Chapter Nine
Toby
What the fuck was happening here? One minute, I was groping and kissing Dalton, counting the seconds until he was inside of me again, the next, I had to throw some clothes in a bag and get ready to leave. It seemed…surreal. Except, Jason stood next to me, a frightened expression on his face, clutching his hands together and shifting nervously from one foot to the other.
Dalton spoke on his phone in my living room. As far as I could tell, he was talking with Levi.
I tried to slow down my racing thoughts. Two omegas were missing. Dalton thought we were all in danger. And Jason somehow managed to get us in even more trouble. I didn’t want to know how he’d managed to surpass the firewall at Levi’s bar. I really didn’t. I’d known he was good, but not that good.
“Ready?” Dalton’s voice from the doorstep made me jump. “Toby, do you have some spare clothes for Jason? We don’t have time to run by his place, or we’ll be late for the meeting.”
“I—sure. Yes.” Actually, Jason had a set of spare clothes here for the nights when he was too lazy to go home. He turned and grabbed them out of the closet. I didn’t imagine the snarl on Dalton’s face as he realized exactly what Jason was doing. I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around him. “It’s not what you think. He just stays over when we hang out sometimes. Not in the last few weeks, though, and there was never anything between us.”
I leaned up to kiss him, but his lips were hard and unyielding below mine. Damn it.
“Hey, don’t be jealous.”
“We don’t have time for that now. Let’s go.”
I cast a glance at Jason then at Dalton and nodded. Yeah. Maybe he was right. But we would talk about that jealousy thing. I would never cheat. But now simply wasn’t the time to discuss that.
I followed Dalton to the door with Jason behind me. The color still hadn’t returned to his face, and he was suspiciously silent. Well, he was about to get a major dressing down from our pack leader, and two of our omegas were missing. Maybe I should have been concerned why he wasn’t shaking more. My own hands hadn’t been steady since I’d heard about the omegas.
The drive was silent. In the mirror, I could see Jason worrying his lip. And I could smell the metallic scent of blood. Dalton’s face resembled a mask—hard, cold, and distant.
I clutched my fingers, trying—and failing—to slow down my own racing thoughts. What would the new developments mean for us? And who was the dead omega? Someone I knew?
All too soon, Dalton pulled up next to the bar where Levi held our meetings. I hadn’t been there in a while. Usually, I didn’t care for pack politics, and while I could hold my own in a fight, I wasn’t eager for one. Some of the alphas worked as protectors of the pack, and most attended the meetings to be in the loop. I found it rather boring to talk about that stuff. I sometimes went on the pack runs, but even those had lost their appeal after a while, and I only went whenever the mood struck.
The name of the bar read Lone Wolf. Hmm. I’d thought it’d been different. Maybe it’d changed during the last weeks… “Hey, Dalton, when did the bar change its name?”
He turned to me, his face blank. “About two years ago, shortly after Levi was elected pack leader.”
Two years! Oops.
“Have you not been here for that long?”
“Umm, no. I guess not.”
“Fuck, Toby. Everyone should attend a meeting every once in a while! How the hell are we supposed to protect you if we never see you?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it’d been that long.”
“You… I can’t even.” Dalton’s quiet voice carried his disapproval.
“Sorry. Really. I’ll attend more often from now on, okay?”
“Please. It’s dangerous. I can keep you updated, but…”
“But you didn’t plan on telling me about the dead omega. Why not?” I turned to Dalton.
“Because we weren’t sure about the issue. I mean, we had nothing certain. It was a suspicion, nothing more. Not until they found Mikey’s body… I’m sorry.”
“You shouldn’t be. I’m sorry.” Mikey. I didn’t know him, but it still broke my heart to know one of my kind was dead because of who he was.
“I totally get that you two are sorry, but can we maybe go inside and see what’s up? I mean, you can go, and I’ll stay here and…” Jason said.
“Oh no, mister. You will face Levi yourself and tell him what you’ve done.” Dalton’s voice didn’t allow any protest.
“But…” Jason looked like he was going to puke.
Dalton didn’t give him a chance to finish his plea. “Now.”
I sighed deeply, unbuckled my seat belt, and got out of the car. Dalton stepped next to me and took my hand. He nodded toward Jason to go in front of us. My friend wouldn’t run to get out of the lecture he was facing, but Dalton couldn’t know that. I didn’t envy Jason. What he’d done was highly illegal, and there would be hell to pay.
Jason walked in front of us, his shoulders hanging. The doors to the bar were open, and we walked into the dimly lit room.
Levi and some of the other pack members sat around a huge table, discussing the situation. Testosterone hung heavily in the air. All of them were alphas, most of them built like brick walls, and I shivered. Not because of arousal, since I only wanted one man, but because it still affected me. And it made me horny.
Dalton held on to my hand as we approached the table. Yeah, the message was clear. Loud and clear. I was his. And his alone.
I liked it. Very, very much.
“Dalton, what’s up? Why are they here?” Levi’s eyes narrowed on me and Jason, who seemed to shrink under the stare of the intimidating alpha.
“Jason here—” he nodded toward my friend “—wants to tell you something. That should explain why I brought them both here.”
Now we had the attention of all twenty shifters in the room. Every single one. My knees grew weak, and I hadn’t even done anything wrong.
“So?” Levi’s eyes were locked on Jason, waiting for an explanation.
Jason took three deep breaths before finally looking up at the annoyed alpha in front of him. “I…um…I think I made a huge mistake. I was… Well, I have… I hacked…”
My heart went out to him. He looked so forlorn and ashamed. Dalton squeezed my hand and leaned close. “He needs to do this on his own.”
I nodded. Yeah, I knew that. But I couldn’t help my instincts.
“You hacked what?”
“The cameras…” He nodded his chin toward one of the cameras in the corner of the room. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any harm. I just wanted to… I wanted to watch—”
“You did what?” Levi was out of his seat and in front of Jason in a heartbeat. Jason seemed to shrink in on himself even more. The air practically sizzled with barely contained anger.
Jason hung his head. “Can we talk privately somewhere?”
“No, we can’t. I think it’s important that we all hear what you have to say.”
Jason took a visible breath. “Okay. I hacked the cameras so I could watch…one of your advisors.”
“Come again? I really, really hope I understood that wrong.”
“You didn’t.” Jason’s voice was barely a whisper.
The advisor he was talking about probably sat at the table, watching Jason’s humiliation. His actions had been wrong, but he didn’t deserve what he was getting now.
“Are you crazy?” Levi clenched and unclenched his fists in an attempt to calm down. “What have you seen? How long did you watch our meetings? Were you the one who killed omega Mikey?”
I gasped at the accusation at the same time Jason’s head started flying from left to right. “No, no! I would never harm anyone!”
“You have no right to speak! You will listen! What you’ve done is dangerous. Someone is attacking our omegas, someone who had intimate knowledge of the things happening in this pack, and he used it to lure a young man into a trap that got him killed. I’ve been trying to figure out who it is, and now you have the gall to tell me you hacked the cameras. Are you a murderer, Jason? Or did you just give the information to the murderer? Were you paid well for that man’s life, Jason?”
My friend dropped to his knees. “I’m so sorry. I never told anyone about anything. I never meant any harm. I just wanted to watch…someone. I didn’t pay attention to what you were talking about until this morning. I just… I made a mistake. But I’m no murderer.”
“A huge mistake. One that I can’t overlook.” Levi looked almost sad as he locked his gaze with Jason. “I can’t allow you to live in this pack any longer. You broke the trust we need to have in our members. I’m sorry, but I can’t trust you after something like this.”
“No! Please, no! I’ll do anything you want, but please don’t send me away. Where would I go? You’re my family, my birth pack. Please. I meant no harm.”
Levi turned his head as if the sight of Jason groveling was unbearable. “I can’t. Not after what you’ve done. You were a valuable member of the pack, but you chose to do something that might have resulted in the death of an innocent man. You harm one, you harm all of us. And why? Because of a crush. How do you expect anyone ever to trust you? For my part, I can’t.”
My hands shook. Would Levi really throw out Jason? Where would he live? I couldn’t lose the best friend I’d ever had. Yes, that was selfish, but Jason had been there for me whenever I needed a friend. I needed to be there for him now that he needed me.
Jason bared his neck to our alpha. “I apologize. I’m truly sorry. I understand why you have to do this, even though I have no idea what I’ll do now. I accept your decision. Please give me—”
“No! Levi, please! Don’t do it!”
I raised my eyes to see one of the advisors standing, his hands balled into fists. He looked intimidating, with long black hair and dark eyes. Dangerous.
Levi turned slowly to face the man. “You don’t have a say in this, Spencer.”
“Please. He’s done no harm.”
“Doesn’t matter. Jason’s actions were wrong, and he needs to be punished for them. Besides, I don’t trust him. Even if he isn’t the killer, he brought danger to our pack.”
“Send him away, then. To another pack, but allow him to come back. That way we’ll know he didn’t betray us, and he can come back once we catch the killer. What do you think? I’ve got ties to a few other packs, I could find someone who’ll take him in for a while.”
“Why? Why not simply get rid of him?”
“Because… Because…”
I stepped forward, my head high and my shoulders back. Inside, I was shaking, but I couldn’t allow Levi to see that. “Because I can vouch for him. He would never kill anyone. In fact, he was at my place. He came to make sure I was all right after he heard the news. Please. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you see he’s not a bad man.”
“So, you’ll vouch for him?” Levi turned back and regarded me with a cold stare. I shivered under his intense gaze and averted my eyes. Staring back at an alpha in his position? Nope. Never. But I nodded slightly.
“Then you will go with him. Go to California. The pack in Yosemite will take you in.”
“Wait…what?”
“You and him. Yosemite. Now. I’ll make the call to alert them. Then I’ll arrange for a flight.”
What? What the fuck happened here? And why did Dalton just nod and pull at my hand? Why didn’t he say anything? I didn’t want to go with Jason! I wanted to stay with Dalton. And Jason. But-but—
Levi was already on his phone when Dalton pulled me into his arms. “I don’t want you to go, but there’s nothing I can do right now. You need to be safe.”
He didn’t even try to change Levi’s mind. But then, Levi was the pack leader. His word was law. Period. And maybe we were better off. If he’d kicked Jason out of the pack, it would’ve been much worse for both of us.
I went up on the tips of my toes to kiss Dalton. “I don’t want to go. I really hate the idea of leaving.”
“Me too. But you’ll be back soon. As soon as we know it’s safe.”
“Yeah. Please be careful.”
“You too. We’ll talk and message, okay?”
“Okay.”
The voice of a man ripped me away from our goodbye. “The car is waiting. One of Levi’s drivers will make sure you arrive at the airport safely. There’s no time to grab any clothes since your flight leaves in two hours. You can buy what you need there.”