31. Erin

Chapter thirty-one

Erin

Finn is tracking Locke through the forest. Because he’s got incredible skills and just keeps surprising me. He went calm and cold when he heard what Shane and Bray said. Then he reached into his car, pulled out a backpack, passed me a satellite phone, and told me to meet him at the resort.

I’d blinked at him and scowled. “I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not. You can’t keep up. Besides, I don’t think he was ever here. There are no signs, but I’m going just in case. You’re going to go back and wait for him.”

“Why?”

“Because all the trails lead back to the resort. I marked them. If he’s in the woods, he will end up back there, and you will take care of him, emotionally, mentally, whatever he needs. He needs his alpha. So go, and let me do what I’m trained to do.”

How could I argue with that?

So, Bray and Shane had brought me back here. Dana, Tristen, and Mathew are working tonight and quietly go ahead with prep to open the resort. Karma is still with Benny, but I wish she was here. I’ve mostly been ignoring everyone, just walking back and forth along the porch, frantically searching the forest line with each turn.

Bray sits on a chair, tense and intent, staring at the forest as if he can will the two of them to walk out.

Shane alternates between us, either standing pressed against my back, one arm wrapped around me, or sitting beside Bray, whispering in his ear.

“I can’t just stand here. It’s been a whole day. Shouldn’t we call someone?” I ask in frustration.

“Have faith in Finn, love. He is the person the whole town goes to when anyone gets lost up here. He’s got the skills.”

“It's true, he does,” Bray says with a distinctly lackluster voice.

Shane crosses to me and leans against me. It makes me feel better, but I’m still panicking.

“The sun’s setting!”

Shane’s hand creeps up, wrapping around my rib cage and putting pressure that helps me feel grounded.

“I should have done something about him earlier,” I hiss wrathfully. “That piece of shit man.”

“You couldn’t have known. It doesn’t matter. He’s dead now,” Shane says, and there is something in his voice that makes me twist in his grip to look up at his face.

My phone beeps, and I wiggle free of Shane’s grip. I open the message and grin savagely. “I’ve got his contract!” I scream. “Mathew, I need a laptop!”

Within minutes, I’m set up at a table in the restaurant, tapping furiously on the keys.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m leveling legal action at Alpha Labels for abuse, abuse of power, extortion, illegal use of a minor, sexual harassment, sexual intimidation, trafficking, and slavery.”

Bray blinks at me three times. “What?”

“I’m getting our omega free,” I snarl viciously. “I just need to attach the recording with Jason and the recording Locke gave outlining when he had requested help.”

“But what if this comes out?”

“This won’t come out. The top management will read this, freak out because if it does get leaked, it will hurt their bottom line, and they will give me what I want.”

“And what is that?”

“My omega, free,” I say with deep satisfaction and send the document to my partners and to the Alpha Labels CEO. “It’s going to help that it was his own nephew. It would destroy his image. He will cut Locke loose faster than he can blink.”

“Are you sure?”

I lean back. “I’m Erin Bradley. This contract is not just wrong but illegal, just that alone will get Locke free, but with everything else, yeah, he’s walking if it’s the last thing I do. Worst case scenario, they refuse, there’s one loophole. If a performer finds a pack and has a bond with one or more people, that will override all contracts past, present, and future. Pack comes first.” I reach and finger the bite on my shoulder.

An hour passes with creepy slowness, and the cold creeps into my bones. People arrive to have drinks and beers. But they stay away from our little corner. The whole time, I stare out into the deepening night and will my beta and omega to appear.

I hear a ding and look at the laptop.

“Locke is ours,” I say with small satisfaction. “He’s been cut from Alpha Labels, the contract broken. They are paying out all the money that is his and cutting ties with him.”

“Seriously?” Shane asks and sits down beside me. “He’s free of that band?”

“He’s free. He’s ours. I did it. Typhor walked into my trap, and there was no way out but the one I gave him. He has gracefully yielded the field.”

“You got me free?”

I jerk around, almost falling out of the chair.

“Locke!”

“You got me free of the band?” Locke whispers. “I’m free?” He starts to cry and staggers.

“You’re free,” I whisper and rush towards him.

He throws himself into my arms. He smells like vanilla and the forest.

“I was so worried about you,” I say and bury my face in his throat.

Finn limps in and lifts a hand. Shane crosses to him and talks softly, but then they both return to me.

“I followed the trail markers back,” Locke says. “I need to sit down.”

“This way,” Finn says. “Hey, Dana, I’ll be back in about half an hour. I just need to clean up.”

“It’s all right, Finn, Bray and Shane helped us get ready. We’ve got this. You go and be with your,” she pauses, “your family.”

Finn glances at us and smiles slightly. There is a glow of happiness in his eyes. “You got my resort ready for dinner service?”

Bray grabs Finn and kisses him hard.

“Were you worried?” Finn whispers.

“I was.”

“I’m okay.”

“Good.”

Shane pulls Locke out of my arms and lifts him up. I follow on his heels as he leads us upstairs and deeper into the main house.

It’s darker up here, more somber, and I see more of Finn than I thought possible. He’s living in a shrine to his lost family. There is almost nothing of him.

I try not to notice it, but it’s impossible. Shane toes open a bedroom, and I go inside, frowning at the single bed.

I look around and realise this is Finn’s childhood bedroom.

“There was no need to change,” Finn says quietly, but I don’t miss the defensiveness in his voice. “I didn’t have anyone to…” he cuts off that sentence and looks over the shelves holding photos and a baseball.

“Shane?”

He looks back over his shoulder. “I’ll check him over and then, when we’re ready, we can go back to our house.”

Our. I hear that loud and clear, and so does Finn.

Finn shuffles backwards, away from Shane and Locke, refusing to meet my eyes, but I catch his hand before he gets through the door frame. I drag him out of the room and halfway down the stairs; I stop. He passes me, but turns back, looking up at me.

“Finn, how lonely have you been?”

His eyes are so sad as he stares at me. “Perhaps as lonely as you.”

I cup his cheeks, feeling the stubble against my palms. “You don’t need to be ashamed of anything. You are the most capable, talented, stubborn beta I’ve ever met.”

I lean down and kiss him deeply.

“I found him,” he whispers when he pulls away. “He was lost and heading in the wrong direction. He’s got a terrible sense of direction, even with markers.”

He starts to shake, and I carefully pass him and lead him down to the bar. I go behind and grab a bottle of whiskey and pour a shot. I slide it to him.

“Drink.”

He picks it up and drinks it, then slides onto a stool. He’s still shaking, so I line up two more.

“He could have died.”

I nudge the shot glass.

“He could have died in that car. Or ended up back with Alpha Labels. We almost lost him. Jason let him go, can you believe that. If he hadn’t, that could have been Locke-”

“Finn!”

Something is wrong here. I stand up and come around the bar, but he’s started to really shake.

I glance around and spot Bray speaking to Mathew.

“brAY!”

Bray looks over and spots the issue immediately. He races through the bar and wraps himself around Finn. I step in front, and together, we sandwich the beta between us.

“It’s okay, Finn. What happened to your parents is not going to happen here,” Bray whispers. “Locke is fine. You’re not going to lose us.”

Suddenly, it all makes sense.

“I almost lost him-” the words come out in huge, heaving gasps as he struggles to breathe.

I glance at Bray, but he looks just as panicked as I do.

Tears are streaming down Finn’s face, and he’s shrinking in on himself, becoming boneless.

And then it happens.

The vibrations in my chest, a deep hum that rumbles through me. A few seconds pass, and it's joined by another deeper sound.

Bray.

I squeeze Finn’s head to my chest while Bray leans over him. We’re touching him wherever we can.

Our purrs throbbing through our bodies and into him.

It’s all right.

We’ve got you.

Everything is going to be okay now.

You’re not alone.

You’re never going to be alone again.

And Finn, our beta, the golden child of Twin Rivers, collapses in our arms and cries for the almost end of his omega and for the family he never grieved.