Page 18 of Sawyer

“What? By taking an elixir full of some mage drug? I think not.” Bast leans forward, his ire bleeding across the table. “You’re spiraling, Sin.”

“As you can see, I am sitting in this shitty seat, not spiraling.” I point at him, damn proud of myself that I am not, in fact, spinning.

Puke might spew out of my mouth otherwise.

“This is worthless,” Riot says. “Find someone else to do the job and get him to rehab.”

“What?” I press a hand to my chest. “And replace me? You know I’m irreplaceable, Riot.” I laugh at the two of them. Here in this… “Where the fuck am I?”

“Seriously, dude? You don’t even know where you are?” Riot sounds like he’s about to lose his shit.

“I know where I am…” I do not know. I look around, and neon lights dance in my vision, causing my corneas to burn. Rubbing my eyes with my palms, I try to focus again.

“Haven,” Bast mutters.

My eyes catch on the stage, where a woman twirls around a pole. Exhaustion shadows her eyes, and her spirit is broken. She blurs in the next moment, and I look back at Bast. “Yep,” I say without an ounce of shame. “A more important question is, why are you two here? That is a controversy just waiting to happen. Naughty, naughty boys.”

I hate this part of the high—just after the peak, when I can feel reality trying to crash its way back in. Mentally, I grab at the dregs of bliss I’m quickly losing.

“Sera put a tracker on your phone,” Bast says and holds up a hand before I can even find it in me to get irritated. “For obvious reasons, Sin.”

“You also had a job to do.” Riot’s voice darkens. “You know we can’t—” He clears his throat and looks around.

“No one will listen to your words here, Riot.” I open my hands and raise my voice. “No one gives a fuck.”

“You owe me,” Bast hisses.

He’s right—I do. I kidnapped his mate, and it was to keep her alive, so he should thank me for doing him a favor, not the other way around. All I do is give him a look that probably gets lost in translation.

“Have you discovered anything?” Bast asks, his voice quiet.

I take a little while to remember what I was supposed to do. “Right, the woods.”

“You’re worthless.” Riot slams a hand on the table. “I’m getting someone else to do this.”

“Sit,” Bast orders Riot.

“Lover’s quarrel?”

“Don’t be an ass, Sin.” Bast lowers his voice even more. “We are taking a chance by being here. No one has heard from you in fucking months, and when you show up, it’s at a bar. Do you even know what happened today?”

“Sure.” I chuckle at him. “I woke up and met my dealer a few streets over, then I fucked a blonde willing to spread her creamy thighs while we both took sips of that empty bottle, and then I stumbled my way here.”

“By the fates.” Riot’s voice is filled with awe, and not the good kind.

“Gammas, Sin.” Though Bast’s voice stays quiet, he doesn’t hide the anger in his tone. “We found multiple dead gammas on the west side of the Oak Mountains.”

“What?” My pulse spikes, and something more dangerous leaks into my system—adrenaline. “Impossible.”

“Possible, all while you were in here getting high,” Bast snarls at me, a hint of the alpha inside him bursting free. “Did you even bother to look in the mountains?”

“Yeah.” I run my thumb over my bottom lip. I ran the outer trails, never going in deeply. “How many?”

“Five,” Riot answers. “All of them gammas, all covered in scars. Someone brutalized them, cut them up, and experimented on them.”

“Fuck.” What else can I say? I screwed up.

“I’m pulling you off of this.” Bast throws cash on the table, ready to dismiss me. “Order yourself some food. You look like shit and smell like a dumpster.”

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