Chapter Eight
Dalton
It felt so good to finally have Toby at my side again. I hated spending so much time away from him, but I couldn’t tell him what was really going on. Levi made it clear that only a few trained alphas were to know about the threat to our omegas. And as he was the pack leader, what Levi says goes. Besides, we didn’t have enough information yet to start warning the broader pack about what we suspected. And I didn’t want Toby to be worried. I worried enough about him for both of us. No need to cause a panic until we knew exactly what we were dealing with.
So far, the only real information we had was that two omegas were missing. Mikey and Ryan were best friends, and some people within the pack believed they ran away to explore the world. But Taylor, Ryan’s mate, was going out of his mind. He insisted Ryan didn’t leave consensually. He believed Ryan and Mikey were taken or hurt and couldn’t come home.
I didn’t know what to believe, but I agreed to take on a nightly patrol of the woods until we knew for sure there wasn’t a threat. So far, my patrols were uneventful. But last night, I picked up an unfamiliar scent. It was a feline at its base, but nothing I’d ever smelled before. We tracked it to the edge of the ocean and lost it in the water. And that’s why I had to see Toby today. Texting and phone calls weren’t enough to settle my unease. I needed to see him in the flesh and know he was okay. It was crazy how invested I’d become in him over the past few weeks. It didn’t make sense, but I couldn’t seem to shake this feeling in my gut that I needed to protect him. To keep him safe. For my own sanity as much as his.
“You look good.” Toby leaned against my side as he reached in front of me to grab a loaf of bread.
“You smell amazing.” I inhaled deeply, pulling his intoxicating scent into my lungs and holding it there. I wanted to smell that musky, woodsy scent every second of every day. Fuck, I was getting hard already, and we were in the middle of a goddamn grocery store. “Have you been out for a run recently?”
Toby grinned and tilted his neck so my nose was almost touching it. “Nope. I’m just excited to see you. I think I’m reacting to your presence.”
“I see.” I rested my hand on his hip and pulled him tightly against my side. “Do you react like this to other alphas?”
Toby’s eyes darkened as he stared right at me and shook his head. “Never.”
I couldn’t hold back the low growl in my throat as I crushed my mouth over his. I didn’t care who was watching or what they thought about us kissing in the middle of the store. I needed to taste him like I needed to breathe.
When the battle between Toby and oxygen was too tough to ignore, I pulled away and let him compose himself. “Good. Keep it that way.”
Toby’s chin dipped slightly in a sexy show of submission. I wasn’t looking for a partner to dominate, but the relationship between alpha and omega had its innate qualities. And the instinct for Toby to submit to me was fucking sexy as hell.
We rushed through our shopping, knowing the sooner we finished in the store, the sooner we could get into bed. Who needed groceries, anyway?
***
With our bags of food still in the car, I managed to wait exactly until Toby stood in front of his entrance door. That second, I couldn’t keep my hands off him any longer. With his body smashed between me and the wood, I dug into his pocket for the key. Our dicks were both rock-hard, and I could feel drops of precome seeping out of me every time I brushed against his length. Just as I slipped the key into his door, the whole damn door flew open, and Toby almost dropped to the ground with me on top of him. I was able to hold him up and keep from falling, but that didn’t dim the fury that ignited in my belly when I saw another man in Toby’s apartment. A man who was pulling him into his arms and sobbing.
“Toby! Oh, god. I thought you…” The man pulled Toby to his chest and cried into the crook of his neck.
I expected Toby to pull away and rush back into my arms, but he didn’t. He just stood there like he welcomed the embrace from the man who wasn’t me.
Uh, no. That was not fucking happening.
Grabbing the back of Toby’s jacket, I pulled him away from the stranger, making it clear to both men that I didn’t share what was mine. Toby yelped at the force with which I ripped him from the man’s arms, but he didn’t resist when I pulled him against my chest.
“Dalton…” He turned to me with a confused look on his face. I wasn’t sure who or what he was confused by, but I knew my face was much more angry than confused. “Um, this is my friend, Jason. My best friend.”
Jason wiped his cheeks with the back of his palms then dried his hands on his jeans before nodding to me. “Oh, of course. I’ve heard a lot about you, Dalton. It’s good to meet you.”
I didn’t say a word, afraid anything I said would come out as livid as I felt.
Toby turned back to his friend. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”
Jason dropped into a chair and pulled at the hair on his head. “You haven’t heard? An omega was found dead. His description matched you, and when I couldn’t get a hold of you, I panicked. I used the spare key to get in here, and I’ve been worried sick.”
Dead? What the fuck? “Whoa, whoa.” I raised a hand and stepped closer to Jason. “How do you know this? Where are you getting your information?”
Jason’s face went from relieved to concerned again as he looked me up and down. “Well, actually…”
Toby pulled out a chair and nodded for me to have a seat. I did, but I pulled him down with me so he was seated fully on my lap. Toby’s small smirk allowed the clenching in my stomach to lessen enough for me to focus on the situation at hand. I turned back to Jason. “Spit it out.”
Jason trembled before clearing his throat and looking me in the eye. “I’ve hacked into the surveillance cameras in Levi’s briefing room.”
“What?” I had to remind myself not to jump up and send Toby flying as the magnitude of Jason’s confession sank in. “Why would you do that?”
Jason’s cheeks turned red, and his chin dropped to his chest as he huffed out a breath. “I have a crush on one of his advisors and was…”
“Stalking is the word you’re looking for.” Toby couldn’t hold in his amusement. “You’ve been stalking him.”
“So, you know?” My whispered question hung over the room like a cloud. Toby’s grip on my arm tightened as we waited for Jason’s response.
He finally looked up and met my gaze. “Yes.”
“Know what?” Toby leaned closer to his friend, but when he didn’t get an answer, he turned in my lap. “Dalton, what are you guys talking about?”
Instinctively, I rubbed my palm up and down Toby’s back. “It still might be nothing. We don’t know—”
“Someone is dead. An omega. What’s going on?” Toby pulled out of my arms before I could stop him and started pacing the short length of his apartment.
Just then, my phone buzzed with a text from Levi. I pulled up the message and groaned. Meeting in twenty.
“Fuck.” I looked between the two frightened omegas and considered my options. I couldn’t defy Levi and put the entire community at risk if the threat was becoming more than just a concern. But I couldn’t leave Toby alone and unprotected. I did the only thing I could in order to maintain my sanity. “You two, pack an overnight bag. You’re both coming with me.”
“What?” They froze, staring at me in shock.
Toby was the first to recover and take a step toward me. “Why? Who is it?”
“Levi called a meeting, and I can’t leave you guys here. You know too much to be unprotected.”
Jason stood up and backed away from the table, slamming into the wall. “No one knows what I know. I’ll stop spying, I swear. Just please don’t turn me in.”
I tried to relax the scowl on my face to reassure Jason that he wasn’t in trouble. Well, he might be in some trouble but nothing worth worrying about right now. “I don’t give a shit about that. If someone is harming our omegas, I can’t leave you alone. Just grab your shit, and let’s go.”