Page 5

Chapter

Five

T hey had stopped to get Eyre new shoes and some serviceable clothes, much to his protests, and now they were sitting in Symon’s big family room, a platter of amazing food in front of them.

Rian had to admit, with Adrian around, the food was more desirable at Symon’s too. Way less yogurt.

And way more laughter, too.

Rian loved that. Thank God his brother had found the mate that brought out all his good qualities.

Adrian immediately took to Eyre, helping him to relax, breathe. And Rian appreciated that very much, because he had no intention of letting Eyre escape from his clutches now.

There was something—hell, there was everything—that drew him to Eyre.

Symon caught his eye, and he raised an eyebrow, sipping his wine. He wasn’t going to apologize for staring at Eyre.

Symon, blinking, glanced at Eyre, then his head tilted.

Rian grinned, and Symon sat back in his chair, looking at Adrian, who nodded.

“So, Eyre, are you into falafel. I’m addicted, even if they are vegetarian.”

Eyre blinked at Adrian. “I like veggies. I’m an omnivore.”

“Yay!” Adrian clapped his hands. “These cretins are critical of the bean.”

“Oh, I love falafel and hummus.”

“Good deal. Me too!”

Rian loved Adrian for his willingness to be friends with Eyre, to help him feel comfortable. He thought he could see the little fox relaxing.

Adrian encouraged Eyre to eat, jabbering with him about food and video games and music. The little wolf had really come into his own. He wasn’t nearly as scared he had been, or as shy.

Symon grinned at him, and he chuckled. Yes. This was good.

So, what’s the deal?

He’s been trying to find the assholes that are using the app to abduct omegas.

What? Symon’s eyes flashed. What the fuck do you mean?

Quin said you were aware.

I knew someone was misusing the app, but abducting?

He says his friends have been disappearing.

Fuck me. Where? When? How?

Can we discuss this after the food?

Symon chuffed. Are you sure this is food?

You’re the one who used to not eat meat.

I’m reformed. Symon gave him a wicked, toothy smile. Steak makes Adrian horny.

Ew!

“Hello! Eating here.” Quin tossed a piece of cucumber at him.

Eyre blinked, and Adrian chuckled softly. “Don’t mind them. They’re awful.”

“I think they’re funny,” Eyre murmured. “I don’t have brothers.”

“No? Me either. That’s why they’re so cool, huh?”

Eyre gave Rian a sly little glance. “Cool might be a strong word.”

“Oh, ho! He told you, bro,” Quin crowed.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He would love to put Eyre over his lap for that. In fact, he indulged in a pleasant little fantasy about it. But Eyre might not be the type for that.

He certainly wouldn’t be right now, as fragile as he was.

It was no fun if he wasn’t able to say no, after all.

Eyre flashed another searching glance at him, and he smiled, knowing he probably looked as predatory as he felt. This omega brought out all his needs and his protective instincts.

He had never felt anything this immediate or this strong. Never.

You have it bad.

He chuckled mentally at Symon . I do. Just as you do.

Just as? Symon’s eyes went wide. You think so.

I know.

Hmmmm.

Stop being ru-u-ude, Quin sang.

They don’t notice, he shot back.

No? That was Symon, and when he glanced over, Adrian and Eyre were staring at them.

Oops. He grinned, unrepentant.

“You three quit that,” Adrian said. “Such rude boys.”

“We’re not!” Symon protested, stealing a kiss.

“I beg your pardon, Eyre,” Rian said. “Sometimes, we’re not fit for polite company.”

“Only sometimes. Sometimes, they’re super classy. I promise.” Adrian winked at Eyre.

Eyre just shrugged, cheeks hot. “The food is really good, Adrian.”

So polite.

Shut up. I mean it.

He finished up his plate, then set it aside, waiting for everyone else to do the same. They really did need to chat about the damn app.

“Can we go sit in the living room?” Adrian asked. “It’s so much more cozy.”

“Of course, sweet.” Symon rose, taking plates and platters to the sink. Domesticated man.

Eyre helped, the act quick, practiced, clearing the table. Maybe he’d been a server at a restaurant? Every insight into him was valuable.

“Come on. You did great.” Adrian hooked his arm in Eyre’s. “Time to sit.”

“Thanks.” Eyre went with him, and they followed the two omegas. He had to admit, he loved the way Eyre’s sweet ass swayed when he walked.

It was as if he simply…couldn’t stop looking. Maybe this was what they called the mating bond. If it was working between them, then there was a reason he wanted to touch and kiss and lick and love.

He wanted to reassure Eyre, tell him that the world wasn’t going to harm him ever again. But he knew that actions spoke louder than words, so he would throw himself into convincing and actually protecting.

The rest would come. It had to.

“So there are people disappearing?”

So delicate, his brother.

“Yes,” Eyre spoke up, voice clear. “My friends used to all meet at a certain coffee shop, checking in with each other. So many of us couldn’t afford to keep phones connected, so we made a plan to be safe. And they’ve stopped coming.”

“But how do you know, kid?”

“He’s not a kid,” Rian growled.

“Well, you did say he was the oldest,” Eyre murmured.

“Oh, good one,” Quin quipped.

“I know because we had a system. If someone was moving on, or say, they found a place to live that was better or something, they either showed up to tell us or left a postcard on the bulletin board. These guys didn’t, and they were all good guys.” Eyre shook his head. “We might be homeless, but we’re not all alone. We have each other.”

“Fair enough. Tell me about the app,” Symon said, watching Eyre carefully. Listening now.

“I know three guys for sure—like personally know—that swiped on an Alpha in the app and disappeared after they hooked up.”

“Do you know anything about the alphas?” Rian asked. “Did you see any of them at the club?”

“I haven’t been at the club. That’s why I went when I met Quin. Do I look like I have the money to go to a club?” Eyre blinked at him for a moment, then made a wry face. “Sorry, sorry, that was rude. It just—Anyway. No, I had just gone to the club the first time, looking for my friends. I figured borrowing a phone and swiping on one of the alphas would get me close. And I don’t even know if it did. I just ended up with Quin and that guy.”

Adrian reached out and patted Eyre’s hand. “You’re good. All good. It’s okay; you’re safe now. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Ah, that was sweet. Sweet and totally inappropriate because it was not Adrian’s job to protect Eyre. It was his. And Rian found himself feeling a little growly about that whole patting on the hand thing, which was stupid because Adrian was his brother-in-law, and Rian knew that Adrian and Symon were so deep into each other it was nauseating. But still, he just wanted to grab Eyre up and say no, not yours. Mine, not yours. Mine.

This was totally not him.

Except that right now, it absolutely, totally was him.

Quin looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Of course he’s safe. Nobody’s gonna come into the pack of damn wolves in this house and try to steal the little fox. All is well. I’d be more worried about the fox with the wolves in here.”

I will hit you with a shovel, he sent to Quin.

You’ll try . Quin singsonged back.

“Love, get your laptop, hmm? We need to make a timeline,” Symon told Adrian.

“On it.”

In minutes, Adrian was set up with a spreadsheet, ready to take all of Eyre’s information. “I need names and dates they disappeared. If you know where they were supposed to meet the alphas, that would be handy too.”

Eyre chewed his lower lip, and Rian could tell he was trying to decide if he should trust or not. He glanced at Rian, who nodded, trying to send a wave of comforting thoughts to Eyre.

Eyre stared at him, then nodded and started talking. He didn’t have a lot of specific information. He’d seen pictures of alphas on the site. He knew the street names for the lost omegas, where they’d been staying. He knew when they were last seen and where they went. Hell, obviously he knew enough to have gone and picked up an alpha himself.

“How did you know to pick the alpha you did?” he asked.

Eyre shrugged. “It was the wording more than anything, I guess? There was a certain tone to the bio, and then when we chatted on the app. I just felt like the chat was similar, I guess, to the other ones.”

Adrian pursed his lips. “Similar, huh? Similar how? Was it like the abbreviations he used?”

“Kind of. It was very ‘Big buff Alpha seeks willing Omega for fun’ and…” Eyre trailed off, his cheeks pink. “You know, that sort of thing.”

It occurred to Rian suddenly that Eyre had said that this was about a BDSM lifestyle sort of thing.

So maybe spanking wasn’t out of the question…

God, he was such a dog.

Eyre squinted at him as if he could hear Rian’s thoughts. So he winked, making Eyre blush darker.

This bore exploring.

“Okay, so maybe I can make an algorithm… Do you still have the one you swiped on up on your app?” Adrian asked.

“Well, I don’t have a phone.”

“You logged in though, right? You made a username and a password?” Adrian hovered his fingers over the keyboard.

Eyre nodded to Adrian, leaning forward to peer at the screen. “I did. You can get hold of that? Of course you can. Duh. Hello.”

Suddenly, Adrian and Eyre were head-to-head, typing and working away at Adrian’s computer.

Okay, that was weirdly hot. Adrian’s fingers flew as they began flipping through profiles. It didn’t take long at all before they had a group of about ten that felt similar to what Eyre had been talking about. And maybe two that Eyre said he’d seen in conjunction with the missing people.

“Ten.” Quin frowned. “That’s a big number.”

“Is it?” Rian didn’t know what to think.

“Well, yeah, for an organized set of fucking assholes. Ten is a big Goddamn number. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like it,” Quin spat.

Symon tilted his head. “Are you sure? Ten just doesn’t seem like—Are you sure it’s organized?”

“This doesn’t happen by accident. Someone’s running this. Someone is creating these profiles for money. And then these assholes are using them to lure in omegas!”

Eyre stared at Quin. “Are you okay?”

“No, honey. I’m fucking mad.”

Rian reached over to squeeze Eyre’s shoulder. “Quin gets grumpy when people take advantage of omegas.”

“Oh.” Eyre shrugged, shoulders rounding up. “I don’t like it either, but it happens a lot.”

“So what do we do?” Adrian turned to Symon, spreading his hands.

“I have security people for a reason. I’ll get Cyrus to look into these profiles, and he can have a couple of his guys start trolling the two more popular pickup locations.”

“Y’all are actually going to do something about this?” Eyre gaped at them each in turn, ending with Rian. “You’re seriously going to take me at my word and help?”

“Yes.” Why wouldn’t they? Beyond the obvious whole wolf thing, they weren’t giant bleeding assholes, so they didn’t want innocent people getting hurt. There was also the possibility of being sued because some Omega got hurt when they used the Shiftr app to hook up and got abducted.

“Well, thank you.” Eyre’s eyes welled with sudden tears. “I didn’t think that—I didn’t think anybody would help.”

Quin snorted. “You knew I would help. I was helping.”

“You were unconscious,” Rian pointed out. “You had to call me for help.”

“I was only unconscious because I was trying to help Eyre. I was on recon.”

Adrian frowned. “Wait, what? Symon, did you know about this?”

“Not about the drug part. Or the abductions.”

One of Adrian’s eyebrows raised. “But you knew about the whole going undercover, Alphas using the app for nefarious purposes thing.”

“Well, no, that was—I only had the most vague details, right, Quin?” Symon was starting to look hunted.

Like Quin was going to lie for Symon. Quin was way more likely to lie like a rug to get Adrian aggravated so that Symon and Adrian could make up, because making up always involved lots of pastries. Quin could always murder a pastry.

“Just stop.” Rian held up his hands. “It’s very complicated. But we’re going to fix it. Right, Quin?”

“Oh yeah, fixing.” Quin tossed his hair back. “I’m all about the fixing. Fixing, fixing, fixing.”

Sometimes, Rian wanted to beat his little brother in the head with a rock. A big rock.

Possibly one with little pointy mineral parts on it. He had to wonder if he hit Quin with a chunk fool’s gold, would the wound have sparkles in it?

Quin stuck his tongue out at him.

Eyre chuckled, Adrian rolled his eyes, and Symon sighed as if they were all naughty children.

“I’m going to call Cyrus,” Symon said.

“I’ll get ahold of Isaac,” Adrian murmured. “He can help us with the computer stuff.”

Eyre was chewing his lip again. “Well, thanks. Can someone take me back to Denver?”

“No,” Rian said it flatly, and all heads swiveled for them to stare at him. “You’ll stay with me.”

“But—”

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared.

“I’ll go make that call,” Symon said, and he and Adrian disappeared like smoke.

Quin chuckled. “I’m gonna go thank Stan for the tapas.” He disappeared too.

Eyre stared at him. “I’m going back to Denver.”

“That’s fine. You can stay with me.” Rian wasn’t an asshat. He wasn’t going to kidnap Eyre and make him stay in Boulder with Symon. He was, however, going to fight for his mate with everything he had so Eyre had better bring it.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I need to be down in my part of town.”

“What’s there,” he prodded.

“Oh, my friends…”

“That’s who we’re trying to help.” Now that part he could argue. “And we need your assistance in finding these guys. I’m not saying you have to sleep with me. I’m not saying there’s strings attached. I’m saying come stay at my place. In your own room. You can help Adrian with finding these guys, and we can shut this thing down. That’s all.”

I bet Symon could put him on the payroll , Quin sent.

Aren’t you in the other room? Leave me alone. I am negotiating.

That’s why I brought up the payroll thing.

I don’t want him to think I’m paying him to come and stay at the house. That had nothing to do with what he wanted. What Rian needed was way more long term. But he could be patient. In theory.

“Rian—”

He beamed. “You said my name.”

Eyre crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m trying to make you see reason.”

“My house isn’t all that far from your friends. And it’s a safe base of operations.”

“A—What do you want?”

That was easy to answer. “I want this shit with the omegas to stop. I won’t have it.”

He wasn’t lying, and he thought Eyre could hear the truth that rang from his voice, because the fox stopped, searched his eyes.

“Do you think we can find them? Will you try? You promise?”

“I will do my dead level best, sweet. My brothers and I, we don’t put up with this shit. Shiftr is meant to be a safe way for alphas and omegas to meet. Hell, any shifters who wanted to meet.” It was Symon’s new baby, and one of his many investments. He wanted it to succeed.

Eyre stared at him, eyebrows furrowed. “Okay. But I’m not desperate. I’m not. I’m just down on my luck.”

“I never said you were desperate.” Rian spread his hands, going for radical honesty. “You make me want things, Eyre. Not just sexual things, though I admit, I want you badly. But I need to protect you. I have this urge to be with you. Just to get to know you. And I want to help you find your friends.”

“I feel it too, but you’re a wolf. I don’t want you to eat me when we’re shifted…”

“Oh, trust me, love. If I am going to gobble you up, it will be metaphorically. I would never hurt you.” His wolf would know his mate. He had no doubt.

“I want to believe you. I just haven’t had the best luck with alphas.”

That had him grinning again. “I’m not just any alpha, Eyre. I’m yours.”