The woman rattled off an address, and she wrote it down on a notepad. It was in Rockaway Beach, which was out of the way, but at least she would be in Queens. Maybe she could just take the rest of the day off and go home. After shoving the note in her pocket, she went to her car to make the long drive.
It took her over an hour by the time she got to the address. Pulling up, she saw it was an abandoned building at the edge of a commercial area. She got out of the car for a closer look. It was only two stories tall, and the red bricks outside were dirty and overrun with growing vines. The gate was boarded up and had a large “Keep Out” sign on it.
“Fuck.” This was a goddamn wild goose chase. Obviously, someone was playing a prank on her. Angry, she whirled around to walk back to her car, then froze. Her mouth went dry and her every single muscle in her body tensed.
A man was standing behind her, a gun pointed right at her chest. “Hello, Detective.” He smiled at her, showing a mouthful of teeth, reminding her of a shark. “Don’t try anything stupid. Now, be a good detective and do as I say.”
Her body tensed as adrenaline began to pump in her veins. She was trained to deal with situations like this, but she knew there was no way she could disarm him before he pulled the trigger.
Scared for her life and that of her unborn child, she nodded obediently.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lucas stared out of the window of his office on the sixty-eighth floor watching New York bloom before him. In the last week, the signs of early spring were everywhere; the snow was gone, children were out and about playing outside, and people seemingly were much more cheerful about the warming temperatures, dressing in bright colors. But wherever he turned, Lucas could only see only harsh and gray gloom. And emptiness.
His wolf whined pathetically, but he ignored it. Right after that incident outside the police station, the damn animal had been raging at him, clawing him up and trying to take control. He knew what it wanted. It wanted her.
In his rage, he had screamed at his wolf. She didn’t say it back! She was a scheming bitch who used us to further her career. She never loved us!
And that had sent his animal into a deep depression. It backed down and cowered from him, its presence barely felt. He told himself this was better, that at least now, he didn’t have to fight his wolf all the time.
“Mr. Anderson,” came Jared’s cool voice through the intercom. “Are you ready for your next meeting?”
He turned back to his desk, checking his calendar. It seemed like his life the past two weeks had been nothing but Fenrir business. In fact, it was the only thing keeping him occupied these days, and working from sunup to sundown ensured he didn’t have time to think about anything else.
“All right, let them in.”
He prepared himself by taking his seat, folding his hands on top of his desk. The door opened, and his father, Nick Vrost, Zac, Astrid—and to his surprise—Daric and Cross Jonasson walked inside. He hadn’t seen the warlock or his hybrid son since the attack at Blood Moon. “I didn’t know you were bringing more people,” he said to his father.
Grant folded his arms over his chest. “Daric and Cross have uncovered something about the mages, and we need to act now. There have been some more developments.”
Lucas tensed. He’d been so occupied with keeping himself occupied, he’d ignored Lycan affairs. There were much bigger and more important things happening right now. “What have you—”
A buzz from the intercom interrupted him. With an apologetic look at everyone, he pressed the call button. “Jared, you know this is an important meeting.”
“Yes, Mr. Anderson, but I think this is just as important.”
“What is it?”
“There’s a detective downstairs. A Detective Henry Sharpe.”
“What does he want?” Lucas didn’t have time for this. He’d been out of jail for two weeks and a detective from the NYPD was the last person he wanted to talk to.
“He says he has information about the mages.”
Lucas’s head snapped up and met his father’s gaze. “Send him up.”
“A detective who knows about mages?” Nick said. “How?”
“I don’t know.” Grant’s eyes narrowed. “But we should be prepared. Daric?”
“I can take him away if necessary,” the warlock said.
They made a quick plan of action and positioned themselves strategically around the room. When Jared announced the detective was here, Lucas instructed him to let the detective in.
The door opened, and the man barely stepped inside when Nick grabbed him by the arms and twisted him around, pushing him down to his knees. Astrid searched him and removed the gun strapped under his jacket.
“What do you know about mages?” Grant asked as he stared down at Detective Sharpe. They had decided to take the direct approach, and if it turned out to be a fluke or hoax, they could always erase his memory.
Sharpe looked up, strangely calm. “I know they exist.” Then he turned his head and looked straight at Lucas. “But I’m not here about them. Mr. Anderson, I need to talk to you about Sofia.”
The sound of her name, one that no one had dared say around him the past two weeks, made him shoot up to his feet. “I don’t want to talk about her.”
“Well too bad, because I won’t tell you what I know about mages unless you hear me out and what I have to say about her.” Nick tightened his hold, and he winced in pain, but continued. “I promise, I’ll tell you what I know. It has something to do about that day you were released from jail.”
Grant turned to Lucas. “Son? Why don’t you listen to what the detective has to say?”
He gritted his teeth, knowing what his father wanted. It was a simple exchange. All he had to do was listen to what this man had to say about that bitch. “Fine. Say what you need to say.”
“I was there that day you were released, Mr. Anderson, and you’ve read the situation wrong.” Sharpe took a deep breath. “You know that David Masters was the one who framed you, right?”
Lucas’s grip on his temper was slipping. He’d been surrounded by traitors all this time and he didn’t even know. “He’s dead, right? Shanked in prison?” His lawyer had told him earlier that day. It happened just last night.
Sharpe nodded. “Did you know he was a mage?”
Everyone in the room went still. “No,” Lucas said. “We did not.”
“Actually,” Astrid spoke up. “Sofia told me, and I told my father.”
Lucas pinned his future Beta with his gaze. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“Would you have believed her?” she shot back. “You didn’t even want anyone speaking her name. Anyway, right after you were released, she told me about Masters being a mage, and I told Dad. He said he was going to look into it.”
“And we have confirmed it,” Daric added. “Which is the reason why we are here now.”
Lucas huffed and turned to Sharpe. “Well? Go on,” he barked.
“While you were in jail, Sofia and I tracked him down,” the detective continued. “Actually, she’d been working all night, trying to find a way to prove you were innocent and that someone was framing you.” Sharpe looked him straight in the eyes. “She believed you. From the beginning, when we found Fraser. She even told the captain and that she had a relationship with you. Bushnell put her on paid leave and passed the case on to me.”
Lucas refused to let Sharpe’s words get to him. “And so, you found me guilty?”
“Actually, I was still trying to wrap my case up when Bushnell pushed me to have you arrested. When I refused, he went ahead and did it anyway. Sofia had nothing to do with it; she hadn’t even been around.”
Because she’d been with him at Shenandoah. “But why did your captain have me arrested?”
“It was Masters. He’d been controlling the captain the entire time. With a necklace he was wearing. If he hadn’t used it on me, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Astrid, Cross, and
Daric all looked at each other. Lucas was starting to get annoyed. What else was the trio hiding from him?
“A necklace?” This time, it was Cross who spoke. “What did it look like?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see it. But the moment Masters used it on me, I couldn’t control my own body. He made me point a gun at Sofia and tried to kill her. But I broke free, and we took him down.”
“This is what I was afraid of,” Daric said. “Alpha, Lucas, the reason we called for this meeting is because Cross has uncovered something very important about the mages, including some information about a necklace.”
“There is such an artifact that can be used to control humans,” Cross said. “And—”
Grant cleared his throat and glanced at Sharpe. “We can talk about this later.” He turned his gaze to Lucas. “Son?”
A pit began to form in Lucas’s stomach. He was still processing Sharpe’s words, trying to figure it out. Sofia had nothing to do with his arrest and worked to set him free. Could he believe the detective?
The intercom buzzed again, and he marched to his desk to answer it. “What now?”
Jared sounded apprehensive. “Er, Mr. Anderson, sorry, there are two gentlemen who are causing a ruckus downstairs. They are demanding to see you, refusing to leave. They’re threatening to call the press on you.”
Why the fuck was this his concern? “Who the hell are they?”
“It’s a Giorgios and George Selinofoto, sir.”
Sofia’s grandfather and father. For a brief second, guilt overcame him as he remembered his words to Sofia. He wouldn’t have done anything to harm her grandfather’s restaurant; that was petty of him. He was talking out of anger, and it had obviously worked because she did stay away.
“I’ll have our men escort them out,” Nick said.
“No.” The two men had been kind to him that night, and he wouldn’t let them suffer the indignity of being thrown out of the building. “Let them up and I’ll speak to them in the waiting room.”
“We don’t have time for this, Lucas,” Grant said in an exasperated voice. “The mages—”
“This will just be a second.” He didn’t bother to explain further, but instead, walked out to the waiting area. A few minutes later, the elevator doors opened, and he walked over to greet Sofia’s dad and grandfather as they stepped out of the car.
“Sir, I—” But he didn’t get a chance to say anything as a meaty fist connected with his jaw. It didn’t knock him down, though he did stagger back in surprise.
“You bastard!” George Selinofoto’s voice was filled with rage. “You fucking asshole! If I had a shotgun, I would shoot you in the fucking balls!’
“Excuse me?” Lucas rubbed his aching jaw. “What the fuck are you talking about?” He looked at the older Selinofoto, who just stood there, his expression fierce.
George’s face was red with anger. “Sofia, that’s who we’re talking about.”
“I haven’t seen or talked to your daughter in two weeks,” he said.
“Well maybe you should have!” George’s face went nuclear. “Because then maybe you would know that’s she’s pregnant!”
He understood the words, but his brain had a hard time processing it.
“Pregnant?”
Lucas turned around. It was his father who said the words. Everyone had filed out from his office and was in the waiting room.
“Yes, pregnant,” George spat. “She told me about what happened between the two of you. What you did and that you didn’t believe her even though she worked her tail off trying to get you free! And now, I’m cleaning up her room, and I find five pregnancy tests! All positive. She should have left your sorry ass in jail!”
All he could do was stare at George. Pregnant. Sofia was pregnant. With his—
“Mr. Ander—I mean Lucas! I’ve been trying to reach you for days!”
His head whipped toward the second elevator. He didn’t even hear the chime announcing its arrival or the person who had hopped out.
“Who the fuck are you? And how the hell did you get up here?” The private elevators could only be accessed by authorized personnel.
The petite, red-haired girl rolled her eyes and pulled what looked like a cherry lollipop from her mouth. The t-shirt emblazoned with a cute cartoon character and the short, checkered skirt she wore made her look like she was fifteen years old. “Duh, I cracked it. My dad always said the security on it was pathetic. I like the updates you made, but really, you need to make them better. A 356-bit encryption would—”
“Lizzie!” Astrid strode over to them. “What are you doing here?”
So, this was Lizzie Martin. Arctic blue eyes stared up at Lucas. “Like I said, I have to talk to you!”
“Me?”
“Hello? You hired me, remember?” she said with exasperation, her curly strawberry blonde hair bouncing as she shook her head. “I’ve been trying to reach you for days! You haven’t been picking up your private line.”
In truth, he hadn’t looked at his private number in a while because it was too hard. He would be tempted to look at his messages with Sofia and torture himself with all the memories. “Well, what is it?”
“Remember the names you asked me to cross-reference? Bianchi and Selinofoto?”
“What about them?”
“I didn’t find anything about them that wasn’t on public record already. But, when I checked the chatter on the dark web, I did find out one thing.” She paused, her pretty face suddenly turning serious. “Bianchi put out a hit on a Detective Selinofoto. Seven figures if done by the end of today.”
A fit of rage surged through him, and his wolf let out a deep, angry growl. He dashed back into his office and grabbed his personal cellphone. He dialed Sofia’s number and waited. It rang but no answer, so it went to voicemail. He tried again, but it was the same.
“She’s not answering her phone,” he said to no one in particular.
“I’ll call the station.” It was Sharpe. He was standing in front of his desk, already fishing his cell phone from his pocket.
Lucas dialed again. And again. Straight to voicemail, the robotic voice seemingly mocking him.
Dread and anger filled him at the same time. He’d been blind. His anger at her supposed betrayal stopped him from seeing what was right in front of him. All he could think about was that she was a human, not to be trusted. He was also angry at her for not saying the words back. For not loving him.
But she did love him. Tried to tell him that day outside the police station. Then he threw it back in her face and threatened to hurt her family. And she was pregnant, to boot. The thought of Sofia being pregnant with his child should have elated him. But, with her out of reach and the threat of Bianchi out there, he felt real terror and dread.
Please, let them be okay, he pleaded to any god or deity who could hear him. I don’t want to lose them. He wanted to hold her in his arms again, watch her grow with his child in her belly, and be with her forever.
“She’s not there?” Sharpe said, his brows furrowing together as he spoke on the phone. “When did she leave … that was a while ago. Did she say where? No?” The detective was pacing back and forth now. “Tell me what you saw … yeah … wait!” He stopped in his tracks. “Yes, go to her desk. Grab the notepad and use a pencil and rub it on the top—yes, you know how to do it.” He nodded and paused. “Good job Sergeant Winters. I’ll let you know when I find her.”
Anticipation made him impatient. “Where is she?”
“One of the sergeants saw her scribbling down on a notepad and then she left. I have the address she wrote down.”
“Where?”
“Forty-five Bonnet street in Rockaway.”
Pure panic set into him. “I have to get there. Now.” But how? Traffic would be terrible. It might take them over two hours to get there and by then, it might be too late. Or it might even be too late now.
“I’ll take you.”
Daric! How could he have forgot
ten they had a warlock who could travel through space in an instant?
Astrid was already looking up the address on her phone and showing it to her father. Daric nodded, then trained his blue-green eyes on him. “Come.” He held out his hand.
Without a second thought, he grabbed it.
Lucas had never traveled using magic before, and to say it was disconcerting was putting it mildly. There was a cold, clammy feeling that crawled over his skin, then penetrated deep into his bones. It took longer than he thought, but at the same time, it was too quick. He only blinked once, and when his vision focused, he found himself outdoors.
“We are here,” Daric declared.
There was a soft pop behind them, and when he turned around, Cross, Grant, Zac, and Astrid had appeared.
“There!” Astrid cried out pointing to the warehouse across the street. It looked abandoned and derelict, however the gate that guarded it was open. But the state of the structure wasn’t what distressed Astrid. It was the thick smoke curling out from the roof windows and the flames licking at the walls, threatening to devour the entire place.
“She’s in there,” Lucas said. He didn’t know how, but he just did. Panic and rage coursed through his veins, and his wolf which had been silent for days was now on full alert, its hackles raised. “I need to—” A loud, deafening boom drowned out his words as part of the building collapsed. “I said—let go, Papa!”
Grant held him back, using all his strength to keep him in place. “Son, you can’t! You’ll get yourself killed.”
“I don’t care!” he growled. “I need to go to her!”
“Son, you’re—”
“Do you think she is still in there and alive?” Daric asked.
“Yes.” He knew it. She had to be, because he couldn’t imagine living in a world without her in it. “Daric, I—”
“Go.” It was Cross who spoke. He was already unbuttoning his shirt. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Daric nodded at Grant who let go of Lucas reluctantly.
Alpha Ascending Page 24
