why not. They’re keeping her locked in there against her fucking will.”

“We don’t know if she cares about anyone in there,” I say, staring hard at the gates, willing them to open and our girl to step through. “We might shoot the wrong person and she’d hate us for it.”

“She’s going to hate us anyway,” Creed murmurs. My heart sinks because he might be fucking right.

“Only if she finds out about it.” Hale twists his head to peer at Creed sitting next to him. “Which she won’t because none of us are going to fucking tell her, right?”

Creed’s jaw tightens and releases. I think he might argue that Haven deserves to know everything, but then he gives a jerky nod. Hale blows out a relieved breath.

“It’ll only hurt her, Creed,” he whispers.

“I thought that was your whole plan. To hurt her.”

“And now I’m saying we aren’t going to fucking do that. You should be happy. You got what you wanted.”

“Right. This is what I wanted.”

Hale groans. “Jesus, Creed. What do you want from me? I’m trying here. Legitimately trying to see a way forward without hurting her. Without destroying her. That is what you wanted, right? To still get revenge on Bell, but to save Haven the pain of knowing we used her?” Creed gives a jerky nod. “Then this is the way forward. We can tell her about Janie and about her father, what he’s really like. We can even tell her it’s the reason we approached her to begin with, but…”

“We won’t tell her about the game,” Tic finishes. “Right? None of that bullshit. I don’t want her to think we used her like that.”

God, the very idea of her every finding out is like a knife to my gut. Creed glances over his shoulder at me. “Delete the spreadsheet and all the proof off your laptop.”

My brows jump. “Everything?”

“Yes, fucking everything .”

Hale nods his agreement with Creed. “I don’t want to risk her finding it.”

“She won’t. You know how complex my passwords are. She’ll never guess it. And she has her own computer. She’s not going to need to borrow mine.”

The back of Tic’s hand hits my chest, hard. “Just fucking delete it.”

I don’t even know why I’m arguing with them about it, trying to keep from needing to get rid of the evidence of our crime. It would be devastating if Haven found out. Beyond devastating. She would literally never forgive us. Ever.

“Ow.” I rub at my pec. “I’ll delete it when I get home. Okay?” The three of them exchange a look. “What?”

“Really delete it, Jude. I swear to fuck if I find out you’ve kept it because of your voyeuristic bullshit, I’ll end you.” Creed’s tone brooks no arguments.

I sniff, offended. “Don’t yuck my yum, asshole. Sue me if I enjoy watching you fuck our girl, watching as she lets go and submits to the pleasure we give her.” Shit. Just the memory of it is enough to get me hard.

“ Jude. ”

I throw up my hands. “Fine. Fine. I promise I’ll delete every file I have of us fucking Haven.”

“ And the scoresheet. ”

“And the scoresheet.”

Creed pins me with a hard look before turning back around to stare at the gate and the house beyond it. Haven is so close and yet so fucking far. I need to see her, need to know she’s okay. I need to get her safe and sound. My alpha has been low key panicking ever since she left our house, but Tic’s news that her father has been controlling her via alpha barks has sent him over the fucking edge, I swear.

“Oh, here we go,” Hale mutters as a car we recognize all too well approaches the gate. Without hesitating, Hale hops out of the car and jogs after it. The rest of us are right on his heels. I have no clue what the plan is here. Our prime didn’t tell us, but whatever it is, I have to trust that it’ll help us get to Haven.

As the gates swing open, the car slows to a stop. We slow our steps when the driver’s door opens and a man wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie steps out. He’s wearing sunglasses even though it’s not sunny, and he looks like an off-brand Man in Black. He smooths a hand down the front of his jacket and pops open the back door. A moment later, Frederick Bell unfolds his big body from the car, turning to face us with that charming smile I hate so much on his stupid fucking face.

I’ve always hated this man. Ever since I first learned about him, I’ve hated him. So I’m surprised at the sharp spike of it in my chest as I look at him now. Knowing how he’s treated his daughter, possibly the sweetest woman I’ve ever met, makes me hate him even more.

I can’t fucking wait until we can end him.

“Gentlemen,” He says, running a hand down the front of his jacket much the same way his bodyguard had. I wonder who is emulating who. “How can I help you today?”

Hale takes the lead, as he always does. “We’re here to see Haven.”

The expression on the older alpha’s face doesn’t falter, he just keeps smiling at us. “Are you?” He glances over his shoulder up at the house. “Well, I’m afraid she’s not here. She’s meeting with a wedding planner.”

All the blood drains from my face and my mouth is suddenly dry. “What?” I can’t stop myself from asking.

Now the politician’s expression changes, forming into a mask of pity. “A wedding planner. For the wedding.”

“Who’s?” This time it’s Tic that asks. “You getting married, senator?”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “No, no. Not me. Haven is.” He says it so simply, like it's a fact. Like he’s known this to be the case for a while now, and not at all like it’s something he’s just pulling out of his ass at the moment.

Bell tilts his head and considers us. “Did she not tell you that while you had her locked away in your pack house doing god knows what to her?”

I have to give him props for his acting. He almost sounds like an overprotective papa there. But we know the truth.

Hale shakes his head slowly. “You know, Senator. She didn’t mention it. Not once.”

The senator sighs and moves closer to us, shaking his head. “I’m sorry about that, boys. Truly. Haven is… difficult. I’ve done my best to keep her under control, but sometimes she just acts out like this. I apologize if she led you on, or made you think this was something more than what it was?”

“What was it?” Creed growls.

If Bell senses my pack mate is about three point four seconds away from ripping his head off, he doesn’t show it. No, he just gives him that same pitying look from before. “Cold feet, I’m afraid. She’s just nervous about her pending nuptials.” He glances around like he’s about to tell us a fucking secret. “But I know she couldn’t be happier. She’s such a good girl normally.”

“Why haven’t you announced it to the media?” Tic asks, sounding curious, like he isn’t also a writhing mass of rage inside.

“We wanted to keep the joy to ourselves for a bit before we send out the announcements.”

“Right,” our prime says, sounding perfectly at ease. “That makes sense. You understand our confusion though, seeing as she made no mention of it to us during the time we spent together.”

The senator grins. “Like I said, cold feet. She wouldn’t exactly tell you she’s cheating, would she?” He glances over his shoulder at the bodyguard. “Speaking of, I can trust you won’t go to the media with this, correct? She’s a very confused omega and can’t make up her mind. Her struggle with her instincts is very real. She has little slip ups. But she doesn’t mean any harm.”

I bite back the snort of disbelief at that. Turning Haven’s time with us into a matter of the instincts he views as so abhorrent, making everything about this her fault. On her shoulders, as though we are in no way to blame at all. Never mind that we approached her.

“Of course, you know you can count on our discretion,” Hale says with an amiable smile on his face. “I must apologize to you too on behalf of my pack. I’m sure you understand had we known we would never have-”

“Of course not. Of course not. Your pack has been one of my biggest supporters this campaign season. I know you would never do anything to jeopardize everything we’ve accomplished.”

That’s the kicker. In order to see our revenge through, we had to get close to him. And for a man like Bell, the easiest way to get close to him is to support his ambitions with money. Lots of fucking money. What he doesn’t know is every penny we’ve ‘donated’ to his campaign has come directly from his hidden accounts in the Caymans. It’s quite a lovely little bit of code I wrote there. Hiding that we’ve all but drained his personal accounts there to fund that campaign that is going to fail.

Frederick Bell will not be re-elected. Not this year. Never again.

We’ll destroy him before that ever happens.

“We’d really love to congratulate the happy couple,” Hale says, still smiling at our greatest enemy.

The senator nods, though his smile is a bit on the strained side. “Of course. I’ll make sure Haven adds you to the guest list for the engagement party. I know Brian would love to have you there. You’ve all worked so closely together. And I’ll keep Haven under control, warm those feet of hers right up, so you won’t have to worry about her approaching you.”

“Brian Coogan. That’s who she’s marrying?” Creed sounds just as disgusted as I feel about it. But once again, Bell doesn’t react.

He just beams at us. “That’s right. They’ve been dating for a couple of years now. And the timing just seemed right.” Bullshit. Every fucking word out of his mouth is bullshit. “She really couldn’t be happier about it.”

There’s no way that’s true. None. No omega would be happy to marry a man who doesn’t respect her rights, her instincts, her fucking body.

He’s going to use her the exact same way her father has. As a prop to show what a good man he is. A wife whose devotion is forced through alpha barks and commands.

“No way,” I mutter, shaking my head. “No fucking way.” I lunge before I can think better of it, needing to wipe that smug little smile off Bell’s face.

The bodyguard opens his jacket, revealing his sidearm in warning, but doesn’t draw it, as if that would be enough to keep me from advancing.

Tic claps a hand on my shoulder and tugs me backward. I don’t know if he can tell I’m about to go feral, but it’s there. Bloodlust simmering on my tongue. I want to rip Bell apart for even suggesting such a thing. Haven deserves so much better. Hell, she deserves better than us, but I’m not sure anyone in my pack could give her up at this point. Even Hale. Though he’d probably still deny it.

Through red shaded eyes I watch as Hale smiles tightly and holds his hand out to our enemy, clasps hands and shakes. I have to bite back a growl, but it still rumbles deep in my chest, a warning to anyone close by. I’m not fucking around here.

Tic all but shoves me in the back seat of the car, slamming the door in my face before rounding to the other side and sliding in next to me. He grips my shoulders and gives me a shake, making me face him, meet his eyes. “Breathe, Jude. Fuck. You need to breathe, okay? You can’t go feral right now. It won’t help Haven if Bell’s bodyguard shoots you or you get arrested for murder.”

“He’d be dead,” I grit out, loving the sound of it. My alpha roars his approval in my chest at the thought. “He’d never be able to bark at her again, force her to marry an alpha just like him.”

“That’s not gonna happen,” Hale says as he and Creed slip into the front seats. “We’re getting her out of there well before any I do’s are said. Right?”

“Fuck yeah,” Creed says. “Tonight. We get her out to-fucking-night.”

The certainty in his voice, along with the confidence he sends down our bond, has me relaxing slightly, but not completely. I won’t be able to do that until Haven is safe in my arms, protected, happy, free of her father’s commands.