“Why do you think this crime family is making alphas disappear? Omegas, I can understand, but alphas too?” Stone says, running a hand along his jaw.
“I wondered the same thing. So I did a bunch of looking on the dark web, because that was the only place I could find a lead, and I found this.”
I open my laptop screen and pull up the quick four-second clip. My packmates all huddle around my laptop as I display the video on full screen for them to watch.
“Those are feral alphas,” Killian says, his voice low.
“Feral alphas fighting in some sort of cage fight,” Stone adds.
“This livestream was obviously meant as some sort of preview of sorts,” I explain. “These kinds of things are common on the dark web. You get a sneak peek and then you have to pay to see more. When I tried screen recording what I was watching, my entire system crashed.”
“Fuck, and your shit is locked down,” Theo says, his gaze jerking up to meet mine.
“Yes,” I say. This is my element. My thing. I may not be confident in any other area of life, but I know I’m good at what I do. “Which tells me that they have to have backing that involves resources that a Southside crime family shouldn’t have access to, even if they are rich from the drug trade.”
“We’re talking Northsider involvement, aren’t we?” Killian says, taking a deep breath.
“We are.”
There’s a moment of silence as we all take this information in.
“I’ll call the station and see if any other detectives can look into this sort of thing. There hasn’t been any documentation on this sort of thing so far.”
“We’re missing something here,” Theo murmurs softly. “Feral alpha fighting rings are a big deal, but how do they connect to the missing omegas? And the drug trade?”
Killian’s expression darkens and he purses his lips together like he’s deep in thought.
“You’ve got an idea, don’t you, Killian?” Stone asks him.
“I do," he nods, gravely. “There are two ways I can imagine you could make an alpha feral, even if they didn’t display any signs before.”
I inhale sharply and feel myself going a bit pale. Fuck, the lack of sleep and rocket fuel energy drinks I had aren’t helping with that feeling of vertigo I get at his words.
“Drugs and getting him into a rut without relief,” Stone says softly.
“Exactly what I was thinking.”
“God, that would be torture,” Theo groans. “Do you think that’s what they do to the omegas they make disappear too?”
“I don’t know, but we have to figure this out,” Killian says. “This is bigger than we thought.”
“How does this work with Reyna’s testimony?” Theo asks.
“We’ll probably have to see how things develop,” Stone says. “But I can only see it being useful, even if this case suddenly gets a lot bigger than we thought.”
“Honestly, this case may just have to be separated into two big chunks,” Theo says, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I’ll have to talk to the firm and work with the police department on this, but the original intent was just to prove Northside involvement and try and make the Southside safer for omegas. Whatever this is? It’s a lot bigger.”
“Good work,” Killian says, clasping my shoulder and giving me a nod of approval. “You should get some rest.”
I reach up and scratch the back of my neck. “I should, shouldn’t I,” I murmur, glancing away.
I’m still wired. I’m not sure I could go to sleep if I tried. I should head back to my room, though, I don’t want to worry the rest of the pack. They tend to worry about me when they see I haven’t gotten any sleep.
“Okay, have a good day at work, guys,” I say, picking up my laptop.
I leave the three of them in Stone’s room. They’re probably going to talk a bit more. I’ve done my job, though. I’ve given them new information to work with.
My eyes feel heavy as I step out into the hallway, yawning. I freeze when I see Reyna hovering outside the doorway to her room. Her stiff shoulders are made obvious by the tank top she must’ve worn to bed.