Page 104 of Scapegoat

“Fuck!” I shouted. “Fuck!”

“Fucking calm down,” Xavier snapped.

“While Abigail kills our mate?” Atlas looked at my brother in horror right now. “Are you fucking serious right now?”

“We have to think,” Xavier insisted. “We need to be smart about this.”

“While that fucking bitch threatens to kill Kai,” I said, shaking my head slowly.

Xavier was always the one who stayed in control, but right now I hated that he could. He needed to be shouting, tearing this place apart, the whole fucking town, to find her. He stared right back, meeting my gaze.

“We have to be smart precisely because she’s threatening to kill Kai.” And his voice broke. “So we need to work out where the fuck they’ve got our mate, outwit Abigail and find Kai before that happens.”

Chapter 59

Xavier

“I’ll do whatever I have to ensure my daughter gets the future she deserves.”

Abigail’s words rang in my ears as I scanned the phone bill. My pulse rate had ratcheted up with each one of her vicious words. Kai’s mother was a fucking monster, but one we needed to outwit to get our girl. So I had to shove aside the thoughts that kept bubbling up of what Abigail might be doing right now, and focus on hunting down some clues.

“This is Dad’s number,” I said, stabbing a finger at the front of the bill. “I’ll call him while you call Kai’s dad.”

“You think he’s in on this?” Jayden asked with a frown.

“No, but he’s one of the few people we can ask questions, so let’s just make sure there’s nothing there before we proceed further.”

“After you call Dad,” Atlas said, staring at me. “Do another video call. The olds never know the difference between a phone one and a video one. It might show us something.”

“I reckon I know where Abigail is.” Jayden’s finger stabbed the air. “There was something familiar about that restaurant.”

“It’s that cafe Mum and the dads took us to in Granville,” Atlas said and we both blinked. He shrugged. “I was focussed on the background, not that bitch. I remember the booths. They have material on them with that weird swirly pattern, not vinyl like Melva’s.”

“Right. OK.”

I put what we thought was Greg’s number into the phone and then hit video call.

“Boys?”

Our fathers had seemed so big and strong when we were growing up, but I got none of that now. The view on the screen was blurry because Greg was holding the phone up to his ears.

“Dad, hold the phone down near your face.”

The view didn’t improve. This wasn’t my father. His face was gaunt and his hair was wild, the white of his eyes clear as he stared.

“How’d you get this number? What’re you doing?” He glanced around, as if someone might walk in at any moment.

“Where’s Kai?” I commanded.

I didn’t want him to answer. I didn’t want my father to be involved in this. But his lips parted, his throat convulsed, ready to spill something out. I watched his mouth move like a fish flopping on a bank, sucking in air when it needed water. But Dad didn’t say a thing. His expression grew even more frenzied as he clawed at his throat. Red lines were partially hidden by his beard as he let out a gusty sigh.

“I can’t.”

“You can’t tell us?” Jay demanded, injecting his alpha bark into it. Our father’s throat worked again, wanting to answer, but something stopped him. Then blood trickled out of his nose, his hand blocking the nostril in an instant.

Something that looked well practised.

“Abigail’s put some kind of… alpha block on him?” I said to the others.

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