Page 48 of The Delta’s Rogue (Crescent Lake #4)

Warmth passes over me, teasing the side of my face and flickering like the sun behind my eyelids. My eyes blink against the golden light. I lift my head from where it leans against the back of the armchair and scan the room.

It’s still dark outside. The barest hint of sunrise dances on the horizon. The logs in the fireplace crackle, the flames lower than they were when I sat down in the chair with my tea.

The edges of the dream echo in my mind as I stare at the fire.

Except it wasn’t a dream. At least, not in the normal sense of one anyway. This was real. I may have been asleep, but none of what I experienced was conjured by my dreaming mind.

It was a real conversation, a real meeting.

A meeting that gave us the lead we needed, exactly at the moment we needed it.

A meeting that Sarina should have been a part of, but she somehow wasn’t able to get through the protective, restrictive enchantments surrounding the location they’re holding her in.

It’s all too convenient, but it’s the only lead we have.

I lean forward, elbows on my thighs and face in my hands, and calm my heart.

Sorting through every piece of information the female gave me, I decide on the best way to execute my seedling of an idea.

It’s small and weak, and needs support and scaffolding, but with time and care, it could grow into a solid, sturdy plan that can stand on its own.

Our next actions must be taken with caution. One misstep could wreck everything. One fuck-up could spell disaster for all of us .

But if we do this right…if we’re careful…

I jump from the chair in the packhouse living room and race upstairs to my apartment, darting around and squeezing past early risers headed downstairs for a very early morning run.

“Wesley.” I send a mindlink to my brother, crossing my fingers that he’s awake already.

“What do you need?” He answers right away, alert and ready, as if he got as little sleep as I did.

“I have some information. Let everyone know, including Dominic and the others. We need to have a meeting.”

“I’m on it.” He doesn’t ask questions, just cuts the mindlink.

I slam the door to my apartment open and dive for my phone on the coffee table, dialing Forrest’s phone number with trembling, overexcited hands.

“Forrest,” I gasp when he answers, getting straight to the point and skipping all pleasantries. “Do you know a club owner named Nuncio?”

His voice is gravelly, tired, and wary. “I’ve heard of him. He’s not the sort we’d want to do business with, though.”

I rush around my apartment, phone pinned between my ear and shoulder as I change into clean clothes and grab my laptop before I head to Wesley’s house.

“I figured as much,” I reply. “But I need a meeting with him as soon as possible. Tell him we’re looking to expand our offerings, and we’re interested in attending an auction. Tell him whatever you need to so it’s convincing, so we sound like the type he’s used to doing business with.”

Forrest is dead silent as I talk and for a few moments after I finish. “Is this about your girl? Sarina?” His voice lowers almost to a whisper.

“It is.”

“I’ll let you know when I’ve made contact.”

The call ends, and I sprint out of the packhouse and across the grounds, straight through the forest to Wes and Haven’s house.

After letting myself in and making myself a cup of coffee, I pace their living room as I wait for them to come downstairs and the others to arrive, going over that female’s information one more time and working to fill in the gaps in my plan .

Thankfully, I don’t have to wait long. By the grace of Selene, or maybe just by luck, Haven and Wesley make their way downstairs at the exact moment Reid, Taryn, Nolan, and Cassandra walk through their front door, and Dominic and Riven appear in the living room, holding the transport stone between them.

“What’s the news?” Riven asks.

His eyes scan all of us rapidly, dark circles forming enormous shadows under his eyes. Aside from me, he’s taken Sarina’s disappearance the hardest, bearing the guilt and blaming himself for not staying with her that night.

“Someone contacted me with information about Sarina,” I explain.

He whips his head towards me and raises his brows. “How? Who?”

“She reached out to me in my sleep—in my dream. I didn’t get her name, but she said she’s a prisoner as well, that they’re in the same place and held by the same people.”

“A dream?” Haven frowns, glancing over her shoulder at Wesley. “How could she reach you in a dream?”

“I think she’s a witch.”

It’s the only explanation. I don’t like it, and it heightens my wariness of her, but I can’t think of any other being—other than Selene—that can connect with others in dreams.

“Our pack hasn’t had the best luck with witches. How do we know we can trust her?” Reid grips Taryn’s hand tightly and angles his body in front of hers protectively.

I shrug. “We don’t. But she’s the only lead we have so far.”

Everyone considers what I said, exchanging looks.

I wait, arms crossed and body still, even though my heart races and my stomach swarms with fluttering, winged animals. Both grow faster and stronger with each moment that passes without a response from any of them.

Wesley finally breaks eye contact with Haven and gives me a curt nod. “So, what’s your plan?”

I let out a relieved sigh and lead them to the dining room, opening my laptop that I placed there when I arrived.

“I’m still working through some of it. I’ll worry about those details when we need to,” I say as everyone takes a seat around the table.

“But what I know is that the traffickers are auctioning Sarina off on May fourteenth.”

“Where?” Dominic asks .

“She didn’t know. That’s what we need to find out. I have Forrest contacting Nuncio—one of their operatives—to set up a meeting with him.”

“Who is Forrest?” Reid asks.

“He’s one of two owners of a chain of BDSM clubs in California. The main club is in the city here.”

Reid frowns. “How do you know him?”

My hands freeze on the keys, and I glance at him over the screen of my laptop, where I’m taking notes on my plan as I speak to them. “I’m the other owner.”

Reid stares at me, stunned into rare silence. Then he throws his head back and bursts out into raucous laughter, slamming his hand against the table.

“Goddess, I needed that laugh.” He wipes the humor-filled tears from his eyes even as more of them fall while his laughter continues. “Okay, seriously, how do you know him?”

I shift in my seat and turn my focus back to my laptop, deleting the bullet point I wrote before he asked his question.

Reid’s laugh fades to a chuckle, and then he stops, eyes widening and all humor wiped from his expression. “Oh my Goddess, you’re serious. You’re fucking serious.”

I avoid everyone’s gaze, keeping my eyes glued to my computer so I don’t have to witness the judgment, deal with the questions, or endure the teasing.

I never planned on telling any of them about my specific sexual tastes and desires. It’s none of their business, and it doesn’t have any bearing on my relationships with them. But Sarina’s life is on the line, and nothing matters less than my embarrassment over my sex life.

“Sebastian,” Wesley mutters from my left.

I continue to ignore him, typing away furiously.

He sighs. I see him shake his head from my periphery. “I’m assuming you’re wanting to meet with Nuncio to get this information we need?”

My phone pings with a text message right as he finishes his question. I yank it from my pocket and scan over the details Forrest just sent me about Nuncio.

“Yes,” I reply. “Tomorrow night.”

I meet each of their eyes around the table as I pocket my phone once more. Instead of the judgment and teasing I expected to find, they all sit there quietly, waiting for me to update them on the plan .

I push down every emotion snaking through my system as I focus on becoming the leader needed for this skeleton of a plan to work. “Who wants to come with me?”