Page 39 of Retribution

“Wow,” I breathe.

“This is what happens when you kidnap an alpha and use your particular brand of flirting,” he teases, winking at me before moving back so I can drive. “Till later.”

“Yes,” I whisper, putting my car into drive as I begin to put space between us.

It feels like emotional sludge as I press the gas pedal down, and I’m starting to forget why I’m doing this. Is it so terrible to give in and move in with complete strangers?

“Get it together,” I tell myself, closing the window and driving away.

I’m still careful as I go through my day, because I promised the alpha I’m leaving behind that I would be.

Chapter Ten

Alesso

Crossing my arms, I watch as Lucas and Grant return to the house.

“She’s fine, Alesso,” Oliver murmurs. “A little cold…”

“That’s not funny,” I sigh. “It’s so cold, everything froze overnight. It won’t even snow because we’ve hit Antarctica’s asshole.”

Oliver snorts, which tells me I’m overreacting, but I don’t care. Indiana is fucking cold in January.

“The team knows to tighten up security now,” Grant says, walking inside with Lucas. “She bypassed everything as if it wasn’t even there.”

My eyes blink slowly as I recognize some pride and surprise in his voice. He hated mytopolinayesterday. I heard every word of his argument last night with Lucas, mostly because he’s so damn loud. If I heard it, so did Isolde.

“In her mind, it may as well not have been,” Lucas grunts. “Her job needs her to be able to get around security. Based on how Isolde was dressed today, I think the leather is a ‘fuck off’statement. People notice her for it and forget that she can blend into the background.”

“I haven’t seen her in leather,” Grant says, an odd expression on his face. “I’m sure that’s quite the vision. My concern is still that she’s going to live near you.”

“Omegas live near their alphas,” I say, smirking.

“She doesn’t smell like an omega,” Grant complains. “She smells like…”

“Nothing,” Oliver grunts.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention to anyone that Isolde is an omega, Grant. Tell the police that I found my scent match, that’s fine. However, we aren’t going to out her as an omega when she’s been living as a beta,” Lucas growls.

“Why is she hiding?” Grant asks.

“My gut is telling me that you should imagine the worst things that could happen to an omega, and then multiply that by four or six,” I say.

“Is that why she slept in a tree instead of a perfectly good house?” Grant asks. “Her eyes move in a very deliberate way. She has some kind of training to have been able to kidnap Lucas, but it’s still difficult to believe that she loaded him into the back of a van alone.”

“I have the video footage. Believe it,” Oliver says. “Will we be seeing our girl later today, Lucas?”

“Possibly? She doesn’t want to come to the house. Isolde said something about needing to know where the exits were, and that this house was too big for her.”

“That’s…Fuck,” Grant mutters. “Who the fuck hurt her?”

“Now you want to know?” I scoff. “That’s rich. Where is she staying?”

“She won’t say,” Lucas says.

“I bet she’s renting from someone. However, that means a paper trail usually and background checks. How is she going tomanage that? I haven’t found a single hit while searching for rentals in the area,” Oliver muses.

“Something says she’s going to surprise us all with her choices. Isolde has been on her own for a long time,” I remind them. “Let her cook. We’ve talked about how she needs to come to us. We can’t force this.”