Page 42 of Knot All Is Lost: Part 1

“Yes, so it seems,” I said, snapping the pencil I was holding at my side in half. “I’ll make sure this information gets into the right hands.”

“Sure, sure, I’ve got one more of these damn shelters to stop at, no way she could survive on her own,” he rattled on, waving me off as he trudged out the door.

“Rafael, who was that?” Clara asked as she returned to the front desk.

Calmly I tossed the pencil into the trash and faced her. “I need you to ask security to print the clearest picture they can of that man and post it on the watch out bulletin board. Then I need it to be sent to all the other branches of our shelters as well, he’s trolling them all.”

“Of course, who’s he looking for?” she inquired.

“No one, because he’s never getting her back,” I said, a growl lacing my words as I walked toward the main offices.

Nixon’s door was open and he was at his desk so I rapped on Spencer’s window and motioned for him to follow me as I walked by. The moment I stepped into Nixon’s office he looked up, then his face hardened with suspicion. “What happened? Is Cambrie alright? Is she still having trouble getting over what happened this morning?”

I held up a hand as Spencer joined us. “Close the door,” I barked.

Spencer did as he was told and walked around the desk to stand next to Nixon. I knew my Alpha nature was in control right now but I didn’t know how to calm it down without it involving killing the man who dared call himself Cambrie’s father.

“Rafael, you need to tell me what’s wrong,” Nixon said, his voice commanding.

I slammed the note with his name and phone number on his desk. “He came looking for her,” I managed to say anger making my hands shake so I clenched them into fists.

“Who is…” Nixon looked at the note. “Daryl Minks?”

“Cambrie’s father, who’s not even her real father. The bastard knew it all along and kept her around as his whipping boy to take his anger out on. He dared to come here and demand we give her back to him. SHE’S OURS!” I roared, slamming both fists on the desk. “He lost his rights to her the day he lifted a hand against her. My Little One will carry scars inflicted by him the rest of her life!”

Both of them stared at me in stunned shock, from my outburst or the news I gave them, I’m not sure but I had never felt fury like this ever before. I suppose it’s because I never had someone I wanted to protect and care for as much as I do for Cambrie. With every passing moment with her she was resurrecting my dead heart and I wasn’t sure if I was going to survive it at this rate.

“He was here and you let him walk away?!” Nixon demanded. “You should have called the police, had the bastard arrested not let him walk out the front door.”

“Did you want me to put out a sign in flashing lights that she was here and we know who you are?” I snarled. “If I did anything other than what I’d just done it would have been to rip out his throat right there in the lobby, not calling the police. They probably would have congratulated him and forced us to give her back or taken her for themselves, never to be seen again.”

“Okay guys, you two need to calm down,” Spencer interceded. “The Alpha waves going off in this room might make people take notice and we can’t have that. Rafael did the right thing, if we even hint we have her or know anything about her, shit hits the fan. We still don’t know who he was going to sell her to in the first place. It could be anyone, even the chief of police.”

Hearing Spencer siding with me and not Nixon helped to calm me down. I’d done the right thing by my Omega, I protected her the best way I could and no one was going to tell me otherwise.

“Now that you two have processed that realization, Rafael please sit, tell us exactly what happened,” Spencer requested as he rested his hip on the desk, getting comfortable.

The Beta was right, we needed to calm down and think about this logically to keep Cambrie safe. I pulled over one of the chairs I pushed out of my way in my rage, took a deep breath, and sat down.

“I’d just finished with a session and walked them out. While I was there this man approached me about his missing daughter. I managed to talk him into giving me a description so we had a heads up if she was one of our people. The man reeked of stale beer and I could easily tell other signs of being an alcoholic so I was leery of his intentions. Not that we would ever give out that information anyways,” I started, crossing one leg over the other in a pretense of calm.

“About halfway through the description, I had a gut feeling it was Cambrie. It wasn’t until he described what she was last wearing that I knew for sure he was talking about her. He’d started to drink something much stronger that he had in a flask and he became more agitated as he went. That’s when he let slip he wasn’t her father. Apparently, her mother got with this guy already pregnant or something else happened along the way. That he didn’t share. When I suggested he let her be since she’s eighteen and not even his, he shut down. It was almost like he realized he was saying too much and I might not tell him if we found her or not,” I mused as I stroked my chin, analyzing the interaction now that I didn’t have to fight the urge to kill him.

A groan of wood had me glancing at Nixon gripping his office chair’s arm so hard it threatened to splinter. “What else,” he asked through clenched teeth.

“He gave me his name and number, told me he was checking at the other shelters but he had a shift tonight. He wore a uniform shirt for one of the major warehouses on the outskirts of the city. Must be what job he was referring to,” I added. “It explains why Cambrie couldn’t ever figure out what time it was or when he would go to work. Those places do twelve hour shifts three or four days in a row.”

Spencer stood up and pushed Nixon aside pulling up something on the computer. “Good, looks like you already had someone inform the other shelters about him. There’s no way he could be Cambrie’s father. They look nothing alike.” He shifted the screen so Nixon could see.

The Alpha leaned forward memorizing every feature just as I did. The protectiveness of an Alpha was no joke, there is a reason we were considered fearsome leaders and held prominent positions. We defended what was ours till our last breath.

“I had Clara print that photo out and put it in the back room for all the shelter employees to see. I didn’t have her say who he was looking for, only we were to deny any and all knowledge of anyone he asks after,” I shared.

Nixon leaned back in his chair, biting the end of the pen he was now holding. “This just got a whole lot more complicated.”

“Did we really think he wouldn’t come looking for his life changing payout?” Spencer reasoned. “We need to keep an eye out for this guy but no one knows we have Cambrie. I’m going to have a contact I know in one of the security companies people hire for Omegas wipe her information from our system.”

“Is that wise?” I questioned. “Wouldn’t that draw more attention if he knows?”

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