The last thing he wanted on his hands was a pissed-off alpha. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course not.” Her scent—a sort of wildflower garden, sweet for an alpha—spiked thick and artificial, a nauseating perfume that made bile rise in his throat. It wasawful.
Before he could say anything, a familiar voice called out. “Kitten, what are you doing here?”
The alpha, Kitten, stepped back out of the doorway just as Hadeon appeared, his face twisted into an ugly expression as his eyes met hers. The two of them held each other’s gazes before she huffed and spun on heel, her boots thumping down the corridor until they were just out of earshot. Hadeon watched her go the entire way, his shoulders squared and his jaw set like he expected a fight of some kind. If the two of them were allies, why would that be?
Then he deflated, heaving a sigh and scrubbing both hands over his face. “Sorry about that. I knew she was skulking around, but I didn’t know where she was.”
In a different lifetime, Sidian might have almost thought of Hadeon as handsome. A rather pretty face softened the sharp cut of his jaw, and though pale blue eyes tended toward glacial, his were warm as he met Sidian’s gaze. His black hair was long and messy, tumbling down to his shoulders, alternating between soft waves and a few wild, wing-like pieces that were still growing into their natural texture. Because he was ghostly pale, the dark circles under his eyes were on prominent display. Just how hard did Ouroboros work its alphas? Weren’t they supposed to be in top shape?
Sidian shrugged it off, though he was more comfortable in Hadeon’s presence than he had been in Kitten’s.The devil you know,he guessed. “What was her deal? She wasn’t super pissed off or anything, but she didn’t look like she was happy with me, either.”
Hadeon dropped his hands, tucking them into the pockets of his jeans. “She’s pissed about the interrogation not being handed to her. She was the one who brought the guy in, but the captain pulled her off the mission as soon as she managed it. She’s not been in a great headspace semi-recently.”
“I get that.” Sidian eyed the doorway, as if he expected Kitten to appear again. “Something happen?”
Hadeon pressed his lips together as if debating whether he even wanted to discuss it. Or maybe he couldn’t? Either way. “Why don’t I walk you to the dorms? Roman’s gonna be a bit and still needs to shower. The dorms are at least a little cozier than this place. For an omega, at least.”
“Sure.” Sidian would choose not to take offense at that. “Lead the way, I guess.”
The dorm building of the Pit was much the same as every other from the outside, but the inside was indeed slightly cozier than the main building had been. The floors were glossy hardwood instead of tile, and the lighting was warmer and dimmer, not bright and hospital-like. A few voices echoed down the long hallway of private bedrooms, but nobody came out to the common area with its living room of plush couches, its dining room, and the kitchen that Hadeon immediately hit up for snacks.
“It’s been a long day,” he said in a voice that sounded almost like an apology, tossing a bag of chips onto the counter as he rifled through a cabinet. “You want anything? It’s yours.”
“Nah, I’m not hungry.” Sidian probably would be in the morning, but for the moment, he was calm and oddly centered. For the first time since his escape from the center, he didn’t feel that frenetic buzzing under his skin like he was seconds away from being re-captured. “So, what was with, uh, Kitten?”
The corner of Hadeon’s mouth quirked up slightly. “Yeah, that’s her name. You get used to it after a while of knowing her,but it always throws people for a loop. She’s got a sister named Puppy.”
Right. Entirely normal-sounding names, then, thoughObsidianwas admittedly hardly common. “Does her sister have something to do with why she’s been in such a shit mood?”
“Perceptive.” Hadeon crammed three bags of chips under one arm and snagged a soda from the fridge, and Sidian was more than happy to take one of those when it was offered to him. It wasn’tthatmuch caffeine and sugar, and he’d used a lot of energy on that interrogation. “She’s been missing for the past year, and our trail has almost gone cold. We were hoping that beta might have been a lead.”
“Was he?” Sidian asked, though he feared he knew the answer without having to be told.
“One of the other Mambas is looking into it right now. There’s only so much we can do with a name depending on how connected these people are.” Hadeon shrugged, leading Sidian to the sitting area and dropping down on a couch. “Guy had a laptop on him when we picked him up, and we just got the report on his hard drive back. Nasty shit on there. Stuff with kids. You did a good job in hindsight.”
It should not have been a surprise to hear that in retrospect, but it turned Sidian’s stomach just the same and would have had a similar effect on anyone who heard it.Kids?It wasn’t that surprising, though. Some of the omegas at the breeding centers were underage, brought in right after their first heat to serve as the breeding stock for the alphas most capable of paying for the services the center provided. So many people just did not care; alphas would look the other way if it meant they had the opportunity to take advantage of an omega’s heat cycle and walk away from it with a baby and no mate to worry about.
Hadeon cleared his throat, popping a chip into his mouth. “Sorry if that freaks you out, but he’s not exactly the firstpedophile we’ve picked up. You see a lot of them in trafficking circles. What we didn’t find was any connection to us, which means he’s probably a dead end as far as Puppy goes.”
“You said she’s been missing. Do you think somebody took her?” As soon as he asked that question, Sidian rolled his eyes at himself. Of course, someone fucking took her. She was a mercenary.
“I don’t know,” Hadeon admitted quietly. His eyes darted toward the elevator that had led from the ground floor up to the dorms, then ate another chip and shrugged. “Can’t say it around Kitten, but after two or three days, most missing person cases turn up bodies, not people.”
“I get why she wouldn’t want to accept that.” His throat tightened slightly; it had occurred to him since Amey was taken from him that she might not still be alive. Pack Kincaid might have deemed her useless as an omega and spirited her elsewhere to do Goddess knows what to her. If they had, what would Sidian even do next? “I feel kind of bad for stepping on her toes, then.”
Hadeon raised a shoulder. “Don’t bother. We’ll find her, or we won’t. It’s got nothing to do with you and Kane.”
Sidian didn’t argue the point as he sipped his soda, wondering what kind of person someone would have to be to capture a mercenary. He’d only been with Roman for a matter of days, but Roman was hyper vigilant to the point of being outright paranoid, constantly scanning his surroundings and keeping an eye on the nearest exit as if he expected something to burst through the door at any moment. Someone with that kind of senses would not be easy to capture. Or at least Sidianassumedthey would not be easy to capture, so how in the hell had someone pulled it off?
Alphas were also generally very aware of their surroundings from an instinctual level, though he didn’t know what training in Ouroboros had done to their instincts. Honed them to keep themsharp, or dampened them to ensure they wouldn’t interfere with the mission? Hard to say, and though he could have asked, he wasn’t sure if either answer would do anything more than piss him off. Because whatever they did to every alpha in the organization, they did to Roman.
Hadeon cleared his throat. “So, Pack Kincaid. You’ve got business with them?”
“You could say that. I’m looking to kill them, though I’ve heard that might inconvenience you. Too fucking bad.” Sidian tossed the empty can toward what looked like a trashcan next to the TV, the metallic clang making his shoulders jerk slightly. “They found me at the breeding center, and I’m sure you can imagine how that went for me. I want to make sure they know how much Iappreciatedthat.”
“Did they breed you?” Hadeon asked, and Sidian’s face twisted at the question.
