“Hello, sir,” I said, using the title I knew he preferred overfather.
“Why are you not back yet?” he asked, his voice hard. “You know I don’t like being left in the dark.”
“I understand, sir, but like I said in my message, our traget is eliminated. Now we’re following a few leads here and getting the girls to safety.”
“Last time I checked, we aren’t here to play white knights. We are the Crows. We’re known for being ruthless and leaving trails of blood behind, not following the whims of some fucking omegas.”
“We’re keeping your reputation clean, sir,” I reminded him. “The Crows don’t trade in flesh.”
“No, but we’re also not there to pamper,” he argued. “I don’t care if some omega tail smells good. You’ve got bigger problems than that.”
“We do. Along with the fact that I don’t think he was working alone. That operation was way too clean,” I argued. “Something isn’t right, and we all know complacency could bite us in the ass.”
I could hear him shift on the phone, the sound muffled. That meant he was not pleased to hear this.
“Our lead was just too clean. They’re never clean. He was right where you said he would be, but it felt like he was waiting for someone. We got in way too fucking easy.”
“One week,” he grumbled. “You have one week to figure out what it is and report back to me. I don’t have time for you to go fucking around. Do you hear me, boy?”
I bit back my annoyance, but responded. “Yes, Father. I understand.”
“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page. One week.”
The line went dead.
Nikolai was waiting for me when I walked back to the porch. He was leaning against the front door. I gave him a look that said everything I couldn’t say out loud in front of my men.
“How was dear old dad?” Nik asked.
“Same as ever,” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Infuriating, was the real answer. “He just gave us a week to wrap this up. I told him something seemed off, and I stand by that. It was a little too clean, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” Nikolai said, nodding his agreement.
“But that gives us time to figure this out first, first.”
He gestured inside with his head. “Luca’s taking notes now, getting phone numbers, finding contacts. About half of the girls want to go home to family. The other half don’t exactly have family to go home to.”
“Okay. That leaves half for us to take to this mysterious settlement.”
“Not exactly,” he admitted. “There’s a portion that wants to go straight to Omega Protective Services.”
They were a nonprofit organization intended to give omegas freedom and a place to call home. It was well known for helping those who didn’t want any kind of pack.
Sometimes they changed their minds, and sometimes they didn’t. Either way, I couldn’t fault them. Not after what we’d seen.
“Which leaves?” I prompted.
“Ten, including Thea.”
“We don’t have a lot to go on,” I said. “I want to believe this is real, but even she doesn’t know much.”
Not to mention it also felt a bit too easy after years of scouring every lead for our girl.
“I know,” he said, rubbing his temples. “But if she can lead me to Aries, I’m going to dig deep and use every resource we have.”
“I know, brother,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Let’s go see if they remember anything else.”
“Ronan!”
