Page 3 of Hunted Pack (Her Vicious Pack #7)

Caleb

The first thing I do when we get back to the house is to check where my Omegas are.

Being away from them after what happened tonight was horrible, but Jorge and I were the only people from our pack who were in any state to go pick up Luca’s family. So we did what we had to.

I’d already spotted Vera with Luca on the balcony as we drove up, so I know where one of them is, and she seemed pretty good too, though tired. She even gave me an enthusiastic wave when she caught sight of me.

That leaves Mathew.

The house is full of activity as I make my way to his office, generally the best place to start looking for him, and closest to the garage.

The door to the office is open and I barge in, not wanting to wait any longer.

Mathew is sitting at his desk, his eyes dark, his body tense and a strange scent floats through the space. It’s not very strong, but the deadly intent in it is clear, making my stomach churn.

That’s not good, at all.

When his eyes fall on me, they widen in surprise, his face flushing, before he seems to really focus, his mind temporarily out of whatever dark place it was in.

I slam the door shut behind me, pulling a chair in front of it so nobody can get in, before I cross the space over to Mathew’s desk and pull him up, taking him in my arms. He tries to push me away for a moment before his arms come around me and he pulls me against him too.

Fucking hell.

I have no idea what happened here, but it’s clear that he’s not in a good mental space.

“Your pack is home.” I let out soothing pheromones, though that doesn’t seem to help much, as he lets out a growl, trying to push me away.

“I have to stop them. I have to go after them and stop them.” His voice is hard, his pheromones like knives, though luckily not directed at me.

“ We will stop them. We’ll go after them together.”

“I have to go now . I can’t wait.”

“Yes. You can. You can wait.” I walk him back, trapping him between me and the wall so it’s easier to keep him in place. I don’t have the time or the energy to talk in circles with him tonight, so I try a different strategy.

“You promised Vera that you wouldn’t go on your own. You promised that we’d all go together.”

“That doesn’t have to mean all the time.

That just means that we have to go together when we go take them down, not when I’m only going to collect some information and maybe take out a few people.

” The way his words come out, how they seem to be stuck in a pattern, it seems like he’s been having this exact same argument with himself already.

But I’m not letting him go. “You made the promise to Vera. You’ll have to ask her if she meant only when we take them down or if she meant also for information collection and things like that.” If there’s anyone he listens to, it’s her, and he knows it too.

“I don’t have time to ask her.” He struggles against my hold, trying to get away, and I flood my pheromones around him, showing him how much I care for him, how much I want to protect him.

“Mathew.” I drop my voice, using my Alpha powers.

I’ve had enough of tonight; everyone is exhausted and running on anxiety and adrenaline. I would prefer if we didn’t make things worse by making choices we can’t undo.

He stills in my arms, his hands against my chest, his eyes closed, waiting for my next command. I hate how he starts to tremble against me when I do this, but I didn’t see another way. I have to get through to him.

“Not tonight.” I take a deep breath, softening my voice.

“Tonight, we have to make sure our pack, the people around us and the people from your organisation are all safe and sound. We can’t keep rushing ahead. If we become sloppy, we’ll start making mistakes and that could cost us our lives.”

And more than that, if Mathew dies, the Hearts will have an easier time doing their creepy and vile shit. His organisation is keeping them somewhat in line, if that stops, things will get much, much worse.

He slowly nods, leaning his head on my shoulder. “They hurt Luca . They used me. They used you and Vera. All to hurt him.” He growls, but it’s a sound of pain and frustration, no longer one of anger.

I have no idea what exactly happened to Luca, but I had a suspicion that it had something to do with Vera and me, with how he reacted to our pheromones earlier.

That could explain some of the strange things we found about the pack Vera was supposed to marry into, or not.

But that’s for later, not right this moment.

“We’ll get them for that. But all in good time. Tonight is not that time.”

Someone bangs on the door, startling us both.

“Why is the door closed?” Jorge’s voice sounds tight, stressed, as he bangs on the door again. “Mathew? Is Riley with you?”

Riley?

I glance at Mathew, who looks up at me in surprise before shaking his head. “We don’t know where she is. Why?”

We’ve had enough to deal with tonight without one of our pack members going missing…

“She was supposed to grab something from the kitchen for the kids, but she’s not there. Open this freaking door already!” Jorge seems to almost want to break through the door with his fists.

Mathew glances at the monitors on his desk, before turning them off with a single movement, the way he’s holding his body changing, becoming alert. “Fuck. I’m pretty sure I know where she is. Let’s hope she doesn’t do something she’s going to regret.”

He quickly crosses over to the door, giving me a pointed look as he pulls the chair out of the way, and then rips it open.

This startles Jorge, who stumbles back, just in time to get out of Mathew’s way, as my Omega runs down the hallway. Luckily, Jorge recovers quickly and runs after him, while I follow the two.

As Mathew pulls the door to the outside out of some poor guy’s hand, I realise where he’s going. He’s going to the training complex!

Where the guys we grabbed tonight are being kept.

Oh, no.

I agree with Mathew, let’s hope she hasn’t done anything she’s going to regret yet.

I tap around on my phone, connecting my earpiece just to Riley. “What are you doing?”

It’s quiet for a while, before Riley’s voice comes over the earpiece.

“Collecting information.” She sounds very calm, which I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not.

She’s used to using dubious methods to get information out of people, and if it’s to protect her pack, I’m sure she’ll do whatever she needs to, just like what was going through Mathew’s mind earlier.

“Location?” We’ve nearly crossed the distance between the house and the complex.

“In the back.” She’s still calm, which is making me more nervous now.

Mathew reaches the door to the training complex first and doesn’t seem to need any directions as he immediately rushes down the hallway, to the back.

In the back you’ve got two places to go, on the one side, there’s the shooting range, and on the other side is a hallway that leads to rooms that are used for ‘various things’.

In one of the first days we were here, I’d explored the complex to see what was what, and I’d noticed that the walls of these rooms were unusually thick and that they were easy to clean…

It didn’t take me much to imagine what the ‘various things’ were that the rooms were being used for.

My chest tightens.

Please, don’t let Riley be doing something too extreme.

Please, let her not do something too violent.

I glance at Jorge, who’s very pale, bordering on green, as he’s probably aware of where we’re heading.

If Mathew and Riley both made sure to keep him mostly out of the bloodier and more violent parts of their jobs, then it wouldn’t be unexpected if they kept the more dubious parts of the ‘information gathering’ from him too.

Knowing that something is being done is of course very different from seeing it being done.

Fuck.

As we reach the end of the hallway, just past the doors to the shooting range, I grab Jorge’s shoulders, making him stop. “Wait here. I’ll take a look first.” He’s seen enough blood for one night. He’s seen more than enough of his mates’ violent side for one night.

He opens his mouth to say something but then gives a quick nod and leans back against the wall, taking deep breaths.

I walk down the hallway that goes off the main hallway, following the sounds of raised voices, until I reach a door that’s slightly ajar.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Mathew’s voice is hard and I hear metal scraping over stone floor.

That can’t be good.

I barge into the room, finding one of the guys we picked up, the fake security guard, on a chair in the corner of the room, half naked, his eyes wide in terror as he stares at Riley and Mathew.

In front of him, on the floor, are what look to be the remnants of his gear, cut into small pieces.

“I was making sure he couldn’t be tracked here.

” Riley wipes her hands on her legs, picks up the knife that’s halfway across the room and goes back over to the guy.

“We can never be too sure that they didn’t sew a bug into his clothes.

Those Suits Syndicate bastards can be very calculating at times. ”

She reaches out to the guy’s back, apparently wanting to continue her methodical cutting away of his clothes, but Mathew grabs her wrist before she can touch him.

“No.” His voice is quiet, his eyes dark, dangerous. “Don’t touch that fucking bastard. He doesn’t deserve it.” He slowly takes the knife out of Riley’s fingers, but when he turns to the fake security guard, his gaze not easing up, I step in.

Why did I think that Mathew was going to stop her? Of course, he’s just going to continue what she was doing.

The problem wasn’t the cutting away of the clothes of the terrified man, the problem was that Riley was touching the guy. Mathew was being possessive, that’s all.

“Both of you. In the hallway. Now!” I use enough of my Alpha powers that I’m sure they’ll listen.

They both grumble, but then hang their heads, following my orders. They know that I’m being serious and that if I have to, I will use more of my command, which will be a lot less fun for them.

As they pass me by, I hold out my hand, motioning for Mathew to give me the knife. With an unhappy glare, he hands it to me.

I follow them, closing the door behind me.

If I don’t keep my eyes on them the whole time, I feel like I’m going to be putting out fires like this for the rest of the night.

Which isn’t something I feel like doing...