Chapter 25

Zain stood outside the door, waiting for the others. Devin was on the phone. Rayne said to wait, so they were waiting. He looked to see Oaklyn sitting beside the door, sipping her tea. Going over, he slid down the wall, careful not to spill his coffee.

“Is Devin as nice as his mate?” She asked quietly.

Zain shook his head. “He’s fair, but no, he’s not as patient.”

“That’s a man thing.” She smiled.

Illias came walking toward them quickly. “I can’t believe you had a tracker app and didn’t tell me that.” He sat down beside him.

“No one knew. It was a trial thing Shepard was working on before he…”

“Well, it confirms what the twins told us.”

“Twins?”

Illias nodded. “Demir and Dobry Pradham. Two of Taggart’s guys. They tracked the king to Chicago and have been trying to figure out how to confirm where he was. Now we have.” Illias smiled. “Christmas is going to be sweet.

“Why is everyone talking about Christmas? Niklaus said see you at the Christmas Party—and by the way, he is the scariest man I’ve ever seen. Makes Raymond look like a fluffy bear.”

“Really?” Illias shook his head. “We’re going to hit Aiden Tomas’ Christmas Ball. All the Alliance teams.”

Zain grabbed Illias’ arm. “Are you serious?”

Illias nodded and then pulled his arm free.

Zain got up and paced a few feet and then spun around. “All the teams? That’s like a hundred people.” He looked at Oaklyn and smiled. “Hundred and two now.” She had a confused look on her face. “We’re going to shut Aiden Tomas down.” Her eyes went wide.

“Yes, we are.”

Zain jumped and looked to see Jesse, Calum, and Raymond Hardy standing behind him.

Raymond motioned to the door. “Shall we?”

Zain nodded and then went and picked up his cup of coffee. He saw the wary look on Oaklyn’s face and then looked at Calum. “Oaklyn comes in too.” He held out his hand.

Calum looked at his hand as she put hers in it. He raised one eyebrow and then nodded.

Zain caught Illias giving him a strange look. He sent back an ‘I’ll tell you later look.’

They went into the office. Devin stood behind the desk with his arms crossed over his chest. Zain glanced at Illias. He got it. This was going to be a hard story to tell.

“Why did my dad have a tracker put in him?”

Zain looked at the chair and jerked his chin for Oaklyn to sit down. “I don’t know what his plans were. He was testing it on himself.” He moved over and stood beside the chair Oaklyn sat in. “After Amari was taken, he started working on it.”

“Was he planning to put trackers in all the teams?” Devin looked at Raymond.

“This is the first I’ve heard about it, but it wouldn’t surprise me. He was fed up with people being taken.”

Devin studied the big man for a moment and then nodded. Turning around, he grabbed his chair, sat down, and then looked at Zain. “Might as well sit down.”

Zain pulled a chair closer to Oaklyn and sat down. When he looked back at Devin, he was studying Oaklyn. “This is Oaklyn.”

Devin smirked. “I know.” He looked at Calum. “Cal says she’s okay, so that’s good enough for now.”

The door opened, and Rayne came in. “Sorry. I had to talk to Shaelan.” She went over and stood behind Devin.

Zain realized everyone in the room was looking at him. He glanced at Illias. His expression wasn’t very helpful, he was looking at him as well. “I guess I’ll start.” He said slowly. Leaning forward, he set his cup on the desk. He looked at the floor, trying to decide how, and then thought, jumping in was best. “When Illias and I were nine, we were out messing around. I saw a wolf come back. At first, I thought he had just been out hunting, but he was covered in blood. Way beyond what any game kill would do.” He looked at Illias, he had a pained expression on his face. Zain turned back to Devin and blew out a breath. “He had been at the nearby cheetah’s clan—the day Asher lost his family.” He added just in case they weren’t good at putting the pieces together.

Devin leaned forward; his brows creased. “The man we apprehended that Journee identified.”

Okay, he was good at putting it together. “Yes.” Zain held up one finger. “There’s a lot more to it.” He cleared his throat. “We—” He motioned to Illias. “—ran to Shepard and told him right away. The man chased us.” He could still feel the fear like it had been yesterday. “Shepard sequestered me at his place. Illias was sent home because he hadn’t been face-to-face with the guy.” He closed his eyes and then someone touched his hand. He looked down to see it was Oaklyn. He nodded and took her hand. “I was taken away to live somewhere else. My name was changed and that was the next five years of my life.”

“Until?” Rayne was hugging her own waist, a pained look on her face.

“Until they took me, his mom and sister.” Illias supplied. He touched the scar on his face. “I got away.” He looked at Zain. His eyes glistened as he remembered it all. “His family didn’t.” He looked back at Devin. “I was moved somewhere and started a new life too.”

Devin didn’t say anything for several moments. “If Dad knew who it was…”

Zain squeezed Oaklyn’s hand. “He did. He told me it was dealt with.”

“There were two of them.” Illias supplied. “A young one and the man that’s now in a cell at Headquarters.”

Devin looked from one to the other and then turned to look over at Calum.

“If Shepard Addison said it was dealt with—” Raymond looked around. “Then it was.”

“So how did we find him in a building with people working for Aiden Tomas?” Jesse asked.

“That’s what I want to know.” Zain looked at Illias. “I went down to see him, but Barack wouldn’t let me.” He glanced at Raymond. “But he said my name, my new name and I freaked out. If there are still spies at headquarters…”

“That makes more sense,” Illias said quietly. “I couldn’t figure out why you took off like that.”

Zain looked at him. “I panicked and wasn’t sticking around to see if I was right about the spies.”

Devin looked at Raymond. “The ones Niklaus got that were following them, were they clan?”

Raymond nodded. “Not wolf.”

“I’m glad you’re safe,” Rayne said, and Zain was struck by the emotion on her face.

Zain looked at Illias, he hadn’t mentioned this to him and would likely kick him after he said it. He turned back to Devin. “Would your dad have told your mom about any of this? Would she know how that man was free?”

Devin sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m trying to think back that far. There were no restrictions on clans then, so everyone was free to come and go.” He blew out a breath and looked at Calum. “I don’t want to bug her with this right now, but…”

“I’ll talk to her, Devin.” Rayne put her hand on his shoulder. “She’ll understand why we need to know.”

Devin put his hand over hers and then looked a Zain. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” He nodded to Illias. “Both of you.”

“You were a teenager then, so it’s not like you could do anything,” Illias said quietly.

“No. I know, but I just wish…”

“I’m going to call Barack and see if he’s gotten anything out of our wolf.” Raymond nodded to Devin and then left the room.

Calum stood there looking from Zain to Oaklyn. “It’s good they’re here, Dev.”

Devin nodded.

“We need two that haven’t been photographed with the teams,” Calum said quietly.

“Oh.” Devin looked back at them again. “You’re right.” He smiled.

“Right?” Illias leaned forward.

“I think they’re saying we have our Mr. and Mrs. to get into the Christmas ball.” Rayne was smiling now.

Illias looked at Zain with his mouth hanging open. “That would work.” He nodded. “No rat from Headquarters would dare be at that party, so Zain could waltz right in the front door as a guest.” He stood up. “Fallan and I will start their backstories.” He nodded and looked at Zain. “We’ll need you two to get a few pictures taken to make it real.” He walked out of the room.

Zain looked at Oaklyn, who had her head cocked to the side and was staring at him. “What’s happening?” He looked at Jesse.

“We are sending people to Chicago to get access to the building. Shaelan’s clan mate Brock is going to be one of the caterers or bartenders, and we needed a couple to attend the party.”

Zain stood up. “You want to send us to Chicago to attend a party that Aiden Tomas is having?” He looked from one to the next, hoping they cracked a smile, and it was a big joke.

Devin got up. “Not right this second. We have things to set up first.”

“Shopping will need to happen.” Rayne smiled.

“We can send Bear with them,” Calum said quietly. “Chauffeur, bodyguard, or something like that.”

Devin nodded. “Bear’s a good choice. He’s been in the shadows on most ops, so I doubt he’s been recorded.”

“Recorded?” Zain put his hand over his heart because it was trying to beat out of his chest.

“We found some photos and videos of some of the teams at that building we breached before the island trip. They were watching us watch them.”

Zain’s eyebrows shot up. “How did they know to do that?”

The door burst open and Zain almost fainted. Illias stood there and he looked so excited. “Fallan and I figured it out.” He grinned. “What they did to Zain’s laptop. They couldn’t see everything, except the laptop location. They could see emails mainly because those aren’t in a program.” He looked like he wanted to jump up and down. “Fallan and I can start spoofing emails back and forth and send them on wild goose chases.” He turned to Devin. “If you want.”

Devin glanced at Calum. “Not yet. But when we need them to think we’re somewhere else we’ll use that.”

“Yes.” Ilias nodded. “Okay. I have to get back.” He turned and Zain watched him run down the hall.

Zain closed his eyes. “Oh my god. It’s my fault.” He whispered. When he opened them, everyone was looking at him. “The newest acquired houses, they’re in my emails when I was setting up supplies.” He dropped down into the chair. “Amari being taken. I’d sent her an email the day before she left, and she’d replied with her route.”

“You couldn’t know, Zain,” Rayne said.

“No, but it’s because of me. The safe house we sent Blair to…”

“We were all using emails then, Zain. We thought they were safe.” Jesse told him.

“I'll go talk to Illias and see if he can check others from headquarters.” Calum nodded to Zain. “You’re not to blame.”

Calum left.

Zain looked at Oaklyn, she still looked stunned. He turned back to Rayne. “Are there rooms here for us?” He needed to be alone and process this. He was the reason for so many incidents. It didn’t matter that he had no idea, it was still because of him.

“Oh. Yes.” Rayne smiled. “Come on. I’ll give you the tour.”