Page 36 of Love in Excess

I push inside to find Mr. Holden sitting in the corner of his cell, a tired smile on his lips. “Ah, come to rake me over the coals or whatever? It’s all done, now. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

I glare at the sorry excuse of a man, his demeanor not matching the fact that he’s going to spend years, maybe even decades for how many pallets of drugs they found in that warehouse. I slam the picture of the individuals kneeling in the warehouse against the bars, startling Mr. Holden. “Where are the Omegas?”

He just laughs, a rough, grating sound that makes my blood boil. “There are no Omegas.”

I step closer, wishing I could open this cell and rough Mr. Holden up a bit. “Stop messing with me. There were clearly other people involved.”

He sighs, his smirk fading. “Don’t you get it? It’s so much bigger than that. There’s no trafficking, if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s more like a… buffet.” He grins, yellow teeth staring back at me, his scent sour with sweat. “Hex likes a selection before he kills.”

I frown, my heart dropping into my stomach, my mind scrambling to keep up. “What?” I ask, disbelief coating my words. “You’re saying you rounded up people for Hex to choose from? I thought you didn’t know who he was.”

He shrugs and leans back against the wall, not a care in the world. “I don’t know him or her. I just got orders. We all rounded up a favorite of ours, and he chose. Once we drop off, we don’t go back, for the most part.”

I shove the photo closer, the bars cold against my knuckles. “So where are all of the people?”

The dealer shrugs again, his eyes empty of any emotion. “I don’t get that information. I didn’t bring anyone, if that’s what you’re wondering. That’s not my job. We all have a job.”

“Why would you talk now?”

“Because it doesn’t matter. The job’s been completed.”

There’s missing pieces in this case and I just can’t seem to connect the dots. “You care that little about yourself you’d just give up information you wouldn’t budge on a few days ago?”

Mr. Holden snorts as those dead eyes look directly at me. “I’m a fucking drug dealer. Seriously? Besides, I told you. The job has been completed. You can’t change the outcome so my words won’t save me either way.”

What. The. Fuck.

Back in the conference room, I plop into a seat, more confused than before. Mr. Holden looked like he was happy but also… resigned, like he knew his end was coming and all for a job? But why? Lawson waits by the entrance, Benji taking his seat again as Ruiz pushes something toward me.

“Hey, what he say?”

“He mentioned something about a buffet. Apparently, Hex just hires people to bring him individuals from which he then chooses. However, we would have reports of people getting rounded up. They’d be storming through the doors of the precinct, telling all sorts of wild tales of kidnapping and such. But there’s none of that.”

Ruiz taps the folder in front of me. “I found something weird. Keller over there handed me the victim’s file. She’s a 22-year-old art student from Connecticut. Her parents have been notified of her death.”

I frown at the picture of the young Beta. “What was she doing in Northvale? We’re states away from there.” Then it clicks. I scramble for the one of the last murders, unearthing the one that happened in Connecticut. I flip it open and start reading. “Hex was there like six months ago. Fuck, I don’t think he’s traveling with the buffet.”

Roberts whistles as he drags a hand through his hair. “That would add to why it’s so easy for him to move through the cities undetected. Leaving bodies of people from completely different states would do. Are all the victims like that?” He twists to look over at Keller and Benji. They both nod, enraptured by our discussion. “Which means Hex has a hoard of people that he keeps with him.”

“Jesus Christ,” I mumble.

“Guess Carter has a bit more to answer for,” Ruiz adds.

I just chuckle. “Yeah, no shit. It seems Carter here added to the buffet of victims that Hex chooses from. Just so happens the girl he added to the mix is now god knows where and might very well end up dead.”

This time when I approach the interrogation room, I’m a bit more levelheaded, explaining in detail the clues we just found to the chief, loud enough for Carter to hear. His face pales withevery sentence, his knuckles whitening as he clutches the edge of the table.

I shouldn’t even be in here, none of us should be—conflict of interest and all—but I’m more than happy to watch as horror floods Carter’s face, his entire body stilling beneath my words. I can’t kill him but I can watch him fall from grace.

The chief leans back in his chair, his nostrils flared, silence filtering through the room for several seconds before he finally speaks. “Oh, how far the mighty have fallen.” He pauses, his gaze settling on the Alpha behind me. “Ruiz, book him, please.” Then he turns to me. “Hunter, you’re with me.”

I want to ask Carter what the fuck was the point but I don’t really care. My Omega is safe, Carter isn’t leaving, and I’m one step closer to going home.

LINCOLN

Celeste curls a little closer, her soft breaths against my bare chest making it hard to stay still. It smells like an entire rose garden in this place, keeping me under this syrupy haze of permanent arousal and domestic bliss. My arm’s draped over her, my fingers tracing lazy circles on her back, her body tucked into mine like she belongs there.

I called my neighbor earlier to let Jasmine out, just so I could stay here a bit longer, soaking in this moment with Celeste. My puppy’s probably lounging in my neighbor’s apartment, happy as hell, while I’m here, content to watch Celeste’s eyelashes flutter in her sleep.

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