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“It’s horrible,” Gigi said sadly.

“Yes it is.” Wade nodded. “Worst of all, many of the omegas probably went missing the first night they were on the streets, before they could even form a plan. This man, or woman, showed up, someone they knew, someone they thought they could trust and that was it. Poor things probably thought they were being saved until they were sold to the highest bidder.”

“Hard to imagine their parents not caring,” Avery muttered, sounding miserable.

“Because your parents would both kill to protect you,” Graeme husked, emotion eating away at his voice.

Avery smiled at him. “I know.”

“I just wanted to remind you,” Graeme assured him.

As I watched, Avery moved over to his alpha and leaned into him, pressing his face into his chest, nuzzling gently. Graeme took a breath then, and I was certain he had needed that reassurance from his mate. The discussion of buying and selling omegas had to be hard for Graeme to hear. His mate was one, after all.

“At the last gathering I was at,” I began, wanting to try and figure out who the person betraying the omegas could be. “I didn’t notice anyone out of place, or that I hadn’t seen a hundred times before.”

“But were you really looking, since you didn’t know you should have been?” Gigi asked me. “And really, you haven’t been to a gathering since the one at Graeme and Avery’s over a year ago now.”

“I’ll make sure I’m in attendance going forward,” I promised her.

“No.” Avery scowled at me. “No one needs you to be the guardian angel of every omega in the jarl. We have bodyguards for that, who Graeme has, of course, alerted.”

“That won’t stop the parents or siblings who find an omega a drain and want to be rid of the burden from tossing them out on the street.”

“I’ve sent word to every alpha here in the city that, should they have an omega they can no longer support, to please contact my brother’s law firm and we can make arrangements for their care,” Graeme declared.

“You’re kidding.”

“Why would I kid about that? Omegas make excellent teachers, nannies, catering managers, anything to do with guiding people, keeping luxury stores and hotels running smoothly—I know a lot of people who would appreciate having an omega on staff, especially one who’s been trained as extensively as omegas of the jarl have been.”

That made a lot of sense. “Yes, but more importantly, you’re saying there’s someone on the inside, someone we know, who we’ve probably spoken to, who we would never suspect, who’s giving, or was giving, Theo information on who to take.”

“No,” Avery clarified. “That’s not it at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re looking in the wrong place going to a gathering,” he clarified. “It’s like Wade said, the first night on the street for the omegas. This person gets the omegas when they’re on their own. He, or she, knows omegas of the jarl, but they are not a member themselves.”

“More jarl adjacent,” Wade chimed in. “Someone they’re comfortable with, could trust, but not at their same level.”

“Then this is different from what the FBI dealt with years ago with Tyne Hammond when he almost killed you and Linden?” I declared.

“Yes,” Wade agreed. “This is nothing like that. It’s much quieter, smaller, and honestly, we can’t even get a number on how many omegas they’ve moved outside of those Theo has records of. In the Hammond case, that was across state lines, and all kinds of omegas were taken, from every level of society. This is different. They’re taking the cream of the crop, the most beautiful, well-schooled omegas from the richest families here in Chicago, from this small community. And because of that, we have people running down every omega who was supposedly taken in a bonding in the last two years.”

I nodded.

“As we’ve said,” Avery added, “many of the omegas were not kept track of by their parents, who were far too relieved to have them gone to delve or ask questions.”

“Which is horrible,” I muttered.

“Yes. But supporting and training an omega of the jarl, with all that’s expected… You’re talking about millions of dollars over time.”

“Yes.”

“So to not have that drain on their finances… they’re normally so relieved.”

“But it’s a certain level, you said, yes? Not someone like you, or Linden, or—” I was going to say Sasha, but I didn’t dare. Even imagining him being taken would gut me.

“No, no one who spent the money in creating a work of art who can also pay a dowry. Not the very top echelon, but right under that.”