Page 6 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Six

MERCER

A tight metal cuff around my wrist kept me seated, back to the wall. As the haze of the tranquilizer cleared, I tried to tug at it, but there was no use.

I’d never been in one of these cells before, but I’d seen them.

Large concrete rooms made for alphas who’d caused trouble while being arrested. The only way to get this cuff off was to have them unlock it.

Considering I’d had to have at least two tranquilizer darts shot at me to get me here, I doubted they were freeing me anytime soon. I hadn’t technically been feral, but Conrad…

I glanced around the room. My packmate had his own metal bracelet attached to the wall across from me.

He was still unconscious—made sense, considering they’d shot four darts at him.

He’d needed the extra dose both for his extra size and because of the drug running through his system driving him feral.

He was still wearing his hospital gown, but fortunately for his dignity our jailers had draped a worn, grey blanket over his bottom half.

We weren’t the only alphas in this large concrete room, either. It was full, every cuff along the wall used. Six alphas in here at once. The pheromones were strong enough for my nose to wrinkle when I’d registered the smells surrounding me.

Slumping back against the wall, I checked my pockets with my free hand. Nothing in them. It was wishful thinking to hope they might have left me with my phone.

I couldn’t contact Talia or West.

Not until the police came to give me my damn phone call, and I was pretty sure that would take a while. I was the only one who was conscious in here, far as I could tell.

Was Talia alright?

She’d been in the early stages of heat when she’d run from the room. Surely the hospital staff had helped find her a secure room to ride it out. It would be irresponsible to send her home in that state.

But then again… had she even stopped to talk to them? She might not have had enough of her senses left to do that, and if she’d wandered outside on her own…

I rumbled out a growl.

If anyone touched her, I’d make sure they lost both their fucking hands.

“Quiet in there!” a man commanded over a tinny intercom.

So they were listening, even though no guards were in the room with us. I couldn’t blame them for keeping the staff safely out of reach from the feral alphas.

“I want my phone call,” I said, looking up at one of the cameras. “I’m not feral. Let me have my call.”

There was no response for one long minute. Then, the man again. “You don’t get a call. Someone is here to pick you up.”

Fuck. Who?

Getting picked up from jail couldn’t be good after everything that went down with Grave. Although, even he didn’t have the power to just pick us up from here. I couldn’t imagine what bail they wanted for a near-feral alpha who came into Villem Central with an unexplained gunshot wound.

I couldn’t ask who because I didn’t want them to think I was clueless.

“Fine,” I muttered.

As I waited for the promised pickup, I watched Conrad intently. He was snoring softly, his eyes closed with dark circles beneath them. He was slumped over almost bonelessly, attached to the wall by that one cuff.

Is he still going to be feral when he wakes up? Or will the drug be worn off by then?

He better be back to normal so I could be mad at him for what he almost did to Talia.

I ground my teeth together, worried once again about my omega. I needed to know where she was and that she was safe for her heat, but depending on who was here to bail me out, I may never get the chance to learn that.

I might die first.

The single metal door to the expansive jail cell creaked open, two uniformed guards slipping through first. Behind them, a woman followed with a man in a suit.

The guards walked down the centre of the room, poking every prisoner to check if they were conscious, and then the woman followed behind, high heels clicking against the concrete floor.

She stopped in front of me.

She had a stern set to her face, her lips set in a thin line. Her outfit was in pristine condition, a tan pantsuit fit for a CEO’s office, and her light brown hair was tied back into a slick bun.

Her light makeup couldn’t hide how tired she looked, though.

There was a bone-weary weakness to the way she held herself, and even her citrusy omega scent couldn’t make her seem at all optimistic.

She scanned me from head to toe, assessing me. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for—I had no idea why she was here for me to begin with.

After looking me over, she turned to Conrad. He snored louder as if in response to the scrutiny. Her assessment didn’t take long, and then she turned to the uniformed man she came in with.

“These are the two,” she stated. “Release them to me and the Alfieri family will owe Theodore Windsor a favour.”

He nodded. “Of course. We’ve been told to cooperate with any prisoners you’d like to take with you today.”

My heartbeat slowed in my chest as I clued in to who this woman was.

An Alfieri daughter.

The elusive women didn’t make many public appearances, but at least one of them helped with day-to-day operations of their family’s branch of the mafia.

Shit.

They must know about the ammo—Grave probably told them we were selling it to the O’Connors to cover his own ass. If this woman took us out of this prison cell, we were both going to die before we could make sure Talia was alright.

“I want my phone call,” I said, looking up at the woman. “I’ll leave with you after I get my phone call.”

She looked at me. Then, she laughed. “Oh, Mercer. You’re leaving with me right now. No phone call. If you fight it, I’ll have them sedate you again and you’ll be dragged out of here like Conrad.”

The suited man waved over the guards, and they uncuffed my packmate. A few more men in all black suits came through the door, holding a cot between them. I watched helplessly as they rolled Conrad and his modesty blanket onto it and picked it up, hauling him out the door.

“Have you decided to walk out with me peacefully?” she asked.

I stifled a growl.

If I walked out of here with her, I was going to die.

What choice did I have? She’d made it clear she was taking me one way or another.

“Fine.”

“Good. Undo his cuff,” she ordered the guards about like she was the police chief here.

She might as well be, considering she had his support.

My arm dropped to my side when the cuff was undone, and I pushed to my feet. The Alfieri woman didn’t flinch or step back when I walked toward her. All she did was watch me intently.

Part of me wanted to lunge forward to scare her, to growl or bark or assert my authority in some way. Not only would that make my life worse, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. She was a woman—an omega.

She was going to kill me, but until she was holding the knife to my throat, I wouldn’t be able to attack her.

“Let’s go, then. If I don’t get my fucking phone call,” I grumbled.

“You’re not very grateful to the woman who saved you from a few more nights in jail.”

“I know why you did it, and I’m aware this doesn’t end well for me.”

She smirked. “You may think you know, but you don’t. And whether this ends well for you or not is fully dependent on whether you impress me and my fathers.”

How was I supposed to impress a mafia heiress when I’d already been ‘caught’ selling dangerous ammo to their competitors?

I could claim we hadn’t done it and give them the box of ammo West had stolen—assuming he got it somewhere safe—but that would put our third pack member into the line of fire too.

“Don’t overthink it,” she said with a laugh. She must have noticed my internal dilemma. “I’m Lavinia. Follow me, and show a bit of thanks.”

There would be no thanks, but I followed her out of the holding room. We went down a row of full cells, and then out into the busy police station. She offered a smile and nod to the suited man who’d helped her free us, and he went on his way to an office in the corner of the room.

We continued on, out of the building and into a car. Conrad was laid out on the backseat. “I’m not going to fit in the back with him,” I said, looking at Lavinia. “Should I sit in the front?”

“Yes. Get in.”

I settled myself into the passenger seat but stiffened when she got into the driver’s side. I’d assumed it would be one of her muscle guys driving us, considering we weren’t allies to the Alfieris.

Not the daughter herself.

Was she crazy?

Getting into a car alone with two alphas? She could be a black belt and she wouldn’t stand a chance. All we would need to do was bark.

“You shouldn’t be driving us,” I said, staring at her.

She turned the key and the car rumbled to life beneath us. “Why? Planning on hurting me?”

“It’s not safe. I hope you don’t do this with all the criminals you free from jail, because some of them might be more nefarious.”

“Let’s just say you’re a special case.” Lavinia had a knowing smirk on her face. Pulling out of the police station parking lot, she headed in the direction of Seamouth—the area of town the Alfieri family ran.

When we arrived wherever she was taking us, we were dead.

I needed to at least leave a goodbye voicemail for Talia. She couldn’t think we’d abandoned her after all this.

“If we’re a special case,” I started, “can I please have a phone call?”

“Who are you so desperate to call?”

I hesitated. Disclosing that we had an omega could be dangerous for Talia—I would never have done it if a Windsor or O’Connor were in the front seat with me.

But the Alfieri family… They were well-known for limiting punishment to those who did wrong.

It was very rare for them to go after innocent family members and mates.

Our crime wasn’t so heinous that they were likely to break that trend now.

“My mate,” I admitted quietly.

It wasn’t technically the truth, not yet, but I wanted it to be.

Lavinia stiffened. “Your mate?”

“Yeah. She’s not involved in this at all, but if I’m going to die, I need to tell her I’m sorry.”