Jax never expected a simple trip to the bathroom would turn into a living nightmare.

He’d finished his business, and then gone to wash his hands. The instant he had turned to leave, the door opened and a familiar-looking constable walked inside with a serious expression. Jax figured the guy had an emergency, but instead of hitting the head, the constable said he’d been sent to get Jax.

“Your mate’s been hurt, and he’s at the hospital,” the constable said. “It’s serious.”

Jax’s heart had shattered at that news, and he tried to ask what happened, but the man didn’t know signal language, and his notepad was in the diaper bag. Jax made a writing gesture, hoping the man would understand.

“Let’s go, I’ve been sent to drive you to the hospital.”

Jax nodded. Yes, they had to do that, but first he needed to tell Kell what was happening and to collect Karson. He made a rocking baby gesture with both hands, then pointed at the door.

“Your baby has been taken care of, don’t worry.”

Easy for you to say.

And what did that even mean? Was a patrolman with Kell and the babies? Were they being taken to the hospital, too? Something didn’t feel right, and Jax refused to move when the constable tried to pull him toward the door. He shook his head no.

“Fucking fine.” The constable—his name tag wasn’t on his uniform—pulled his gun and pointed it at Jax’s face. Jax nearly pissed himself. “Want to play it this way, asshole? You are coming with me. You will look straight ahead and pretend we’re friends, leaving together. If you do not cooperate, your son, your friend, and his kid will be killed. Understood?”

Jax eyeballed the gun, uncertain if he was fast enough to disarm the man. While Jax had been taught some basic fighting and self-defense moves, he’d never learned how to disarm a trained constable. And the man was deadly serious, Jax saw it in his eyes. But why? What did this constable want from him?

Unwilling to risk the lives he’d had threatened, Jax nodded slowly. He understood.

“Good.” He re-holstered the gun. “I’d say keep your mouth shut, but I guess I don’t have to.”

Jax bared his teeth, but he didn’t protest when the man slid an arm around him and clamped an iron grip on his shoulder. It hurt, but how could Jax complain? He was being fucking kidnapped in the middle of the day, his son’s life was in danger, and he didn’t know what to do other than follow directions and not get himself, or anyone else, hurt.

He walked with his eyes on the ground, allowing the man to lead him right out of the gardens, into the parking lot. They went to a black van parked near the back, under a shady tree, and Jax’s gut cramped at the idea of going into it. Once upon a time, a van had taken him to a life of pain and misery.

Oh goddess, no! They found me. They found me, and they’re taking me back.

Jax whimpered.

“Fight me, and your kid dies. All it takes is one phone call.”

Sick to his stomach and shaking all over, Jax climbed in the side door of the van when indicated. He sat on the empty, carpeted floor and allowed the constable to cuff his hands, tie his ankles, and then blindfold him. If Jax hadn’t already used the bathroom, he probably would have pissed himself from fright.

The van door slid shut with a hollow bang. A moment later, what he assumed was the driver’s door opened and shut. The engine started, and they trundled away.

Jax screamed inside his own head, beyond petrified now. Did these men have Karson? What about Kell and Branson? Was Karter in the hospital, or was that a lie to lure Jax out? Nothing made sense anymore, and all Jax wanted was his son and his mate. He didn’t want to be in this van, headed to goddess knew where, for whatever reason.

Going to the gardens had been stupid. Jax had gone soft, gotten lazy. He should have been holed up in his home with Karson, keeping out of sight until the ring was busted. Now he was heading right back into that life, and he didn’t know where his fucking son was!

Kell would notice after a while, when he didn’t come back, but how long would it take? What if they couldn’t track him? Find him? Jax bit back tears, unwilling to cry over this. He’d shed enough tears already. He had to stay calm, keep his wits about him, not become a victim to his fear. Doing so would get him killed that much faster.

The drive seemed to take an eternity, but Jax had no real measure of time behind the darkness of his blindfold. Only the varying speeds of the van, suggesting city driving versus freeway. Finally, the van pulled a slow stop, and the engine cut off.

Jax rolled up to his knees, unable to see, but needing to face this new danger head-on. The side door rolled open, and a familiar scent made Jax’s balls shrivel up and try to hide.

Red.

No, Udall. His name was Udall.

“There’s the one who got away,” Udall said, anger roughening his voice. “And you know, you stayed quiet. We were willing to ignore you. Hell, for a while we figured you were dead. Then you turned up and now this fucking happened!”

Jax shrank back from wave after wave of Udall’s anger, his omega side reacting instinctively to this alpha. He had no idea why Udall was so pissed at him. What had happened? And why had this constable chosen now to bring Jax to Udall?

“I should have fucking shut you up sooner, but I’m in the business of gambling, not killing. Should have known better than to be generous with you.”

Gambling? The fights were about gambling? And generous?!

“Get him out.”

Someone, probably the constable, dragged Jax forward and dumped him onto the hard ground. Cement, maybe. Jax huffed, his hip aching from the fall. The constable untied his ankles, and then helped Jax stand. He did not take the blindfold off, though, or the cuffs.

Jax mouthed “What do you want?” Several times.

“I want what’s mine,” Udall replied, spit flying into Jax’s face. “Your constable friends took down my business, but they don’t get to keep what’s mine. So I took something of theirs.”

I’m a hostage. He’s going to try and trade me for something.

“Start walking.”

Jax shook his head no. He didn’t want to go anywhere with Udall, especially when he didn’t know where he was in the first place. They could be anywhere in the province, and that was a lot of ground for Karter to search in order to find him.

Please, my alpha, come for me. I need you.

Something hard, maybe the muzzle of the constable’s gun, pressed into the small of Jax’s back. “Move,” the constable snapped.

But Jax resisted. Death was ahead of him, and he wouldn’t blindly walk into it.

“Have it your way,” Udall said.

A sharp pain exploded in his face, and then Jax fell into nothingness.

* * *

Constable Higgs didn’t make Karter go home and wait this out, and Karter was grateful for that every single second. Higgs simply pretended he wasn’t in the room while he and Mal poured over the surveillance footage they’d managed to piece together.

A street shot of the parking lot showed Jax and his kidnapper approach and climb into a van, but the close-up was too grainy to see the second man’s face. Same with the footage from inside the gardens—nothing useful about the identity of the constable who’d abducted Jax. The only other footage they had of the van was on a traffic camera one block south of the gardens, but no plate number.

Higgs put out a BOLO for black vans of that make and model, in case anyone spotted it. They weren’t completely unusual vans, but in kidnapping cases, they put out all the stops. Especially the kidnapping of a constable’s mate.

They were in Higgs’s office, going over the timeline in detail, when a patrolman came in with a folder. “Every scheduled constable today and their movements so far,” he reported, then left.

Higgs opened the folder, and Karter willed himself to remain in his seat opposite the older man. “Only one constable on duty right now isn’t where he should be. Took off the afternoon with a sudden case of food poisoning.”

“Who?” Karter asked.

Higgs looked up with fire in his eyes. “Fox Heely.”

Karter went stiff all over. “He delivered omegas to Lawry’s halfway house through the constabulary.”

“I know.”

“Damn it!” Karter shot to his feet, tempted to flip the damned chair, he was so furious. “Heely kidnapped Jax?”

“Signs point that way. Report says he’s not at home, not at the hospital, and he isn’t answering his radio or mobile. Everyone else has reported in.”

“Fuck, I’ll snap his balls off.”

“Down, officer.”

Karter stopped pacing, but he couldn’t temper his fury. A fellow constable—a man Karter had gone out for drinks with!—had kidnapped his mate. And he was probably in Udall’s pocket this entire fucking time. Udall had likely known from the start that Jax was talking to the constabulary.

Higgs called down to dispatch and put a BOLO out for Heely. He was to be arrested and brought in for questioning immediately.

But Heely was smart, and he’d likely been working with Udall for years. This had to be part of some kind of backup plan in case things went south. In case the ring was busted and their entire stock of fighters—

“The omegas,” Karter blurted out. Fuck, he was an idiot. “How many did you rescue?”

“Five,” Higgs replied. “One of them is seriously ill. Contracted sepsis after a bad birth. He’s in ICU at the hospital. The others are being checked out and held there. One of them is only a few months along and hasn’t fought yet. Name’s Liam, and based on his timetable, he’s the omega that Braun Bloom saw being taken away in the dead of night.”

“Was he pregnant when he was taken?”

Higgs’ face darkened. “No.”

“Goddess.”

“And if Bloom knows what’s good for him, he’ll keep Braun away from these omegas. Goddess knows we don’t need any more disappearing.”

Someone knocked on the half-open door, and then Tarek walked in with a grim expression. “Hey, I wanted to let you know I’m back,” he said, “and I’m about to go question Dent. Karter, I am so sorry for what’s happening with Jax.”

Karter grunted. “Thanks. If I promise to stay quiet and not kill him on the spot, can I sit in on the questioning?”

Tarek deferred that to Higgs, who shrugged. “I don’t see you following us down there, and neither does Bloom,” Higgs replied.

“Good enough for me,” Tarek said.

They all went to the meeting room, Karter trailing after the two senior constables. This wasn’t his case, but his mate had been taken, and Karter needed to know why.

Esom Dent was short by alpha standards, with greasy black hair and a snarly expression. He was cuffed to the table and barely reacted when they entered the meeting room. Tarek grabbed a chair, turned it around backward, then sat facing Dent. “So, how long have you guys been working with Fox Heely?”

Dent blinked hard, then frowned. “Don’t know that name.”

“Sure you don’t. Same reason you don’t know why Heely kidnapped a former omega prisoner of yours named Jax Orris this afternoon.”

“Don’t know that name either.”

“You know, you’re facing a lot of charges, including human trafficking, assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment, conspiracy, and in the case of at least one omega connected to you, murder.”

Dent’s left eye twitched. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course, you don’t. Would it jog your memory if I told you that you are well and truly fucked? Your assets through Mad Dog Productions have been seized, your accounts frozen. All five of tonight’s audience members have been arrested, and we have Jo Ferral in custody. He was very willing to talk in order to save his own ass.”

“Ferral,” Dent replied. His eyes narrowed. “Ferral gave us up?”

This guy is a special kind of idiot, giving himself up that easily.

“Yup. The money guy made a deal for immunity. That’s the problem with trusting fellow crooks, Dent. Sooner or later, someone gets greedy. What was the relationship between Udall and Ferral like? They knew each other before they met you, right?”

Dent squirmed, caught between being loyal to his business partner and probably being pissed at Udall for escaping arrest. “They were a couple, okay? Secretly in love and all that shit. I pretended I didn’t see it, because how does an alpha fall for a beta? Seriously.”

“So why would Udall kidnap Jax?”

“How should I know? Yeah, we found out Jax was alive, but he kept his head down. Once we realized he was talking to you guys, Udall had him watched.”

Tarek leaned back. “Did you know Jax has recently mated with a constable?”

Dent shook his head, then deigned to glance at Karter and Higgs. He scented the air and went stiff, his gaze zeroing in on Karter. “Shit, man, I don’t know where he is, or why he was taken. I swear.”

Karter growled, desperate to beat this heap of shit until he bled the truth all over the floor. Higgs’s firm hand on his shoulder kept Karter in place. Barely.

“How come Udall wasn’t watching the fight like the rest of you?” Tarek asked. “Where’d he go?”

“He got a text and left the room,” Dent replied. Then his expression went absolutely poisonous. “Bastard probably got a tip about the bust, and he fucking left me there to twist in the wind. Asshole!”

“But why take Jax?”

“I don’t fucking know!” Dent went still, his face slack as he thought something through. “Fuck, you said you’ve got Ferral.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Udall don’t know Ferral’s got immunity.”

“That has not been made public, no.”

“It’s a trade.”

Karter’s entire body jerked.

“What’s a trade?” Tarek asked.

“You got Udall’s lover.” Dent look at Karter. “Now he’s got yours. We ain’t killers, okay? But Udall loves Ferral something fierce. More than anything. If Udall thinks Ferral is going to prison, he’ll want to trade Jax, or he’ll kill him.”

Acid splashed the back of Karter’s throat. His mate was in genuine danger from Udall, and Karter didn’t know how to fucking find him!

“Where would Udall go?” Tarek asked. “Other buildings or properties you know of? A safe house? The place he lived?”

“Nah, we lived where we worked. Safer that way. I don’t fucking know, man, Udall always scouted for the next location when we had to move.”

Karter turned and slammed his open palm against the wall hard enough to rattle the door’s hinges, but it did nothing to curb his boiling anger. He was furious and upset and terrified for Jax, and he needed do something.

Higgs grabbed his elbow and led him out of the meeting room. “Let Bloom handle this,” Higgs said. “You are officially off duty, Jenks.”

“Sir?” A voice from behind made them both turn. A young patrolman was leading a beta teen down the hall. Maybe fourteen, the kid looked annoyed, while the patrolman was holding a brown package.

“Patrolman Corinth,” Higgs said. “Who’s this?”

“Kid came up to the front desk and said he had a package for Constable Jenks,” Corinth said. “Said someone else told him to deliver it.”

Karter eyeballed the small, rectangular shape. “What is it?”

“Didn’t open it yet.”

“Who gave this package to you?” Higgs asked the kid.

The teen shrugged. “Some guy. Alpha. Kind of pissy, but he gave me two packs of cigarettes if I’d come in here and deliver this package. So I did.”

“Come with me.”

Their small entourage went up one floor to the office area. Higgs rifled around on Tarek’s desk until he produced a photo, which he handed to the kid. “Is this the man?” Higgs asked.

“Yes,” the teen replied. “That’s definitely him. Why? Is he a bad guy?”

“He’s not a good guy. Corinth, take him back downstairs and get an official statement. Find out where this meeting happened, and then see if you can find any video surveillance. We’ll take the package.”

“Yes, sir,” Corinth replied. “Come on, kid.”

The teen scowled. “I’m not a kid, I’m fifteen.”

Corinth handed the package over to Higgs, then led the kid away. Higgs poked at the paper. Karter wanted to rip it off and see what Udall had dropped off, but given the size and shape of the package, it looked like a videotape. And that made Karter want to simultaneously punch something and vomit.

Higgs put on a pair of gloves, then carefully cut open one end of the package. As Karter guessed, a videotape slid out of the envelope. The label simply said Watch Me.

He and Higgs went down the hall to the viewing room, Karter’s blood pressure rising with each step. He was going to hate whatever was on that tape, and nothing he did would change that. All he could do was be present for his mate, pay attention, and then do whatever it took to get Jax back.

Mal checked the tape over before sliding it into the media player. Karter braced himself as Mal pressed play.

Static, followed by a flash to a sight that made Karter want to break furniture. An empty room, no windows, with Jax suspended from the ceiling by his wrists. A completely naked Jax. His ankles were tied together, and he appeared to be unconscious. The camera angle zoomed in to Jax’s face, where a black eye was already blossoming.

Karter didn’t realize he’d stopped breathing until his aching lungs demanded he suck in a wheezy, choked gulp of air.

The tape cut to a piece of paper that had a telephone number and nothing else. Sansbury exchange, which really meant nothing if it was a mobile. The video went to static and ended. Higgs grabbed the phone and called down to get a trace on this outgoing line immediately. Then he set the phone to speaker and dialed the number.

It rang twice before a rough, angry voice said, “This better be Karter Jenks.”

“It is,” Karter replied, his own inner alpha responding to the man’s tone. “Ness Udall, I presume?”

“You want your mate back, you give me Ferral.”

He glanced at Higgs, whose face was stony. “I don’t have the authority to do that.”

“Then you find someone who does. I want him back, and I will torture Jax until I get him.” A sound that was gut-wrenchingly similar to flesh striking flesh made Karter grab the back of the nearest chair and squeeze. Blind fury clouded his eyes for an instant.

“Too bad Jax can’t talk,” Udall continued. “He’s awake now and he didn’t like that very much.”

“I’ll kill you,” Karter snapped.

“And I’ll kill your mate if you don’t produce Ferral. I smell his scent and how it’s changed. You must not like your mate very much if you’re willing to let him die.”

Karter growled.

“Jax always was a smart one, though. Pretty smart of him to mate with someone right away and disguise his scent from me. Beard was a good one, too, but I see my old Jax underneath the makeup. Never did sample my own goods, but…”

The silent threat made Karter see red, but he had no real threats to use against Udall. He couldn’t torture Ferral in return, because he was now a protected witness. He had no idea where Udall was keeping Jax. But the disguise comment did rankle, because Karter had entertained those thoughts himself. Had Jax really only mated with Karter to keep himself and Karson safe?

Doesn’t matter right now. Saving Jax is what matters.

“Ferral is a protected witness,” Karter said. “He turned against you, Udall, to save his own ass. I can’t get to him to trade, and even if I could, you want a lover who betrayed you?”

Udall made a sound of surprise. “Who said we were lovers?”

“Dent. He was more than willing to give you two up once he found out you were tipped off about our raid and didn’t take him, too. Face it, Udall, your inner circle is crumbling. Let Jax go.”

“Fuck you. You’ve got twenty-four hours to call me back and tell me you have Ferral, or Jax dies. Starting now.” Udall hung up.

“Fuck!” Karter flung the chair against the wall, unimpressed by the way it cracked when it hit the floor.

“Calm down, constable,” Higgs snapped. “That’s an order.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to calm down? My omega’s life is being threatened, and the bastard who has him practically said he was planning to rape him. Udall will kill him, sir, unless I give him Ferral.”

“We aren’t out of options yet, Karter.” Higgs never used his first name, and that helped ease the blind haze of anger in Karter’s head. “We have time to search. This tape got here an hour after Jax disappeared, so we know they are still in the province. Udall was recently two blocks from here, so we have traffic cams and other video sources we can search.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“I understand your anger, believe me. That man threatened your omega, and it’s an instinctive response. Happened to me a long time ago.”

Karter angled to face the senior alpha. Higgs rarely talked about the omegin he’d lost two years ago, back when Karter was still a patrolman. “Someone threatened your mate?”

“I was still a rookie patrolman. I responded to a call about a hold-up at a corner store, and I had no clue my mate was one of the hostages until I arrived on scene. It’s a horrible thing to see someone you love threatened. All you want to do is keep them safe, no matter what.”

“Yes, sir. I’ve only known Jax for a month, but I’d cut off my arm for him.”

“I know. And that’s why I need you to go home. Let Bloom and me handle this.”

“How am I supposed to go back to the house I share with my mate, knowing his life is in danger? I could at least drive around the city. Maybe I’ll get lucky and catch his scent.”

“Or maybe you’ll lose focus and crash into a crosswalk of pedestrians. No. I will keep you updated on any progress we make, but you need to go home. Or go stay with your family. You simply cannot stay here. You’re too emotionally invested right now to be an asset to the investigation.”

Karter growled, but his supervisor was right. He was not in any shape to help right now. “All right,” he said. “I’ll go.”

“Thank you.”

“Good luck. Please, sir, bring Jax home.”

“We will do everything in our power to get him back safely, you have my word.” Higgs held out his hand, and Karter shook it.

Home was not an option right now. Karter drove to the cottage instead, and he endured supportive hugs from Braun, Kell, and even Ronin, before finally getting to Karson. Hot, angry tears tickled behind his eyes as he hugged the small piece of Jax he could protect in this moment. He held Karson close, his tiny head tucked beneath Karter’s chin, and when Kell came around to hug him again, Karter let a few of those hot tears loose.

“They’ll find him,” Kell whispered. “They will, I believe it with my whole heart.”

Karter tried to take comfort in Kell’s words and to believe them himself, but he knew the statistics on hostage situations. The odds it could go badly and Jax could be killed. The odds Udall would go back on his word and kill Jax anyway. All the stress was just too much to take, and it broke Karter a little bit. So he leaned on his friend and accepted his comfort for a while longer.

Please, goddess, you just gave me Jax. Don’t take him away so soon. Please.