Page 30 of Whole in His Arms

So he simply nodded.

The rest of the guys must have been paying attention, waiting for him to come back, and they’d definitely been listening because they gathered around the fire as Nix and Maddox walked over to join them.

“I’ve given you time to spill what’s going on,” Dax said. “Looks like you’re ready.”

Nix’s lips curved because he wasn’t surprised all the guys had noticed. They’d known him too damn long.

He studied the flames like they had the answers he sought. “So I may not have been completely honest.”

“No!” Zander’s voice clearly saidno shit.

Nix managed a small chuckle, but continued, “So you know I grew up around here, but what I didn’t tell you is the moment I got close, I felt like I had kin in the camp.”

Nix wasn’t watching the guys, but he felt the mood change.

“Fuck,” Dax spat. And he waited for the chewing out to come, so he was stunned when Dax said, “You okay, brother?”

Phoenix looked up slowly and found all eyes on him.Why did you doubt them for a second?

“I need to get them out of there. I need to get them the fuck out there.” Nix’s fingers dug into his thighs.

“Alright, how we gonna do it?” Dax asked.

Nix’s brow furrowed. “You trust me to come up with the plan? Even though I didn’t tell y’all anything till now?”

“I trust you,” Dax said simply, and Nix saw the rest of his brothers nod in agreement.

“I don’t know if I should come up with the plan, my tiger wants to run in there and start ripping necks and grab Cal, Jacobi—fuck every single omega and child—but I know … I know that’s a bad idea.”

Maddox nudged him. “That’s why we’re here.”

“Besides, I promised my cousin I would get you home,” Dax chimed in. “River will have a go at my throat if I don’t deliver you in one piece.”

That got a full smile from Nix, thinking about his mate always did that. He was Phoenix’s grounding force.

“My dad died,” he whispered. “In there.” No one spoke, so he carried on. “They have them in there like a breeding farm; one doctor to Goddess knows how many people. And he died.” His throat closed and Nix pressed his fist to stop the scream dying to escape.

Maddox squeezed his shoulder.

“How fucked up is it that I don’t even know if I have more siblings out there. No clue … The more I think about it, the more I feel like they probably grabbed my Papa one day when I wasn’t with him …” His voice trailed off.

Nix felt certain for the first time in his life that his Papa wouldn’t have left him. He’d always had dreams of a man reading to him at night. Kissing him on his forehead and calling Phoenix his firebird.

He’d always thought it was just a dream since he was a tiger … and the face was barely there, but now Nix knew it’d been his Papa.

“Fill us in on the lay of the land,” Dax’s voice was cold, and when he looked in his friend’s eyes, they were hard. Nix knew what that look meant, and he wanted Dax to reign hellfire on everyone that made it so his Papa was not in this world anymore. For him. For Cal. For Jacobi.

Nix and his tiger wanted blood. He put all feeling aside and met Dax’s gaze. “Tomorrow. We go in tomorrow.” Nix nodded. “My brothers, those men and women need to get out of there.” He glanced between Maddox, Zander, and Dax to see if they would disagree.

“We got you,” Maddox said.

Nix smiled. “So from what I’ve seen, they don’t have a lot of manpower. Six guards I’ve spotted so far, but they seem to use collars to keep the omegas in check. Shock collars.”

“Bastards!” Zander spat, venom in his tone.

“So we need to make sure those are disabled first off,” Nix directed that at Zan since he was the most technical of them. Usually in charge of their equipment.

“I think tonight we’ll do one more stakeout, make sure every inch of the place is mapped.” Nix added, “I haven’t been all the way through the warehouse, but it seems to be divided into rooms of some sort, there’s a large one in the front, where the omegas seem to gather, some mattresses, but I’m not sure if it’s the main room.”