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“We suspect that Gavin has a half-brother out there who is responsible for the kidnapping, assault, and deaths of an unknown number of Betas in at least the last two months. That he is responsible for taking my bonded Beta off the street and holding them hostage. He was also responsible for nearly killing my bondmate here.” I tipped my head back toward Theo and continued. “I know he used a bastardized version of a drug developed by the man who kidnapped Ethan three months ago to try to turn Betas into Omegas and at least planned on trafficking those who survive the dosing.”
Both Gavin and Max began to snarl at that last sentence, but their anger wasn’t directed at us. Even if it were, those two would never be a threat to either Theo or myself and definitely not when we were together.
“I’m assuming, based on your reaction, you didn’t purchase the Omega we saw with you tonight.”
“Of course not!”
“We’d never.”
They spoke over each other and sincerity rang through their words. The disgust and anger permeating their scents confirmed it. A flustered Gavin deflated again before speaking.
“Look, my parents weren’t bad people, but they were a pack who wasn’t particularly interested in having kids. I was a surprise and was told I was an only child my whole life. My mom and three of my fathers died when I was in high school. Joseph was the least involved of all my parents, despite being my biological father, so we just continued as we always had. I had a protected trust fund that he couldn’t touch, and I lived off that mostly until I met my pack. When he died, he dropped the bombshell that he had another son in his will and forced us together through the sale of the estate. Everything was great at first. Blake Graves acted exactly like a dream big brother, who’d always wanted a sibling.”
Blake Graves. Finally a name. I slid my eyes to Theo, and he shook his head, the motion so slight it wouldn’t be noticed by anyone else. He wasn’t ready to go yet. I tensed the muscles in my hands, gripping my knees then slowly relaxed them one finger at a time. I needed to force myself to calm down if I wasn’t going to be able to drive straight to Drake House and force whoever was on call in the BullPen to look Graves up. Though my gaze had stayed on Gavin, I had to force my mind back to what he was saying.
“Blake had a rough life. Said his mom blew most of the money Joseph sent her and they lived in a rough area. He met his pack because they’d all grown up there and that’s why they fell into the lifestyle they had. Painted it like it was all they knew but they wanted a fresh start. A chance to get out of that life. That’s what he said, and I fell for every fake smile and all the charm.”
It seemed like Gavin wouldn’t be able to continue without lots of self-flagellation, so Max took over the explanation.
“You need to understand that Gavin’s father, Joseph, wasn’t honest with his family, ever. By all indications, he hid his first son’s existence from his pack as well. We were led to believe we’d make a ton of money if we sold the family’s estate and used those funds to prop up the businesses that Blake’s pack were starting. A casino and a club. It all seemed like a good investment and a way to help Gavin’s only remaining family.”
Gavin leaned forward, elbows on the table and head in his hands as his scent soured. Max rubbed soothing circles on his back and continued.
“We’d been reaping the benefits of that initial investment, but clubs and casinos really weren’t our scene, so we didn’t go and check in on them or anything. Then one night, about two months ago, Blake called Gavin saying that it was urgent and that we needed to come to Senet. When we got there, he said he’d found a new way to make even more money but that we needed to ‘pull our weight’.”
My brows lifted, finally, we were getting somewhere.
“He told us that he had packed up with an Omega that was doing her part to make us richer than god but we had to court and bond an Omega they had chosen. That’s when he showed us a picture of Ethan and said that his father was a Senator and they needed him for leverage and protection. We didn’t understand and Gav tried to tell him no, that we wanted an Omega, but we hoped for a scent match.”
Gavin pulled his head from his hands and met my gaze.
“The facade of the caring brother just… melted away. He leaned back in his chair and told me that he had been creating a paper trail to us. The dummy corporation he helped us set up for backing their purchases was where all the money from forced labor in his back-of-house operations and from drugs and illegal gambling had all been funneled. Since it was my name on the transfers, not his, we looked like the masterminds.”
“We didn’t know what to do. We agreed to do it, to meet Ethan, and they set up the dinner invitation, forged a scent match, everything. We thought if we said we’d do it that it would give us time to come up with a plan.”
Gavin settled his gaze on Theo.
“We couldn’t figure out how to get out of it. We knew who Ethan was, his kidnapping had been all over the news, and we didn’t want to put him through more than he had already gone through. We hoped if we treated him badly enough, in front of his parents, that they wouldn’t let him court us.”
“Well that fucking backfired, didn’t it?”
They both winced at the anger rolling off Theo and the dominance leaching into his words. Max took over the story again.
“Cade, our third packmate, refused to come because he’d grown up with an Omega twin sister and he thought it was a cruel plan. Blake had been a step ahead again and sent a large campaign donation in our name, suggesting it was contingent on us courting Ethan. They didn’t care what we said, how disgusting we made ourselves seem, they were going to force him to bond with us.”
“You showing up and taking him away was a relief because we couldn’t have gone through with it but also, we thought it gave us an out. We’d tried and circumstances out of our control kept him from us.”
“I’m guessing your brother didn’t see it that way?”
Gavin scoffed at my question and shook his head.
“He said we’d failed but that we weren’t off the hook. We would have to make it up to him somehow. Then about three weeks ago, he called us back in. That’s when?—”
He looked back at his packmate and their scents shifted, there was fear but also determination. Max picked up the thread again.
“They brought us into one of the large rooms that the casino had, and it looked like it had been used for fights, the way the seating was arranged to see the platform from all angles. Their guards made us wait there until he and one of his packmates brought in a woman. Her eyes were covered, and she was gagged.” The absolute fury coating every one of his words told me exactly who this woman was to them. “Her hands were tied and Blake was leading her along by the end of that rope.”
“We knew, as soon as her scent hit us, she was ours.”
