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Crew
My phone finally stopped buzzing in my pocket as I ignored the fifth phone call from the director. Clearly news of this shitshow had gotten out, and he was already looking for answers.
Answers I didn’t yet have to give.
Surveying the mess of the room in front of me, I was willing to admit I’d grossly misjudged the situation. I’d let myself be consumed with an alpha’s need to protect an omega, but I hadn’t considered there were a few hundred other people here.
And not all of them seemed to realize they were victims.
An older beta woman scowled at me from where she sat. Her hands had been crudely bound with rope someone had found after we’d exhausted every pair of handcuffs on the more aggressive foot soldiers. We’d called in reinforcements moments before breaching the front gates, knowing we’d need help sorting this shit and relocating people.
Jude’s intel had been good. We’d managed to get inside before anyone had realized what was happening. After taking down most of their beta militia with tranqs, we’d put the remainder in cuffs. It all happened in less than eleven minutes, the two teams working in flawless harmony alongside the local police department, who was happy to bypass FBI protocol in favor of playing heroes.
“Fucking hell,” Oakley Stone snarled as his phone started ringing. He shot me a sour look from a few feet away as he straightened from where he’d been talking to a sobbing little boy. He jabbed a finger in my direction. “You’re dealing with him, Dutton.”
I nodded, already knowing it was my responsibility. Sure, Oakley had agreed to bring his team into the mission, but ultimately it was my call. If the director wanted a head on a platter for the higher ups, then he could have mine.
Still, I’d known Oakley since high school. We’d attended rival schools and often met each other on the football field. It hadn’t surprised me he’d gone into law enforcement like I had; Oak was like me in a lot of ways. We both formed our teams—our packs—out of men we loved and trusted. Our loyalty was unwavering, and we’d never turn a blind eye to a person in need.
But it was why we butted heads nine times outta ten.
That being said, we both agreed on one thing as an absolute truth: omegas were always the priority. As soon as I’d mentioned what Jude had said, that there was an omega in danger, Oakley was telling his team to get ready for a full on assault of the compound.
And if the director really decided to make a stink of what we’d done tonight, I knew Oakley wouldn’t leave me hanging out to dry. He’d stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me at any hearing, backing up my play the same way I would him.
Our days of throwing down on the football field might only happen now in (mostly) friendly games on the weekends between our packs, but he was a good guy. Arrogant as fuck, and prettier than some omegas, but a decent man and a hell of an agent.
“Our High Alpha will rain down his vengeance on you!” The woman, still glaring, spat at my feet.
I paused and cocked a brow. “Your High Alpha ran like a bitch the second shit got real. Find a better role model.”
Her cheeks flushed a mottled color, but it was the pregnant woman to her left whose scoff caught both our attention.
“Shut up, you insolent fool,” the older woman commanded. “You carry the seed of our High Alpha. You will not disresp?—”
Ignoring her, I faced the pregnant woman, who shivered under my stare. Feeling like an ass, I crouched down, trying to make myself a little less intimidating. My gaze flickered to her swollen stomach. “How far along are you?”
She swallowed audibly, her gaze darting to the older woman before coming back to me. I could see the internal struggle as she tried to figure out which of us was the lesser of two evils.
“He’s not coming back,” I told her. “You’re safe.”
“Eight months. I think,” she finally whispered.
I rocked back a bit, stunned. I kinda pegged her for maybe five months with the size of her belly, but eight months? Jude’s older sister had given birth last year and by this point, she’d looked like she’d swallowed a watermelon.
My gaze moved past her to the people we’d corralled into the meeting house before they’d been able to escape out the back with their leader. I’d seen Jude run after them, Kellan and Rhett not too far behind. As soon as we’d mostly settled shit in here, Oakley had sent Silas out to check on them since we hadn’t heard anything.
I wasn’t worried; my team could handle themselves.
“Oak.” We both turned to see Bowen, a beta in Oakley’s pack, approach with a smaller man who looked absolutely terrified. At seeing Oakley and I focus our attention on him, he started to shake and a desperate whine slipped out. The bitter stench of rotting apples rolled off of him in nauseating waves.
I gaped for a solid second before I lurched forward, the alpha in me seeing an omega in distress and needing to comfort him.
The boy scrambled back, trembling hard enough that I heard his teeth clack together. That stopped me cold.
“This is Logan,” Bowen added, pushing a lock of reddish-brown hair out of his blue eyes. “He’s?—”
“An omega,” Oakley finished for him, his tone somewhere between grim and horrified.
