The four of them are friends. They were traveling from their university to a music festival in New York. They are scared and just want to go home. I need to call my friend Isaac. He is probably freaking out since I didn’t meet him at the lockers on time.
“Do you know his number from memory?”
I took out my phone and waited. My mate provided the number for his friend Isaac, and I dialed.
“Hello?” A deep voice answered my call.
“Is this Isaac?” I needed to make sure I had the right guy before I told a stranger this odd story.
“Yes?” Isaac answered. “Who are you?”
“My name is Jamie. I’m Charlie’s mate–”
“Where’s Charlie? Can I speak with him? Why did he leave without telling me? Did he leave the rest area naked? I was just about to call the police. He is such a brat. Is he okay?” Isaac’s questions came out like word-vomit. I didn’t think Isaac took a breath between thoughts.
“Whoa, let’s take it one at a time.” I chuckled and saw Charlie shaking his head. “Charlie had a little adventure. He’s safe now with me, but he’s stuck in his shifted form. If you want,I can give you the address here, and you can check him out for yourself. Or we can call you back when he can speak for himself.”
“I’ll head on over there now.” Isaac let out a deep breath, finally. “I need to see him for myself.”
“That’s understandable.” I provided him with the address to the rescue and disconnected the call.
“He should be here in about an hour.” I looked over at the other fox shifters and then back at my mate. “Can you speak with them? Do they need me to call anyone for them?”
Surprisingly, yeah, we can communicate. I didn’t worry about how; I just figured it was the goddess looking out for us. They are all young and scared. They want their parents but worry they will be in trouble for leaving campus and trying to follow a band across the country. Let me talk to them and see if they want you to make a few calls.Charlie walked closer to the group, but I stayed where I was, afraid to make their anxiety worse.
“Dr. Malcolm will be here in about thirty minutes.” Foxy returned and handed me a bottle of water. “Are you able to speak with each other? I know some mates and pack members can do that telepathically due to the bonds they share.”
“We can. Thank the goddess. They seemed to have run into trouble up at the Trolls Woods Rest Stop. The men who abducted them seemed to be idiots, though, and luckily, these guys were able to escape whatever plans they had for them. We should call the police; they can go look for the bad guys and make sure no other shifters go missing.” I pulled my phone out again and dialed the local sheriff’s office. I was told that an officer would arrive within the next ten minutes.
“Do they need anything while we wait?” Foxy worried his bottom lip, and I gripped his shoulder.
“They will be okay, man.” I gestured toward my mate. “Charlie is calming the younger guys down, and the doctor andsheriff are on the way. Once we get everything sorted with their shifting, we can make sure they get cleaned up, dressed, and fed. Then worry about contacting their parents and finding out who did this.”
“Whoever it is, they’d better be caught,” Foxy grumbled. “We can’t let them get away with this.”
“Don’t worry.” I grunted, my fist clenched at the thought they could get away. “I won’t let them.”
Chapter Five
Charlie
“Thank you, Dr. Malcolm, for coming by and helping us figure out what was wrong.” My mate shook the doctor’s hand and led him to the door. “We will call you if any other issues arise.”
“I’m happy everyone was healthy, and we could quickly flush their systems and rid them of the side effects. Everyone can now shift, and the families have been notified.” Dr. Malcolm shook his head. “I’m just glad the authorities were able to apprehend those two men and that it was just two wannabe traffickers and not an actual organized unit coming through our town. It was still a horrible experience for these omegas, so make sure to call me if anyone seems to need help.”
I split my attention between those two at the door, Foxy and his wife quietly discussing something in the kitchen of their cabin, and Isaac calmly speaking with the other omegas who had been abducted. It had been a long day, and I just wanted to crawl into a bed and cuddle my newfound mate under a mountain of covers.
The doctor left, and Jamie came over to the couch and sat beside me, pulling me to his side. His scent of pine and citrus filled my nose, calming my nerves. The last several hours were hard to get through, speaking with law enforcement, hearing about how the men who abducted us were found and being held in the next town over, the doctor needing to do a full examination and detoxifying our bodies—it was a lot to process and deal with. I was tired.
“You okay?” Jamie whispered in my ear. “Do you need me to get you anything? Water? Coffee? A blanket?”
“I’m good for now.” I leaned into his body. “I just want to go home with you and go to sleep.”
“I would love that too.” Jamie squeezed me. “I think we just need to figure out what to do with Andrew, Brian, Daniel, and Matthew. Their parents are heading here, but we need to get them situated for the night at least.”
“We have talked it over, and you four can stay here in the cabin tonight.” Foxy entered the living room and sat down with his wife. “We have the extra room, and if you feel safe here, then you are welcome to stay. There is a hotel in town as well if you would rather stay there. We can help with the cost since all your belongings are still locked up at the rest stop.”
“I can take you all to the rest stop tomorrow to pick up your things.” Isaac nodded to the four young men. “Or if you have the keys and tell me the locker number, I can pick it up for you. You don’t need to go back there if it will be overwhelming for you.”
