“Me as well,” James said. “There’s some people I need to speak to, then I’m taking the omegas to my place, letting them hole up for a while, get them grounded again.”
“You got nesting materials?” Len asked. “I grabbed a stash recently. I can bring them by.”
“Later, this afternoon. Let’s keep things simple, but I need to get to Apothecary first.”
“Marcus…” Len said. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“I’ll tell you how it goes.”
“Look after them, Chadwick. Don’t let the need to strike back at what’s hurting them get in the way of that.” I watched James’ knuckles go white as they tightened around the steering wheel. “You’ve got them, so make them a priority. Ground them, look after them, fuck, pamper them if you can. Remind them that there are people in the world that care about them and their safety.”
“You’re right,” James said finally, the heat going out of his voice. “I’ll make sure they have somewhere secure at Apothecary and will keep things simple. I just need…”
“I know,” Len replied. “I also know that me and Jacks are gonna change our date a bit. We’ll trawl through some dive bars, get on the piss, and start sniffing things down. Pretty sure your fancy arse family won’t be too pleased with you making a connection with us, but we’ve got our uses. Jacks!”
“Already on it,” came a much fainter voice. “I know where the boys will be at and where some of the other leaders will be tonight. We’ll have information before the sun goes down today.”
“Thank you,” James said simply, the quiet growing again as we drove into the city. “Meet me at my studio when you’re ready.”
“You got it.”
We drove until the sleek spire of Apothecary appeared before us, James retrieving a special pass that let him into a carpark, security personnel eyeing us as we entered. James just opened our door, ushering us out, then into the building itself.
“You’re wanting to see the boss?” the man at the door said, and James nodded. “In his office.”
It was always strange being in a building like a club or a shopping centre, maybe a school, out of hours. Its purpose was to be full of people, and yet the times when they weren’t were somewhat eerie. We could hear our every footstep as we walked up to the office, and that was perhaps what alerted them.
“Shit, you did come in,” Brendan said, eyeing the three of us in almost disbelief.
“OK…” Tristan said.
“Sorry, Megamind—I mean, Marcus said you’d be in and he’s nearly always right, the fucking bastard, but I still haven’t gotten used to it. Anyway, come in.”
More weirdness. Of course there was more weirdness. My body was feeling too heavy, and at the same time, light enough to blow away in a gentle breeze, the throbbing at my temples the only thing to anchor me, but James led the way inside. There he was, the owner of Apothecary, sitting behind his desk like this was some Christian Grey fanfic, Cyn and Orion by his side.
“I’d say welcome, but I don’t think that’s appropriate right about now,” Marcus said, his usual smirk gone. “I’d also like to reprimand you for playing outside of Apothecary—”
“Marcus,” Cyn said through gritted teeth.
“But I’ve been told that’s completely inappropriate. So that brings us to the last thing. What are you prepared to do to find out who recorded you and is using the file to wreak havoc on your family?”
He asked the question, amber eyes filled with a challenge, and strangely, that was the only thing that cut through the haze that threatened to consume me. I saw my sister, my father, my mother, my entire family, and the resulting pain and disappointment, right at a moment when we should’ve been celebrating. Cress and I should be upstairs, nestled down in her bed, planning her mating ceremony and mine. No one should’ve been looking at us with those eyes filled with dissatisfaction, with voices filled with expediency. No one should’ve seen what happened last night, none but those that we invited or passed by.
“Anything,” I replied, feeling my nails dig into James and Tris’ arms. “Anything at all.”
Chapter 33
“You’ll help us?” Tristan asked.
We’d told the four of them what we knew, but no one seemed especially surprised by that. Because of Marcus’ famous almost prescient perceptivity or…?
“Of course. You’ve been loyal supporters of Apothecary for a long time, but even if you weren’t…” His smile was slow and sharp. “There’s something that doesn’t quite make sense about this. The threat was to reveal the file to all and sundry, but that’s already been carried out to a degree. If you’re saying your sister’s fiancé’s family had it and we were given it—”
“What?” James said.
“There was a very rudimentary attempt to bargain with me. Said they would share the file with me if I would share my files with them. I played possum of course, to see if I could draw them out, hopefully trace their IP and find out who the hell this idiot is.” His fingers formed a steeple. “Because they are idiots. There’s no plan, well, not one they’re sticking to. Blackmail requires a degree of trust between the perpetrator and the victim. If the victim feels like they’re at least going to get what they need from the transaction, they are more likely to hand over the money, but they didn’t even give you the illusion of not sharing it.”
He frowned slightly.