Chapter 28 28
Chapter 28 – Moscow
Odessa’s POV
I wanted to be angry with my brother for having Alec follow me around. I wondered when he realized I wasn’t actually at the sleepover and how long Alec has been following me. Embarrassment flared through me at the idea that Alec could have followed us into the Adonis and witnessed what happened on that balcony.
It's not like I was a child anymore, I reminded myself. I had found my mate and being with your mate is instinctive. My brother knew when I turned eighteen that I would be able to find my mate, but he was hoping my mate would have turned up in his pack. He should be thankful that I was only a few hours away.
“Half an hour by helicopter,” Olympia reminded me.
When we entered the pack house, I could sense relief wash over my brother as he set eyes on me. I was unharmed, though I’m not sure what he was expecting. Did he actually believe Hades would harm me? When I hugged him and he scented me, I could feel the tension in his aura. I knew my brother well enough to know he was struggling not to kill Hades. Raven smiled at me as she reached for his hand to calm him. They were expecting their first pup, though they hadn’t told anyone else yet. She had no scent and I suspected my brother had her drinking evvie tea to hide and protect the pup.
I waited anxiously, sure that my brother would lash out at Hades any moment now, but his mood changed the moment he heard Hades also had a sister and a pup had been abducted.
“Doctor Evros, I’m Alpha Hades and I understand my father exiled you from the pack. I understand your family has been part of this pack for
centuries and would like you to rejoin.”
He dipped his head and placed his right hand over his heart, which is a sincere gesture of gratitude in Greek culture. “Thank you Alpha, I’m happy to be home.”
“You may return to the clinic when you are settled.” Hades nodded and Doctor Evros reached for my brother's hand to thank him before he left.
“If you ever feel the need to banish the good doctor again, I won’t allow him to return next time.” My brother could be such an instigator sometimes, but he was a great Alpha and I was thankful he had taken Doctor Evros in.
“I’m going to book a flight to Moscow. Alina mentioned living in an old orthodox church on the edge of the Chertanovo district with the other operatives working for Yuri.” Kazimir told us.
“I’m going with you,” Hades said.
“You believe her uncle had something to do with her abduction?” Raven asked.
“Yes. He ran a small syndicate of cyber thieves and other extortion jobs for high-powered individuals. There’s a good chance he was just trying to recover his asset.” Kazimir said.
“This is the human uncle, correct?” She pressed. “Yes.”
“It could be a ploy to lure you out. You are the son of the most notorious Bratva Pahkan. In our world, you’re also the son of a rich and powerful Alpha. It wouldn’t matter if you’re on speaking terms or not,” my brother was quick to point out.
“No one knew she was his mate,” I told him.
“The Kazimir Volkov everyone has heard about would have killed the thief and left her body for them to find. When he didn’t kill her, and they
realized she was alive and well… it wouldn’t take someone long to figure out he had her. If they’re from our world, they probably figured out he had a soft spot for her.”
“He has a point,” I told Kazimir.
“I need to do something, my wolf is losing it. I’m going to leave on the next flight to Moscow.”
“I’ll go with you. I need to find Thea too,” Ninos said.
“No. I will go with Kazimir. You’re the new Gamma, you will need to stay here and help my mate run things.” Hades gave me a pleading look.
“I’m not staying here!” I insisted. “Yes, you are,” Hades said.
“Listen to your mate!” Dimitri growled at me.
“Oh, so now you’re okay with him being my mate?” I snapped.
“Dessa, this is Russia we’re talking about. You don’t know who you’re dealing with over there.”
“You will stay here. Kazimir and I need to slip in and out without an entourage. Please don’t make this difficult for us. Your brother will see to it that you’re safe and if anything happens to us…” his eyes trailed to Dimitri.
“I’ll look after the pack,” my brother said, nodding in agreement.
“You can’t just fly into Russia as if you’re on vacation. One must have an invitation to enter the country and a visa. I’m a citizen and Hades has an extended visa because of the fights. Even if we wanted to bring you, we can’t. You can’t just get an entry visa on arrival,” Kazimir explained to me.
“If someone in political power is involved, they will be alerted when you reenter the country,” I replied.
“She’s right,” Kazimir agreed. “We’ll have to get a private jet.”
“My parents have business connections there, and the LaRue Enterprises jet is at the Athens airport on standby. I’m sure my parents will let you use it,” Raven offered. “I can call them right now?”
“Are you sure?” Hades reluctantly asked.
“It’s no problem, my father likes you,” she smiled. “I’ll call right now.” “Ninos will see to it that your parents are compensated for the cost,”
Hades offered.
Twenty minutes later, I stood with Giota and Ninos and watched as the helicopter lifted off. Raven’s father, Alpha Diesel LaRue, was very generous and had agreed to let my mate take the jet. He had even proposed joining them, but Hades didn’t want to further trouble him. My brother and Raven offered to take them to the Athens airport in the helicopter which was much faster than the nearly four hour drive.
When the helicopter was out of sight, the three of us returned to the pack house living room, unsure of what to do. Giota had been unusually quiet and seemed to be lost in thought. I knew she would be heartbroken over the loss of Thea, but she had Kappas blood, and I knew she was up to something.
“Can I get you something?” Ninos asked her.
“Some tea sounds good,” she softly replied, and Ninos slipped into the kitchen. Giota looked like she was ready to run or late for something.
“Giota?” I questioned.
“I need to see Dion. He can get the documents I need to enter Russia,” she looked at me with determination.
“Who’s Dion?”
“He’s a pack tracker, but he also specialized in helping my father with the production of documents for his illegal activities.”
“You want to go to Moscow?” I asked in surprise.
“Yes. Thea needs me and no one in Russia knows who I am. I won’t draw the attention that Kazimir and Hades do.”
“What’s the plan?” I didn’t hesitate.
“The Aktion International airport is about an hour away. I can have Dion get the documents ready… I just need money.”
“We have money, lots of it in the cabinet of the Beta office.” I smiled. “We just need a plan to get around your mate.”
Ninos returned with the tea for his mate and sat down next to her. She thanked him and sat quietly sipping it, trying to maintain her calm.
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked Giota.
“I think I just need some fresh air. Will you take a walk with me?”
Lucky for us, Ninos and Giota had not mated yet and could not read each other’s thoughts. We slipped out for our walk and left Ninos at the pack house. I knew Giota was taking us on a specific walk to see the tracker.
We reached the door of a quaint cottage and Giota gave a rapid knock. A man with dark curly hair and dark eyes answered the door with a puzzled look on his face as he took in Giota. His eyes moved to me, and he instantly bowed his head.
“Luna! What can I do for you?”
“I understand you have a special talent for producing travel documents?”
Dion worked swiftly. He snapped photos of us for passports and tourist visas. I researched flight schedules while we waited, there was a direct flight in about three hours, and we needed to hurry. An hour later, we thanked Dion and returned to the pack house. We found Ninos in the Alpha office studying something on the computer screen.
“Hades and Kazimir have arrived at the jet in Athens, they should be airborne soon. Alpha Dimitri and his mate are returning to Olympus Blood Moon, but will continue to check-in,” he informed us.
“I didn’t get a chance to buy much today, I was thinking about driving to Olympus Blood Moon to pack my belongings. Something to keep me busy.”
“It’s a three hour drive to Olympus Blood Moon,” Ninos looked uncertain.
“If it gets late, I can always spend the night. Giota can come with me if she wants,” I looked at Giota.
“I’ve never really been anywhere. I’d really like to see your old pack,” she said.
“There will be plenty of time to visit Olympus Blood Moon later, I don’t think Hades will approve if I let you both leave for the evening.”
“You’re right. I should probably just sit here and wait. I’m sure it won’t be more than seven or eight… maybe ten or twelve hours before we hear anything. I don’t think I can sleep tonight,” she sniffled. Oh, she was good.
“A drive might do some good. I have a lot of things to pack, and it might help distract her,” I smiled feebly at Ninos who only wanted to make his mate happy. He looked at Giota again and reluctantly nodded his head.
With my lead foot on the gas, I zipped around traffic like I was racing down the Autobahn. I wasn’t sure where to start looking once we arrived in Moscow, but Kazimir had mentioned an old church on the edge of the Chertanovo district. I also knew the name of the hotel in Moscow that Alina
was sent to, and I suspected that we might need to pay a visit to the seedy world of cage fighting. Ordinarily, two human females would never attempt to roam into such dodgy places, but we’re both Alpha born werewolves. I’d have no problem messing up my manicure to shift my claws and gut someone, human or not. We were going to find Thea if it’s the last thing I do.
I made record time driving to the airport in hopes we would be able to catch the only flight to Moscow this evening. I had shoved some extra clothes into a single backpack, along with two bundles of euros I slipped out of the cabinet from the Beta’s office, but I didn’t want to arouse Ninos’ suspicion and couldn’t risk more clothes. The weather in Russia would no doubt be frigid in the fall, and we would need to wear extra layers because we didn’t bring coats.
“How long do you think before they notice we’re gone?” Giota asked as we parked the car.
“With any luck, Ninos will just assume we’ve decided to spend the night at Olympus Blood Moon. The flight is direct, so we should be there in about three and half hours.” We entered the airport and walked quickly to the ticketing booth. There was a family of four in front of us. I checked the time, and the plane would be leaving in less than an hour.
“Going somewhere?” A deep voice startled us.
I turned to find my brother’s Gamma, Alec. “Are you still following me?”
“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked.
“That’s none of your business. I’m not my brother’s responsibility anymore, Alec. I’m Luna of my own pack now.”
“Your brother promised Hades he would make sure you and the pack are safe. I’m pretty sure neither one of them would approve of you running off with…” he looked at Giota with a questioning look.
“This is Giota, Hades’ sister. Giota, this is my brothers Gamma,” I introduced them.
“Hades has a sister?” He asked.
“Kalispera!” The ticketing clerk called out and waved us over.
“I’m calling Dimitri,” Alec mumbled and reached for his phone. Giota quickly smacked it out of his hand, and it hit the floor. Small plastic pieces flew in different directions, indicating the phone would be nonoperational.
“Opa!” She smiled mischievously and I gave her an approving smile before we moved to the agent.
“You’re not going anywhere!” Alec commanded, but his command wouldn’t work on me.
“How are you going to stop us in this human airport?” I whispered to him.
“You can’t just leave like this, it’s dangerous,” he pleaded.
“Well, if you happen to have your passport with you, you can come with us.” I teased, knowing he wouldn’t.
“Two tickets for Moscow please,” Giota told the agent. “Three,” Alec huffed.
“Passports, please,” she said as she clacked away on the keyboard.
“You don’t have your passport on you, do you?” I turned to find Alec holding up the burgundy red colored booklet.
“Who carries their passport on them?” I scoffed in annoyance.
“You never know when you might have to quickly leave the country.” He grinned.
“You still don’t have a visa to enter Russia.” I snapped.
“I have an extended business visa for Russia.” He said with a smug smile. “We’ve been in talks with some clients who want to import our olives.” He handed the agent his passport.
The only seats available were in coach and we booked our return flight in two days. We didn’t know how long we were going to be gone, but the ticketing agent needed a return date. She eyed us suspiciously when she realized we had no luggage to check-in, but Alec distracted her with his usual charm. He convinced her we were merely flying to Moscow because Giota had an obsession for the Ballet and insisted on attending a show in Moscow tomorrow. Once he obtained her phone number for a future dinner date, we moved through airport security.
“We almost missed our flight because of Mister Charming here!” I mocked as we squeezed ourselves into a row of seats in coach. Giota took the window seat, this was her first flight and she wanted to look out the window. I sat in the middle and Alec took the aisle seat.
“Dimitri’s going to kill me,” Alec groaned.
“You didn’t have to come with us,” I replied.
“I’m supposed to make sure you’re safe. What’s your plan anyway? You get to Moscow, and you do what? Do you have any idea how big that city is? How am I going to explain this to your brother and your mate? I hear your mate is kind of crazy. Have you ever seen one of his cage fights? I hate cold weather…” He prattled on and on until the airline safety video started.