Page 65 of Dark Auctioned Mate

It was going to be a joint operation consisting of the Lumen, pack allies, and Weston Pack. They were going to gather enough evidence over the next two weeks, followed by a coordinated strike to save any victims present and arrest everyone involved.

It was ambitious, dangerous, and exactly what had to happen.

“Two weeks,” Alanis sighed as they moved into another motel. “Two weeks and this is all over.”

“Yeah,” Rael agreed. “One way or another. We should rest. We begin surveillance rotations tomorrow, and we are to make arrangements with the teams Silas is sending out. It will be a long two weeks.”

“Rael?” Alanis grabbed his hand before he could leave. “Thank you. For bringing me here. For helping me face this instead of trying to protect me from it.”

“You don’t need protection from your past,” Rael said. “You need support while you confront it.”

She kissed him then, fierce and grateful and full of promise.

“Two weeks,” she repeated against his lips. “And then I get to watch them fall.”

“Two weeks,” he murmured against her lips. “And I’ll be right there beside you when they do.”

Chapter 20 - Alanis

They’d been spying on the compound for three days when Alanis made her decision.

Rael wouldn’t like it. Actually, he was likely to try to prevent her if she informed him about what she was about to do. But sitting in the woods, with the binoculars watching as her old pack conducted their business, while waiting for weeks to collect sufficient evidence, all of it was making her crazy.

Each day they waited meant another day those women in the holding facilities were suffering. Another day that Caldwell Pack profited from their crimes. Another day that they remained unharmed.

And Alanis could wait no more.

“I have got an idea,” she said, putting down her binoculars.

Rael looked at her warily. “Why do I not like this already?”

“Because you know me too well.” She inhaled sharply. Now or never. “We can wait weeks to get evidence and organize a full raid, or we can get inside now and get the information we need to put the whole network out of business in one swoop.”

“You want to infiltrate your pack? As in go undercover?”

“Not want. Need.” Alanis pointed to the compound. “We can see what is happening on the outside. But what is happening on the inside, who they are reporting to, where the money goes, and how the network communicates? We don’t know that. So, we must get an informant inside.”

“And that’s you?” His voice hardened. “Alanis, they tortured you for months, and then you escaped. What makes you think they are not going to kill you on sight?”

“Maybe they won’t.” Alanis had been thinking about this for days, exploring every angle. “If I show up lost, and confused, unable to make a living alone, they might see me as their lost property. Something to retrieve.”

“They will take you as a threat. Somebody who knows how they work, who might have exposed them. They will get rid of you before you become an issue.”

“They won’t because I would give them a reason to keep me alive.” She’d worked this out carefully. “I will tell them that I did not report them, because I did not have a place to go or people to believe me. I will tell them I have been trying to live in the human world, and I just couldn’t hack it. I will act desperate, broken, ready to do anything not to be alone anymore.”

“You are not a good enough actress to pull that off. You are too strong and confident. They will see right through it.”

“All I need to do is position myself as a dumb, helpless woman with nowhere to go. That I would rather be with the pack, even as a piece of inventory, than continue to try to survive alone. People do desperate things when they are tired of fighting.

Rael rose to his feet, pacing the little clearing where they had established their observation spot. “This is crazy. Let us assume they don’t

kill you on the spot, and they accept your story—you will be there with no means of getting in touch with anybody. You will be at their mercy altogether.”

“I have been at their mercy, and I lived through it before; I will live through it again.”

“You were a child then. You didn’t have a choice.” Rael shook his head. “Now you have a choice, you do not need to go through that anymore.”

“But I do.” She stood as well, closing the distance between them. “Each day we wait, more women get hurt. The only way we can bring down the whole operation is to get to know who is at the top. There is a top dog, and I have to find out who that person is.”