“Right,” I said, grabbing him by the shoulder. “You’re coming to the office right now to help me make that transfer. And you…” I stabbed a finger towards the other shifter, “can stay here.”
I turned to Johnson. “Lock him in the shed while I deal with Agelius. And set a guard.”
I pushed Agelius roughly towards the door. “If you make a run for it,” I told him loudly as I followed close behind, “I won’t make that payment and your buddy here will be turned over to the police. Your new Alpha won’t be happy with you.”
It was said more for the benefit of the accomplice. Clearly there was something Agelius didn’t want him to know. It still didn’t mean Agelius didn’t have something to do with Irian’s kidnapping, but maybe he’d bitten off more than he could chew and was regretting it and willing to help us get Irian back. Maybe it was something else.
The tension was obvious in the heavy silence between us as I marched the young alpha to the main house and into my office. He seemed skittish as if he sensed how close to losing it I was, but he made no attempt to escape. If he was actuality involved in this, then he certainly had balls to turn up here. Once inside, I waved him to a seat and closed the door. There was no way anyone could hear us. When I turned back, Agelius was still standing. Tears glistened in his eyes, and his neck was bared in submission.
“Alpha,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry, but I swear I’m not a part of this.”
He looked defeated. In this moment, he was again that scared pack-less wolf who’d arrived on our doorstep a few months ago, desperate and alone. I scrutinized him, wondering what sort of burden he was carrying. He was young and he seemed overwhelmed if the worry lines and the slumped shoulders were an indication. As if he needed his Alpha to take control of the situation.
But I had Irian to think of, and now Isca was threatened as well.
I had to be sure.
I knew what I had to do, though it was not something I enjoyed doing. I made an effort to soften my tone.
“Agelius, my mates’ lives are at stake,” I told him firmly but not unkindly. “I have to be certain which side you’re on.”
Agelius swallowed hard. “I understand, Alpha.” He bowed his head. He knew what I was going to do, and he was making it easier for me by giving his permission. “Compel me.”
And so I did. It was something I didn’t enjoy doing for many reasons. The primary ones being that, although it didn’t exactly hurt, it could be uncomfortable for the shifter being compelled, and it was a very authoritarian thing to do. I preferred my pack members to follow my requests or instructions because they wanted to, and because they respected me, not because they were forced to. It was not my way toforcecompliance…except when it was essential for the well-being of the pack as a whole or any of its members.
But I would tear up the world for my mates.
In this case, it was critical not only that I learned the truth, but that I knew that’s what it was, the truth, and a not a lie or subterfuge dressed up as veracity.
“Tell me everything you know about Irian’s kidnapping.” My voice was little more than a low rumbling growl, but it had a weight to it, an oppressive heaviness from the compulsion. Agelius swayed slightly under the invisible pressure of it. A bead of sweat formed at his hairline. He steadied himself and began to speak.
“I was…running in the forest…” he hesitated, and I knew instantly there was something he was hiding, that he didn’t want to tell me, but it couldn’t have been relevant to Irian’s situation, because the compulsion wouldn’t have allowed that, so although I noted it, I didn’t press… for now. Who knew? It might be something I’d need to know about later.
“…and I stumbled onto this compound, a shifter camp. I…” Goddess, he was struggling, wasn’t he? What wasn’t he telling me? “…I asked them to put me up for the night, said I wanted to meet their Alpha, who wasn’t there at the time.”
Why had he gone in there in the first place? Shifters didn’t just drop in randomly on other packs.
“While I was there, I saw Irian,” he gulped. “He was being kept in a shed.”
He was leaving something out here. I narrowed my eyes. Agelius flicked his eyes to mine and quickly looked away.
“What happened to him?” I growled.
“One of the guys tried to… assault him… but I interrupted and nothing happened,” he stammered reluctantly, looking terrified and relieved all at once.
“By then I had realized this was Zarbius’ pack and when he returned the next day I asked to join the pack. Told him I was leaving ours. He accepted me as his second and sent me withthe ransom demand.” He began choking – he was lying and the compulsion was punishing him.
“The truth, Agelius. All of it,” I reminded him, gently. Although I was still suspicious and wary, I didn’t think my instincts about this alpha had been wrong. There was just something else at play.
His shoulders sagged as he sighed. “I volunteered. I knew I needed to let you know what was happening. There’s no way I could get Irian out on my own and…and…”
“And…?”
“I need to get my omega out too,” he admitted. When he lifted his eyes to me, they begged for understanding.
“Your omega?” Wow! My eyebrows nearly hit my hairline. “I didn’t know you had one! You’ve never mentioned…”
“Ah, well I don’t, I mean I didn’t…that was why I went to the camp in the first place. I had met an omega when I was on my run on my day off…and I followed him back to his pack, but when I saw the betas there and how they treated the omegas, I couldn’t just leave. That’s why I pretended to join the pack, thinking I could get him out of there…but then I discovered they had Irian locked up there... and I knew I couldn’t leave while he was there.
