Chapter Eight

Clay

So many things were racing through my head. I'd been well on my way to panic before he walked in the room and now? Now there were so many unknowns added to that list.

Why did he say his name was Jordan, and now say it's Jeremy? It hadn't shocked me that his name wasn't Jordan. The name never tasted right on my tongue. And, looking back, I'd always known it was a lie because the first time he told me it, he sounded unsure. It was almost as if he had started to tell me a different name altogether. At the time, I thought it was a name that started with P. Looked like I was wrong on that front, but that didn't matter. What did was the thumb drive he had just asked me for in a roundabout way.

"I can't give it to you," I said. He couldn't know what I was talking about, but at the same time sort of did. It was such a cluster.

Sure, he knew I'd discovered something, but the thumb drive itself—that, he wouldn't have known about. Or maybe he did somehow. Were there cameras in here? If there were, how would he have access to them.

I was letting myself go down all kinds of unhelpful paths. I needed to reel it in and fast. It wasn't like he could chill here all day.

My head was spinning.

All I wanted was to have him hold me, hug me, tell me everything would be okay. He wasn't even a friend, but that didn't stop me from needing his touch. I must dive deeper into that, but there were more pressing issues at hand.

"I…" He grabbed the bridge of his nose. "Listen, some bad shit's going down here."

He didn't need to tell me that, but the fact that he did—that he trusted me—meant something. And maybe, just maybe that meant that I could trust him too.

Yes, my bear chimed in.

I ignored him. I couldn't handle this with Jord—I meant, Jeremy and dealing with my beast at the same time. One of them would have to wait and, in this case, it was going to be my bear.

"And I need to make sure it doesn't happen." He brought his eyes to mine. "It can't happen."

"And that's why you're here?"

"Here as in the mansion, yes. Here as in with you? No." He reached out and, for a second, I thought he might be grasping for my hand, but just as quickly, he pulled it right back again. "I couldn't…I couldn't stay away."

Relief flooded me at his confession. I was glad he couldn't because I…I felt similarly, which was why I couldn't give him anything. It wasn't safe for anyone to have the thumb drive. I wasn't going to put that on him. If I did, and something happened to him because of me… I shook that thought away, refusing to go down that path.

"I don't know what you—"

He gave me that serious eye, calling my bluff.

"Fine. I have it, but I don't fully understand it." I pulled out the thumb drive and handed it to him, unsure why my resolve broke. Maybe it was the look in his eyes. Maybe it was the realization I was in way over my head. Maybe it was because I trusted him and, if he wasn't the one who got it, who would be?

"I found this."

He watched me, almost as if expecting more.

"I thought this was a legit job for just a regular old startup. And there's nothing regular old startup-y about what's on that drive. It's a spreadsheet. It's got a list of people…omegas. Many are underage, and all of them—"

"I know." He put his hand over mine, his warmth traveling through me as he palmed the thumb drive. "I'll make sure this gets into the right hands."

"Please, don't…" I didn't know it was so important for him to realize that I wasn't an awful person.

"I won't let anything happen to you." Which hadn't been at all what I was worried about.

"I know."

"Do you? Do you really? I will make sure that you're safe. I swear to the goddess, I will protect you."

"I believe you." I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath. "Why? Why are you doing this for me? I'm just the office math nerd."

"No, you're not just anything."

I opened my eyes again to find him looking at me with compassion and warmth.

"I don't understand. Why are you like this? Why me?"

"Think about it, Clay. I think you know why you matter more than my next breath." He put his ear up to the door. "I need to get out of here, but I'll find you again, and we'll figure this out."

As quickly as he came, he was gone. And he'd left the thumb drive with me. Was it his way of telling me he trusted me or letting me know he'd be back?

Mate, my bear insisted.

"Mate." I pressed my fingers, the ones that had just been held by Jeremy, to my lips.

Jeremy was my mate and, like me, he was here wanting to stop whatever breeding farm I'd uncovered. I didn't know how he came to be here. Maybe he was just like me, hired for something unrelated to the horror I'd uncovered, or maybe he knew of the horror and came here to put a stop to it. I wasn't sure which and I wasn't sure it mattered.

What did matter was that the goddess put us on this earth to meet here and now. I had to believe it was more than just so we could fall in love and start a family. She put us here to help those omegas. It was the only thing that made sense.

Please let us be the right men for the job.