Page 3 of Petals & Promises

Roughly, a half hour later, Eli and Crew joined us with some news that had my blood boiling.

“What do you mean Randall was there?” Ulysses demanded. “How do you even know that?”

Eli, Bailey-Rose’s oldest brother and a man I did not want to end up on his bad side, glared at Ulysses. “Did you really think I wouldn’t put up cameras and have a security system if I was ever going to feel comfortable with her being there alone? Thank God I did, so now we know the full story.”

“Don’t—” Ulysses started, but Crew rested a hand on his best friend’s shoulder, stopping him from saying something he’d regret.

“I get it, man. I really do, but you’re not the only one who’s pissed off about this,” Crew reminded. “LouLou has been ours to look after for a long time, and frankly, that mentality isn’t going to change. Let’s all just take a deep breath, and I’ll show you the footage we caught. Eli already sent a copy to the police, and they’re looking for him now. It won’t be long until he’s caught. LouLou got him good before he ran off.”

Eli handed over a tablet with the video footage already pulled up for us to watch. It took everything in me not to throw the tablet and watch it shatter so I didn’t have to witness my precious omae being attacked by this animal. There was a burst of pride as we watched her stab him, getting him to drop whatever he was about to inject into her.

“How did he know she’d be there?” Vili questioned. “We didn’t know she’d be there till the letter showed up.”

“Letter?” Crew repeated.

“Yeah, some bullshit from the Scent Matchers about Bailey-Rose not being in the system and making sure we were aware of her circumstances,” Gareth spat. “We were instructed to come without her, so she decided going to the studio would be a good idea. There’s no way Randall could have known unless he’s been stalking her.”

“Not her,” Eli corrected, reading whatever had just been texted to him. “Her phone. The police found it at the studio, and when they looked it over, there was a tracking app hidden in the background. It doesn’t work if the phone is off, though, but he’d know she never has it off. It’s one of my rules, and Randall knew that. I gave him a list.”

With a groan, Ulysses dropped onto the couch, cradling his head. “This is our fault.”

“How could that possibly be?” Eli challenged.

“We all knew he’d been harassing her with texts since they ran into each other at Warrick’s restaurant. As we were all together, I had her turn her phone off,” Ulysses explained, looking up at Eli. “That is until this morning, knowing she was going to be on her own.”

“Mom said he showed up a few days ago demanding we give her back to him. Now that nonsense makes a little more sense,” Crew commented, rubbing the back of his neck. “Hold on, didn’t he cheat on her? Why the hell would Randall think they were still together after doing something like that?”

“Because he did it for her benefit,” Warrick muttered. “The idiot told her to her face that because he couldn’t have sex with her the way he wanted to that Randall hired whores to sleep with. He claimed it helped to keep the edge off so he could be what she needed. Talk about a load of bullshit.”

“Excuse me?” Eli growled out. “Are you telling me he admitted to sleeping with other women the whole time he was with my sister?”

I waited for the phone Eli still had in his grasp to shatter with the way he was squeezing it to the point his knuckles were turning white. Believe me, I was right there with him. If I didn’t need to be right here, waiting for news about the woman I loved more than anything in this world, I would be hunting Randall down.

“Chief, it’s Eli Thatcher. I need to know everything there is to know about Randall Steele, the bastard who attacked my sister,” Eli ordered. “Yes, I’m standing here with her pack right now. No, we don’t plan on being anywhere else. Fine, but we all expect answers when you show up in an hour.”

With that hardly-veiled threat, Eli hung up and dialed another number. “Hello, my name is Eli Thatcher, and I would like to hire a team of men to guard my sister and her pack. She was attacked by an ex-boyfriend who wasn’t happy she found her scent matches. Yes, the police are aware and investigating, but he tried to drug and kidnap her. Thank you. I look forward to speaking with him when he’s available.”

“Eli, you need to stop,” Crew warned. “It’s not our place to make these calls anymore. It’s theirs,” he said, gesturing to us.

“He’s right. A few of us can make those same phone calls too,” Warrick pointed out. “Not that we aren’t grateful for the help, but she’s our Omega.”

“Our father appointed me to be her guardian, to look after her no matter what,” Eli shared. “I don’t mean to overstep, but pack or not, in a situation like this, there’s no way you’re keeping me from protecting my sister.”

“That’s not what we want either,” I interjected, standing. “Instead of instantly making a phone call, take a second and let us know what you’re thinking. We are family, and we’re all here together because we all love Bailey-Rose. It’s going to take time for us all to adjust. I, for one, appreciate you being here. I’ll admit I didn’t even consider this more than her heart acting up.” Eli’s intensity calmed a little at my words, trusting we weren’t looking to keep him from being part of this.

“I’m assuming the second call was to a security company, yes?” I asked, and he nodded. “Well, I happen to have a connection with a man who runs an operation here in town. He helps protect women, children, and Omegas who have been abused while they are still at risk of their abuser finding them again. Gideon knows how these men think and the laws to use against them. So my suggestion would be to loop him in on the situation as well as your added security because I’ll be damned if he slips away based on some technicality.”

Eli nodded and took a seat, resting his arms on his legs. “That’s a smart call. I’ve seen and heard one too many news articles about people who should have been locked up getting away. Randall Steele won’t be that lucky.”

two

Vili

A mere two hours have passed since my sweet kitten was taken into surgery. I’ve been sitting here trying to sketch out a few new pieces that I’d come up with that would look stunning on our Omega, but nothing seemed good enough for her. Finally, I gave up and pulled out my phone, knowing there had been a few work emails that I’d been avoiding. Mostly the ones coming from my fathers.

Feeling like punishing myself, I pulled up the email from my father, Wilhelm, the creator of Silveda.

Vili,