“We’re going that way too,” said Talius. “We’ll talk in the office.”
He turned to the assembled shifters. The murmuring of multiple conversations subsided, as they waited for Talius to address them.
“We have two things to celebrate,” he announced. “Irian’s safe return and Agelius’ new mate joining the pack. These happyevents deserve a pack run. We’ll give Tosca a day to settle in, and we’ll run tomorrow night.”
There was loud cheering, and then slowly the crowd began to disperse back to whatever they’d been doing before Tosca and I had emerged from the bush.
“Let’s go. For obvious reasons I wasn’t able to tell you before, but I’ll fill you in…”
No-one was visible when we entered the main house but as we made our way to Talius’ office, I could hear giggles and snickers coming from the level above where the private living quarters were situated. I paused in the doorway, listening to the bell-like tinkle of Tosca’s laugh ringing down the corridor. He sounded relaxed and happy, and I was pleased he’d already made two friends in the pack.
In the office, Talius tossed some spare clothes over the desk at me and seated himself while I pulled them on. The visitor’s seat squeaked as I settled into it.
Talius’ blue eyes sought mine, his gaze more intense than usual. A frown appeared across his brows. He seemed to be struggling with something.
Finally, he said, “I don’t know where to begin. If not for your actions, we might have had a very different outcome…” He faltered, the clenching of his throat obvious.
“You would have got him back,” I said, gently. Now that I had my own omega, I understood more than ever the desperation he must have felt when Irian vanished.
Talius sighed. “Probably. Well, yes, eventually, I wouldn’t have stopped until I had him back. But not before some serious harm had come to him. Irian told me how close he came to…harm… what would have happened without you stepping in…” he choked up.
“I felt bad,” I tried to divert the direction the conversation was heading, “making Irian believe I was in league with those disgusting guys, but I was already on thin ice myself. I had to convince everyone there that I was like them or they wouldn’t have accepted me.”
“You think well on your feet,” Talius observed. “I’m not sure how many others would have handled it as well as you did.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t really have time to think anything through. Once I saw Irian was there, I knew I had to do something. Just went with my gut on what those guys would respond to.”
“You did well. I’m personally very grateful, and I know both Irian and Isca are too. I’m also impressed – you could have got your omega out of there and simply come and told me where Irian was. You put the pack’s needs before your own.” He paused. “You’ll make a fine pack Alpha one day.”
Heat prickled in my cheeks and I had to look away. This praise from my Alpha was appreciated, but I barely felt I deserved it. Any decent person would have done the same.
Talius continued, “And I meant what I said about choosing a house as a permanent home for yourself and Tosca. And if you’re willing, when Johnson comes back, I’d like you to work with him and prepare yourself for a bigger leadership role here. Johnson is a great second in command, but being a beta, there are certain times he just can’t fill that role, times when it has to be an alpha.”
“I-I’m honored,” I stammered, surprised and elated, then I felt the tension of a heavy crease across my forehead as a sudden thought occurred to me. “But Talius, I haven’t done Alpha Camp.No-one will accept me as a pack representative if I haven’t completed that training.” When I’d first shown up at Talius’ compound, I’d been kicked out of my birth pack and had been on my own a long time, barely managing to feed myself and it had only been by sheer tenacious determination that I had kept myself from going insane without a pack to live in. Wolves were social creatures and needed the structure of a pack to survive.
“I’m not sure if they’ll even allow me to do it now,” I added. “It’s supposed to be completed by the time an alpha’s 21.”
Talius picked up a pencil and began idly turning it over in his fingers. “That’s convention, but not a rule,” he assured me. “I’ll see what I can do about getting you signed up for the next available camp.”
“Thank you,” I said, then something he’d said registered with me. “WhereisJohnson?”
“Ah. I need to fill you in. After you went back to Zarbius’ pack with my response to the ransom demand, I followed you, obviously. But before I left, I contacted the police and gave an anonymous tip about the omega trafficking. I had a small phone tucked in an inside pocket of the money bag I carried and the police were able to track my location with that. That’s why the police showed up when they did. From what I heard, they took Zarbius and some of his betas into custody, although several of the bastards got away.”
“How did you know the police would get there in time?”
“I knew more or less the direction I’d be traveling in, and there’s only one road up the mountain by car, so they weren’t going to have any trouble finding the place once it was obvious where I was heading,” he replied. “I sent Johnson and some of the guysafter them in case I couldn’t get Irian out myself. What I wasn’t expecting was that truck filled with omegas -”
“Did they find them?” I interrupted, leaning forward. Tosca would be really relieved to hear this. But my heart sank with his next words.
“Not yet,” a long swathe of hair tumbled over one of Talius’ eyes with the sideways shake of his head. “The truck was gone when the police arrived and they didn’t pass them on the road, so they might have taken a fire trail. The police and Johnson and his crew are hunting for them now. Hopefully we’ll hear something soon.
“Tosca has a close friend on that truck. He stepped in to stop them loading Tosca on it and ended up on there himself.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll keep you posted. Johnson will update me as soon as he has news… good or bad.”
“Thanks,” I subsided back into my seat. The news hadn’t been as good as I’d hoped, but at least Johnson hadn’t given up. “And Zarbius? Did you...?”
Talius' blue eyes flashed an angry purple I'd never seen in them before, as he shook his head.
