by Nora Phoenix
"Hell yes. When you started seeing Kean, I was worried, but Palani told me to back off. Then when Ruari got thrown into the mix, I was even more worried, and I was told to back off again. I did, but I wanted Enar's opinion on it, since he has such good insight into people."
Bray softly shook his head. "And Enar said I had performance anxiety."
"He did. He said that you had a deep fear of failing and of rejection and that you hide that behind an arrogant exterior."
Bray's mouth dropped open a little. What the hell was Lidon talking about? Or Enar, in fact? He didn't have a fear of…
He let it sink in, this casual observation. Wasn't that what he'd been feeling all along? A fear of fucking things up with his men? A fear of failing at the most important thing in his life: being a good mate and being a great father to his son? And not to forget the fear of being rejected, of Kean and Ruari discovering they were happier together than with him included.
Oh god, it was true. How had he not realized this? How was it possible that Enar, who he respected but didn't have that much personal interaction with, had seen it and he had never realized it himself?
"I don't know what to say," he said, his voice soft.
"You asked me how I managed to build a relationship with my men. I can't take the credit for that, Bray. They had to drag me kicking and screaming at times, because I was a stubborn alpha who thought I knew better, that I was above silly things like emotions and talking about feelings. God, did they prove me wrong. I fucked up too many times to count, and it's only because of them that it works. All I can tell you is that you need to learn how to talk. I know it's not what we've been taught in society, which holds up this crazy ideal of alphas as being untouchable and always strong and never emotional. That ideal is bullshit and toxic and destructive as hell for relationships. Talk to your men, Bray. Show them what you feel, what you think, what hurts inside. It's the hardest thing you'll ever do, but it's also the single best relationship advice I can ever give you."
Bray was quiet for a long time, ruminating on the alpha’s words. From anyone else, he would've laughed them off, maybe. At least feel safe to ignore them. But not from Lidon. Not from the man he respected so much, who had not only become a brilliant pack alpha, but also a great husband and father.
Much like his own father, actually, and now that Bray thought about it, what Lidon said looked a hell of a lot like what his dad was doing with his boys. Their dynamics were completely different than those between the pack alpha and his men, obviously, but the principles were the same. They were talking to each other, with each other, communicating, sharing feelings and shit. It terrified him, the idea of opening up about what was going on inside of him, but maybe if the two alphas he looked up to most in his life could do it, he could too.
"We're here," Jay, who was driving, announced, and Bray pushed all thoughts of Kean and Ruari down. He needed to focus on his job now.
They’d agreed to park three streets away from the building to make sure they wouldn't be spotted driving up. Bray felt the adrenaline rush through him, and he took a steadying breath.
"Bray," Lidon said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I may not have expressed myself in the best way, because I suck at this whole communicating thing as well, but I hope that you heard my deep appreciation for you in all of that. You're a good man, and I have every faith in you."
"Thank you," Bray said, and it was strange, but it felt like something heavy had been lifted off his shoulders, his soul even.
"Okay, let's do this," Lidon said, and Bray saw his face change, his eyes going sharp.
They got out of the car, closing the doors softly behind them. "Do we have any new information that should make us reconsider our plan?" Lidon asked, and Bray was reminded that this used to be his job. The man had years on the force, including running some pretty big drug busts. This was his expertise, which was lucky in this case, because they would need it.
Lidon looked around the circle of men, and none of them spoke up. "Okay, let's follow the plan."
That was the last thing they said as they split up into three groups of two, Bray joining forces with Isam. They headed to the back entrance of the building, where Duer had been sure there was a broken window they could use for access. Dressed completely in black, they blended in with the night, as there were no streetlights here. It was a bit of a seedy industrial area, Bray thought. Not a place where respected companies would want an office. It made perfect sense for Wyndham to set up here then.
When they got close to the building, Isam tapped Bray on his arm, pointing at the shadow of a figure. Bray couldn't make out his features, but he was slouched on a chair next to the back door. A guard, most likely, though not a very active one.
He signaled to Isam to draw him out, and they split up, Isam deliberately crunching something under his foot to draw the guard toward him, but the shadow didn't move. Bray crept closer, careful not to make a sound, and then listened. A soft snoring noise drifted toward him, and he had to suppress a smile. Sometimes, bad guys almost made it too easy.
They came at him from both sides, Bray from his right and Isam from his left, and when the guy jolted awake, he had a hand clamped down on his mouth and another one on his crotch, both hands preventing him from making a sound. Bray looked straight into his eyes, bringing his face close. He never said a word, but simply gestured at the door and made the movement to unlock it. The kid, because really, he couldn't be older than twenty, managed to nod, even with Bray's hand on his mouth.
Bray allowed him to get up, moving behind him, still keeping him silenced just in case he decided to be an idiot and scream. The door opened with a soft beep when the kid held a key card in front of it, and Bray was shocked at the stupidity of that system. All they’d needed to do was knock the kid out and grab his key card, for fuck's sake.
He held out his hand, and the kid handed over his key card with a slightly trembling hand. Bray nodded to Isam, who found his carotid artery and pressed on it for a few seconds, making the kid sag in Bray's arms. Silently, they carried him to the side, where they quickly bound him with zip tie and taped his mouth shut with duct tape. There was a reason those two things were cliché in so many movies: they worked.
When they were satisfied he wasn't going anywhere, Bray quickly patted him down, discovering a small set of keys, a wallet, and a phone. He took all three, figuring they might come in handy at some point, and then he and Isam made their way inside, guns drawn. It was quiet inside the building, which was to be expected at midnight, but it was an eerie feeling,
Duer hadn't be sure where in the building Melloni was being held, but he’d spotted a lab when he’d been dragged in and had thought that was a weird thing in a building like that. When Palani had brought Bray up to speed on everything, he’d said Duer had connected the dots after he and Lidon had mentioned Melloni. Watkins, the private investigator Lidon had hired before to trace Melloni, had shared with Lidon that Melloni had a bedroom in the back of the building he’d discovered. They were counting on Melloni not being moved since then.
The first rooms they encountered were storage rooms, but they were mostly empty, aside from some boxes. They went back into the hallway, and a soft noise was audible from somewhere in the building. Was that caused by their men? Or had their presence been detected, somehow? Bray had seen no evidence of a security system, but that didn't mean there wasn’t one. They could have triggered a silent alarm, which could mean the building would be crawling with men soon.
Either way, speed was of the essence, and Lidon had told them to work fast and efficiently, but to be careful. The third room they tried was locked, and a quick look by a tiny pocket light revealed it wasn't the type you could open with a key card or kick open—not that he would've dared to make that much noise right now. This required a little more finesse. Or a key.
Bray reached for the set of keys he taken off the guard, making sure they didn't jingle as he tried them one by one. The fourth one fit, and
he opened the door, immediately stepping aside in case someone had heard them. But no one came, so they entered the room, guns still drawn.
"Oh, for fuck’s sake, what do I need to do to get some sleep around here?" a very irritated voice spoke, making Bray almost jump.
He quickly gestured at Isam to close the door behind them. This was definitely a bedroom, with a bed, with a man who suddenly shot up into a sitting position. "Who are you?" Bray whispered.
"Who's asking?" came the reply. The voice was too young to be Melloni's. Too raw and direct, too. Bray had never met the man, but from how Palani and Enar had described him, he was more refined than this.
Bray wasn't taking any chances. “I have a gun pointed at you, and I know how to use it. Identify yourself."
“Naran Watkins. Now, who are you?"
Watkins. That was the private investigator Lidon had hired. No wonder they hadn't heard from him, if he had been held here all that time. Still, Bray couldn't see his face, and even if he could, he still wouldn't be able to identify him since he never met him before. And he wasn't taking the man on his word right now, so he had zero intention of releasing any more information until he was certain.
"Is Melloni being held here?"
"Yes. He's in the room next door."
"What's the security like?"
"It used to be tight, but the last week, they've had a skeleton crew here, almost like they're short on men."
Huh, Bray thought, maybe Wyndham had used men from this security detail for the attack on the ranch. It would explain how so many of them had disappeared suddenly. They'd simply never come back.
"If that's the case, why didn't you take advantage and escape?" Isam asked, and Bray had to admit it was a reasonable question.
Watkins let out a colorful curse. "Because they broke both my legs, asshole. It's kinda hard to walk."
Bray felt it safe enough to use his micro flashlight, and it revealed a disheveled man with a shoddy beard, sunken cheeks, clothes that hung around his body, and when he let the light travel down, legs that were…splinted? They weren't in the white casts he had expected, but then he caught himself. Watkins was a prisoner here. Of course they wouldn't let him go to the hospital. He made an instant judgment call, trusting his alpha, who was quiet.
"Carry him to the car," he told Isam. "When shit hits the fan, he can't walk, let alone run, and we're not leaving him here."
"Dude, who the fuck are you?" Watkins whispered, sounding exasperated.
"We're with Lidon Hayes."
Watkins’s reaction was instant. "Oh, thank fuck. He was the only hope I had left of ever being rescued."
14
Lidon had done hundreds of raids like this. Some had been flashbang-style, going in guns blazing and hoping for the best. Others had been more covert, slipping in unnoticed and praying like hell to get out of there before that changed. And then there had been operations like this, where they'd gone in pretty much blind, expecting the worst and hoping for the best.
They had encountered two guards near the front entrance, and both of them were now disarmed and incapacitated. They hadn't killed them. Lidon figured they were just doing their job, and they could be faulted for working for the wrong man, but that was not an offense punishable by death.
They'd found a lab about halfway in the building, which had reinforced their conviction this was where Melloni was being held. It fit the description from Watkins, who had mentioned the professor had a room in the back of the building. That meant Bray should've found him already, hopefully.
Lidon opened the door to the next room, expecting another office, maybe, but much to his surprise, it turned out to be a bedroom with six bunkbeds—four of which were occupied. To their credit, the guards, identified by the uniform they wore, were awake instantly and reaching for their guns. It was too bad they were facing a man who had been here before and who had come in with his gun in his hand. Lidon had no choice but to shoot, and the first two men were dead before their hands even reached their guns.
"Hands in the air!" he called out to the other two, who hesitated just a bit too long. He trained his gun on the guy closest to him. "Raise your hands or I will shoot."
It only took seconds, and then both of them decided they had no desire to get shot, and their hands flew into the air. Lidon grumbled under his breath. He'd had no choice but to fire, but those shots would've woken up everybody in the building. Dammit.
Jay, his partner on this operation, looked at him with raised eyebrows, as if to ask what Lidon wanted to do. He didn't want to kill them, not when he didn't have to, but he couldn't leave them here either, not with the weapons they could have in this room. Oh well, he would have to use an old-fashioned method then. He hit the first guy with his gun to the temple before he even saw it coming, and he sagged on the bed.
The other guy saw what happened and scrambled to the back of the bed, his arms still raised but his face showing fear. "I'm not gonna kill you. I just need to knock you out," Lidon said, rolling his eyes at himself. When had he gone this soft?
He had no time for this, he decided, so he grabbed the guy, forced him on his knees, and knocked him out as well. There, problem solved. He closed the door behind him and gestured at Jay that they should hurry the fuck up now. There was no need to be quiet anymore; on the contrary, they needed to make clear who they were, so they wouldn't accidentally shoot each other.
He and Jay cleared the next room, which looked like more storage, followed by a kitchen and a rudimentary bathroom. "Clear," Jake called out, and they turned back into the hallway.
"Alpha," he heard Bray call out. "We found him."
They hurried down the hallway, guns still drawn, and found Bray in another bedroom. His small flashlight revealed the frail form of Professor Melloni, who was crying softly. "Thank you, thank you," he kept repeating.
"He asked about Sando," Bray said. "I told him he's fine and with us."
"Let's get the hell out of here," Lidon said.
"I'll carry him," Bray said. "You cover me."
Just then, Bray’s other two men, who had checked to see if there were any side entrances, joined them as well.
"My research," Melloni said. He pointed at a laptop on a desk in his room. "Please, bring my computer."
It touched Lidon that even under these circumstances, the man was focused on his life's work. He pointed at Jay. "Grab that."
"Front or back?" Bray asked.
"Back," Lidon said. "Less chance of anyone seeing us."
They hurried out as fast as possible, Bray carrying the professor, and the rest of the men flanking him. Outside, they encountered Isam, who, much to Lidon's surprise, had a body slung over his shoulder. A guard. One who moved and looked like he would've hit and kicked him, had his hands and feet not been bound.
Before he could ask anything, Bray spoke up. "What the fuck are you doing with him?"
"Watkins pleaded with me to bring him. Said they would kill him if they found out he had let us in."
Lidon thought of what Watkins had told them, about becoming friendly with a young, naive guard. "Bring him," he said. They could sort that out when they got back. The first priority was to get the hell out of here.
It was almost anti-climactic, the ease with which they made their escape. They loaded up the cars, and within minutes, hightailed it out of there, making sure to stick to the traffic laws so as not to attract any attention from cops. Not that they spotted any on this side of town in the middle of the night, but one never knew.
Lidon rode shotgun, with Jay driving again, and Bray, Watkins, and the guard in the back. Since Watkins couldn't bend his legs, he was sitting sideways, leaning against the door—which Lidon had made sure was locked—with his legs on both Bray’s and the guard’s lap. He grunted every few seconds as the car jostled, and Lidon winced at the pain the man must be in. Two broken legs that hadn't gotten medical attention meant the guy was in for a long recovery.
Five minutes underway, the guard
was still making furious sounds behind the tape that covered his mouth. "I'll remove his tape," Bray said. "But I'm leaving the tie wraps on for now."
"Please tell him to stop moving," Watkins said, sounding like he was in a hell of a lot of pain. "I swear, everything hurts."
"You can tell him yourself," Bray said, sounding as surprised as Lidon felt at that remark. "There's nothing wrong with his ears."
Lidon looked over his shoulder as Bray removed the duct tape from the guard's mouth. He hadn't even ripped it off completely when the kid let out a string of curses, clearly aimed at Watkins. "You deserve every little bit of pain, you motherfucker. I can't believe you had them take me, you piece of shit. I wish I had never met you. God, how could I have been so stupid to fall for your lies."
"That," Watkins said between clenched teeth, "is why I wanted you to tell him. Clearly, he and I have some issues to work on in our communication."
With a deep sigh, Lidon focused on the road in front of him, rolling his eyes. Bringing those two had been a brilliant idea. Not.
The atmosphere on the ranch was strange that night. Ruari didn't even consider going to bed, though Bray had warned him it would be a while before the men got back. And it seemed everyone else felt the same way, as they all gathered in the kitchen. Well, not all, since Kean and a few of the other men had taken over for Bray's men in patrolling the ranch. With a big chunk of Bray’s team away on that rescue mission, they needed all hands on deck.
Sven was on babysitting duty tonight, not that he had much to do, as both babies were deeply asleep in their strollers, which they'd parked in the kitchen. Vieno and Ruari were a little on edge, considering they both had a man away on that mission, and Sven had volunteered to take care of Jax and Hakon so they had one less thing to worry about. It was what Ruari loved most about being a part of the pack, the way they took care of each other.
They'd all been shocked to hear Melloni could still be alive, was alive, according to the latest information. Some of them had known, obviously, like Bray, but he had never said anything. Ruari understood. That was part of his job, to have information and only share it with the people who had to know. But it had been a shock for Sando to hear that his father might still be alive.
