Page 51 of Pack Deception: Part Two

They all look at me. As pack alpha, it’s my job to call the shots. In our pack, I rarely have to make calls like this because we’re all usually on the same wavelength with everything. But not now. Now, everyone wants to be out here actually looking for our mate. Nobody wants to wait at home twiddling their thumbs. But one look at Hudson, and Iknowhe will fight me tooth and nail to stay out here. There’s an edge to his eyes that tells me now is not the time to try to pull rank on him. He’s riding a vicious, vulnerable wave that is ready to take out everything in his path.

“Maverick, you and Mason head back to the house. It was your contact, and there should be two of us at the house. Just in case.”

They look at me for a minute like they want to argue, but then nod. “Houston will be there, too. He’s already working with his friend about tracking where that SUV went after leaving the restaurant. Damien will stick around here with me to talk to staff and guests to see if anyone saw anything.”

“We’ll drive around and look for her in the meantime,” I tell Hudson, and his eyes shudder in relief. Doing something.

Heneedsto be doing something.

Right. We’ve got a plan.

We’ll get her back.

We have to get her back.

Twenty-Two

Maverick

Houston’s contactlost the car when it went into a parking garage a few streets away from the restaurant. He thinks they may have switched cars in the garage and then pulled out without anyone the wiser.

The same contact told us the searches Damien and Wells had him do into Pack Monroe’s friends and family led nowhere. Before I could throw something at the lack of any usable information, he went on.

A charge to a private detective,he’d said. There were several payments for the same amount. Made every few weeks for months. To one person.

The bastards hired a PI to find Summer. They probably found her weeks ago, but confirmed it when they responded to her threatening text.

I’m going to make you pay.

When I read the text she sent them, I didn’t know what to fucking feel. So damn proud of her for her bravery. Fucking furious at her for putting herself in danger. Absolutely terrified at their response.

I knew then, intrinsically, that trouble was coming.

Now she’s gone. I’ve been pouring over the security footage from the restaurant since we got home. Looking for something, anything, that could help us. I’ve got the wide angle of one of the tills open where you can see Wells stop that woman–Jade–from walking to the bathroom when Mason walks up behind me.

“What’re you doing?” he whispers. He must be trying to avoid being a distraction to the OPS agents who showed up half an hour ago as they talk to Houston.

I’d called Jackson, one of Bailee’s alphas that I spent a few hours playing cards with while Summer got tattooed. His twin brother, James, works for OPS. When I told him what happened, you could hear Bailee in the background saying she’d call James, who I guess was already working tonight.

He’s now in my living room, talking to the security we hired to keep our omegasafe.

“Just watching the restaurant tapes again,” I answer Mason, and hand my phone over. Sick of looking at it. He grabs it, and stares at the screen for a minute, taking in the footage. A moment later I watch all the blood drain from his face as he stares at the screen like he’s seen a ghost.

“Who–” His throat bobs as he swallows a lump and tries again. “Who is that?” His voice shakes.

“That’s Jade. One of Summer’s exes. You know that.” I frown at him.

“I don’t, though… She's never shown us pictures. We asked once but dropped it when she didn’t… She said her old pack was named Monroe.” His eyes look haunted as they meet mine.

“Yeah, that’s Jade Monroe. Mason, what’s up?” His reaction is starting to worry me. As is the swaying his body is starting to do, and I shoot a hand out to make sure he doesn’t hit the floor since it looks like he may faint.

“No. That’s Jade Moore. My old alpha.” I jerk back a little on instinct at his words.

“What?” There’s no way…

“That’s… Moore. That was their name. Jade and Connor and Brody.Moore. I didn’t know… How would I have known?” His voice starts to get louder and louder as he speaks. “She never said their first names. Never showed us pictures. I didn’t know!” His breathing gets shallower and shallower, panic setting in. “My fault,” he whispers.

“Stop,” I bark. So rarely do I use my alpha bark on him. “Breathe,” I say again, and he does. “It’s not your fault. It’s nobody’s fault but theirs. We’re going to get her back.” He nods along with my words, eyes still full of self-loathing.

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