“Well, I—” Eric started, but his computer chirped with an alert and he glanced down at it, losing track of whatever he had been about to say. He ran his finger across the trackpad and frowned at his laptop, his lips parting in surprise. “What the…?” he murmured to himself, then seemed to scroll through whatever it was he had read again. “That makes no sense.”
“Something wrong?” Beck prompted, arching his eyebrows.
Eric seemed to remember where he was, because he gave himself a shake and answered, “Sorry. No. Just…a weird lab report.” Even as he spoke he sounded distracted. Clearing his throat, he glanced back up at the projector screen, and then between the two alphas. “Anyway, if you want to arrange a meeting with your research team, then—”
The door to the meeting room flung open, making us all jump. It crashed into the wall with a slam and Brandt barreled inside, his hair wild and his face ashen.
Eric stood up, hurrying to his brother, “Bee, what’s—”
“It’s Sage,” Brandt told him with urgency, “he’s been arrested.”
“What?!” I cried, also leaping to my feet, dimly aware of everyone else barking out variations of the same question. I hurried over to my omega mates’ brothers, anxiety clawing at my insides. The feeling of dread, which hadn’t gone away, suddenly flared inside me. “What do you mean ‘arrested’? What for?”
“He found the person responsible for supplying the scent blockers,” Brandt hurried to explain, and every word he spoke made the sinking sensation inside me grow stronger. His dark eyes traveled over everyone in the room, but he didn’t seem to be taking anyone in. His panic was only fueling mine further. “From what little he could tell me, it sounds like he was framed. Deliberately. Almost as though whoever was behind it was waiting for one of us to arrive.” Brandt’s gaze landed back on his youngest brother’s. He looked wild with fear and rage. “He’s being held in a magic-dampening cell, Eric.”
“What?!” I turned to see Sergio standing in the projected image on the wall, appearing stricken. He had gone pale, and any sense of his calm, wise façade was gone. “That’s…they haven’t existed in hundreds of years. They…that’sinhumane.”
Eric's frown deepened as he looked between Serge on the screen and, strangely, his laptop. He held an index finger towards the phone's camera, then turned his attention to me...and blinked.
"What?" I snapped, feeling just as on edge as my alpha looked and sounded.
"Scales..." Eric's reply was quiet and confused. He looked at Brandt while I brought a tentative hand to my face.
Sure enough, my fingertips met the smooth, warm surface of my scales, which seemed to be creeping along my temples, down the side of my face and further still.
"You got this way when you bonded with Micah," Eric told Brandt. His gaze drifted to my neck, then back to his brother, "but he's not bonded."
"But Iampissed off," I interjected, not impressed that the focus had shifted to me when Sage was sitting in a magic resistant cell somewhere. I glared at Brandt, demanding, "Where is he? If I have to shift and tear the building down to get to him—"
"No," Beck's interruption carried an edge of his alpha authority; the magic that alphas could use to force other shifters to submit to their will. "Could you imagine the backlash from human society?"
"I don't give a flying fuck about what humans think. They have my ma—my best friend in a cage!"
"We are outnumbered by humans and living in their world," Brandt tried to reason, but I was already shaking my head. Nevertheless, he continued, "And it looks, on paper, as if they had every reason to arrest him."
Serge and I bellowed matching protests at that; wordless and incensed.
"I am not saying he committed a crime," Brandt spoke over the top of our anger firmly, "but someone went to a great deal of effort to make it look like he did. I imagine it would play intothose same peoples' hands if we were to resort to violent means to secure his freedom."
"What are you going to do to fix it, then?" The frustrated demand came through the speakers, my alpha sounding colder and more clipped than I imagined was possible for him.
On the screen, Jamie clasped a hand on Sergio's shoulder and squeezed. "Your omega will be okay," he said, unaware of the tension that caused on our side of the call.
"What do you mean,hisomega?" Brandt asked.
"I mean, I know they're not bonded yet," Jamie looked between us and Sergio, his tone marred with confusion, "but Sergio is Sage's alpha. And Dexter's." He frowned, turning his head slightly, and I gathered he was looking at me on his end of the call. "Right?"
There was a tiny moment of silence before the room erupted in a cacophony of sound.
"What is it with my brothers hiding important stuff like this from me?" Eric lamented, more to himself than the room in general. He crossed back over to his seat and dropped into it, rapidly tapping away at his keyboard. "Sage's lab results makesomuch more sense now."
"You mean you didn't know?" Jamie asked, sounding even more confused.
Rex shook his head. "Can we back up to whereSergiois an alpha?" He squinted at the screen. "When did that happen?"
"Did you say he's Sage's alphaandDex's?" That incredulous question came from Beckett. He looked over at me. "Like...sharing? Or...?"
"And you're all okay with Sergio's connection to Micah?" Rex again. He made a face. "Sage is basically sleeping with his brother's bio-father-in-law."
