Page 3 of The Last Ultimatum: Part 1

“Well, have fun back home. And check in once in a while.”

I nodded as he sped up towards the conference room.

A few minutes later, Michael and Tucker ran by me, barely even acknowledging me.

Tucker at least gave a wave.

I forced myself to stay the course and not turn around.

When Walker rounded the corner, he came to a quick halt to avoid slamming into me.

“Where are you headed? The conference room is this way.”

“I wasn’t called. I’m on vacation, remember?”

“Seriously? But this is a big breakthrough. Taylor called in with the confirmed location of the next Collector’s sale. Shesays it’s the biggest one yet and if we can shut it down, it will put a tremendous crack in the underground sales of shifter witches. This is huge Lachlan, and what we’ve all been waiting for.”

His excitement was contagious. Technically, my flight wasn’t until tomorrow afternoon. I had the time, and I knew that if I walked away now, I’d spend every day of my trip wondering what the guys were up to. Walker was right. This was a potentially huge breakthrough for us.

He must have known I was coming, because he waited for me before we both hurried down the hall and into the conference room.

Michael rolled his eyes when he saw me, but didn’t say anything.

“Everyone, take a seat quickly. We’re going to have to move fast on this,” Silas said. “Taylor, you have the floor.”

“After the last open market we destroyed, things have locked down significantly on the network.”

We all turned to stare at Walker. He and his mate had caused mass chaos there. In the end, it was presumed Walker was dead by the “beast” who was actually Lindsey, his true mate. They were both fine, happily mated, and settled into San Marco along with their two adopted kids, Maya and Dante. But as far as the Collectors were concerned, Walker, or rather Walter Grimes, was dead, and Taylor, who went by Tayla, was now a grieving widow. It was a huge break that they even allowed her to stay in the loop after all that mess.

“So we have to stay diligent on this one. As an additional measure of security, everything is put into place by the orchestrator, whose identity we still do not know. Once things are in place, a notice goes out with only the date of the event and we have twenty-four hours to respond for interest. That came through last week and I just heard back today that in just forty-eight hours to get to a hotel just outside Sydney, Australiabefore our next set of instructions is released, but only to those that arrive in time. No more electronics from there. I've already booked the penthouse to show I am very interested.”

“Wow, they’re really getting paranoid,” I said.

All eyes turned to me.

“Wait, aren’t you on vacation?” Silas asked.

“I am.”

“Where are you headed?”

“Sydney.”

The large gorilla shifter and team lead of Bravo team gave me a triumphant grin.

I shook my head before the words were even out of his mouth.

“I’m going to need you on standby in case this thing gets ugly. If they’re holding in Australia, then that likely means weeks, if not months of transportation for these victims. They’re going to need help.”

“Come on Silas, he’s legit on vacation. Just because he’s in the area doesn’t mean you can just pull him in on call,” Michael argued.

While I appreciated the sentiment, we both knew I would likely cave and agree to this.

“Would you reconsider if I told you that witches aren’t the only thing up for trade and auction?”

“What do you mean?” I asked Taylor.

She bit her lip. “They have some rare animal shifters on the list this time too—kangaroo, koala, Tasmanian devils, and dingoes.”

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