Page 45 of Wolf Found

“You?” Damn, the kid pulled no punches.

Ash nodded.

The boy thought about it for a moment, scrunching up his lips and wiggling them back and forth. “If the old man is holding him prisoner, he’s probably in the alpha’s house.”

His older compatriot turned to him, eyes round. “You can’t call him that.”

The younger shrugged, uncaring, and finally put the platter down on a nearby counter. “He chased away Graham by being a jerk.” He turned back to Ash. “Graham used to make us cookies. And he made sure we got some too, even though we’re just omegas.”

“You’re not ‘just’ omegas. You’re omegas,” Ash answered automatically. He was used to that attitude in Graham, though he was slowly getting past it. Ash thought they probably had a long road ahead of them to truly work through the hurt it had caused.

The young boy leaned in and sniffed. “You’re an alpha.”

“I am.”

He nodded, once, definitively. “You should check the alpha’s house. You better take care of Graham. He’s the best.”

“Believe me,” Ash told him, in all seriousness. “I know.” He reached out and patted the kid’s head before heading back out.

There was a chance his new friend would raise an alarm, but he doubted it. Omegas in the Martingale pack were taught to be quiet and submissive at best, and even working against the pack, Ash was an alpha. To be respected.

It was nauseating.

No matter what happened, he realized, he couldn’t let it go after getting Graham out of here. He wasn’t a savior, but he needed to at least let these people know there was another option. Maybe they’d all be like Joey, too scared to start a new life, but at least he would have done something that wasn’t just getting himself out.

They were, again, his people. He owed them something.

He worked his way around the side of the building toward the alpha residence. That was a lot riskier, set apart as that building was from the others. The alpha was above everyone else, after all.

He was almost to the back door when two men came out, and he had to jump back into the bushes.

“I don’t like it,” one of the men said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Since when was it acceptable to squander pack funds on cigarettes when they had children doing dishes?

The other man didn’t smoke, just leaned against the railing. “Yeah. Think it’s reached his mind? I can’t imagine why else one damned omega was worth that much effort.”

“It’s Graham, jackass,” the smoker pointed out, and obviously, Ash was inclined to agree. “Kid’s the model omega. Best cook the pack has had in almost twenty years.”

There was a deep sigh, followed by a second one, before the non-smoker spoke again. “I guess the food’s been pretty shitty the last month. That cabbage last night was like a pile of mush.”

“You might be right about the sickness though.” The smoker gave a cough and stubbed out his half-finished cigarette. “There’s something very wrong around here, and when the pack is rotting from the inside, it always starts with the alpha.”

The men went silent after that, heading off in the direction of one of the communal living buildings, right past Ash’s hiding place. He had a hard time believing neither noticed the smell of strange alpha, but if they did, neither of them said a word or looked his way.

Once they were out of sight, Ash rushed up the stairs into the back and plastered himself against the mudroom wall. He listened for a long time but heard less than half a dozen heartbeats in the house, none of them anywhere near him.

Most importantly, now that he was this close, he could definitely feel the pull of Graham’s bond with him.

Just a few minutes, he thought in Graham’s direction, even though he knew the man couldn’t hear him.I’m coming. I will get you out of here.

25

Bastards

You won’t be a member of anyone’s pack.

Graham had known something was off about the situation, but this was worse than anything he’d imagined. The alpha wasn’t just taking him away from his chosen family and trying to force him back into the Martingale kitchen.

Unless Graham was greatly mistaken, the man was threatening to kill him unless he agreed to cut ties with the Kismet wolves.

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