Page 53 of Follow Your Instincts (Fairview City Omegaverse)

Soren

“F uck,” I said, doubling over. My chest went tight and my heart raced. Was I having a heart attack?

“What’s wrong?” Lucas asked. We were about three blocks from Maggie’s building and had finally found a place to park the car.

I tried to catch my breath, but I realized the panic wasn’t mine. It was coming through the bond. She was fucking terrified.

I took off running. Lucas cursed and followed me. We made it about a block when the terror in my chest vanished as quickly as it had come. It was replaced by nothing, which was so much worse.

I kept running and Lucas caught up as we reached the back of Maggie’s building. A black van squealed away, but I kept going, skidding around the corner until I reached the front door.

I tugged at the door handle, but it was locked. “Fuck!”

“What is going on?” Lucas asked, panting.

A man came out of the bodega next door, glaring at us. “What do you think you’re doing? This is a nice street, we don’t cause trouble.”

“Do you have the code for this door?” I asked impatiently, tugging the handle again.

“Not for you,” he said. He crossed his arms.

I pulled out my badge and showed it to him. “How about now?”

The man grumbled under his breath but moved to the keypad to enter the code. “You’re the second cop to ask me for this code in the last hour. Couldn’t your buddy up there let you in? I told you, this is a nice street and you’re causing a scene.”

Panic churned in my stomach. “What did the other cop look like? Was he an Alpha?”

“I don’t know, brown hair, about your height. And yeah, he was an Alpha. Smelled like a Christmas orange,” the man replied. I cursed again and bounded into the lobby. Lucas followed me, and it seemed like he’d finally understood what was happening because he didn’t bother with any more questions.

I could already smell that fucker Todd Phillips’ scent, along with a trace of Maggie’s, her peach scent gone sour with anxiety.

I didn’t bother going up the stairs, but proceeded through the lobby into a hallway lined with mailboxes.

I bolted down the hallway and slammed the door open into the alleyway behind the building.

Right where we’d seen the black van take off.

“We need to call the cops,” Lucas said.

“I am the fucking cops,” I growled.

“Fine, then I’m calling Lachlan and Ben, they need to know what’s going on,” he said and stepped back into the hallway.

I closed my eyes and felt along the bond with Maggie in my chest. It was so quiet, quieter than it had ever been, but I still felt something there. She was alive.

I took a deep breath to calm my panic. I would find her.

What were the options? Paul, the Alpha from the club, was in Todd’s pack, but there was no chance in hell that he would help me. He had to be part of it, too.

Maggie had ruled out Jess, the girl at the Omega Center.

I needed to check Todd’s house, though I doubted even he would be stupid enough to bring her there.

I called the precinct and got Officer Fraser on the phone. We had a good rapport and I figured I could trust him. “I need Todd Phillips’ address,” I said as soon as he got on the line.

“Oh. Uh. Sorry, Detective but I can’t just give you that information. You know that,” he replied.

I clenched my teeth to keep myself from exploding in fury. “I will owe you a favor. Anything you want. I just need his address.”

Fraser was quiet for a moment. “I could lose my job and so could you.”

“You won’t. This won’t ever come back on you,” I promised.

“Fine.” I heard typing in the background and he gave me the address. It wasn’t far. I hung up without saying goodbye.

I charged back into the lobby and found Lucas hanging up his phone.

“They’re on their way,” he said, and I nodded.

“I’m sending them an address. Todd’s house, maybe the whole pack’s. They can check it out while I go to Bristol Beach,” I said, already turning to go.

There was one other possible connection we needed to chase: Stephen, Greta’s squirrelly cousin, who had purposefully misled the investigation into the robbery at their store.

Lucas grabbed my arm. “Hold on, is that where you think she is?”

“No. But I think that Stephen guy, Greta’s cousin, knows something,” I said and shook off his grip.

“Can you just wait a second?” Lucas growled, pacing after me. “We are all worried about Maggie and we want to help. You can’t just go off on your own.”

“I felt her,” I said, squaring off with him and pounding my fist over my heart. “In here. She was fucking terrified and then it went dark and I thought she was dead. I can feel her a little, but I think she’s hurt. I need to find these pieces of shit and fucking kill them for hurting her. ”

Lucas gripped my shoulder. “I get it. But we can help. Do you think Lachlan and Ben will be safe checking out their pack house by themselves?”

“Lachlan can handle it,” I said with conviction. “We need to go .”

The two-story blue house was exactly how I remembered it.

I checked in on Maggie through the bond as we got out of the car.

I’d been checking on her throughout the hour-long drive down to Bristol Beach.

It was clearer now and I could feel anger along with the fear.

Good girl , I thought, sending reassurance along the bond. Stay angry .

I stormed up the front steps, with Lucas close behind me, and banged on the front door.

No one answered. But there was a motorcycle in the driveway that seemed like exactly the kind of bike a weaselly shit like Stephen would drive. And I could hear faint noises coming from inside.

“Stay here, I’m going around,” I told Lucas. I made my way down the narrow gap between the Heitzig house and the house next door. The noises inside the house got louder as I approached the back window: shitty electronic music.

I peered in and sure enough, there was Stephen, sitting on the couch playing video games. Relief surged through me. I could get some fucking answers.

I went all the way to the back of the house and vaulted the back fence, no longer afraid that Stephen would hear me, and tried the back door. Unlocked. Fucking idiot.

I charged into the living room, and Stephen squealed when he saw me. He scrambled out of his seat but I tackled him, pinning him to the floor with my knee in his back. He thrashed beneath me but I held on. I had about 30 pounds on him. “Remember me, Stephen?” I yelled over the music.

Stephen turned his head to look up at me and I saw a flash of recognition. “What the fuck, man?” he said. “You can’t just come into my house, I have rights! ”

I fished his phone out of his pocket to turn off the music. When it cut off, I could hear Stephen’s breath sawing in and out and eased up the pressure on his back.

“Not here as a cop,” I said.

“Then get the fuck out,” he said.

“As soon as you tell me where Todd Phillips and his pack would hide something,” I said.

Stephen hesitated. “I don’t know who that is.”

“Bullshit. You helped him rob your family’s store.” It was a guess, but the guilt in Stephen’s eyes told me I’d hit the mark.

“I told you, I didn’t have anything to do -”

“Again, bullshit. Listen, I don’t give a fuck about that right now. And if you help me, I will make sure this doesn’t come back on you. But you need to tell me where they hid that jewelry.”

“Or what?” Stephen sneered. “You can’t prove shit.”

“Or I’ll fucking kill you. And get away with it because no one will look too hard for a little shit stain like you,” I said and pressed my knee into his back again.

Stephen fought for breath until I eased up the pressure. “And if I tell you, you’ll keep my name out of it?”

“Yes,” I ground out through gritted teeth. There goes my morality .

“Let me up, then,” he said.

I hauled him up and he bolted immediately for the front door. I roared in frustration, but as I reached the front hallway, I saw Lucas barrel into him from the front porch. They went to the ground, wrestling, and I slammed the front door shut again before helping Lucas subdue him.

“You don’t understand, they will fucking kill me,” Stephen said, his eyes rolling in panic, his greasy hair sticking to his face in the sweat that broke out on his forehead and upper lip.

“Don’t care,” I said.

“Please, man, I don’t really know anything,” he whined.

“I’d try to reason with you, but I don’t think you’d respond well to that approach,” Lucas said, then grabbed Stephen’s hand. He bent his fingers back until Stephen cried out in pain. “Tell us what you do know, or I’ll break your fingers.”

“What? No! Come on - AHHH!” Lucas had applied more pressure and Stephen was crying now.

“Up to you,” I said.

“Fine, fine, they have a warehouse in the Glen,” Stephen sobbed. “I don’t know exactly where, okay? They didn’t tell me anything really important, but I heard them talking about it.”

“That’s it?” I asked. “Be very sure before you answer.”

“I swear,” he said immediately.

Lucas looked at me and I nodded grimly. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

I leaned down into Stephen’s face. “If you’re fucking lying to me, I will find you and kill you,” I whispered.

Stephen sobbed again and nodded.

Lucas and I jogged back to the car and called Lachlan and Ben. He put it on speaker.

“Did you find anything?” I asked impatiently.

“No, we don’t think anyone’s home,” Ben said.

“We spoke to their neighbor,” Lachlan said. “The nice little old lady said she’s very lucky to have cops living next door, so it’s definitely the right place. But unless we break in, which I’m not equipped to do, this seems like a dead end. Did you learn anything?”

“I got a general area, Eastwood Glen, but it’s not enough,” I said, panic flooding my system again.

“Come back to the house,” Lachlan said. “It’s closer to the Glen. And I have an idea.”

Lucas and I rode back in tense silence. It was getting dark. I searched down the bond and felt Maggie’s spark. She was still there. I tried to push love through to her, hoping she could feel it. We’re going to find you .