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He didn’t even have a chance to agree or demand to know what was going on before he was dragged out of the apartment.
Then he was just… gone.
22
REMI
Someone cleared their throat to Remi’s left, and he looked over—mostly on instinct—and saw Priest attempting to avert his eyes while thrusting a ball of gray cloth at him. It took Remi’s shocked brain a second to realize they were his sweats and that he was stark naked in front of the whole Alpha Team.
He wasn’t sure when they’d all arrived, the last few minutes feeling like he’d been walking through molasses, but he was grateful the twins seemed to have slept through the commotion.
His face on fire, he grabbed the pants and did his best to get them on without falling on his face. He was trembling, and every instinct in his body said he needed to rush down to the police station and burn it to the ground so he could rescue Jeremiah from the ashes.
“Calm down.” That was Knight, the sharp-dressed Vampire. Remi almost started laughing hysterically when he realized he didn’t actually know their real names. “Your panic scent right now is a little powerful, and it smells like prey.”
Remi scoffed, irritated that none of Jeremiah’s team seemed even remotely worried that he was just arrested, probably for the murder of a human senator’s son, and was being carted off to jail. “I don’t give a shit. We need to get down there. He has a lawyer, right? I mean, you must have a lawyer. But if you don’t, we can call my parents and—”
“We have a lawyer,” Priest said, looking at Remi now that he was dressed. His eyes roved over Remi’s chest, and he was about to get pissed when he realized he still had his scales out.
He swallowed heavily and tried to pull them back in, but he couldn’t. He had no idea if it was his full bond with Jeremiah or if he was stuck that way because he couldn’t seem to relax. He’d never done a partial shift like this before, and it just made him want his mate even more. “Then what are we waiting for? If you think we’re just going to let him rot in prison—”
“Enough.” Knight spoke one word with enough power to make Remi want to drop to his knees in supplication. That had never happened to him before, and it terrified him just a little. Gods, who was this guy? “Jeremiah is our brother in more ways than anyone could possibly understand. We aren’t concerned because there’s nothing to be concerned about. We have connections everywhere. This is what we do for a living. We have security footage from your building of your friend—”
“He is—was—not my friend,” Remi spat and began to pace. He used his connection to Jeremiah to reach out to his mate, but all he found was mild irritation.
Priest gave him a look of pity. “He was your friend. No one’s blaming you for not realizing the kind of person he was. But you’re not going to assuage your guilt by trying to deny what was. Trust me. I’ve been down that road, and there’s no ending to it.”
Remi swallowed heavily and fought back a sudden and intense urge to cry. “I need him here. I don’t want… I can’t do this alone.”
Priest and Knight exchanged a look, and then Priest glanced over his shoulder where Storm was standing, phone in hand. “Any word?”
“Not yet. It’ll take a few hours for processing.”
Remi dug his hand into his hair and pulled hard enough to make his eyes water. “Hours? Gods, can you even imagine what a human jail is like for Supes?”
“Yep,” Priest said, sounding far too cheerful about that. “Trust me, we know how to make it fun. All of us have been exactly where Sunshine is right now. He’s going to be fine. They’re not hurting him.”
Remi wasn’t sure he could believe them. He’d never experienced it himself, but he’d been warned by more than one person before he enrolled at Hillsland about what it would be like for him if he ever broke the law. They’d dehydrate him to keep him weak, gag him to keep him separated from his Voice, shackle him to keep his claws retracted, and deprive him of sleep to keep him disoriented. And he was just half Siren. The gods only knew what they were doing to a full-blooded, extremely powerful Hellhound.
“You’re panicking again,” Priest said. He was closer now, and he draped his arm over Remi’s shoulders. “Come on. We’re going to order some takeout and watch some cartoons while we wait for word. Do you mind if Knight packs for you? Nah, of course you don’t. You’re used to servants going through your underthings, aren’t you?”
Remi let Priest tug him to the couch, staring at him in fascination. He found every spare blanket from the apartment and put them in a massive pile right in the middle. Storm nodded encouragingly as Priest urged him down onto the little nest. He was suddenly exhausted and so lonely he wanted to scream. How had it been just a couple of hours since he was on his bed with Jeremiah deep inside him, their bond singing between them, making them both feel whole for the first time in either of their lives?
How had it turned into this?
“I know you’re used to this,” Remi said as he nestled into a particularly soft throw, “but what if this is the one time it doesn’t work out the way you think? Thad wasn’t just some guy.”
“He wasn’t, no,” Priest agreed as he flopped down and snuggled close. Remi waited for a possessive feeling to overcome him, figuring Jeremiah would know now when someone got too close. But he just felt a small pulse in his chest telling him it was okay. He relaxed a fraction and let his temple drop down against Priest’s shoulder. “But this isn’t the first time we’ve had to deal with some high-powered government official. We have plans in place for when things like this happen.”
Remi wanted to ask more, but he was exhausted. “I just found him. I don’t want to lose him.”
Priest reached up and stroked his fingers through Remi’s hair. He felt a strange tug, like Priest was draining him of the will to stay awake, and he both hated and loved the sensation. “I’m just helping you relax. I used to do this for Jeremiah all the time when things got to be too much.”
“What was too much?” Remi mumbled.
“Existing, sometimes,” Priest answered, keeping his voice low and soothing. “We had very lonely childhoods. Painful at times. Jeremiah holds his in more than most of us, and sometimes those feelings overwhelm him.”
“You love him,” Remi said.
