“I.. I think Irian hates me now. I had to pretend to be one of them…”
Blood whooshed into my head, red rage sweeping over me again. I took a menacing step towards him.
“What did you…”
He cut me off, baring his neck, hands up in supplication.
“Nothing! I didn’t touch him. I swear. And I didn’t let them hurt him either. But I had topretendthat I didn’t care what they did to him. I… I told Zarbius that you wouldn’t pay the ransom if Irian had been touched in any way. That you wouldn’t want him after that. It was just words, but I had to say some awful things, and Irian heard them…”
His voice trailed off and he stood quietly, head hanging.
I closed my eyes allowing the tension to release from my body. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Goddess, it had been a terrible few days. I let out a long, drawn-out puff, and rolled my shoulders, trying to ease the tension knotting the muscles.
“I’m sorry,” I told the young man. “It’s just that my wolf is very near the surface right now. He’s going crazy.”
“I understand, Alpha,” Agelius sighed, and it drew my attention again to the deep worry lines around the corners of his eyes, the tension across his forehead. He was suffering in his own way. He knew enough of Isca’s story to not want to leave his omega in that pack a second longer than necessary. Yet he’d volunteered to bring me the ransom demand, in the hope of getting both omegas out of there. He could have taken his omega and left Irian to his fate. But he hadn’t.
I felt ashamed that I’d allowed myself to jump to conclusions and had misjudged him.
“So how does he think this is going to play out?” I frowned. “Surely he doesn’t think I’ll just hand over the money and Isca?”
“Maybe? He’s obsessed with getting Isca back. I had to tell him you had no interest in him as part of my cover story to keep them from touching Irian, so he probably thinks you won’t try to keep him. He’s expecting you to either transfer the money or give mecash, and I’m to bring Isca back with me. Sharkey’s here to keep an eye on me. I guess Zarbius doesn’t fully trust me yet.”
“I don’t care about the money, but there’s no way Isca is going anywhere near that place. He’s suffered enough at Zarbius’ hands.”
“I know that,” Agelius agreed quietly. “I just couldn’t think of any way to talk him out of it without it seeming suspicious. And also, I don’t think he actually intends to return Irian. He mentioned a truck that was due in the next few days. Said something about putting Irian on it.”
I could feel the blood drain from my face. Goddess! My chest vibrated with my wolf’s howl.
“Omega trafficking?” I whispered, scarcely hearing my own words above the pounding of my heart.
“I think so. He’s got some sort of business running or starting up at least. He didn’t use those exact words, but I suspect that’s what it is. He talked about reducing the number of omegas in his pack that way.”
I looked away for a moment. Trying to think my way through this. If omegas were being trafficked, we needed to get the police involved… or the Paranormal Council. But the Council was typically slow to act, and we didn’t have a lot of time to stop the shipment going out. And we didn’t have time to convince them, either. We needed to get our own omegas out of there safely first. Police it was, then, and just hope no-one was in wolf form when they got there. If word got out of the existence of shifters… well, I’d just cop the consequences. Irian and Isca were worth the trouble that would come with that.
“Tell me more about this Sharkey guy. How does he fit into this?” I asked. “I don’t much like the look of him.”
“He’s one of Zarbius’ betas. He hates me. He was the one I interrupted trying to… assault… Irian. He’s a bad piece of shit. That’s why I brought him along with me when Zarbius insisted someone accompany me. I didn’t trust him not to go behind Zarbius’ back and mess with him anyway.”
“Thank you,” I told Agelius, understanding now how hard he had tried to ensure Irian’s safety. “I’m sorry I misjudged you.”
Agelius shook his head. “Don’t apologize, Alpha. I know how it looked, and honestly, if my omega were taken like that, I think I’d go crazy too.”
I couldn’t help pulling a wry face over the fact he’d basically just called his Alpha crazy, but all I said was, “We need a plan for how to handle this. Obviously Isca is not going anywhere near the place, but I will.”
The next little while was spent discussing options. It was complicated. We needed to release Irian from wherever he was being held, and at the same time, we needed to get Agelius’ omega safely away. And then there were the other omegas. We had to close the lid on the trafficking operation.
Relieved of the weight of carrying the entire situation on his own shoulders, Agelius opened up about the omega he wanted to claim as his own, how he was unsure if the omega would consent to go with him, and even telling me how they’d met. I’d smiled at that. Heat sex was intense. It was no wonder he’d bonded emotionally with the omega. But a lifetime claim? There had to be more to it. And if there was, the omega was not going to reject him.
Ten minutes later, we’d discussed a number of options, depending on different factors which might crop up. We agreed some general principles, but that was all. As plans went, it was pretty loose, but as we didn’t know what we’d find when we got there, or how Zarbius would respond, I thought it better to leave the details for Johnson and myself to sort out. All I knew for certain was this - pack law first, human police after.
As we reached the front door, on our way back to the shed, Agelius stopped in his tracks. Turning to me, he said, “Talius. I can’t go back like this. For this to work, you need to have messed me up a bit, or neither Zarbius nor Sharkey is going to believe I haven’t defected back to the pack.”
For a moment, I didn’t understand. I blinked, frowning, trying to make his words make sense.
Agelius turned his head, offering me his cheek. “Hit me,” he said.
“No!” I was not going to hit one of my own. Especially when they hadn’t committed any crime against the pack.
