“It’s enough to get you started.” Valentine cuts through Ronin’s growls and snarls.
It’s clear he’s pissed off. We all are. Ronin is the explosive one in our alliance.
“Aye, it fucking is. This bullshite can’t go unanswered.”
Both Valentine and I jump in, trying to appease him. We won’t get far if we’re screaming at each other. But children being taken is what bound us together and forged the Trinity Alliance. We’re all passionate about the cause and rightly emotional because of it too.
“Clearly,” Valentine says coolly. He’d be offended by Ronin insinuating we won’t be dealing with this as a collective.
I interrupt the tense silence with some sense. “We’re not going into this half-cocked either.”
The two of them hiss in challenge at what I say, no doubt hearing it as me alluding to us not being thorough.
How we work together is beyond me sometimes. They are both as impatient and irrationally passionate as the other.
Which is all well and good, but I don’t have time to psychoanalyze their personalities or to justify my reasoning. Ineed to get off this call. My heart is being torn in two, knowing I’m out here, talking, while I should be inside Aleksei’s suite.
It’s a tough, tough call because I also can’t leave anything to chance when the stakes are so high. The practice of kidnapping and trafficking innocent children and Omegas is picking up again. Someone in our world is pushing hard to restart the disgusting and sick act, even knowing they face the full force of the Trinity Alliance.
But Quinn needs me too.
Aleksei has been in a mood since he stormed out of his suite. The dogs prowled past a few minutes ago, but they followed Kade back in, so I’m left alone with him.
“I’ve got to go.” I interrupt Ronin and Valentine discussing what we should do next. Immediately, they stop talking, and it has to be this way. Three Alphas, each with responsibilities of their own, as well as taking on the Trinity Alliance, is a big call, so when one of us says something, we trust each other enough to know it as fact.
“Wait!” Ronin shouts as I’m about to hang up.
I hear him in the background talking, and then I hear him clearer, asking for evidence. Of what, I’m not sure.
The minutes draw out, and I nearly hang up, but he comes back onto the phone.
“No shite, hey.” He sounds a lot more jovial than the situation we’ve been talking about calls for.
“What?” I snap, losing my patience. Finally.
“Keegan’s got me the proof we’ve been looking for. I’ve just seen it with me own eyes too.” Ronin’s Irish accent is thick and getting harder to understand with his excitement. “The cunt that came and tried to kill Paddy and Jeany is probably under the same roof as you.”
“What?” I scoff.
“Aye, you heard that right. It was fucking Aleksei Petrov who came here with all his guns fecking blazing. If you kill him yaself, Santiago, I won’t be happy. Bring him here to me.”
“Send me a photo.” I hang up on Valentine and Ronin.
I hope like fucking crazy there’s crossed wires. It wouldn’t be hard—all the Russians look the same, and their names sound the same. And, yes, I realize I’m being entirely disrespectful by lumping them all in one basket, but my anxiety is peaking. I don’t have time for manners right now.
An alert pings on my phone, and I feel sick. I blow out a steadying breath as I open the Trinity Alliance app we use. It happens at the same time Aleksei storms over to stand in front of me.
My eyes dart from the grainy image on my phone to the Alpha in front of me. There’s no denying they’re the same person.
Aleksei Petrov is responsible for nearly slaying Ronin’s parents and wiping out half the Irish in a hail of bullets.
Fuck.
Jesus, fuck.
Fuck.
Chapter Thirty-Three
