Page 112 of Sinful Mates

The ache in my chest tripled at my daughter’s suffering, and I clutched her tighter, my mind scrabbling for a resolution.

Castor cleared the onlookers away. “Give us some space.”

Shaking, I probed her mind with magick for the cause and solution. Shouting, slamming, and arguing distressed her. She sought me out for comfort but was denied. Separation anxiety snapped the thin bubble protecting her mind.

Guilt sliced at my chest when I should have been with her and stayed out of club business. Competing priorities demanded my time and I strained to accommodate them all. Mia should take precedence, but Zethan’s arrest shattered my plans.

Slade exchanged a worried glance with me. “Can you restore the barrier?”

Power tingled at my fingertips as I called it back to me. “Yes, but that’s only temporary. Mia needs a permanent solution.”

The only result that came to mind was extracting the catastrophic memories as I started to do for Alaric before he interrupted my process.

“Yes, my child,”Isis urged.“Take them away and give them to me.”

Goddess, yes. My healing powers.

I placed my hands on the sides of my daughter’s head and began to draw out the memories. Confusion crowded my mind as Mia’s shock slowed my thought processes. Blood splattered her face and she blinked and wiped it away. A burning hole in her parent’s foreheads, their bodies thumping as they collapsed on the concrete, their eyes dull and lifeless. Everything going black as Zethan knocked her out. Darkness beyond that as trapped memories fought for release.

“Angel?” Alaric shook me from my stupor.

“I’m okay.” I sniffed and swiped at my forehead.

Removing Mia’s memories wasn’t as traumatic as Alaric’s.

My daughter rested in Slade’s lap, asleep and peaceful.

“You did it, angel.” Alaric brought me into his embrace, warming the devastated parts of me, chilled by Mia’s shock and memory.

Slade’s phone thrummed in his pocket. “Shit.” He fished it out and answered it. “Benny? What’s going on?”

“They’ve taken the girls,” Benny’s strained voice came through the line. “Arrested me and Slash. We’re at the Bathurst Police and need a lawyer.”

“Arrested you for what?” Castor got in.

“Trafficking women,” Benny replied.

Fury swept through my veins. Trafficking came with serious time. The police were not implicating my men in all of this.

“Where are the women?” Castor remained calm for the rest of us.

Alaric twitched with agitation and distress as if he could sense the end of this tragic story.

“Here, I think,” Benny said. “I saw them getting interviewed.”

A small ray of hope. Hopefully they would explain they were being protected, unless the police threatened to harm them or their families. Fuck. This got more complicated and twisted by the second.

“We have to get them back,” Alaric butted in.

“Fuck. Leave it with me.” Broken plastic clattered on the floor from Slade crushing his phone. “Genius, get onto Barry immediately and get him down to the police station. Alaric, you’re coming with me.”

“No.” I grabbed Slade’s shoulder. “Alaric’s staying with Mia.”

The tight loop on Alaric’s bond eased. I went to him, clasping his shoulders, giving him strength. He clasped my hand, needing it for sanity.

Slade went to argue with me, and I shut him down with, “Take me to the station, Mr. Vincent. I have an idea.”

CHAPTER39

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