Chapter 3

Lachlan

With this new development to consider, things began moving quickly and also at a snail’s pace. Chelle and I were confined to the penthouse while others came and went. My sole job had been to keep Chelle safe.

I was glad Tilly’s sister was okay. She was angry and scared, but okay. Still, I’d trade her for my mate any day. As horrible as that sounded, it was the truth.

I hadn’t slept last night. The whole world seemed to go still but I remained restless, tossing and turning until the sun began to surface.

Every time I closed my eyes I saw Tilly’s beautiful face. There was a part of me that wanted to get lost in that, but I knew I couldn’t snowball like that, so I kept pushing on.

Pulling out my notepad I looked back over my notes.

There was one group missing from it, but I couldn’t bring myself to write their names down.

The disappointment I felt with my team was nearly crippling. It made me reconsider asking anyone else for help, though I knew I had to get past that if I were going to save my family and rescue my mate.

With a deep breath, I picked up the phone and dialed the number I never dreamed I’d actually use—Archie’s personal cell.

The mole shifter answered on the first ring.

I knew Patrick would have him busy trying to track down any possible connections between the Verndari and the Collectors, as well as possible breaches and reasons these guys had our serum in hand. Sure it was possible that someone else out there got their hands on the original and redesigned it as our teams had, but there was a higher probability that Westin Force has been breached.

“Lachlan?” he sounded sleepy and confused, two things I was not used to associating with him.

A quick assessment of the time change and I realized it was two o’clock in the morning there.

“You were asleep?” I blurted out.

“Yeah, that’s what you do in the middle of the night.”

“But I thought you’d be up working on the breach situation.”

“The possible breach. There’s nothing concrete yet. I have a team heading that up so I can sleep.”

“I’m sorry to bother you. I really wasn’t thinking about the time difference.”

“What is it? What’s happened?”

“Someone came into my house and kidnapped my parents, and my mate.”

There was a long pause. I pulled the phone away and checked to see that we were still connected.

“What? Your parents? Wait, start from the top. I knew you had mated, they have a caution alert on you from it. And I’ve screened the recording you sent over. I’m sorry I couldn’t send the findings directly to you, but I have orders.”

“And I’m a risk with a caution alert right now.”

I’d had to issue my fair share of such warnings. I shouldn’t be surprised to hear it, but damn it hurt to know I was being treated with kid gloves and possibly kept in the dark. This was my mate, dammit.

I took a deep breath trying to force myself to calm down.

“I didn’t hear anything about your family or that your family’s home was invaded.”

“That’s where Tilly was. I thought it was secure so I took her there to keep her safe. I don’t understand how this happened.”

I heard some commotion followed by the clicking of fingers on a keyboard.

“How the hell did this happen?” he muttered to himself. He gasped. “No. This can’t be possible. Where the hell is my feed? Why didn’t they tell me there was more than just her or the freaking location.”

The distinct sound of banging met my ears.

“Ah, there you are.”

“Archie?”

“Your mate, you said?”

“Yes, Matilda King.”

“Matilda? Daughter of the King Tribe Alphas?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I hadn’t heard. Congratulations.”

“Thanks. But why don’t you know this already? I thought you know everything.”

“That is exactly what I’m going to asking. I can’t do my job when people keep the details from me. Give me a second. But go ahead and tell me what really happened.”

“I met Tilly in Campbell. Her sister Michelle was supposed to mate Aiden Campbell, but she disappeared while out on a run.”

“The Collectors took her. I heard about this one. They found her, so that’s good news.”

“I found her,” I corrected. “Anyway, my team took matters in their own hands and got me out of there and away from her.”

“I’m sure that went over well, but I don’t do workplace drama. Facts only.”

“That’s a fact. They tranq’ed me and then switched assignments with Bravo to get me away from there. Only problem is that we went to King instead and Tilly was sent home. I reunited with her there and convinced her father it was in his Tribe’s best interest to let me put her in hiding. I promised him she’d be safe. No one has ever dared mess with my family. They live in the city. How’d they even find them? I thought we had them protected. Archie, they’re missing. I have the kids. They were at school and are safe at the moment. But my mate is missing and I need to find her. Someone came into my family’s house, shot my parents and my mate, and took them. They are gone.”

His fingers continued to fly across the keys but he said nothing. The most I got from him was a few grunts.

“Archie!”

“Calm down and let me check.”

He muttered under his breath something about mating males.

I tried not to let it annoy me. It felt like everything was being chalked up to the fact I am mating and not the very real issue of my mate and family being in dire trouble.

“Ah-ha! Found it.”

“Found what?”

“The footage from the attack on your parents’ home.”

“Wait, what?”

“Damn. If that’s your mate, she’s one hell of a fighter. Even more than the recording alluded.”

“Show me.”

“I’ve already emailed you a copy. Two men entered the house. They checked the primary areas first, then up to the bedrooms. They found your parents there and thought that was it. Honestly, they almost left without finding your mate. It was just a crap coincidence on that.”

I didn’t want to hear any more, so I changed the subject.

“How did they find them?”

“I’m still running a scan on that.”

“What does your instinct tell you?”

He hesitated.

“Whatever it is, I can handle it.”

“My gut tells me you’ve been compromised. I don’t know how or when, but that’s what my gut is saying.”

“Me? You think the most important people in my life were taken because of me?”

“I do.”

The second the words were out of his mouth, my phone chimed with an incoming call. I pulled it back from my ear to look at the screen. Siggy.

“Shit. I hope to hell you are wrong. I’ve got to take this.”

“Personal or related?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Patch me in. I’ll be on mute. Just want to check a few things.”

“Okay.”

I conferenced Archie in as I answered the call.

“Siggy? Is everything okay?”

“You tell me, mate. I get about a block away from the school after picking up your sibs and a car comes out of nowhere narrowly missing us. Good thing for you I have excellent reflexes and prior experience in high speed car chases. So we’re flying down the road turning left then right and left again, weaving through traffic, and. . .”

“Just get on with it, Sig.”

“I ditched them, the kids are safe, we’re down at the beach for an ice cream right now.”

“Got it,” Archie announced.

“Who’s that? You hear another voice, mate? I think we’ve got our lines crossed. Hear that bloke?”

“It’s not crossed lines,” I insisted.

“Yup, it’s your phone. Destroy it. I’ll work on getting you a new one. In the meantime it looks like Michael’s line is still clean. Use his for correspondence.”

I cringed. “Michael’s not with me. I’m working with Bravo at the moment.” It wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t entirely the truth either, but certainly not a lie.

“Taylor’s then.”

“Okay. Siggy, I’ll call you back in a minute.”

“Ah yes, the buffoon you hired to grab your brothers and sister.”

“He’s not a buffoon,” I insisted.

“Human,” he spat. “Whatever. Same difference.”

“Who is that?” Siggy asked.

I sighed. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll call you right back from a new line.”

“Okay, but looks like we may be on the move again real soon. That same car from the school just drove by.”

“How can you be certain it’s the same one?”

He snorted. “How do you know which girl you’re trying to avoid?”

“I’m not.”

“It was rhetorical. You have and we both know it.”

“Siggy!”

“It’s the same.”

“Okay. It looks like they are tracking my phone with ties to whoever I’m talking with. Which means they know you have my brothers and Hannah. You have to keep moving and maybe leave your phone behind for now until it’s safe again.”

“Woah. You never said anything about being unsafe. What’s going on, Lachie?”

I knew I couldn’t tell him everything so I gave him the lightest version imaginable .

“I understand. No one is going to harm these kids on my watch, sir.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Hannah’s phone is not compromised. We can communicate through that as soon I allocate another phone.”

“I’ll be in touch,” I told him.

Hanging up was far harder than I imagined it should be.

“Take mine,” Taylor said. “I heard Archie say it was okay, and honestly, Grant isn’t going to let me leave his side with all of this going on. Silas can contact me through Grant just as easily. He often only calls one of us anyway.

“Thanks Taylor.

“Uh, not to ruin the moment or anything, but if they know how to track your phone then they probably have trackers on all the phones already.”

“I considered that. Our location has certainly been compromised.”

Grant groaned. “Do you have any idea how much I rallied to get this place? This sucks.”

“Smaller bed means. . .” she leaned in to whisper something dirty in his ear while I pretended not to hear them.

How I longed to have moments just like this with Tilly.

If she’s still alive when you find her, a small voice said in the back of my mind.