Chapter 918 Chapter 918
Setting the tray down, Webb pushed the papers aside. He usually didn’t bring inventory and order lists with him to eat, but after the call with Zain, he’d needed to.
Foster was mated. Foster. Webb grinned. She must be one hell of a patient woman to keep up with his nonstop talking. He took a drink of his juice. His entire team had found their mates—except him. He shook his head. He didn’t have time to go down that emotional sinkhole again and question everything about his own instincts.
Pulling the tray closer, he glanced at the list Zain had given him. Apparently, Foster’s mate had no problem giving all of the supplies away. He shrugged. That’s what they were for. There's no sense in hauling all of it around and not using it.
Taking a bite, he considered the cost all of this must run the Alliance. It had to be a hefty amount. Before, he used to worry about that, but now that he knew where some of the money was from, he didn’t feel the need to be frugal with all of it. Every time the Alliance found another location, they seized it and all property or accounts associated with it. He didn’t understand the legal hereto that went with it, and that was okay. They had some kind of know-it-all lawyer that dealt with that. Taking another bite, he nodded. Essentially, that meant the sickos they were taking out were paying for their own life-long incarcerations. That was some serious irony in play.
The double doors opened, and Blaise came striding in. Did she ever just walk at a leisurely pace? He didn’t think so. He watched the weapons strapped to her thighs bounce with her movement as she walked. He’d never seen her without them.
As far as he could remember, his gun was in his vehicle. He frowned. He should probably bring it in and clean it or something. Webb wasn’t a fan of weapons, but he understood the need for them.
Blaise started toward him with her drink in her hand. She was fueled by caffeine.
She sat down across from him and gave the papers a curious look.
“Going over things to send down to Zain. They've located quite a few new clans.”
She nodded. “Devin told me about them. Zain have any luck with suppliers closer to him?”
Webb shook his head. “Most of the companies we use up here the Alliance or a clan have stakes in them, so its cheaper for us to gather them up and fly them to Chicago.”
She nodded. “We still don’t know who to trust down there.”
“That too.” Webb picked up his drink. “I guess you’re looking forward to Griffin coming back.”
She sighed. “I didn’t think missing someone like this was possible.” For a moment, her eyes had a faraway look.
“Are all the rogues mated?” He didn’t know why he blurted that out. He hadn’t even been thinking about it.
She shook her head. “There are two couples. Two others, I think, whose mates were killed, but that’s it.”
He couldn’t help wondering if Rhogue’s mate was one of those who were killed.
She looked at the door. “Fallan’s going to set up those cameras today. I don’t like Cassius having to keep two men in town who could be patrolling.”
“Makes sense.” He turned to see the table where Nolyn sat talking to Jo and Julia. A few of the other teens were there too. Akira, who definitely was related to Blair. Paxton was Konner’s ward. Webb wasn't sure why he was called that, but it wasn’t his place to question stuffy word use. Tia was there. Webb grinned. If she kept her attitude, she was going to be a force to reckon with when she was older.
“Gives me hope.”
He looked at Blaise.
She nodded toward the table. “For the future. If we’d started training at their age, Aiden Tomas’ goons wouldn’t have had a chance to do everything they have.”
“You think so?” Webb hadn’t even known anything about the issues in the shifter community at their age.
“Absolutely.” She nodded. “If I’d been trained earlier in life, I would have seized the opportunity to take them all out. Spligack!” She slapped her hand down on the table. “Just like that. End of problem.”
Webb didn’t know what the hell language spligack was, but she was one of the scariest women he knew, so he could only believe that she meant whatever it was.
Blaise set her cup down, pulled her phone out of her pocket, and answered it. “Yeah.” Her brows furrowed, and she stood up. “I’ll be right there.” She stood up. “Bring your lists. I’m going to have things to add.”
Webb had learned that when she said things like that, you moved fast, or she’d leave you behind. Grabbing the papers, he got up. He scooped up a handful of fries to eat on the way to wherever they were going at a speed that he could only label as close-to-jogging.
He caught up to her as she was punching in the code to the communications room.
Fallan and Devin were in there.
“I’m here.” Blaise stopped and rested her hand on her gun. He noticed that was her resting stance and wondered what she did when that weapon wasn’t conveniently located at that height.
Fallan turned and did something with some buttons.
“Go ahead, Cassius.” Devin crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the screen.
“I’m in town with Marauder and River. They came across another rogue, his name is Grifter, and he wanted to get a message to one of yours.”
“To who?” Blaise went over and leaned on the desk near the speaker.
“To Deacon. He said to warn him that Pike was here.”
“Here?” Blaise stiffened.
“In the area.”
Blaise and Devin exchanged a look. “Are you with Grifter right now?”
“Marauder went to go get him.”
Blaise looked at Fallan. “Call Deacon. Separate call.”
Fallan nodded.
“I'm going to put you on mute until we have Deacon on the phone.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Fallan pushed the button as she dialed some numbers.”
“Hello?”
Webb recognized Gia’s voice.
“Gia, is Deacon there?”
“Yes. We’re just driving back. Supplies all delivered.”
“Great.” Devin nodded. “We just got a call from Cassius. He's in town with his scouts and there’s someone there that knows Deacon.”
“Who?” Deacon was a man of few words.
“Someone called Grifter.”
The line was quiet for a minute.
“Grifter. Is he alone?”
“As far as we know. Cassius’ man just went to go get him. Who is Grifter, Deacon?”
“Someone from the past.” Deacon didn’t sound pleased.
“Why would he want to give you a message?”
“I don’t know. I trust him, but only if he’s on his own.”
Devin nodded. “Okay.”
“What message? Is he there? Can you put him on?”
Webb’s animal was alert. Then again, the vibes coming off Deacon most of the time were tense and automatically set him off—and he was only on a call, not even physically here. He didn’t know how Gia managed to not be a ball of tension around him.
Fallan pushed a button. “Is Grifter there now, Cassius?”
“He is.”
“Okay, I’m going to put both calls on speaker so Deacon can hear Grifter.”
“All right.”
Fallan nodded. “Go ahead, Deacon.”
“Grift?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” He sounded as monotone as Deacon did.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Pike is here in the area, Deac. I heard you might be nearby.”
“Is Maxton with him?” Deacon had a growl in his voice.
“No. Pike took out Maxton about five years ago. He runs things now.”
“Why is he in the area?”
Grifter sighed. “I don’t have all the deets. I was down south checking on a rumor when it all went down.”
“What did?”
“Pike says Kiloh’s woman is here with a group of rogues.”
“His mate?”
“I don’t know if they are or not. I just heard it was messy.”
“How many are with him? Besides you.”
Grifter chuckled. “There are only four of us now, Deac. Pike, Kiloh, Clayton, and me are all that’s left. Everyone split and went their own way two years ago. We pick up the odd one here and there, but they don’t stay. Pike is worse than Max was.”
“He always was a bully.”
“Yeah, well, a Kodiak is hard to take down.”
Deacon snorted.
“Deac, I gotta ask. I went south because I heard a rumor that the Tomas empire had crumbled. Did your Alliance take him out? Is it done?”
“It is. He has been shut down for good.”
“Alle-fucking-lujah to that.” He coughed. “I want to come in. I’ll kiss the feet of those that need kissing and do penance or whatever it takes, Deacon. I just can’t live with this group anymore. The rogue network won’t touch me because of Maxton and Pike, so what do you say?”
“Put him on hold,” Devin said.
“Putting you on mute for a moment, Grifter.”
“Yeah.”
When Fallan nodded to Devin, he leaned over the desk. “Deacon, what’s the story?”
Webb heard Deacon sigh into the phone.
“Grifter and I were friends from the time we were big enough to get into trouble together. Maxton’s group was about thirty at that time. Shifters were being taken like someone thought we were collectible dolls, and Grifter and a few others went missing. Maxton refused to go after them. So I did. It took me days to find them and a few more to get him out of there. I was too late for the others; they were already gone. After that, I split, and I guess Grifter went back to Maxton.”
“If we bring him in, he’ll be in holding for a while.”
“I’m sure he’s figured that.”
Devin looked at Blaise.
She shrugged. “We have the just-in-case cage.”
Webb avoided that area like the plague. It was part of the garage space where they had built a large floor-to-ceiling steel-barred accommodation.
Devin nodded. “All right. Head here, and you can bring him in.”
“Sir, call in backup. Find out which woman Kiloh is after and get her to safety too. If Pike and Clayton storm the factory, the only thing that will bring them down is a cannon.”
Devin stared at the screen of the phone. “I’ll call for help.”
“Might want to make sure Amari and Tripp are on that list, sir. We’re going to need a little bit of out of control to handle this.”
Devin snorted. “Noted. Take it off mute.”
Fallan nodded.
“Grifter.”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“Devin Addison.”
“Shit, the prince. Sir?”
“Deacon will come to collect you. How soon, Deacon?”
“We already turned around. I’d say with our speed; we’ll be there by dinner tomorrow.” Gia said.
“Cassius?”
“I'm here.”
“Have your men keep Grifter in sight until they hear from us?”
“Will do.”
“I won’t be no trouble, sir,” Grifter said. “I’m tired of this life.”
Devin crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “You give Cassius any information that will be useful while you’re waiting.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Grifter said.
“I’ll call you in a bit, Cassius.”
“Will do.” That line went quiet.
“Deacon?”
“Yeah?”
“What clan are these men?”
“Pike and Clayton are Kodiak’s, sir, biggest I’ve ever seen.”
Blaise looked at Webb. He hoped she didn’t think he was any match for them, because he was a big black bear, but not that kind of big.
“Kiloh is a jag. Grifter is an Arctic wolf.”
Devin nodded. “Let me know when you’re near the town. I’ll be sending someone there to keep an eye until Fallan gets the cameras set up.”
“Be careful. If your gut tells you there’s danger, believe it.”
Fallan looked at Devin and nodded.
“All right. Call when you’re closer.”
“Will do.”
The call ended.
Blaise pulled out her phone. “I’m telling Griffin to stay with his mother until I tell him otherwise.”
Devin nodded. “Fallan, I need Raymond and Tripp on a call.” He turned and looked at Webb. “Go find Wynter, Blair, and Noah. We’re going to need them to stay and help keep an eye. With the kids here, I’m not taking any chances.”
Fallan paused in what she was doing. “What about the woman this Pike is after?”
Devin ran his hand through his hair. “I'll call Cassius in a minute and tell him to get her here and anyone else that needs extra security. He'll have to consolidate the three houses into one and set up his own watch at the main house.”
Webb clutched the papers in his hand and turned. “I’ll go get the others.” He left the room and then exhaled when he stepped outside. Because life wasn’t a big enough danger being a shifter, they now had to worry about some from their own community being the danger.