Page 39 of The Night Movers: Season One

Ridley still listened, but the man looking up at them pulled his focus.

He was beautiful. Tall and lean, with a face that was all sharp angles.

He wore billowy black pants and a sleeveless black tunic with a tall collar that came up almost to his chin.

His inky black hair was pulled into a bun on top of his head, revealing his undercut on both sides.

He had thick brows, fox-like eyes, and a generous mouth that pulled into a smirk when he realized Ridley was studying him.

He crossed his fully-inked, well-muscled arms over his chest.

“You’re drooling,” Diesel teased.

“Am not,” Ridley managed. “Hot or not, he’s still a piece of shit.”

“‘Sup, cuz,” the man called, like he’d heard Ridley’s comment.

Ryker gave the man in question a wan smile before pulling his hand from his pocket and offering his middle finger. The man chuckled, revealing snowy white teeth.

“Cuz?” Ridley asked. “He’s not really your cousin, right?”

“Why? You want him to set you up?” Titus asked, slipping his mask off, his expression somewhere between mutinous and sulky.

Ridley rolled his eyes.

Ryker continued to stare at the man. “My Aunt Yumi’s kid. Kenzo. He’s their leader.”

“Our little omega goes right for the top dog every time,” Jensen teased.

The rest of them removed their masks as well. Ridley still didn’t understand the significance of them. Everyone in the room knew everyone else. Maybe it was just an intimidation thing, like pro-wrestlers used to do back in the day.

Ridley bumped his shoulder into Jensen’s with a small smile. “Shut up.”

A loud, obnoxious laugh echoed through the space, making Ridley flinch, drawing his eyes to the final group. His lip curled in disgust.

“Who are they?” Ridley asked.

“ Bratva ,” Steele said. “They call their pack the Mordovian Maulers.”

“Bratva?” Ridley asked. “Russian mafia?”

Steele nodded. “The bald guy is Yuri. He’s their leader. Used to be an enforcer and assassin. He revels in torture. Has committed some of the sickest retaliatory acts I’ve ever seen. He loves to hurt people. He’s a suck fuck and he rarely loses in the cage. They all thrive on violence.”

“I’ve beaten him,” Titus said, tone growing smug.

Ridley tugged his gaze away from the men to look at Titus, his heart skipping when he found him already watching him. Ridley didn’t look away. Neither did Titus. They just continued to stare at each other until Diesel’s voice broke Titus’s hold.

“Yeah, once,” the alpha said. “Then five of our omegas went missing.”

Ridley’s stomach heaved. “Five? He killed five omegas over a fight?”

Diesel looked grim. “He hijacked one of our trucks before a rendezvous point. We only found one of them. What was left of them. He’d left her as a warning. We’re not sure what happened to the others.”

“And we can’t prove it, of course,” Sugar said.

Ridley stared down at the tall, broad man with his gleaming scalp and deeply lined face. He didn’t necessarily look old—maybe in his late forties—but he looked…hard. Soulless, like the evil in him shone through. Ridley studied the man until a movement beside him caught his attention.

A boy. He was small, a fact compounded by the way he was squatting on the floor, balanced on his heels, his knees tucked under his chin. Ridley could only see his profile, but he had soft cheeks and deep brown hair that fell over his eyes.

And a leash. He had on a fucking leash. A choke chain.

One far too large for the boy’s scrawny neck.

The metal gleamed in the dim light. Each time the leash tugged, the boy winced.

Ridley thought it was the lack of air, but then he noticed the blood droplets on his snowy white shirt.

An omega, obviously. All omegas wore white.

Pain seized him, like a knife slipping between his ribs and piercing his lungs. He was totally powerless to help him. His hand went to his necklace, playing with the pearl there. His gaze followed the links of the chain from the boy to the man holding the other end.

He stood beside Yuri, deep in conversation, seemingly talking about someone from the ōkami, staring them down like he wanted their attention.

He was much younger than the leader, maybe thirty.

He had icy blond hair and a tattoo on his face that was too far away to look like anything but an amorphous blob.

He wore gray cargo pants, a black t-shirt that was two sizes too small, and boots as thick and lethal looking as the ones half his pack wore, including himself.

He looked like one of those militant fundamentalists who passed out flyers and talked about the importance of gender traditions.

Ridley dropped his gaze to the boy, realizing he’d also angled his body towards the Okami . One of the Okami stared back. The hairs on the back of Ridley’s neck rose as the man beside Yuri followed the boy’s gaze to the other side of the room.

The nasty sneer that spread across his face made Ridley’s breath come faster.

As he watched, the man yanked the boy to his feet hard, using only his leash.

He gripped his face in his large hand, squeezing the hinge of his jaw until he opened for him.

He caught the other man’s eye—the one beside Kenzo—then spit directly into the boy’s mouth before shoving him back to his knees.

Ridley’s nostrils flared, a low growl sneaking past his lips. A glimpse at the man beside Kenzo told Ridley he felt the same. A tattered black shirt and smooth brown skin appeared before him.

Ridley’s gaze slowly climbed to meet Sugar’s, the alpha’s agitation obvious. “Easy,” he soothed.

“He’s just a little boy,” Ridley seethed.

Ryker was still watching the scene unfold beside them. “He’ s nineteen,” he said. “The same age as you.”

Ridley turned the full force of his outrage onto him. “Does that make it better?”

Ryker sighed. “Of course not. I’m simply saying he’s not a child. And he’s only been with Rurik for a week or two. Before that, he belonged to Hideo.”

“What do you mean?” Ridley asked, stomach sinking.

It was Jensen who spoke up. “Hideo put Rain up as the prize in a fight around ten days ago. Hideo lost. Rain went to Rurik.”

Ridley was going to throw up for real. He needed to find Ren. He had to. But how was he supposed to sit there and watch omegas get bought, sold, and traded like chattel? That was a person down there. A human being with thoughts and feelings.

Ridley looked down to the angry man beside Kenzo. He was pointing in the boy’s direction. “Is that Hideo?”

The man was roughly the same height as Kenzo, with broader shoulders and a thicker build. His deep brown hair was close-cropped on the side but long enough to fall over his eyes on top.

“No, that’s Orochi, his brother,” Titus said.

“Why is Orochi pissed about Rurik taking an omega who belonged to his brother?” Ridley asked, struggling to follow. “Was he their pack omega or something?”

Ryker shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

Ridley shook his head. “I thought you said trading omegas is common. Why’s he so mad? ” he asked, trying and failing to keep the disgust from his voice.

“Because he was supposed to inherit the boy upon his brother’s death,” Jensen said.

“Inherit? Wait, his brother’s dead?” Ridley asked, trying to keep up.

“It was a death match,” Sugar said, as if that made perfect sense.

“A death match?” Ridley hissed. “Do those happen a lot?”

“When someone feels slighted enough, yeah,” Titus answered .

“Only a few times a month,” Diesel added, like watching people get beaten to death was no big deal. Though, Ridley supposed it wasn’t.

Not to them.

Before he could ask another question, Titus broke in, gently pushing Ridley to get him moving. “Let’s go to our seats.”

Ridley followed Titus down the concrete stairs to the cage below, the others right behind him.

As they passed the boy, Ridley couldn’t help but stare.

They’d called him Rain. He looked miserable.

He was squatting, chin on his knees, staring at Orochi with a look that made Ridley feel like he was interfering.

Ridley gasped softly as she realized what caused the boy’s throat to bleed. There were spikes on the inside of his metal collar.

“You are not going to introduce us to your new friend?” Yuri sneered, his accent so thick Ridley had to concentrate to understand him. He didn’t need to speak Russian to understand the way Yuri looked him up and down like he was his next meal. “What have we here?”

He ran a finger along Ridley’s jaw. Ridley wrenched away.

“Ridley,” Titus warned.

Yuri reached out and pinched Ridley’s jaw with his hand, fingers digging painfully into his skin, clearly wanting some kind of reaction from him. Ridley jerked free of his hold a second time, glaring at him.

“This one still need training,” Yuri said, biting his lower lip suggestively. “You give me good price, I’ll return him so well behaved. Or maybe you would be willing to sell?”

“He’s not for sale,” Sugar said, quiet but firm.

Yuri scoffed. “Every omega is for sale. Name your price.”

Jensen gently placed his hand where Yuri’s had been, turning Ridley’s chin, allowing them to see the bites on his neck. “Not this one.”

Yuri began to laugh like a maniac, the sound echoing around the concrete walls, drawing the attention of others once again. “Which one did it?” he asked Titus. “Which one of your boys lost his mind over this strawberry cunt? My guess is on that one.”

He pointed at Diesel, who scoffed but remained silent.

Titus went very still, and the menace in his voice when he spoke turned Ridley on more than he would ever admit. “He’s mine. My mate. Our pack’s chosen omega. I would be very careful about what you say next.”

“You? It was you? Our king?” Yuri cried, giving another sharp laugh that hit Ridley’s ear drums like broken glass. “This is wonderful news. Congrats on your union.”