Page 107 of Queen of Diamonds

Glade was going to live.

That had been all that mattered ten minutes ago, but now the other problems were crashing in. The hour Ace had given us was almost up.

Zed was AWOL in the bond. Not that I fucking blamed him, but we had to drop the truck. Not because Ace was on our tail, but because Kyan had just robbed a pharmacy. He was good, leaving the only one who’d seen him unconscious, so there’d be a delay before the police got there, but we didn’t have forever.

“I’ll get us a car. You get us a destination,” I said as I pulled into a grimy parking lot behind a seedy strip mall with the scent of old cigarettes heavy in the air. Kyan had already used his RF detector to make sure there were no tracking devices we didn’t know about.

It would have to do.

We’d found them, but I was still shaking from the sight of it. Zed had been holding her, fingerprints of blood covering his face, staining his white hair. Glade lay limp in his arms, her dress as red as the blood that covered them.

I was on the verge of breaking, and Kyan was, too, but one look at them and we’d both known. Not now.

They needed us.

It was night, which helped, and we’d reached them before someone had noticed them.

Kyan hauled the black bag from the truck. He had shoved everything we needed into it since we’d have to ditch it.

I opened the door to the back seat, helping Zed carry her out without hurting her.

Zed clutched her to his chest, clearly trying to focus. “If the warehouse is compromised, we don’t know what else he’s got on us.”

“I know.”

Kyan appeared at our side, bag slung over his back as he nodded in the direction of the street. Beyond was a park. We could wait there safely for a while. Our phones were switched off, but he was already activating a burner and tossing it to me before getting another for himself.

I shot a text off instantly, knowing the numbers I needed from memory. I had a friend who could get us a clean ride and deal with the truck without too much trouble. We weren’t short on contacts with skills for shit like this.

“I have an idea,” Kyan was saying. “The place she was working at—the High Roller—I did a check on the staff. She wasn’t the only Omega on the run.”

“What does that?—?”

“Just—” He waved a hand. “—give me a moment.” He stared at the burner phone, eyes darting back and forth as he tried to pull up a memory. Then he was dialling a number and lifting it to his ear as we walked.

There was a long moment in which Zed and I watched him. He muttered a curse, and I heard the faint tone that meant the call hadn’t gone through.

“She’s ditched it…”

“What?”

“Glade’s not the only one who ran into trouble recently.”

He was already pulling up his browser and doing a search. “I’m pretty sure one of the Alphas she took off with wouldn’t risk dropping all his phones. Too much business on the line…” He dialled another number, and this time, I heard it ring.

“Forbes?” Kyan asked. I did a double take at the name. Forbes was a well known mob family.

“Who is this?” A voice asked as Kyan put it on speaker.

“Is Annika with you?”

There was a long silence, but he didn’t hang up.

“Tell her I’m with Glade,” Kyan added. There was pause, and then a softer voice on the line.

“Who is this?”

“Is this Annika?” Kyan asked.

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