“Rose says that one of them was watching her yesterday. I’m with her now.” I monitored her as she talked to one of her friends. Everything Detective Esposito said sounded right.
Of course, why Rose’s mom took the blame for injecting her with Mega-Push when it was probably the uncle's idea, I didn’t know.
“Stay with her for the moment? We’re trying to get a hold of the headmistress to see what would be better, bringing Rose into protective custody or sending an officer. I’ve got to go.” She ended the call.
Shit.
I called Jett back and told him everything. The friend had joined some others at a table to work on something. Rose was now on her phone.
“I’m on my way.” Jett ended the call.
Rose frowned as I rejoined her. “What’s wrong? Is it my mom? I worry about her being in jail.”
“I’m so sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your uncle passed while in jail,” I explained.
“Oh no.” Her eyes grew misty. “I don’t really like him. He’s scary. He’s always making us do things because he’s an alpha–and what he did to Iris was just mean. But I love his mate and my cousins. What is everyone going to do without him?”
Um, thrive? Especially once her step-dad finished the job placement program and finally went back to work.
“We’ll get it figured out,” I assured. Oh shit. Rose’s mom might be in danger, too. I texted Detective Esposito.
“How about if we get this schedule finished? I have another client coming soon, but maybe you can hang out here with me for a little bit?” I didn’t want to scare her.
“Okay. But not for long. There’s an end-of-the-year mixer happening today, and we get extra credit for going.” She added more beads.
I nearly dropped my phone. “Rose, you’re sixteen. Why are they having you go to mixers?”
“It’s so we get comfortable with them, I guess. It’s just a casual one. A warmup for the big graduation one, which I’m not going to. For this one, I’m just going to get a cupcake and my extra credit and leave.” She shrugged.
A chill shot up my spine. No, we were in the dorms. Mixers kept to the public areas of the school.
“Rose, you’re coming to the mixer, right?” Headmistress Nikita appeared in the lounge doorway, scent panicked.
Another scent hung in the air.
My phone rang.
A gun clicked. “Don’t answer it,” a male voice hissed.
Oh fuck.
Chapter Twelve
Jett
“What’s going on today?” I asked the guard at the security booth at Finchley, as I came through in a squad car with Cam. There’d been a line of really nice cars.
“Mixer.”
Shit.
“Hey, don’t let anyone on this list in, okay? They’re a direct danger to one of the students. If you have questions, contact Detective Esposito over at the Westside station.” I showed himthe list of the pack that had been bothering Rose, the one that had just had her uncle killed in jail.
We only knew about it because they’d had the audacity to brag, citing it as an example of why you needed to pay your debts.
They were a nasty lot. They were also a pack that had been through several omegas and had been banned from anything sponsored by the Omega Center–something that had originally been missed.
That could be why they might want a teenage omega as payment.
