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“Of course I would. No one would touch a hair on your head. And I’m not giving you up that easily.” His voice was muffled as he spoke into my hair. I couldn’t stop sniffling.
“Then why can’t we figure something out? You said you wanted me!” I started sobbing and the rest of the pack quickly surrounded us, comforting me with their words and hands.
“There there, omega, it’s okay.”
“We’ll find a way.”
“We want you. We’ve wanted you from the start.”
“We have to keep you safe.”
Their bodies crowded in to hold me, and I was surrounded by alpha and beta pheromones. I calmed down a bit as they held me. There had to be a way. I didn’t want them to get in trouble for taking me, even though it was wrong. If I hadn’t been woken up early by their scents, I would never have known what happened. Of course, that would have been hard to explain, seeing as it was Celeste who had the means and the reputation to slip out undetected, not to mention her room was set up to look like she’d gone on a bender, not mine.
My mind raced as I thought of a way to make it work. I’d tell the authorities I did slip out, that I found this pack, and they saved me. It had to work. I tried to get my words out, panicking as I scrambled to come up with a solution. Kian shushed me. “Calm down, omega. We’ll find a solution. First, you need to eat. You must be starving.” Kian handed me to Maddox. They were right. I needed some food in my stomach after such an intense heat. After that, I was sure we could come up with a solution. It was the only way forward.
Chapter 51
Kian
Maddox took over feeding Bella while I slipped out of the dining room. My office was upstairs, and I needed to think strategically. We were so close. So damn close. Our mission was a bust, but turned out to be the greatest gift of all. It led us to Bella. She was the perfect compliment to our pack, the missing piece that healed us as we healed her. If everything had stayed as it was, we’d be able to bite her in and find a way to give her a normal life. We’d have to change, of course. No more missions that put anyone in danger. We’d have to be extra cautious when taking her out in public and making sure no one used her as a pawn against us. I’d have to reign in our activities so that we didn’t draw new enemies. It was hard to do anything on the up-and-up here. But most residents here just lived a normal life, and we could too. No matter how it changed our lives, I didn’t have to ask the pack to know they wouldn't care. Having a glimpse of what it was like with her in our life now, it was impossible to imagine how to go on without her.
But now there was a bounty on her safe return. Which meant everyone has probably already seen her picture, and our client from the last job would certainly know that she was in our possession last. I checked my phone. Just as I had suspected, there was a voicemail from a familiar number. I called it back, and they picked it up almost immediately.
“I assume you saw the news?” The distorted voice asked casually.
“I have. Didn’t see that coming. Do you have any idea who tipped off the target?” I said back just as casually, as if my world wasn’t spinning off its axis.
“Working on it. Once I find out who talked, they will be dealt with. The real question now is - where is the missing omega?” I sensed the unspoken question in his voice. “Since your mission was a failure and cost me the loss of a very important vote, I think it's only fair that you tell me where she went. I could recoup some of my costs that way.” I gripped the phone, willing myself to stay focused. “If you didn’t off her, of course.” That comment alone nearly sent me into a rage.
I ran my hand through my hair, straightening my back as if I was in front of an audience. It was a subconscious habit, a way I had learned to appear calm and collected growing up. It had served me well in my father’s organization and later on, as I built my own path. “You know my pack isn’t in the business of offing omegas.” That much was true. We had a reputation for killing when needed, but we never involved innocents. “That being said, we had no use for a liability. She was sold to a trader before she even woke up. She probably belongs to some pack now who thought they were getting a deal and are now regretting their decision.” I prayed my story was convincing enough to buy us some time. I didn’t need anyone sniffing around our pack, or our property, looking for her.
“Interesting. Who did you sell her off to? Give me a name and I’ll consider us squared up.” I had expected he’d ask this.
“We sold her to the greenwood packs. It was the most convenient option.” The greenwood packs were an unorganized group of traffickers close to where our safe-house was located. They didn’t have any centralized leadership, but dealt in buying and selling of lower class and runaway omegas. It was believable enough. We’d have had to offload her quickly in order to keep suspicion off of ourselves, and the greenwood packs were not the type to ask questions. It would be hard for the client to get confirmation that she was ever sold to them, let alone where she supposedly went afterward.
The voice on the other end of the line was silent for a moment. “Thanks for the tip. I’ll be looking for her, as I’m sure everyone else in the province is at this moment.” Internally, I felt a bit of relief. I could keep everyone off her trail while our pack came up with a solution.
“This mission was supposed to have been straightforward. I expect my pack, and my name, to be kept out of people’s mouths. Can you let me know when you find out where the leak is?” I figured a little alpha aggression on my part would be warranted to sell the story. After all, our mission was compromised by forces beyond our control, and now our “missing” captive was worth millions, potentially putting our pack in the spotlight if anyone found out about our operation.
“Trust me, I’m more eager than anyone to find out who let Celeste know about the plan. But rest easy, no one will trace it back to you.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way.”
I ended the call and leaned back against my desk. I texted the others to come up, telling Maddox to stay with Bella and distract her. We needed a plan, and soon. Jameson and Cy entered the office, their faces showing the gravity of the situation.
“So it seems we have an impossible dilemma on our hands.” I set the phone down and looked at my pack. Just an hour ago, we were blissfully happy, ready to give our omega the world, bite her in, and live happily ever after. “The client called. I threw them off our scent for a bit. But I need to know if anyone saw her while you were out.” Jameson and Maddox had taken her outside the house, and I needed to know every possible angle to keep her safe.
“We went to the restaurant at the top of the shopping center. Only a beta server saw her.” Maddox answered, looking concerned. Jameson nodded, but looked less worried. He scratched at his beard as he added his thoughts.
“But it's unlikely anyone paid attention to her enough to remember her face there. After all, everyone will be looking for an omega in distress. A kidnapped omega.” I thought about the groups that would be involved in trafficking omegas. Word would have already spread through our city to look for her and get the massive bounty, but she was never in anyone’s possession but ours. Eventually, our client would figure it out. I felt like I was fighting for stolen time.
“We need to do what’s best for her.” I knew when they heard the words that they would know what I meant. Keeping her here, despite what she thought she wanted, would be a constant struggle. “If she stays here, she could never show her face in public. We would always have to be near her, make sure no one knew of her presence. How could we bite her in without having everyone notice we’d bonded an omega? She’d be biteless, and that would put her at even more risk.” I sighed, my head hanging low as I tried to think of any possible solution other than taking her back home. Jameson’s sudden shift in mood was palpable.
“We have to think of a way! How can we give her up after all that? We promised her!” He charged toward me, grabbing my shirt and nearly lifting me up so high that we were facing each other. I was tall, but he still had four inches of height on me.
“Jameson, what kind of life would she have? Being kept a secret from the world? All the spoiling you want to do, all the places you want to take her - she can never go now. We can't take her outside the house. She’s the number one most wanted omega in the nation.” He looked at me with anguish, his eyes. “Think about it. If she goes back, she can claim she ran away. Police in the Western Province can’t alpha bark a victim. She’ll be celebrated. She can have a real chance at a good life.” The words were true, but they sounded hollow as I spoke them. I knew what I was saying was the truth - if we got her across the border, she could say she escaped. She’d save herself, and no one would try to take her for the money.
“She’d have enough fame and opportunity to get her parents out of that shit town. Away from those cretins who banished her.” Cy’s voice was sullen, his sea glass eyes staring at the floor. He took off his glasses and cleaned them with his shirt. “And… she’d have a real choice for a pack.” We looked at him, our minds not yet thinking that far ahead. Cy kept speaking, laying out the logic that I hadn’t wanted to consider yet. “Let’s be honest with ourselves. We took her. She was already thinking no one would ever choose her. Just because we were the first ones who saw her worth doesn’t mean we are right for her.” Jameson started to interrupt, but Cy held his hand up and kept talking. “Would she have chosen us? Really chosen us if she’d been wealthy and had the option for a better pack?” Jameson’s eyes burned in fury, but Cy stared back at him with an ice cold look. “Think about it. She’ll go back and be famous, wanted, but most importantly, she’ll get freedom. She’ll have options. Every pack in her province will be fighting for a chance to court her.” My stomach sank as he spoke. None of us wanted to admit it, but he was right. Bella, despite what she felt, had been turned away from so many packs that she might have felt we were her only option. Even if we knew she was right for us, did that give us the right to keep her from her dream life? Especially if we had to continue to hide her to keep her here?
