My lips twitch, and when he reads it, a broad grin takes over his face. Looking at her in a new light, he shakes his head with a laugh. “You’re something else, Sabrina.”
Low growls surround us, the others not privy to the messages, but able to see them passing notes and pick up on his flirtatious tone.
I wonder if he’d still be this helpful if he knew it was me that burned down the old movie theater on Weston Avenue last year.
It’s not even a question, sadly. No matter how he tries to mask it, his gaze consistently drifts back to Sabrina like she’s a beacon. He absolutely would help, but it’s for her sake, not ours. So, embracing my connection to Sabrina, pretending that I’m a better man than I actually am, I release a long, heavy breath.
“Nate, be a dear and show us to a room, won’t you? If every bastard in this place keeps eye-fucking my mate, I’m going to start making some delightfully satisfying, yet very poor life choices.”
I’m aware of everyone’s eyes on me, but I ignore them. No, it’s not my job to take point or make decisions, but they’re too angry to think clearly, and Reid is suspiciously silent. While they’re busy scanning every twitch around us for a sign of whatever trap we walked into, I’m watching my mate, and I decide to bet all of my chips on her. She may not know what’s going on any better than I do, but if we go based off of what Damian told us he overheard between Jackson Stonewood and Adrian the conniving weasel, Stonewood wants us out of the picture and Sabrina unharmed so they can receive some sort of shipment. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who’s running us ragged, so right now, all I want are answers so that we can start being proactive instead of reactive.
I’ll burn their entire fucking estate to the ground and laugh in the face of their dying screams if it means getting Sabrina down for a nap before she has enough of us failing her and decides to kill us all and move on.
We make our way to an interrogation room and Nate makes a beeline for the camera in the corner, disconnecting the wires. Thankfully, all of the walls are painted brick. No worries about anyone spying on us behind one-way mirrors, and with the disconnected camera, we’re relatively alone. Bright side, we established our presence in the lobby, and with the hallway cameras, it’s a solid alibi where we’re at right now, so we won’t be implicated in whatever bullshit is going on that he tried to warn us about.
“Who tipped you off?” Damian demands, leaning against the wall behind us, yet keeping his attention fixated on the back of Sabrina’s head resting on my shoulder and I secretly flip him off behind my back before the others notice.
At Nathan’s silence, Slade growls. “You’re the one that said we needed witnesses, Rivers.”
Sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, Nate blurts it all out in a rush of word vomit. “I looked into who turned a blind eye so Thatcher's men could waltz in here and take Sabrina out, checked the footage. Archer, the guy that works closest to the door, was called away five minutes before it went down-” he cringes “- into the sergeant’s office. Since it was Thatcher's men, it’s not hard to connect the dots. I'd like to say my boss is above being bribed, but we all know everyone has their price. I've never gotten that vibe from him, though, so more likely Andrei is holding something over his head. The guy’s got a couple of kids and a pregnant wife; wouldn't be hard to threaten.”
Bo growls an agreement. “Definitely sounds like Andrei’s style.”
Sabrina takes the pragmatic approach. “Why not just shoot you guys and snatch me off the street, then? Why the run around?”
Slade sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “After that shit with Victor, I got a couple of calls. Ronen and Aldervale formally apologized for not intervening with Stonewood after the Carter incident and acknowledged they'd been too lenient, but it’s clear that they’re scared of pissing off Maddox after he killed off so many members of Pack Alodia without so much as blinking. Obviously, it made the rest of the packs think that so long as they uphold their side of the alliance agreements in place, they can claim that they don’t owe us anything. Keeps them out of the line of fire, toes the line, all while still running rampant. But after the conversation Damian overheard, it’s clear Stonewood wants to push us, and the others won’t intervene unless it’s clear that they’re involved. Hiring humans means they skirt the line of pack involvement, so we’re on our own unless they get more blatant in their attempts and we actually have evidence of their involvement.”
Bo leans against the door, ensuring it won’t open if someone attempts to interrupt us, acting as a living blockade. “Thatcher's got an alliance with Ronen, as do we, so if he moves against us directly, things could get bloody, and not necessarily in their favor. But by setting us up and making our downfall at the hands of the police, they don't need to fear retaliation.”
Her face scrunches up as she contemplates before speaking slowly, attempting to riddle something out. “But it’s Stonewood that’s after some elusive shipment. And one of you mentioned they deal in drugs, so that’d be my best bet as to what it’s all about. What does Andrei have to do with that? Are they in business together?”
Slade nods. “Stonewood has a chokehold on the drug market, but Thatcher’s got their feet in forgeries. Passports, IDs, the whole nine yards. Makes it a logical alliance to keep some of Stonewood’s key players off of the police’s radar, and if Thatcher has a client that needs to disappear, Stonewood can smuggle them out.”
“After what Damian overheard, it’s clear it’s not even about Sabrina,” Kaige interrupts. “This is them trying to getyouout of the picture.Showing that they can get to you whenever they want, exploiting your weaknesses, toying with you. The real challenge is getting Sabrina somewhere that she won’t get caught in the crossfire so that they don’t need to deal with the Slaughters’ wrath. Stonewood wants their drugs, and everyone wants to see the Hawthornes six feet under. If we just head home already, there won’t be any more problems.”
Damian interjects, “She’s not going to sacrifice something that’s important to her because of the failings of her mates.” Sabrina twists to stare at him curiously, yet doesn’t interrupt. Holding her gaze, Damian dips his head respectfully. “If anything, this will start things off on the right footing. Your fathers are used to snapping their fingers and having everyone scramble to do their bidding out of fear of pissing them off. You don’t play by the same rules since you’re opting out of the game, and I won’t let you get bullied into submission because it’d be easier for other people and they want to overrule you. We stay.”
A shiver runs down her spine, and I can feel the pleasure his declaration gave her all the way to my bones. She doesn’t thank him, but that’s no surprise; Sabrina expects basic courtesies from those she’s allowed past her defenses. Instead, the tension bleeds from her shoulders as she leans into me, gifting him a genuine smile.
Tightening my arms around her, I nuzzle her temple. “So we can assume between last night and this morning, they’re trying to run us ragged until we’re too fucking exhausted to think straight. The more rundown and paranoid we get, the more likely we’ll slip up, so all the easier to take out. We can take shifts watching the perimeter so that we can all get some rest while Reid and Sabrina focus on finishing up their work.”
Nate clucks his tongue. “Won’t matter if they keep setting you up. You guys rushed out to chase after Sabrina and left your weapons here that were confiscated when you were originally brought in. When I checked this morning, they were wiped from the inventory log and missing, which is why I called. Best guess, they’re framing you for murder right now, leaving the smoking guns behind. It won’t matter if you take shifts; if you’re arrested, she’s alone. We’re running on thetheorythat they simply want to ship her off to her fathers, but that’s a hell of a gamble to risk leaving her at their mercy when we all damn well know they don’t have any after what Carter attempted to do to your sister. Temptation makes men make stupid fucking choices, even when they know it could get them killed.”
Hunter takes a step closer, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why were you checking the log for their weapons?”
All eyes are on Nate, but his heart rate doesn’t spike, nor does he squirm uncomfortably. He meets Hunter’s accusing glare and simply raises an eyebrow, completely cool and collected. “Because I’m good at my fucking job. I’d just come from checking the footage that showed my sergeant was involved, and the setup that brought them in originally was the weakest attempt I’d ever heard of, so I assumed there was a method to the madness. Even if they only wanted them brought in for questioning so they had a shot at grabbing Sabrina, there were plenty of ways that could have fallen apart if a single person wasn’t where they anticipated at a certain time. Makes sense there’d be multiple plans in place in case one failed. Like now, they have minimally four guns, all covered in your fingerprints. That gives them at least four shots to pin you for murder, and let’s be real, come the fifth time you’re dragged in for questioning, people are going to quit giving you the benefit of the doubt and letting you simply walk free, innocent or not.”
Sabrina groans in frustration. “Can we kill them and be done with this already? I’m with Kaige and Hunter on this one; these people are mentally exhausting to deal with. Youliterallymurder people for a living, yet keep warning me about how dangerous your life is. Pretty sure it’d be less dangerous if you quit trying to play by the rules that only a few people are respecting, anyway. Just go shoot some people in the face and I’ll meet you at home for dinner; problem solved.”
“Death is quick, but suffering is more satisfying to watch,” I grumble, but I have to agree with her on this one.
Slade’s lip twitches before pressing them into a thin line, attempting to cover up the slip before Nathan notices the small crack in his political armor. “Then we’d bring down the wrath of the rest of their packs and everyone they have alliances with. We can’t take them all on if we’re already struggling with a handful; we don’t have the manpower, love.”
Nate strums his fingers on the table as he muses aloud. “It’s actually poetic if you think about it. They resent you for finding a mate right under their noses and freeing your wolves; what better justice than to lock you in a cage where you're unable to shift?”
Stiffening, I turn towards Slade. “Or to make us so tired and pissed off, our control slips. Wouldn’t take much to goad us into attacking someone if we’re stressed out and holding on by a thread.”
His eyes widen a fraction in horror as it clicks. “Like the humans trying to get our mate away from us somewhere public. Motherfucker.”
