Chapter Twenty-One
Griffin woke stiff and sore, his head throbbing. It took a few minutes to open his eyes and manage to get upright. He was expecting somewhere strange, but the sight that met his eyes was all too familiar. He was home.
He got as far as the side of the bed, resting his feet on the floor, and cradling his head in his hands. He didn’t need to look to know where the cameras were or that the door was locked or that there were two heavyset guards outside.
So, he did what he’d been trained to do: regulating his breathing, getting himself under control, and thinking of ways out of his situation. Force wasn’t going to do it, there were too many locked doors and guards between him and the outside world. There were no obvious weapons in the room, but he knew a few things he could use. There was also at least one knife he’d hidden the last time he’d been there. Maybe they’d found it, or maybe they hadn’t. Either way, it alone wasn’t getting him out of there. Which left option two; play along until a chance came to run.
An hour passed, a clock chiming in the distance, and he heard familiar footsteps approaching. Unwilling to show weakness, he got to his feet, his hands by his sides, and waited.
The door opened, a guard walking in, followed by the men who called themselves his parents.
“Antoine,” he greeted the first man. “Virgil.”
“Our darling boy,” Virgil said. “And so grown up.”
“Why am I here?”
The men shared a look.
“Did you think we’d just forget about you? After all we’d done for you, all the time and money we’d invested in your education.”
“That was for your benefit, not mine. Don’t pretend differently.”
“So ungrateful,” Virgil said with a sigh.
“We’re not here to argue with you,” Antoine added. “You betrayed us, abandoned us.”
“Then you brought me here for what? Revenge?”
“You owe us a debt,” Antoine replied. “And you’re going to repay every last cent.”
Griffin folded his arms, raising an eyebrow.
“Do you really think I’d ever work for you again?”
Virgil smiled. There was nothing pleasant about it, and his eyes stayed cold.
“I suppose that depends,” the alpha said. “We’ve heard about that den of thieves you operate out of and that rag-tag group of rejects you call a pack.”
Griffin didn’t rise to the bait.
“They have nothing to do with this.”
“Well, that depends on you, doesn’t it?” Virgil said sweetly. “If you’re a good boy and do what you’re told, they can go on eking out an existence in the old man’s house.”
The elderly shifter his parents had sent him there to kill. Whose kindness had shown Griffin there were others ways to live.
“And if I don’t?”
“We have a group of mercenaries ready and waiting to go on in there and take over. They’ll keep the useful ones alive. Sell the fighters and omegas back to the schools and clubs. Any kids and babies too, they’ll fetch a pretty penny. They’ll kill the rest.”
“We’re not undefended,” Griffin said, standing taller.
“And how many will die in the fight?” Antoine asked. “How many are you willing to sacrifice in the name of stubbornness?”
He could tell they were serious. They didn’t make idle threats.
Closing his eyes, he dropped his head, pretending defeat. Maybe they’d see through it, maybe they wouldn’t.
“What do I need to do?”
When he looked back up, both alphas were smiling. Who was playing whom?
Beau was struggling to hold on to himself. Without Griffin, the tentative grasp he had on his sense of self began to slip. Three days passed, the pack rallying around him, but they weren’t Griffin. The only thing keeping him together was the knowledge that Griffin might need him. Not the Beast; the crazy, unthinking animal, but him, Beau. He had to keep it together so that when the time came, he was ready to help mount the rescue.
It was early on the morning of the fourth day when Ronan burst into Griffin’s bedroom, waking Beau from the light sleep he’d eventually fallen into.
“We know where he is.”
Beau was on his feet in a second, pulling a T-shirt on over his head.
“How long to get there?”
“It’s not that simple. The place he’s being held is too well-guarded. We’d never get past the door.”
“We can’t give up. Griffin’s counting on us.” Beau would storm any building he had to if it got Griffin back.
“We’re not giving up. There’s another chance. We’ve heard that the men who took Griffin—”
“His… parents, right?”
The word didn’t sound right, but that was what Ronan had called them.
“Yeah, those guys. They’re going to some exclusive party the upper-class packs are holding. And they’re bringing an omega with them.”
“You think it’ll be Griffin?”
“They wanted him back for a reason. My guess is, there’s someone or something at the party, and they need Griffin to get close to them.”
“So, if we can’t get to Griffin where they’re keeping him, we can find him there, at the party?”
“If only it were that easy. First, we have to find a way to get into the party. Then we have to find Griffin and get him out of there.”
“But we can do that right? There must be a way.”
“There is, we just need to figure out what will get us through the door. It might be an omega, like Noah. It might be something else. We have lots of talented people here, we just need to know more about the party to understand what they’re looking for.”
Beau followed Ronan to the kitchen, listening as he, Mark, and a few others made phone call after phone call, trying to find more information about the party. It was Mark who found the answer.
“I think I know how to get us in.”
“How?” Ronan asked.
Mark look to Beau. “Him.”
All eyes in the room turned to Beau.
“Me?” That couldn’t be right.
“Most of the people invited are bringing their best fighters. The hosting pack has an arena in the basement. There’s a big money prize for the winner. Our best chance of getting through the door, is if we walk through with the Beast.”
“Will I have to fight?” Beau asked. He wasn’t sure if he could do that, wasn’t sure if he could be the Beast again.
Ronan held Beau’s gaze. “It may be our best distraction. If everyone is watching the Beast fight, they won’t notice us whisking Griffin out of there.”
And that was what was important, wasn’t it? Griffin. He had to be protected, rescued, at all costs. The pack existed because of him, and Beau wasn’t sure it could exist without him.
“I’ll do it,” he told them. “I’ll be the Beast.”