Page 14 of Lost Wolf (Exiled Omegas #2)

Fourteen

Luke

There aren’t many reasons I can think of for someone to show up here uninvited at this particular point in time, and none of them are good. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like whoever’s at the door is going to do me the favor of simply going away, so I’m going to have to deal with them either way.

I step back into the bedroom, turning to take Ollie’s face between my hands, and place a gentle kiss on his furrowed brow.

“Nothing to worry about,” I say. “I’ll handle it.”

“Crap timing though, right?” He flashes me a tiny smile, his cheeks going pink.

“You can say that again.” I give him another kiss, then quickly slip into some clean clothes before heading toward the stairs.

Ollie slips into the hallway behind me, a shadow on my heels, and though the feeling is faint, the connection between us thrums with his anxiety. He slides his hand into mine and I give his fingers a gentle squeeze.

I move through the house near silently and when I reach the foyer by the front door, I pull Ollie to a stop, not wanting him any closer until I have a better idea of what’s going on.

“Stay here and let me see who it is,” I say.

He nods, his green eyes worried as his teeth dig into his lower lip. I press another quick kiss to his forehead, then step closer to the front door. The glass insets on either side make the world outside too blurry to be of any use, so I simply open the door, moving my body to block the view into the house as I take in the unwanted visitors on the porch.

The two human visitors.

One is a woman with most of her face hidden behind a pair of oversized sunglasses and her dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail. She’s dressed simply in running shorts and a T-shirt, but the tension in her posture and the forced edge to her smile make the casualness of her outfit seem more like a costume.

The man next to the woman pulls off “casual” even worse than she does.

For one, he’s broad and bulky, and the jogging pants he has on are at least an inch too short for him. He seems to be used to looming rather than emoting, his face blank, as if he doesn’t even know how to smile and doesn’t want to try, and his shoulders tense like he’s standing at attention—or preparing for battle.

The woman holds out her hand. “Doctor Ezekiel Stevens?”

Her voice has a robotic cheeriness that grates on my nerves and has my wolf wanting to bare his teeth.

“Nope,” I say in a bland voice as I stare her down, my gaze flicking to her larger comrade every couple seconds in case he decides to make a move.

She shuffles her feet, waiting for me to continue, her expression growing more strained as the seconds tick by without me saying anything else. I might not deal with humans much, but I know damn well long silences make them antsy.

Finally, she lets out a nervous huff. “Um, well, is Dr. Stevens in?”

“I’m afraid he’s not available at the moment.” Maintaining my bland tone, I add, “Maybe I can help you?”

There’s a flash of something in her eyes that I don’t quite catch and her smile grows even more strained. “I spoke with Jason at the wildlife center and he said they’d released a wolf into Doctor Stevens’s custody.” She lets out a fake chuckle and shakes her head as if she simply can’t believe any of this is happening. “You see, there’s been quite a mix-up. That so-called wolf belongs to us, and he's not a wolf, just a hybrid.”

They’re here trying to take my mate.

I force my expression to stay blank even though rage rushes through my body and claws begin to form on my fingertips. The woman is probably here to put Doc at ease with her fake friendliness. My eyes dart to the man again. And he’s the muscle in case things go wrong.

Except… that means they probably don’t know that this is a pack house or that Doc and I are also shifters. One human man can’t stand against us.

“I see,” I say, my face carefully blank. “Well, Dr. Stevens can’t just release a wild animal into your custody. Do you have anything that verifies your claim? Vet records? A DNA test maybe?”

There’s a flash of irritation on her face before she manages to cover it with another awkward laugh. “Jason said all I’d need to do was come here and pick him up. He didn’t say anything about bringing records.”

I raise my brows. “I find it hard to believe you expect Doc to hand over the animal without any verification of your claim that he’s a hybrid. Plus, there’s the matter of the condition he was found in. If he truly belongs to you, you weren’t taking very good care of him. It doesn’t seem like it’s in the wolf’s best interests to return him to you.”

She scowls, no longer able to hide her growing anger. “It doesn’t matter what it seems,” she snaps. “The wolf—the hybrid —belongs to me, and I’m here to pick him up and take him home.”

“No,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest and widening my stance in the doorway.

“Excuse me?” Her voice rises into an indigent screech. At least to my ears, anyway.

“You’ve given me no reason to believe what you’re saying is true, nor any proof that the wolf belongs to you,” I reply.

The woman drops all pretense of congeniality, her expression hardening. “Look, kid, just hand over the wolf. You don’t know what you’re messing with. If I can’t convince you…” She motions the man forward and he steps closer to me, puffing out his chest and cracking his knuckles. “We’ll have to do this the hard way.”

I look the man up and down, then snort out a laugh before turning my attention back to the woman. “First of all, I’m not a kid,” I say. “I might be twenty years your junior, but neither you nor your goon back there are going to intimidate me into doing anything.” My lips curl into a smile, flashing a bit of fang. “And I think it’s you who doesn’t know who you’re messing with.”

I allow my wolf to shine in my eyes for a split second as a low, barely audible growl settles in to my chest. Granted, this isn’t the best idea and could very well likely get me in deep shit with the triumvirate if they find out, but…

Either directly or indirectly, these humans hurt my mate, and they want to take him from me and continue hurting him. The powers that be are just going to have to get over me being slightly threatening. Besides, considering what Ollie said, the humans who held him prisoner already know about the existence of shifters anyway, so I’m not cluing them in to anything they didn’t already know.

And if these humans aren’t in the know, they’ll probably have no idea what that brief flash even meant and the growl can be easily explained away.

Her reaction isn’t what I expected though. Instead of backing off, her eyes narrow and a thoughtful look comes over her face. A cold smile twists at her lips, curling her mouth upward. “I see,” she says. She leans to the side, trying to look past me to the interior of the house. “So, our little runaway found some friends. How many of you are there?”

I give her a blank stare, my jaw clenching.

“Probably not many then,” she says, nodding as if agreeing with herself.

“Enough to get rid of you two,” I say, my growl amping up into a more audible threat.

She scoffs. “Don’t be so sure of yourself, puppy. We know how to deal with mongrels like you.”

One of the man’s hands shoots forward, a syringe wrapped in his fist and aimed for my neck. The effort is almost laughable as I easily intercept him, grabbing his hand and squeezing until the man cries out and I hear something crack.

I let more of my wolf shine through, my teeth elongating in my mouth as my nails sharpen into claws. My words are slightly garbled due to the teeth, but the venom in my tone is unmistakable. “You might know how to handle a smaller wolf who’s been locked up and starved, but I can guarantee neither of you can stand against an alpha at full strength.”

The twitch of the woman’s eyelid is the only thing that gives away her unease.

“Now, get the fuck out of here before I decide you’re on the menu for breakfast.” Shifters don’t actually eat humans, but it makes for a good threat.

Her response to that is a cold laugh. “You shouldn’t antagonize what you don’t understand.” She bares her teeth in a feral grin. “Don’t get too comfortable. We’ll be back for our property.” She snickers. “And maybe a few new subjects if I have anything to say about it.”

She spins around, motioning for the man to follow, and calmly walks toward the driveway without another word. I don’t like the fact that she just gave up like that, and I can’t help but feel like I should have handled this whole thing differently.

My wolf thinks the proper response would have been to simply rip her throat out, but that would definitely bring the triumvirate down on us. They sort of frown on killing humans unless absolutely necessary. I’d argue that killing these two was necessary, but if they’re as connected as I think, their deaths would bring all kinds of hell down on us.

I stare after the two of them, watching as they get into a blue sedan and head down the driveway. I’m unable to fully relax until their vehicle is no longer visible. A sense of apprehension sits heavy in my stomach. I don’t know for sure who they are or who they work for, but any humans experimenting on shifters are bad news.

I sigh, shutting the door and turning to find Doc and Macy flanking Ollie in the living room just past the edge of the foyer.

“I’m sorry.” My mate bites at his lower lip, his brows pulled together with concern. “By the end… they didn’t seem to care much about what happened to me, so I had no idea they’d make an effort to find me. I didn’t mean to bring all this trouble down on you guys.”

I open my mouth to reassure him, but Doc, of all people, beats me to it.

“It’s not your fault,” he says. “Though this did just get even more complicated. With undeniable confirmation that there are at least two humans—and most likely more—fully aware of the existence of shifters, I don’t think we can avoid making a report to the triumvirate. Trying to go about it by just calling the two praetorians you know isn’t going to cut it.”

I frown. I don’t want to agree with him, but he’s right. The triumvirate’s main purpose is to protect the secret of our existence. They might also operate as a kind of federal level police force, but at the most basic, they keep humans from finding out about shifters and prevent our exposure.

Doc glances at Ollie, then back to me. “But that doesn’t mean it might not be a bad idea for Ollie at least to be somewhere else when the triumvirate arrives. They’ll want to talk to him regardless, but the odds are they might be busy here for a while. In fact, I can almost assure it.”

Macy nods. “And by the time someone actually gets around to taking Ollie’s statement…”

“We will have worked out the whole pack ties issue by completing the mating bond or finding and contacting Ollie’s birth pack,” I say slowly. “Or maybe even both.”

“Exactly,” says Doc.

I cross the foyer and pull Ollie into my arms. “What do you think?”

He wraps his arms around my waist and rubs his cheek against my shoulder. “I’m happy with whatever you think is best, as long as I get to stay with you.”

“Well, I’ve been meaning to go up and visit Keir and the twins at some point,” I say, tucking my mate closer to my side as I turn the idea over in my head. “It seems like now is as good a time as any.”

“Great,” says Macy. “How soon do you want to leave?”

I barely manage not to wince. My second isn’t going to like the rest of my idea. “I think you should stay here with Doc.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Her expression darkens, her mouth curving downward.

I shake my head. “Julien’s pack is an ally and there’s absolutely no danger in me going up there without you.” I hold up a hand to stop whatever protest she’s about to make. “And I’d be more comfortable if there was someone I trusted here to talk to the triumvirate and report back to me.”

Doc is silent, not bothering to claim I can trust him. Even if I believed that, I still don’t think he should be left here alone. I have no idea how long it will take the triumvirate to get someone down here, and there’s no doubt the humans will come back eventually.

“Fine,” says Macy, though her voice says it’s anything but. She glares at me, then stomps off toward the kitchen, motioning for Doc to follow her. “I need you to go over your security system with me in case those assholes come back.”

“Of course.” Doc nods and scurries off on her heels.

“She’s really pissed,” says Ollie once they’ve disappeared into the kitchen.

I sigh. “Yeah, but she’ll get over it.” I press a kiss to the top of his head. “Was the woman at the door one of them? From the lab?”

“Maybe,” he says. “I didn’t recognize her voice, but…” He lets the words trail off and he shrugs. “What worries me is how they knew I was here .”

I frown. “Didn’t she say the guy at the wildlife center told them?”

“Yeah,” he replies. “But would he really have given out Doc’s address?”

“No, probably not.”

How did the two humans end up at Doc’s house? And that woman was so sure Ollie was here, as if…

My stomach drops at the pieces come together in my head. “They chipped you like a damn dog.”