Chapter 769 Chapter 769
“This is not good,” Zain said over the call.
Bear stood by the entrance to the hallway Calla had gone down. “Follow?” He glanced over his shoulder at Eaton, who stood a few feet away, looking like she was busy on her phone.
“Give them a minute more, and we will.”
He didn’t know Calla, other than a voice on the other end of the calls during ops, but he was still shocked she’d done this. She wasn’t like women from his clan. They were cautious and hesitant. While he stood there waiting, he had to wonder if he would have done the same. With a shrug, he decided he would have.
“Okay, Beck spotted the vehicle they’re in. Gideon, can you follow them? If they’re going someplace nearby, this will be a quick capture for us.”
“Gideon already left to follow,” Dane reported.
Eaton turned and looked at Bear and nodded. He checked that no one in the area was paying attention and followed Eaton down the hall. She pointed to the bags on the floor. “Grab her stuff. She might actually want what she purchased.”
Bear nodded and leaned over to grab the bags on the way by.
Eaton stopped at the door and pulled a tranq gun out of her jacket.
Bear didn’t have a weapon. He was here to do the heavy lifting. He grinned as he followed her inside. Heavy lifting was his thing. When they got back from this one, he was going to talk to Jesse about staying with Zain and Oaklyn. He didn’t know if there were lion clans on the other side of the border, but he wouldn’t mind finding out. Zain and the king had plans to send teams from state to state to look for clans in trouble.
Bear moved silently behind Eaton. His cat was right there with him, ready if he needed him.
His mother was disappointed that he had no plans to come home, but she also understood. Being the youngest of four was hard enough. Having three older sisters try to rule his life was not something he planned to go back to. He watched Eaton move around the space, checking labels on boxes and crates.
“Whatever they were here to pick up, they took it all.” She put the tranq gun away and nodded to Bear. “We’ll meet up with Luka and Quinn at the West entrance and follow the tracker.”
Bear shrugged and turned around. He glanced at the bags in his hands and shook his head. Carrying bags for females was not new to him. He held them up and stuffed the scarf into one of them.
His cat rolled through him, and he froze. Bear stopped and looked around, wondering if he sensed something that Bear didn’t. When he saw nothing, he was just about to have a quick internal discussion with his animal about false alarms—when he scented something he’d never smelled before. Looking at the bags, he lifted them closer to his face and inhaled. His cat was right there with him now. Sweetgrass. He didn’t know if that was it, but that’s what popped into his head. Calla smelled like sweetgrass, and she was his mate.
“You coming?”
He blinked and looked at Eaton standing at the door. “Right behind you.” He watched her go out the door. Bear lifted the bags again and inhaled. “Yeah.” He lowered them and walked to the door. It was definitely his mate’s scent, and she’d just left with the enemy.
As the others were doing a quick planning session, Bear disconnected from the call and dialed Zain’s number.
Zain answered quickly. “Bear?”
“Yeah.”
“Is everything good?”
It was nice to talk to him again. Bear had gone home after Christmas and then helped at the factory for a month while they planned trips to start expanding into the States—with Aiden out of the picture, it was the perfect time. “Good isn’t what I’d describe what’s happening.”
“I can’t believe Calla went with them. Oh, wait, yes, I can.” Zain sighed. “Better than Amari, I suppose. She would have just maimed them.”
Bear couldn’t help smiling. Amari was something else.
“I’ve got the tracking up going, and all the tech team has it, so Dane is watching too.”
“It’s not that.” His animal was nudging him non-stop now.
“Why, what happened?”
“It’s Calla.” He could still smell that scent, even though the bags were in the van. “She’s my mate. I picked up the bags she had, and she must have been wearing the scarf because as soon as I smelled it—” He sighed. “I found her, Zain, and she just rode away with the most sought-after man since Aiden.”
“Oh-uh-wow. Calla?” Zain cleared his throat. “She’s pretty great—”
“I know. I’ve heard her on calls with the ops for months now. That’s not the problem.”
“What is the problem?”
Bear glanced over to see Eaton was getting into the van. “If anything happens to her—I’ll crush anyone involved.”
“As soon as they get wherever they’re going, we’ll get eyes on her, Bear. Don’t worry, she will be okay.”
Eaton looked at him.
“I have to go.”
“Patch back into the call. Gideon will update us as soon as he can.”
Bear started walking. “I will.” He hung up, put the earbud back in, and dialed back into the op call.
“Everything all right?” Eaton closed the door when he got in.
“Yeah.” Bear sat down and turned to see Dane staring intently at a laptop.
He looked at Bear for a second and gave a thumbs up. “Signal is strong.”
Bear sat back and settled in the seat. His cat was unimpressed with his carefree demeanor, but he knew if he didn’t keep control of his emotions, his lion would use that against him, and then they’d both do something stupid that could endanger Calla and the entire op.
They had enough names of those who organized things for Aiden Tomas and even some still involved who had worked with his father. One by one, they were going to track them down and shut them down for good. Leon was the first of many, and it was too important to so many that he was apprehended. Asher, Journee, Zain, and especially the royal family all needed Leon shut down.
Everyone on the teams knew the plan. Calla knew what was at stake, too, so Bear just had to keep it together until they got where they were going, and once she was clear—the king’s nephew was going to pay for his sins. If Leon’s younger cousin, the prince, had his way, it would be with his life.