Page 24 of The Alpha King's Mate

“Let’s get back to the warehouse. We make a plan. Get Tyrus on the computer. Maybe they can track his phone. I know Tyrus gave him one yesterday since he is part of the team. That should work.”

“Fine.”

We hopped in the car and on the trip there, I made calls to my brothers. Tyrus was already on his laptop and, sure enough, they could track Ryan through his phone, but I wasn’t happy about what he told me. “His signal dropped off somewhere off Highway 449. Looks like a patch of woods there, from the aerial maps.”

I stayed on the phone until I entered the warehouse. “Talk,” I barked to Hammer.

“We’re ready. Get your weapons. They’re on the table. We have a GPS location from the last place his phone pinged. After that, King and Aziz, you’ll have to use your noses. Beast form. We’ll follow you in.”

“Done.” I strapped on my shoulder holster and got ready in seconds. The alphas kissed their omegas goodbye and we were all wished good luck.

No omegas on this mission.

We didn’t need more than one of our mates to worry about.

“Whoever took him is dead, and I can’t guarantee he will live long enough to tell tales,” I said as we slammed the doors of the black SUV. We all rode in one this time. Less conspicuous.

“That’s okay. This isn’t an intelligence-seeking mission. This is fucking personal.” Hammer was right. This wasn’t part of the job, and I didn’t want to treat it as such. I was simply warning them. If they wanted information from whoever took my omega, they would have to get to him first because as far as I was concerned, the alpha was future ground sirloin. He just didn’t know it yet.

“Nothing else?” I jabbed Tyrus in the ribs. He was friends with my omega. Teaching Ryan how to do the things he did on the computer. They were together all the time. We all had skin in this particular game.

“No. I’m refreshing every few seconds.”

“How long since the last one?” I asked.

“Thirty-two minutes.”

I balled my hands into fists. “A lot can happen in thirty-two minutes.”

Hammer turned around in his seat. “Ryan’s smart, man. Really smart. He’ll keep himself safe. He’ll do what it takes. He’s a fucking survivor. Saved himself. Saved all those cubs. We’ll find him alive.”

Survive, omega. Survive for us.

Chapter Nineteen

Ryan

Things happened so quickly when I was taken that I didn’t really know how far I was, in what direction, or even where I was. But when the lights came on, I found myself bound, another omega in the room with me. Only, he wasn’t captive, too. He was somehow connected to my kidnapping. I didn’t get it. Why would he be?

He looked awful, like someone had sucked all of his life force out of him and left him a shell of a man. It didn’t make sense, but then again, what part of a kidnapping did.

King was going to be pissed…beyond pissed. Not at my kidnappers—that was going to be a rage-and-vengeance-filled frenzy. No, he was going to be pissed at me for being so careless as to follow his scent like that or possibly for going to town at all.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t been warned. Sure, I took the concerns as unfounded, but still they were there. Gods, I’d been so focused on what I wanted to do that I missed the glaring signs that it had been a bad idea, and now it was too late. I was gods knew where, bound by something that had my bear silent, and being glared at by an omega who somehow was a part of this.

At least I didn’t have any of the kids with me. I’d never be able to forgive myself if I had.

The omega came over, scented me deeply, and said, “Figures, figures.”

“What do you mean?” He was talking in riddles, not that my head was clear. Whatever he did to get me here had done a wallop on me.

“Your mate killed my mate. Destroyed him. Shredded him into a thousand pieces, and then what? He gets to go have his happily ever after, knocking up the first omega he sees?”

“What are you talking about? I just went out to get some Play-Doh and some applesauce.” Could he be talking about King? Possibly, but his words didn’t make sense even if that were the case.

“Don’t play stupid with me. King’s your mate.” That answered that. “Didn’t you think it was weird? His scent was there.”

In hindsight, I should have. But no, I had thought—silly me—that he was there to surprise me, or yell at me, or maybe both. What a fool I’d been.

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