Page 3 of Two For the Show
“She’s gone.” My voice is stiff. There’s no bitterness because I don’t begrudge her for what she did in leaving us. I’m worried about how it will affect Quinton and his Alpha Rot, and Alex with her Foresaken Omega Syndrome, but that doesn’t mean I hate her for leaving.
I’m not even mad at her.
I am, however, mad at myself for somehow propagating a culture that makes members of my troupe think it’s okay to treat anyone like this, much less an Omega. It makes me rethink whether I should even be doing this. I thought I vetted everyone, but clearly I didn’t do it well enough if someone who would do something like this made his way into my circus.
Fuck, after I clean up this mess, I’m going to hire an HR person so I can have someone to double-check my decisions.
Dario is on his feet at my words, and Dexter’s face falls completely blank. Matteo, however, rubs his chest.
“She’s scared,” the Beta says quietly. “I’ve been trying to understand the bond a bit more. Interpreting her emotions is challenging because I have to adjust for how they differ from my own, but I’m fairly certain I understand this one. I think she’s terrified.”
“Yeah, fear makes sense, considering someone here told her fucking pack where to find her.” I can’t control the volume of my voice as the words rip out of me. “One of my people betrayed us all!” It takes me a moment to remember I’m notin my trailer and I can’t punch a hole through the goddamn wall. “Whoever these fucking guys are that attacked her, tormented her, need to be found because it’s one of them, and I am not going to let them get by with a simple firing.”
“What’s your plan, then?” Dexter asks cynically. “Kill the clowns, and when her pack shows up here looking for her, kill them too?”
Dario blinks slowly as he regards his twin. “Why not? It’s the only way she’ll be safe, right? If we get rid of them for good? Otherwise, they’ll all be spectres that will haunt her every move. It may be the only way to guarantee her safety.”
“We’re not murderers,” Dexter spits.
“It’s in our blood.” The tattooed twin shrugs. “That’s what you were suggesting, right, Jude?”
Is that what I was suggesting?
I was in my fair share of bar fights before I got sober, and I’ve copped a couple of assault charges, but I’m reformed.
Aren’t I?
I guess, if push comes to shove, I could defend someone I care about if there was a risk of harm. Like, I can’t say that if I found Alex with one of those shitty Alphas and I saw how they treated her, I wouldn’t tear him limb from limb.
So I guess murderisn’toff the table. But it’s not my first choice.
What a thought to have at three o’clock in the afternoon.
“Didn’t Rex serve time for murder?” Dario continues, looking at me hopefully. “Maybe he’d be willing to…”
“He was a juvenile,” I cut the twin off. “He was like twelve, and he killed his sister’s rapist when he walked inon it happening. He’s not some violent hit man.” It’s hard to imagine the contortionist doing anything violent.
“Still,” Dario insists. “We have to do something drastic.”
“It’s not going to bring her back,” Matteo says softly. “And would she even want to come back to a pack of violent men? From the frying pan and into the fire?”
“But we wouldn’t hurt her!” Dario insists. He’s on edge, his eyes a little wild, and I can’t say I blame him.
I think back to all of the times I’ve seen my sister flinch. Every time I saw Alex shy away from touch.
“It wouldn’t matter,” I say eventually. “Violence is violence. We have to be better than those assholes.”
“But how are we going to get her back before they find her?” Dario’s tone is laced with defeat. “They’re fucking rich, and we’re just a bunch of carnies. No one would ever side with us.”
“We’re not carnies,” Dexter snaps. “We’re entertainers. And we may not be rich, but we have a stage. Let’s figure out how to use it to our advantage.”
Ultimately,I didn’t throw my weight around at the staff meeting, demanding answers. I wanted to, but Matteo gently pointed out that in doing so, I would reveal our hand and potentially send the perpetrators into a cleanup mode. It’s best to let them believe that they got away with it.
So, with that in mind, I announced that Alex was gone, and my pack took note of people’s reactions to see who was a little too excited about it. One by one, we’llbring them in for questioning, and hopefully root out our rat.
Until then, we need to figure out how to locate Alex and bring her back.
Or, as Dexter suggested, we find a way to make her feel safe enough to come to us. We still don’t know how we’re going to do that, but he was right that we should figure out how to use our stage to let her know this is a safe place to land.
