Page 48 of Betrayed Auctioned Mate

My blood runs cold. Accolti was my fake identity during the infiltration of the auction, the man I attended as. He’s the man who ‘bought’ Keira.

I repeat myself, firmer this time. “Who is this?”

“Did you really think we wouldn’t find out?”

I remain silent, listening. Dread rises in me like a tide. Soon, it’ll be above my head, cutting off my oxygen.

“You and your pack,” the stranger continues, his deep voice dripping with malice. “That little game you played at the auction? Buying what was already yours? You made a fool of us. And now, the girl will pay for your deception.”

My stomach drops.Where is she? Where is she right now?

“Who are you?” I demand, though I already know. I stand too fast, and my head throbs.

The laugh that follows is dark, twisted, and it makes my blood run cold. “Watch your back. Your little bride isn’t safe anymore. Neither are you.”

The line goes dead, but the words linger, echoing in my mind. They know. They know everything. Do they know about the last hit? Our actions to take them out? Where was the leak?

I text Byron:we have a leak somewhere. They know I knew Keira. Full comms lockdown and get hold of Aris ASAP.

I’m still clutching my phone, watching the message as it is delivered, when my door bursts open.

Keira rushes in, eyes wide with panic, breathless.

“Ado!” she gasps. She’s clutching her chest with one hand as if it’s a struggle to keep her voice steady. “Ado, I don’t know what to do; I just saw—look outside—” She points to the window, scampering across the room to stare out of the glass and downward.

I’m across the room in an instant, joining her at the window. Outside, under the dull light of the street lamps, I see it.

Across the street, smeared in thick red paint on the wall of the building directly facing us, is a message: “THE BITCH IS OURS.”

The words are still dripping, the paint fresh enough to glisten in the streetlight. They probably intended for it to look so similar to blood. My heart pounds in my chest, fury and fear warring within me. They know where we are. One of them was inour town.

“They know,” I mutter, my voice low with anger. “We need to move.Now.”

Keira’s breathing is shallow beside me, and I can feel her trembling. I turn to face her, and her eyes meet mine, wide with fear. She’s pale, the color drained from her face as she stares at the threat painted on the wall.

I wish I could take her far away from this place and keep her protected forever. The amount she’s survived through, and now this…

“What do we do?” she whispers, her voice barely holding steady. “They’re coming for us—for me.”

I take a step closer to her, my hand brushing against her arm, trying to ground her, but I don’t know if I should even try to touch her. Every protective instinct I have flared up. I can’t let anything happen to her.

“We’ll handle this,” I say firmly. “Step back slowly from the window. We’ll lock down the building until Aris can figure out sending you to a safe location.”

Keira’s hand shoots out. “Don’t leave me alone,” she begs in a voice that takes me off guard as she steps back onto her heel. “Ado, you can’t leave me on my own.”

I nod, one hand landing on her shoulder, rubbing gently at the divot of her collarbone with my thumb. She feels fragile and small in my hands.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I promise. “It’s like I said. You can’t get rid of me.”

Keira doesn’t laugh. I don’t expect her to, but it still stings.

The next three hours are a whirlwind.

It’s not even eight in the morning yet, but somehow, everyone is awake. Aris pulls the entire team into action—not only does Keira have to be moved, but now, the raids are at stake unless she can take point from her new location. Byron and Olivia rush around like headless chickens, holding computer monitors and unrecognizable hunks of machinery, loading them into the van hidden out back.

Aris settles Keira and me in a small, windowless meeting room on the top floor, usually reserved for interrogations. It’s bulletproof, he tells us.

“They’ve escalated,” he mutters, peering at a photo of the vandalized wall on his phone. “We think they must have gotten at our files, or maybe someone’s email. It could have been your agency email, Keira—it’d explain how they knew you’re working with us and you knew Ado, but how they don’t seem to know yet that we’re on the tail of their criminal organization.”

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