Page 36 of Wilde Beta

This was not good. What the hell had Emilio been involved in? Was that why the council had wanted him alive? This would have to be checked out soon.

A young man came in, whispered to Hector, and then left. Adam looked at him until, finally, Hector said something.

“The former alpha's family is here, and your mate is dealing with it.”

“Thank goodness because I'm afraid we'll have plenty to deal with. How do you suggest we find out what Emilio was up to?” Adam asked.

“What do you mean?” Hector questioned.

“You think he was involved in illegal activities, and if he was, we need to know what. If we have anything we can access, we need to try to make things good.” Adam responded.

“How can we do that?” Hector asked.

“It depends on what he was involved in. If he was stealing stuff, we have to return it. We would keep illegal arms but have to alert the council about it. Drugs would also have to be turned into the council," Adam suggested.

“And people? What if he was selling people?” Levi wondered.

“Oh, goddess! I hope not, but they would have to be freed, and those he dealt with in the past would have to be tracked down so they could be freed. We would have to call in experts to do something about this," Adam explained.

“I know a place he used to keep people. I followed him one day out of curiosity and wished I hadn't. I have a family, so my hands were tied," Levi observed.

“We need to go there now. I've seen some places, and the people are not treated well," Adam declared.

“I can drive you there," Levi said as he headed out to the truck in the driveway and jumped into the driver's seat.

Adam thought he was being a bit forward, but since he didn't know where anything was, he let him drive. The truck was a Crew Cab, so Hector jumped into the back seat. Pedro was fast, but not ridiculously so. It took about fifteen minutes to get to the large workshop.

No one was around outside, and the doors were padlocked outside. Adam imagined it was pretty hot inside. He didn't have the talent to pick locks like his mate, so he returned to the truck, got a hammer, and knocked the lock off. The second the door opened. He knew it wasn't good.

Thankfully, he had his phone with him, but it would be expensive since he only had national phone service in the US. He changed his mind. He needed Harry anyway, so he did what Mel did. “Harry, Harry, Harry.”

Mel explained that they'd seen it in a movie, and Harry cast a spell so people who knew her could call her in an emergency. It seemed there were a lot of those.

“What's the emergency this time?” Harry said, and then she looked at the door after she had taken a breath. “Oh, dear goddess. I thought we were through with these for a while. I guess Emilio was in this up to his eyeballs.”

They all walked in, and while it didn't appear anyone was dead, some of them looked as though they might be close. Adam didn't know when Harry had done it, but she'd called in people, which immediately appeared.

They disappeared with some people, and some witches disappeared on their own. Apparently, the building had been spelled, and no one could leave until the door was open.

“Can you guys get some water and give it to those unable to leave?” Harry asked.

Adam and his new betas immediately got a bucket of water sitting near the sink. He smelled it first to make sure it didn't contain chemicals. Determining it was clean, he let Hector and Levi pass out the water while he looked around to see if there was any food.

He started handing out many trail bars to those who looked to be in good shape and wouldn't be taken away soon. The witches concentrated on those in bad shape first.

It wasn't long before Damon and Marissa showed up. “Tell me what's going on!” Damon demanded.

“My new beta informed me of what he had seen and heard. So, we came to see if Emilio was involved in the slave trade. It seems he was. That was probably why the council wanted him alive. As far as I can tell, no one here was dead, but some are in really bad shape. Emilio hadn't intended to come back anytime soon. He left these poor people to his less-than-tender mercies. Everyone in here would have been dead when he finally returned. The building was spelled to prevent witches from leaving. As soon as we opened the door, some started taking off. Harry called others, and they immediately took those in the worst shape away. What you see left are those able to walk and talk. We've been handing out water and some kind of trail bar that were left," Adam explained.

“Someone knew, but they never told me. I need to find out who allowed this to happen and deal with them. Meanwhile, I need you to find out if more places like this are around. There are usually a few people with nowhere to go, and I would appreciate you helping them out until they decide what to do," Damon directed.

“We will do what we can. I will see if Mel can care for anyone with nowhere to go. This is terrible. I can't understand why this keeps happening," Adam admitted.

“Man's inhumanity to man, and then you add in greed, and there is nothing some people won't do," Damon explained.

It took several hours before they reached the people with nowhere to go. They took the first group in the truck to the alpha's house. Mel was waiting, having clearly been informed of what was happening.

She would have to deal with the fact that they had no decent clothing, and all needed a good meal. Even though the house was large, the group was larger.

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