Chapter 23

We got Ethan and Shae home and, though my Omega wanted us in the nest, I just couldn't go up. We'd decided as a group to reach out to Bodhi's friend to see if the trafficked Omega was at the Rothchild house, but I couldn't let it go. Couldn't take the chance that they'd botch something and the only lead we had to find the deranged Alpha who'd hurt Shae, hurt Theo, and destroyed so many lives, could slip through my fingers again. I was opening my safe to get out some of my knives and a side arm when the scent of bayberry and oak announced Theo's arrival.

"Not going to bring me along for the fun?"

I shrugged noncommittally.

"Come if you want to, but our Omega might need his bonded Alpha here tonight."

Theo moved to press his chest to my back and put his hands on my hips. He leaned down so his chin rested on the top of my shoulder.

"Our Omega wanted me to come with you. None of us go out alone right now, remember, babe?"

Letting my head fall back against his chest, I breathed out slowly.

"I can't let him get away again?—"

"Technically, I let him get away."

I growled then, whirling on him and gripping his chin before crowding him back into the wall opposite my safe.

"You didn't lose him. He nearly killed you with a fucking experimental drug they cooked up in a warehouse. He took Shae. He almost took you. I want his head."

"I hear you, gorgeous. But what are you going to do? The chances of him hiding out at Pack Rothchild's house are next to none. As much as I would love to go in and watch you carve them up until you get answers, that won't do us any good in the long run."

My frustrated groan was loud in the quiet space of my closet and I struggled to rein in my need for retribution.

"Can't go into the nest when I'm like this. I can barely keep it out of the bond with Shae. I need to do something, Theo."

"Then let"s go. We'll drive by the Rothchild pack house and see if the cops followed up. If they did, we will go into the station and explain what Ethan found to Bodhi's friend."

"And if the cops didn't take them in?"

His grin was cold and all the answer I needed. If the cops did nothing, then we would handle it ourselves.

The pack that my Omega's fathers had tried to sell him off to lived further out of the city, in one of those gated neighborhoods where people loved to flaunt their money and pretend, they had picture perfect lives. The man working the gate didn't seem all that concerned when we rattled off an address, pretending to be guests, and he let us in without checking our story at all. Idiot.

As we approached the house we were looking for, it was obvious that the cops had actually taken Theo's tip seriously. There were multiple cruisers and an ambulance on scene with paramedics trying to comfort a barefoot, crying woman and cops blocking three snarling Alphas from her. But the scene playing out before us wasn't what we'd expected. At first glance, I'd assumed the woman, wearing a t-shirt several sizes too large, was crying because she was afraid. That was until she broke away from the EMT who was walking her to the back of the ambulance and ran straight into Gavin Rothchild's open arms.

"Huh."

Theo's reduction to confused, monosyllabic speech fit right along with my thoughts. We watched the other Alphas surround her and, even from where we'd parked a ways down the block, the sight of Alphas comforting their Omega was obvious. Theo looked over to me and I met his eyes. Dammit.

That Omega didn't want to leave them, and they didn't act like the Alphas Theo had heard saying such horrible things about Ethan at the West's party. We'd had them written off as the kind of assholes that belonged on the end of my knives but, after seeing the scene playing out before us, it was obvious there was more here than met the eye.

After a few minutes, the pack separated and spoke with the officers and EMTs around them. The Omega and the only Alpha who hadn't been at Ethan's house went into the back of the ambulance. As it pulled away, the other two went into the back of an unmarked car and began to drive in the same direction as the ambulance.

"To the station?"

"Yeah, call Gia and see if we have any grounds to talk to them."

Theo made an unsure noise but was pulling up my contacts to connect the call through the car. I was already working on an argument when she answered.

"Tell me you didn't maim someone again? I'm not awake enough to deal with that right now, Jade."

Theo chuckled and reached over the console to put a hand on my thigh, flooding the bond with an inappropriate amount of lust for the situation.

"Everyone I have come into contact with today still possesses all of their appendages."

I chose to ignore the mumbled so far from my passenger.

"Keep it that way please, Madam Director. So, if it's not to keep you out of jail, why am I awake?"

Theo and I provided a brief run down of what we'd learned from Ethan's research and what we saw at the Rothchild pack house before I asked what I needed to know.

"Do I have grounds to question Gavin Rothchild in the interest of pack retribution against the Alpha who attacked two of my bondmates after kidnapping one and holding them against their will for five days?"

Gia's long-suffering sigh was all bluster. I suspected she was more annoyed that I'd worked through the argument myself before calling her, robbing her of the chance to show off her legal genius.

"Yes. I will submit a formal request now and call the precinct to tell them to expect you but I need at least thirty minutes, Jade. Don't go charging in there until you hear from me. I mean it."

I saved any conversations where I doubted the legality of my actions for Gia. She'd offered before to handle everything that related to our pack, but I didn't want anything, like rumors of preferential treatment, overshadowing how brilliant she was.

"Understood, Gia. Thank you."

"Thank me with a raise."

She hung up before I could reply and left me shaking my head.

"Thirty minutes gives us plenty of time for?—"

I snapped my legs together and squeezed my thighs on Theo's wandering hand.

"The next words in that sentence better have been planning what we will say to Gavin Rothchild when we see him. I know you don't think I'm about to roll into that conversation smelling like I've been recently fucked."

Theo sucked his teeth and gripped the inside of my thigh where his hand was still trapped.

"If you say so, boss."

"Better."

"So what is your plan?"

"I'm going to get them to tell me everything."

"Good, good. I love a well thought out plan."

"I'm picking up on your sarcasm."

"Would you rather I said well executed so you could say you weren't planning on executing anyone… tonight?"

"You're being abnormally playful. It's freaking me out."

His laughter rang through the car and brought an answering smile to my face.

"It's Ethan. He's so fucking happy right now. There's some worry because we aren't there but having Miles and Shae in his nest with him and Trevor? He's over the moon and is too new to having a bond to hide any of it."

My smile dimmed and I worried my bottom lip with my teeth.

"I want to bond him too but do you think he'd be, I don't know, overwhelmed by another bond so soon after yours?"

"I think you should ask him."

Blowing out a breath, I turned up some music and focused on the road. Theo didn't need my reassurance—he could literally read my emotions—but I pulled his hand from my thigh and threaded our fingers together anyway. We weren't more than five minutes from the precinct when Gia texted that the way had been cleared to talk to the Rothchild Alphas. She threw in a warning to keep my hands to myself. The woman was lucky she was one of my only friends outside the pack and a damn good attorney, with half the shit she said to me.

We parked the car, checked in with the sergeant on duty, and settled in to wait. After only twenty minutes or so, an older man in business casual clothes came out and approached us. He moved to Theo first and shook his hand as we stood.

"Good to see you again, Jack. Let me introduce Jade Owens, my pack lead and the director of Drake House Securities."

The older man's brows rose before he schooled his expression into one that didn't show his obvious and offensive surprise. Shaking my hand seemed more important than it had a moment ago, but I was used to people assuming I was a subordinate at best and arm candy at worst. I didn't let it bother me as much as it had when I first took over for my father. People learned quickly where I stood.

"Pleased to meet you, Jack."

"Pleasure's all mine, Alpha Owens. I'm going to take you back into the interrogation rooms to meet with the two members of Pack Rothchild who have agreed to speak to you and are not currently with their Omega."

"Lead the way."

As we walked through the precinct, Theo was careful to walk a step behind me, not that he needed to, but I knew he was making a statement. To anyone who saw us, it would be clear that I was his Alpha, even though he was no longer a Beta. Fuck, I loved that man. We stopped before a standard gray door with a metal name plate indicating it was interrogation room number seven and Jack turned to us.

"Before you go inside, the Alphas have made it clear they want to cooperate but that they believe the life of their Omega is at risk. They have asked for police protection. We will be monitoring this conversation to ensure their safety, but no recordings will be made."

"I have no issues with that."

He nodded and reached across to open the door for us. Theo went in first, eyeing the two haggard-looking Alphas as he moved to the side to hold the door open for me. Jack stepped into the room only for a moment to advise that an officer would be outside the door and Jack himself would be monitoring the room from the other side of the one sided glass. We stood staring at the others for a moment after Jack left the room until Gavin Rothchild began to fidget and broke the silence via blurting.

"I didn't mean the things I said about Ethan that night. We aren't like that. I just?—"

The other Alpha put his hand over Gavin's and squeezed it in an affectionate way that also indicated he should relax. I arched an eyebrow and sat down across from them as Theo chose to remain standing.

"I could say I don't care about what you said to my Omega that night, but it would be a lie. You hurt him, and whether it was your intention or not, confirmed his fears about his worth as a male Omega."

They winced and Gavin's shoulders slumped.

"It's all my fault, I was stupid enough to fall for it?—"

"We all bought his bullshit, Gav."

Shaking his head Gavin turned to his packmate with sorrow and self-hatred filling his face.

"Not like I did, Max, and you know it."

The other Alpha, Max, growled and pulled Gavin closer until he had an arm around his shoulders.

"Maybe you should start from the beginning."

"What do you already know? That would save us some time."

Max had a no-nonsense air about him but without the bullshit bravado and entitlement, in different circumstances, I might have respected him.

"We suspect that Gavin has a half-brother out there who is responsible for the kidnapping, assault, and deaths of an unknown number of Betas in at least the last two months. That he is responsible for taking my bonded Beta off the street and holding them hostage. He was also responsible for nearly killing my bondmate here." I tipped my head back toward Theo and continued. "I know he used a bastardized version of a drug developed by the man who kidnapped Ethan three months ago to try to turn Betas into Omegas and at least planned on trafficking those who survive the dosing."

Both Gavin and Max began to snarl at that last sentence, but their anger wasn't directed at us. Even if it were, those two would never be a threat to either Theo or myself and definitely not when we were together.

"I'm assuming, based on your reaction, you didn't purchase the Omega we saw with you tonight."

"Of course not!"

"We'd never."

They spoke over each other and sincerity rang through their words. The disgust and anger permeating their scents confirmed it. A flustered Gavin deflated again before speaking.

"Look, my parents weren't bad people, but they were a pack who wasn't particularly interested in having kids. I was a surprise and was told I was an only child my whole life. My mom and three of my fathers died when I was in high school. Joseph was the least involved of all my parents, despite being my biological father, so we just continued as we always had. I had a protected trust fund that he couldn't touch, and I lived off that mostly until I met my pack. When he died, he dropped the bombshell that he had another son in his will and forced us together through the sale of the estate. Everything was great at first. Blake Graves acted exactly like a dream big brother, who'd always wanted a sibling."

Blake Graves. Finally a name. I slid my eyes to Theo, and he shook his head, the motion so slight it wouldn't be noticed by anyone else. He wasn't ready to go yet. I tensed the muscles in my hands, gripping my knees then slowly relaxed them one finger at a time. I needed to force myself to calm down if I wasn't going to be able to drive straight to Drake House and force whoever was on call in the BullPen to look Graves up. Though my gaze had stayed on Gavin, I had to force my mind back to what he was saying.

"Blake had a rough life. Said his mom blew most of the money Joseph sent her and they lived in a rough area. He met his pack because they'd all grown up there and that's why they fell into the lifestyle they had. Painted it like it was all they knew but they wanted a fresh start. A chance to get out of that life. That's what he said, and I fell for every fake smile and all the charm."

It seemed like Gavin wouldn't be able to continue without lots of self-flagellation, so Max took over the explanation.

"You need to understand that Gavin's father, Joseph, wasn't honest with his family, ever. By all indications, he hid his first son's existence from his pack as well. We were led to believe we'd make a ton of money if we sold the family's estate and used those funds to prop up the businesses that Blake's pack were starting. A casino and a club. It all seemed like a good investment and a way to help Gavin's only remaining family."

Gavin leaned forward, elbows on the table and head in his hands as his scent soured. Max rubbed soothing circles on his back and continued.

"We'd been reaping the benefits of that initial investment, but clubs and casinos really weren't our scene, so we didn't go and check in on them or anything. Then one night, about two months ago, Blake called Gavin saying that it was urgent and that we needed to come to Senet. When we got there, he said he'd found a new way to make even more money but that we needed to ‘pull our weight'."

My brows lifted, finally, we were getting somewhere.

"He told us that he had packed up with an Omega that was doing her part to make us richer than god but we had to court and bond an Omega they had chosen. That's when he showed us a picture of Ethan and said that his father was a Senator and they needed him for leverage and protection. We didn't understand and Gav tried to tell him no, that we wanted an Omega, but we hoped for a scent match."

Gavin pulled his head from his hands and met my gaze.

"The facade of the caring brother just… melted away. He leaned back in his chair and told me that he had been creating a paper trail to us. The dummy corporation he helped us set up for backing their purchases was where all the money from forced labor in his back-of-house operations and from drugs and illegal gambling had all been funneled. Since it was my name on the transfers, not his, we looked like the masterminds."

"We didn't know what to do. We agreed to do it, to meet Ethan, and they set up the dinner invitation, forged a scent match, everything. We thought if we said we'd do it that it would give us time to come up with a plan."

Gavin settled his gaze on Theo.

"We couldn't figure out how to get out of it. We knew who Ethan was, his kidnapping had been all over the news, and we didn't want to put him through more than he had already gone through. We hoped if we treated him badly enough, in front of his parents, that they wouldn't let him court us."

"Well that fucking backfired, didn't it?"

They both winced at the anger rolling off Theo and the dominance leaching into his words. Max took over the story again.

"Cade, our third packmate, refused to come because he'd grown up with an Omega twin sister and he thought it was a cruel plan. Blake had been a step ahead again and sent a large campaign donation in our name, suggesting it was contingent on us courting Ethan. They didn't care what we said, how disgusting we made ourselves seem, they were going to force him to bond with us."

"You showing up and taking him away was a relief because we couldn't have gone through with it but also, we thought it gave us an out. We'd tried and circumstances out of our control kept him from us."

"I'm guessing your brother didn't see it that way?"

Gavin scoffed at my question and shook his head.

"He said we'd failed but that we weren't off the hook. We would have to make it up to him somehow. Then about three weeks ago, he called us back in. That's when?—"

He looked back at his packmate and their scents shifted, there was fear but also determination. Max picked up the thread again.

"They brought us into one of the large rooms that the casino had, and it looked like it had been used for fights, the way the seating was arranged to see the platform from all angles. Their guards made us wait there until he and one of his packmates brought in a woman. Her eyes were covered, and she was gagged." The absolute fury coating every one of his words told me exactly who this woman was to them. "Her hands were tied and Blake was leading her along by the end of that rope."

"We knew, as soon as her scent hit us, she was ours."

"Unfortunately, Blake saw it too."

"We offered anything, everything we had, if he would let us take her home. Turned over all the money in our savings. We didn't want it anyway knowing where it came from, but it wasn't enough. He said we could have her because he ‘could make more' but that she would never be our public mate. We would still have to make the connections his pack couldn't."

"Of course we agreed. There wasn't anything that he could have asked that we wouldn't have done to get her. Her terror was clawing at us to fix it, make her safe, make her happy." His words became softer and broke with emotion. "Love her. It took a week to prove we weren't like them. She told us everything about being taken and the injections and the others. The ones who turned and the ones who… didn't make it. We were planning to run. Turn to the police. Something."

"Then her heat hit. When we came out of it, we found out that you all had destroyed their operation. We got desperate, terrified that Blake and the others would come and take her from us. Then the police came tonight and tried to separate us, thinking we'd forced her."

He shuddered with the revulsion I could scent in the air and his fists clenched.

"The only thing that matters to us is keeping her safe. We will do anything."

They had certainly filled in a lot of blanks. Since we had the information we needed, it was taking a toll on both me and Theo to not walk out the door, find Graves to dispose of him for good this time. But it wouldn't be enough. Cutting the head off the beast only works if the beast isn't a hydra. We didn't know everything about the organization that Pack Jackal ran to ensure no one else would step into the power vacuum. One detail from their story tugged at my attention.

"You said he faked the scent matches? How? Ethan believed he was matched with your pack through the Foundation."

"They blackmail people left and right. It's not that much of a stretch to assume they have someone on the inside there too."

I opened my mouth to ask more questions when Gavin cut in.

"Will you help us? I know we hurt your Omega but we really were trying to keep him out of this. Our Omega, she isn't safe, and I don't trust them to not have cops on their side?—"

Theo's voice was incredulous when he interrupted Gavin.

"You want our protection?"

They both nodded and looked at me.

"I don't know if we will be able to get you out of police custody."

"That's fine. We will take that risk, but she can't. Please."

I turned to Theo and he sent an urgent push down our bond. He knew I wouldn't turn down protecting this woman who had been through the same hell that Cat and Shae had. He wanted me to stop trying to gather information so we could go find Graves. I looked back at the two desperate Alphas across from me.

"You'll give us everything you know about the Jackal's organization but especially Graves." Their emphatic nods sealed it for me. My attention went to that one-way glass, and I spoke directly to Jack and whoever was there with him. "My pack is claiming full rights to retribution when it comes to Blake Graves?—"

The little speaker in the corner crackled before Jack's voice came through.

"Done. You can take the Omega and Cade Rothchild into your protection as well, but the others will have to stay and provide statements before any deals can be made."