"And so is your ego."
Giselle froze mid-step. "I'm just joking."
Zoe's eyes widened. "I was too. I don't think you—"
The sound of the remaining guard's footsteps heading toward them sent the two women into a panic. Zoe shoved Giselle and signaled for her to make herself scarce.
Giselle took off without question. Sometimes, you had to improvise.
Their original plan had been for Giselle to show up and distract the guard, while Zoe, with her more powerful frame, choked him out by using just enough pressure against the sensitive spot between his jaw and neck.
Giselle had never carried out the move, but it seemed that she'd have to learn fast.
"Don't shoot," Zoe yelled.
Giselle walked as quickly as she could around the building. The one thing they had going for them was the element of surprise. Zoe would no doubt keep the guard talking and serve as the distraction. Now, it was Giselle's job to choke him out.
A minute later, Giselle peered from the corner of the building. She saw Zoe stand with her hands up, spinning some story about reliving childhood memories as the bear shifter pointed a gun at her.
Smart girl.
Up close, Giselle could see that this guard was a lot bigger than she'd estimated. She wouldn't be able to wrap her arms around him and choke him out. Giselle decided then and there that the only way she was going to succeed was to do this her way.
Giselle took several tiny painfully slow steps until she got right behind the man. Then, she kicked him in the back of the left knee. That made him drop to a height where she could get her arms around his neck
Giselle looped her right arm around the man's throat. Stretching her right forearm which circled the man's throat, she grabbed her left bicep and squeezed. The man bucked, and Giselle jumped onto his back to stay on. Seconds later, he stilled.
Zoe quickly approached and placed a finger under the man's throat. "Good job. He's alive. Now let's move."
Over the next fifteen minutes, Giselle and Zoe worked like a well-oiled machine. After quickly explaining that they were there to rescue the hostages, and dealing with a few skeptics, they led the women out to their trucks and piled them in.
Zoe was first to pull out, and she led them to a different road than the one Giselle took to approach the warehouse.
Giselle's body thrummed with adrenaline. At any point, the two guards would wake up and come after them. They needed to leave this part of Falhurst and head to the border as soon as they could.
Giselle looked at the women in the back seat, and the few in the back of the truck through her rearview mirror. Some of them looked scared, while others just looked defeated. They probably had a better idea of what was about to happen.
Giselle felt a little bad then. She loved the thrill of a chase. It was why she dated so much. For her, this had been an adventure with her crush. For these women, it was real life.
"Don't worry. My friend and I will get you to someone that will help you start a new life."
"You mean we can't go home?" a young woman said. Giselle turned to see innocent blue eyes, trained on hers in the rearview mirror.
"Don't know where home is for you, but you definitely can't go back there," an older woman piped up. "If your clan is anything like mine, then they had something to do with you being here."
"Brake!" The woman in the passenger seat yelled.
Giselle slammed the brakes just a hair's breadth from the back of Zoe's truck. A rock dropped to the bottom of her stomach, and her mouth went dry as she realized how close she'd come to making things so much worse.
Taking shallow breaths, Giselle tried to peer around Zoe's truck, but she couldn't see anything. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and her hands shook as she answered it.
"What's going on? Why did you stop?"
"There's a truck blocking the road. We've been busted."
"What? Oh, my god! What are we going to do?"
"Don't panic. It's Jared, my father's lieutenant. I'm going to have a chat with him. Don't come out of the truck no matter what. He doesn't know who you are. I don't want to drag you or your clan into this."
Giselle shook her head. "I can't do that. He could hurt you."
"Promise me," Zoe said, her voice full of passion. "If you come out, I won't forgive you, or myself. I know Jared. Just let me talk to him, and we can at least get these women out of here. Whatever's going to happen will happen. But I need you to stay in your truck. Okay?"
"Okay." Giselle breathed out.
Her hands were clammy, and her lungs burned with every breath she tried to force into it. The worst had just happened. She and Zoe had been caught. And now, Zoe was going to face her father's lieutenant by herself.
Giselle heard the sound of Zoe's truck door open and watched the older woman walk out to the front of her truck. Images of Zoe getting her throat slit by Jared filled her mind. And Giselle clucked her tongue.
"Over my dead body."
Giselle reached for the door handle but stopped when the woman in the passenger seat beside her placed a hand on her thigh. Her gray eyes pleaded with Giselle.
"I heard what she said. If we're going to get out of this alive, then you need to let her do her thing. She knows him. Maybe she can convince him to let her go."
Giselle's nostrils flared. "I won't leave her alone."
"It's not about that. Look, based on first impressions, I'd say she's got a good head on her shoulders. Give her a chance to play it out. If things go wrong, then you can rush in. What if she's already convinced him to let us go, then you rush in there and make him change his mind?"
Giselle's muscles tensed, and her chin trembled as she replayed Zoe's final words. If she did anything to mess this up for her friend, she wouldn't forgive herself either.
Giselle leaned back and wrapped her arms around her belly. "Fine. But if anything goes wrong, I'm going after her. You'll have to fend for yourselves."
Zoe is my priority.
5
Zoe stood in front of her truck and watched Jared step down from his. When she'd first spotted her father's lieutenant's green truck waiting for her on the road, her breath escaped her lungs. Zoe had immediately called Giselle.
Within the last few seconds, it had become clear as day to Zoe that she'd been set up. Her father didn't know for sure that she wasn't the mole, and he'd told Zoe about the stash and sent Jared to catch her.
Jared sighed and folded his arms. The moonlight made his green eyes shine bright, contrasting heavily with his dark hair.
"I hoped it wasn't you." Jared inhaled. "God, Zoe. Why did you do it?"
"Do what?"
Zoe raised her chin. They both knew she'd just been caught stealing from her father, but she needed to gauge Jared's mood.
If he was going to try and stop her, or hold her and the women hostage, then she needed to know that, so she could find an opportunity for escape. Maybe even using Giselle's help.
One thing was for sure, Zoe's life with her clan was over. She'd just been caught red-handed, and there would be no going back form it.
Zoe’s throat constricted as she thought of Chase. She cleared her throat and forced her tears back. Now was not the time to cry or think of the ramifications of her actions.
The most crucial thing is to get these women and Giselle out of here safely.
The thought of Giselle huddled in her truck filled Zoe with a determination she'd only ever felt when Chase was in danger. Giselle had sounded so shaken up on the phone, and it tore Zoe up to think of what she might be feeling.
Giselle had been a good friend to Zoe, and the older wolf shifter refused to repay her kindness by bringing the heat of the Darksong on the Whiteheart clan.
"Let's not play games," Jared said, his voice tired.
Not mad. That's good. But I still don't know what his orders are.
Zoe relaxed her stance. "When did you guys plan this?"
"About a month ago. Your father put me through
a little test first; then he came up with this idea to test you, Aiden and Maddox. I told him that the three of you would never steal from him, but he was adamant about working his way from the top to the bottom."
Zoe smiled. "And you're the top, huh?"
"As if." Jared snorted. "Your father just needed someone to do the dirty work, and now, here we are. Your truck is filled with half the women, and I'm pretty sure Jax is in the truck behind you with the other half."
Zoe held a hand out in front of her. "No. Jax isn't involved in this. You can call him yourself to confirm."
"No need. I believe you. You always put others first. I don't see you putting Jax in danger. Who is in the other truck?"
Zoe shook her head. "You know I can't tell you that."
"To be honest, I don't even want to know." Jared ran a hand down his face and stared at Zoe with his brows furrowed. "Why did you do it, Zoe? Why risk everything like this?"
"Because I hate what my father has turned our clan into. I had to do my part to slow him down. With every hit, he became a lot more open to other business opportunities. I've steadily been growing our legal part of the business."
"That all sounds good on paper, Zoe, but you didn't factor in one important thing. Your father is a monster. He likes playing in the dark. He likes to get money by flexing his muscle and ego. Legal business wins don't give him the same high."
"I'm learning that now," Zoe scoffed. "Believe it or not, this was going to be my last hit for a while. No matter how much I've done on the legal side, my father can't seem to steer clear of the worst of it."
"Why did you come here tonight if you knew he was on to you?"
"Because I couldn't live with myself if I allowed another group of women to be kidnapped and thrown into a life of pain if not killed. After the merger with the Silver Claw clan, I thought our days of ruining lives like this were over, but I was wrong."
Jared leaned against his truck door, and they stared at the ground in silence for a good two minutes.
Zoe took a deep breath and felt all the tension in her body leave. It was clear that Jared wasn't going to stop her from leaving. She, Giselle and the women would be safe. This conversation was purely for relationship sake.
Jared had always been good to Zoe. He taught her a lot of what she knew about stealth and strategy. Jared had always been hard on her, but fair too. If he wanted an explanation as to why someone he'd known for thirty years would turn on her clan, then she deserved it.
"This is fucked up," Jared said, shaking his head.
Zoe nodded. "It is, but we all have to make choices we can live with."
"And you're sure you can live with yours? You won't be able to come back, and your brother and Jax will likely be prime suspects. You know how your father gets with interrogations."
Zoe blinked rapidly, and nausea rushed up to her throat. All this time, she'd forgotten that one little tidbit. Her sexist father would find it hard to believe that she'd been working alone.
"You know Chase and Jax had nothing to do with this. Promise me you'll stick up for them."
"Of course, I will. After what your father did to your uncle, how could I not?"
Zoe swallowed thickly. "That was...unforgettable."
"It was more than that. It was haunting. Still is." Jared shook his head. "Look, I have to report back to your father. That's my job. He's going to be madder than a rabid dog, but there is one thing you could do to make this easier on yourself."
Zoe cocked her head. "What's that?"
"Return these women to the warehouse."
"I can't do that."
"Can't or won't?"
Zoe exhaled. "Won't. I know it's going to take some time for all of this to sink in, but I've already made my bed. The least I can do is help these women get a fresh start. I won't leave them here to get sold."
Jared took a step forward, his eyes wide with concern. "Trust me, Zoe, you don't want to make a bad situation worse. Return those women, and you'll have a chance of living a decent life. Take them, and you're bringing war onto your doorstep. Wherever that will be. That shipment is worth millions of dollars."
Zoe swallowed thickly, and her heartbeat slammed against her ribs. Jared wasn't the kind of guy that spit out words for the sake of hearing himself talk. If he said that she needed to leave these women behind to have a shot at survival, then he meant it.
Jared had lived and fought by her father's side for years. Many of his friends had been punished or killed by the Alpha, then sidelined. Jared knew her father almost better than anyone else. The smart thing to do would be to heed his advice.
But then I won't be able to live with myself. If I'm going to make Chase and Jax's lives harder, then it better be for something.
Zoe pulled her shoulders back. "I stand by my decision."
Jared and Zoe locked gazes for twenty seconds, then he tutted. "That's a shame. I had such high hopes for you. Once Reirder died, I was ready to back your bid for Alpha."
Zoe's eyes flew open. "But I'm a woman!"
"So? Other clans do it. I'd already spoken to a few key players."
"About me?" Zoe squeaked.
Jared chuckled. "It's nice to see you act like a girl your age. You've always been so damn serious and reserved."
"I'm thirty. I'm anything but a girl."
"In my eyes, you are." Jared smiled. "We've all been watching you, Zoe. Those of us that want change have been watching. With every new business you initiated, and every non-violent deal you struck, our hopes grew.
"No one dares to take out your father. He's far too paranoid and strong for that. If he survived an attack, there'd be hell to pay. If he died, his supporters would rise. With such horrible options, we hoped that one day, when he died, you'd be around to create change. Now, that dream is dead."
Jared stuffed his hands in his back pockets and stared at the sky. He groaned. "Damn it, Zoe. You're making me break my promise to the mates of every man your father killed. For years, I've been telling them that one day your father might die in battle and that you would step in. Then, their sons and daughters wouldn't have to suffer."
Zoe's stomach knotted. She'd been so focused on protecting Chase and doing what she could in the short term to create change that she hadn't thought about other people and the long run.
"I didn't know anyone else was banking on me," Zoe whispered.
Jared snorted. "I bet you thought we all hated you."
Zoe shrugged. "It's not like there are a lot of female Seconds."
"That's true, and there are probably some of your father's supporters in the clan that hate you. But those of us with common sense can see all the good you've done. It's just sad that those days are over. Your cousin Damon will make a shitty Second, that's for sure."
Jared took a step forward and placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder. "I hope we never meet again because that would mean that you'd been caught and dragged back here. I've always been proud of you, Zoe. You handled it all with such maturity. I hope you find some happiness now. Maybe even with whoever is driving that second truck."
With those words, Jared got into his truck, executed a three-point turn, and drove off.
If all went to plan, then Zoe would never see him again. Now that she thought about it, there was a good chance she'd never see Chase or Jax again.
The sound of a car door shutting broke Zoe out of her depressive funk. She'd have plenty of time to mourn the loss of her life as she knew it. There were more important things at stake. Like getting a dozen women to safety.
Who knew I'd see the day where I'd mourn the loss of my old life.
"You okay?" Giselle asked, walking toward Zoe.
"No, but I will be after a good cry."
Zoe felt an arm slip around her shoulder, and she turned into Giselle's embrace without a second thought. At least she'd managed to protect one person. There was also the fact that she had at least one friend.
Giselle rubbed circles around Zoe's back, and Zoe buried her head i
n her friend's neck. The surprisingly flowery scent Giselle wore soothed her nerves, and the intimacy of being held for the first time in a long time made Zoe feel like she wasn't alone.
She'd always had people around her. Chase and Jax being the closest. But there were things she kept from both of them.
Surprisingly, Zoe had no secrets to keep from Giselle. Giselle knew she was gay, and she knew what Zoe did to undermine her clan. Heck, she'd probably seen Zoe partially naked on the night she rescued her.
Zoe chuckled and pulled back.
"What's so funny?" Giselle asked.
"Out of everyone in my life, I've known you the shortest, and yet you know pretty much all there is to know about me."
Giselle smiled. "Well, I have been told I have a way when it comes to getting under a person's exterior." The younger woman winked, and Zoe slapped her shoulder.
"You're so full of it."
"That's why you love me."
Zoe smiled. "It is. You're a good friend. I always have a good time around you."
To Zoe's surprise, Giselle's cheeks reddened. Zoe scoffed. "Are you seriously blushing right now? After all the inappropriate stuff you spit out, this is what makes you blush?"
"Shut up," Giselle mumbled, fanning her cheeks.
Zoe's heart sped up as she watched her friend calm down. Giselle was always so confident and cocky, mostly in a bid to make Zoe laugh. The older woman appreciated that about her friend. But, she had to admit that it felt wonderful to see the softer side of Giselle.
She'd seen it earlier when Giselle told her she needed to take care of herself. No one had said those words to her. Even Chase and Jax, who loved her, always backed down when she said she had no choice but to live the life she was living.
Giselle was the only one that had pushed past that and demanded better for her new friend.
Zoe took one of Giselle's hands in her own and squeezed it. The action warmed her all the way down to her toes, and she bathed in the sensation.
"Thanks for being here for me."
Giselle looked down at their hands and then straight into Zoe's eyes. "Always. Starting by taking you home with me."
Zoe's mouth gaped, and she dropped Giselle's hand like it was a hot coal. "Excuse me?"
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