Page 80 of Alpha Brock
Cole grabs the remote and flips it on, and Brooke gets herself connected so that her laptop screen is mirrored on the TV. It’s showing an aerial map of what looks like a warehouse district.
“This place first popped up on our radar yesterday, but we didn’t think much of it,” she says, zooming in on one building in particular. “That is, until today, when we were able to track that their alpha was headed to this location.”
“How?” Jax asks, leaning forward, his interest piqued.
“Facial recognition on traffic cameras…” Brooke waves a hand dismissively. “Let’s just say it’s a bunch of stuff we’d get in big trouble for hacking into if we got caught.”
Theo smirks, his pride for his mate’s brilliance evident on his face.
“And Xavier is there?” Cole questions.
Brooke nods. “He arrived there a half an hour ago. It’s about two hours from here, due east.”
As it has since Astrid was taken, my mind starts wandering in a hundred different directions, none of which are constructive. If Alpha Xavier couldn’t be bothered to show up for the battle between our packs, why is he coming to this place now? What does he want with Astrid? Is he going to try to use her for leverage? Is he going to hurt her to try to get to us?
I ball my fists at my sides, biting down on the inside of my cheek so hard that I draw blood. That motherfucker better not harm a hair on sweet little Astrid’s head, or there will be hell to pay. Death would be too kind of an end for him.
“Can we get blueprints?” I mumble, thinking out loud. The others look to me, and I rake a hand through my hair roughly. “Of the warehouse. If we’re gonna put together a plan, we need to know what we’re walking into.”
“Right,” Sam agrees, getting to his feet again. “And we’ll need to get a pulse on the surrounding area, like how many roads lead in and out, how many entrances there are to the building itself, that kind of stuff.”
I tip my head in his direction, giving him a nod in affirmation. Temporarily burying the hatchet between us again so we can focus on what’s most important right now: finding the girl that we’re both crazy about and bringing her home safe.
“Definitely,” Brooke chirps, her fingers flying across her keyboard. “Sending those requests to the IT team now, we should be able to get that info within the hour.”
Cole’s back is to the rest of us as he studies the aerial image on the TV screen, furrowing his brow and pinching his chin between his thumb and forefinger in concentration. “Let’s send scouts out to the area tonight so we can keep tabs on them if they leave,” he murmurs. “As long as they stay put, we’ll plan on moving in on them tomorrow, after we have a plan locked down.”
I grit my teeth, holding back from arguing with him about waiting a full day to strike. Part of me wants to go on a one-man vigilante mission right now to try to rescue Astrid- deep down, though, I know the right move is to have a fully formulated plan before going in there. So, I just bite my damn tongue, listen, and try to stay calm. ‘Try’ being the operative word, because my wolf has been going fuckin’ nuts since Brooke walked in here and announced that they know where Astrid might be.
“But tomorrow’s the full moon,” someone pipes up. Sasha, another one of Cole’s advisors.
“Exactly,” Cole snaps, spinning around to face us. A devious grin tugs at his lips. “They’re wolves, so the full moon’s a distraction. They’ll never see us coming.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Astrid
I wake up groggy again. I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but I’d guess a few days have passed by now. The wolfsbane that they keep injecting me with to keep me weak also has a side effect of making me drowsy, so I feel like I’m constantly drifting in and out of consciousness. I suppose I don’t mind, because as long as I’m asleep, I’m not living this nightmare.
I’ve only seen this one room of what I still think is a warehouse. It’s large, piled with boxes and junk that give no clues as to what this place used to be or where it might be located. Kara and Jake take turns sleeping on the dirty couch that’s positioned directly across from Chris and I, and the only time I’m allowed to get up and walk around is when I need to go to the bathroom. Even then, I’m escorted by either Jake or Kara, and they don’t take their eyes off of me the entire time I use the facilities. It’s humiliating.
I know we aren’t the only ones here. Occasionally, there’s a knock at the door, and one of my two prison guards goes to answer it and speak with whoever is on the other side. Sometimes one of them slips out for a while, but they always return, and it’s always the same two. I tried to call out once, thinking that whoever came knocking may not know they were holding prisoners in here or might take pity on me, but a few swift kicks to the stomach and ribs delivered by Kara’s combat boots told me that was a mistake, one I haven’t dared make again.
Every time I doze off and wake up, it has been more of the same- but this time when I blink my eyes open, something’s different. Jake’s pacing, agitated, and Kara is more talkative than usual. Excited, even. I drag my body up from the floor, using the cold wall behind me for leverage as I focus in on her words, trying to clear the fog from my mind and figure out what she’s saying. All of the words seem to bleed together, but there are three at the end that I can make out crystal clear: ‘he’s finally here’.
I freeze, forgetting to breathe for a second. She can only be talking about one person- the same person that I’ve heard her obsessively talk about for days now. Alpha Xavier, the leader of the shadow pack. They’ve been telling me that he’s coming here, but the news of his arrival still sucks all the air out of my lungs. I don’t know what Xavier wants with me, but given his reputation, whatever it is can’t be good.
There’s a sharp knock on the heavy metal door- the only door in or out of this room- and I sit up straighter, pressing my back tight to the concrete wall behind me and pulling my knees into my chest. I loop my arms around my legs in front of me, my hands still bound, making myself as small as possible. Maybe I’ll shrink enough to just disappear.
Kara practically skips over to the door, pulling it open with a wide smile on her face. I hear voices that I can’t quite make out, and a few moments later, the door is swinging open wider, two large men striding inside.
I immediately know which one is Alpha Xavier. He stands taller than the man he walked in with, and he struts inside exuding power, dominance, and pure evil. His hair is dark, shaved on the sides and long on top, and a thick layer of dark stubble coats his jawline. Tattoos crawl up his neck and disappear beneath the collar of his dark t-shirt, which is accompanied by a leather jacket, distressed jeans, and big black boots. His skin is tanned like he’s spent every day in the sun, and his eyes are so dark they’re almost black. They land on me, and a shiver travels up my spine.
“Ah, there’s my little crystal ball,” Xavier drawls. He flashes a smile, and a gold tooth glitters from his mouth.
I look away, trying to calm my racing heart. I don’t want him to sense my fear. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he already terrifies me.
The other guy hangs back with Jake and Kara as Xavier takes a step in my direction. Then another. I hang my head, letting my curls fall in front of my face to block my view of him. Pressing myself harder into the wall behind me, wishing it would somehow open up and swallow me whole.