Chapter Ten
Dara’s story wasn’t so different from what Seth, Hunter, and Cade had already pieced together. He and Max had been heading to an abandoned den but were set upon by almost a dozen of Red Fang’s wolves.
“We tried to run at first, but I fell behind and Max came back for me. Then we tried to fight them off, but there were too many and they had weapons.”
“Poisoned spears,” Hunter said, surprising both Seth and Dara. “Yeah, we’re familiar with them.”
“Max tried to give me a chance to run again but two of them went after me and captured me. They captured both of us.”
“Where did they take you?” Seth asked.
Dara’s eyes shifted nervously around the room. “To their training camp.”
Seth frowned, noticing he wasn’t the only one around the table confused.
“Training camp?” Cade asked.
“Where they train their wolves to fight. They have an arena and they hold fights there, almost every day.”
“They fight each other?” Seth tried to clarify.
“Yes, but they have a lot of prisoners there. Other shifters, lots of different species. Some can change form, most can’t. They use them to train their warriors. A few times a year they hold huge tournaments, fights to the death, pitting their own wolves against other shifters.”
“That’s barbaric,” Cade murmured, holding his little one close.
Hunter’s face was grim, but he stayed silent. It was Seth who asked the obvious question.
“Is that where Max is?”
“They kept both of us there. They didn’t make me fight, they kept calling me cannon fodder and making me clean. I’d been there over a month before Zane saw me and took me out of the slave pool. But they forced Max to fight every day and they’d make me watch sometimes.”
“You said you had some sort of deal with Zane to keep Max safe, right?”
“I… right. He took a liking to me once he realized that I was an omega and I used that to my advantage. He agreed to keep Max out of the death fights.”
“In exchange for?”
“Me,” Dara said, in a near whisper. “If I did what he wanted, gave him the attention he wanted, he’d let Max live.”
As deals went, it seemed a little… weak. Seth didn’t feel it was his place to call Dara on it, but apparently, neither did Cade nor Hunter.
“Do you think they’d have taken Lucas to the arena?”
“Probably. All their captured alphas go there. Even kids. I’ve seen them. I think, when they’re as young as Lucas is, they train them to fight like their own wolves, make them loyal to Red Fang.”
“Where in Red Fang territory is the arena?” Hunter asked.
Dara didn’t reply at first, tugging on his sleeves.
“Dara, please. We want to help. Let us help,” Seth pleaded softly. The omega looked over at him before nodding slowly.
“It’s north, on the coast. It’s built on a cliff that juts out into the sea, three sides are sheer rock leading down to choppy waters. The fourth wall is heavily guarded and patrolled.”
That sent Seth’s plan to just sneak in there up in smoke. They’d need an actual, proper strategy. And more people than just him and Hunter.
“We need to make some calls. Talk to Seth’s pack, Moon Weir, and the Black Tails, see if we can muster up some force,” Hunter said.
“Are they likely to help?” Jensen asked.
Seth already knew the answer but let Hunter answer for himself.
“For the sake of one six-year-old kid and an alpha who’s not only a stranger but also not a wolf? No. I’d say hell would freeze over before they’d render assistance. But we have to ask.”
“I have to ask,” Seth corrected. “I doubt any of them would even talk to you.”
A flash of anger crossed Hunter’s face, but Seth couldn’t take back his words. They also happened to be true.
“You’re right,” Hunter said slowly. “I’ll leave that part to you.”
“And if they won’t help?” Dara asked, sounding scared. “What then?”
“Then we find another way,” Hunter said simply.
Seth rested a hand over Dara’s, the omega’s eyes meeting his.
“He’s right,” he said softly. “We’ll find another way. I promise.”
“What if we’re too late?” Dara whispered.
“We’re not going to sit on our hands. You told Cade Zane isn’t coming back until next week, right?”
“Right.”
“So, he has no idea you’re even gone. That buys us some time. We’ll use it well.”
Dara nodded slowly but Seth could see he wasn’t convinced. It would take more than words to prove it to him.
Seth stepped out of the clinic to find Hunter and Cade in a heated, whispered conversation. They stopped as soon as they noticed him, Cade taking Milo from Hunter and carrying the two infants back toward the nursery.
“I guess I should start making phone calls,” he said to Hunter.
“I guess so.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Cade wants Ollie to come and see you and Dara together.”
Seth shook his head, waving a hand at Hunter. “You know, the longer you stay here, the more you sound like them. The cryptic stuff is rubbing off on you.”
“Seth.”
“Okay, fine. Why does Ollie need to see us both? Is something wrong?”
“Not wrong. Cade sees a connection between you.”
“No shit. I just delivered his baby. I’m pretty sure that’s a tried and tested way to form a deep connection between two people.”
“This is different. I told him about your wolf.”
“What? Why would you do that? I told you that in confidence.”
Hunter just shook his head. “No, you didn’t. Besides, he’s my mate and this is his brother we’re talking about. I can’t keep that kind of stuff from him.”
“Yeah? Well, what happened to best friends and the sanctity of that relationship?”
“Seth, that isn’t what I meant-”
“Lucas is missing. My father is dying. This isn’t the time for mystic omega shit and ‘connections’ or whatever Cade wants to call it.”
“You don’t feel anything for Dara?”
“I feel sorry for him.” That was true. “That’s all.” That was a lie.
“Uh-huh. And if Ollie sees the same as Cade?”
“Why wouldn’t he? Cade has just told him what to see.” He felt his temper getting the better of him and pulled back. “You know what, forget it. I have phone calls to make, packs to grovel to. Tell Cade and Ollie to cool it with the matchmaking, okay?”
“Okay,” Hunter called as Seth stalked off.
He walked until he found a quiet spot with decent cell phone reception. His first call was to his uncle. Shane heard him out, but his answer was the same as the last time.
“Your place is here, Seth. Not gallivanting across the country on some foolish errand. I’m not risking my sons against Red Fang and if I won’t risk my sons, then I can’t expect anyone else from my pack to risk their own lives. And I won’t let anyone else from your pack do the same.”
He tried the Black Tails next, but his request didn’t even get as far as the alpha. The Knaves actually laughed. The Grey Ears didn’t even pick up the phone.
Defeated, he went to sit by the river near the bridge. It was night; the sun had long set, and the moon was rising though hidden behind clouds.
He couldn’t go after his brother without some force behind him and he didn’t have any force behind him, bar one bear. The den couldn’t send Jensen, they needed him. And one more alpha capable of shifting wasn’t going to be enough. They needed warriors. An army who hated the Red Fang’s enough to be willing to take them on. A—
Wait. Was that an idea? That was an idea. A good idea. A really good idea. There was a well-trained force who hated the Red Fangs. And they were already in the arena.
The sound of someone making their way through the forest broke his train of thought. Was it Hunter, come to make peace? But no. Whoever it was snuck to the bridge and raised it, before creeping over to one of the parked cars. Seth moved to a crouch, watching. The clouds over the moon cleared. Dara? Where was he going?