Chapter Eight

The large house didn’t stand out in any way, even though a long and winding driveway set it apart from the rest of the neighborhood. Michael’s secret little hideaway, the place he’d taken Toya and Knox, the address supplied by Ryan.

Please let us not be too late.

Blake had sent everything Ryan had said to the detective, and by that time tomorrow, Michael wouldn’t have a penny to his name or a rock to hide under. However, none of that saved Knox or Toya, and Farrah couldn’t wait around for the police to follow up on the lead.

Movement inside the house showed through the windows, and Farrah followed close behind Ryder, Blake and Pax behind her, crouching low as they wound their way through the yard behind the house. The two stories made entry more difficult, but Ryder pointed at the covered back porch and the table beside it. The blinds on the large back slider were pulled closed, giving them some amount of cover.

The table creaked beneath the combined weight of Farrah and Ryder.

“Not as little as you once were,” Blake whispered, the joke totally inappropriate given the circumstances.

Farrah cut him a warning look, but Ryder closed his hands together, fingers laced, ready to boost her up. She grasped the edge of the overhang, though with Ryder’s help, she didn’t have to use her arms much before she could pull herself onto the porch roof.

She turned, reaching to clasp hands and help Ryder up, but he made short work of the move. His muscles tensed beneath his shirt as he hauled himself up, the motion smooth and easy. When neither of the others followed suit, she turned a questioning look to Ryder.

“They’re going to keep an eye out. We might be able to get the kids out from here, and if we do, it’ll be better if they’re already waiting down there. Besides, if anything goes wrong, it’s nice to have backup.”

Farrah hesitated—not because she was afraid, but because she didn’t like the idea of leaving them behind. Maybe it was still some of that same fury from before, that worry, but she didn’t much like her alphas being out of her line of sight.

Which was foolish, since both were armed—for once she’d had nothing to say about them tucking weapons into the holsters they had slung around their shoulders—and Pax and Blake could more than take care of themselves.

She wiped away the thoughts and followed Ryder as he crept up to a window on the upper story. The first room was furnished with a few beds and dressers, like some bunk room, but no people. An open door revealed an armed man walking by. Thankfully, he didn’t look their way.

The next window had Farrah pulling in a relieved breath when she spotted Knox pacing, agitation in every step.

He twisted, his gaze flying to the window as if he’d just realized they were there, like some sixth sense.

Relief.

It was good to know that at least right then, he wanted to see her. Lord only knew when dealing with teenagers. His lip had a cut in it. Must be where the blood came from.

Ryder flipped the latch on the window before he eased it up slowly to eliminate any noise. The locks on the outside showed the room was meant to keep people in.

“Mom,” Knox said as he reached for her.

Farrah grasped his wrist to pull him out, but he shook his head.

“Toya’s still here,” he whispered. “They put her in a room across the hall.”

Meaning a room that didn’t face the overhang they were using, so one they couldn’t get to.

Ryder looked behind him to where Blake and Pax were, despite not being able to see them. “Go on with your mom. I’ll get Toya.”

“There is no way I’m leaving,” both Farah and Knox said in nearly identical tones.

It was enough for Farrah to want to curse and admit that maybe, just maybe, Knox had taken after her when it came to stubbornness.

Knox leaned in and dropped his voice lower. “I’m not leaving without her.” Knox’s tone left no room for argument, the set of his shoulders making it clear he’d not give in. Unless they wanted to haul him out—and given the size of the already large teenage alpha, she doubted that was possible—they weren’t leaving without Toya.

Ryder cast Knox a withering look, the sort fathers gave to kids who refused to listen. “Fine,” he gritted out, “but you’ll do exactly what I say. Are we clear?”

Knox nodded, then followed Ryder’s gesture to enter through the window.

“Your door’s locked, I’m guessing. The room around the side isn’t. We’ll go through that door, through the hallway, grab Toya, then back out through the window.” Ryder spoke with the sort of confidence that made her feel like they were going to be okay, like they could handle it.

If he was nervous, it didn’t show.

Knox followed Farrah who followed Ryder as they moved across the roof and opened the unlocked window they’d seen first.

It creaked open with less sound than the first—it was probably opened more often.

A shadow crossed the doorway, and Ryder swept an arm out, pressing Farrah and Knox against the wall. Footsteps signaled a guard passing, none of them breathing while they waited.

Once those steps had passed, Ryder peered out of the door, twisting to look down the hallway.

He signaled for the two of them to stay put, and despite not wanting to, Farrah obeyed. It would be quicker if he opened the locked door, if only one body moved through the silent hallway.

She held her breath as he went, as fear gripped her. What if he didn’t come back? What if someone came down the hallway right then?

It seemed an eternity later when Toya’s face appeared and Ryder rushed her into the bunk room.

Knox set a hand on her cheek and pressed his forehead to hers. The moment seemed too personal, too old for the kids.

Still, she had to remember, even when she’d been their ages, that she’d loved her alphas despite not realizing it. It didn’t seem like age mattered.

Ryder gave them no time to bask, however. He hurried them toward the open window. Pax and Blake waited at the bottom, and Pax climbed onto the table to help Toya down. Knox hopped down on his own, then moved off.

Pax’s strong hands caught Farrah as she slid off, and she brushed down his entire body as he helped her to her feet.

It sent flutters through her, but she blamed that on the adrenaline of the moment.

They were almost free. She could almost breathe again.

At least, she thought so until the creak of the slider door and the shouting of men came.

Everything moved quickly. Knox slid Toya behind him while Pax and Blake closed ranks in front of Knox. She got the sense that Ryder wanted to move her back, but Farrah would have none of it.

Without thinking, she placed an arm out, as if she could block the alphas, her son and his far-too-young mate with her body.

An alpha stepped forward from the group who poured from the house, his tread hard and arrogant.

She’d seen his kind before, would again if she survived it.

It had to be Michael. The thought of that man, who was almost a decade older than Farrah, pawing at Toya made her stomach churn.

“Well, what do we have here?”

A standoff, it seemed. Ryder, Pax and Blake all had their arms lifted, pistols trained on Michael. Meanwhile, his men met that aggression with their own.

If anyone shot first, it would all go to hell.

“Knox, take Toya and go,” she said.

“I’m not leaving.” Even without looking back, Farrah could see the frown on her son’s face, his disapproval of the idea.

Farrah didn’t tear her gaze from Michael as she spoke. “Get her out of here. It’s your job to watch out for her and it’s my job to watch out for you.”

Pax’s voice was soft enough to not carry to Michael but loud enough for Farrah to catch it. “There’s a small ditch past the back fence. Follow it to the north to a street, and a block over from there will be a silver sedan. Keys are under the seat.”

No one moved, and Farrah could feel her son’s reluctance. She was telling him to pick Toya over her, and she knew he’d always felt responsible for her. Growing up with just the two of them meant they’d had to rely on each other, so telling him to leave her wasn’t an easy thing.

“It’s okay,” she said. “You know we can’t risk Toya. Just get her safe and I’ll be fine.”

He said nothing back, but the shuffle of gravel said he’d listened and let her breathe easier.

Michael’s lip lifted into a snarl. “Do you really believe I’m going to let you take my mate?”

“If we start shooting,” Blake said, “you’re going to be the first to get hit. Not sure you want a few new decorative holes in you. You might survive them, or you might not. Is that worth the risk?”

Michael crossed his arms. “I’ll just find her again. I did once, I will again.”

“No, you won’t. I’m pretty sure you’ll have enough trouble.” Farrah kept her eyes locked with Michael’s, wanting his attention on her.

His lips thinned, turning white at the seam. “I just heard about two of my warehouses being raided. I’m going to guess you had something to do with it?”

“You won’t have a hole to hide in pretty soon,” Pax said. “If I were you, I’d stop worrying about that omega and start running now. Might be the only chance you get.”

“Without my mate? I don’t think so. The roads get lonely.”

“You aren’t touching her.”

Michael offered a twisted, sickening grin. “You’re that alpha kid’s mother, aren’t you? I should have known, I guess. Mothers always cause me the most problems. He can find another omega. They’re a dime a dozen, and he’s young. Let my boys grab her and I’ll forget this whole thing ever happened. You all walk out of here, and we go our own ways.”

The offer didn’t even tempt her. She remembered how it felt to be that age, to be young, to be confused, to be alone. Even if she’d been willing to turn over Toya to save Knox, she’d seen the truth in Knox’s eyes. Doing that would destroy him. He’d never stop trying to save her. Love made people do foolish things.

It had made her drive away the alphas because of how much it frightened her, and it had made her almost tear out the throat of the man in her garage, and it made her easily meet Michael’s hard stare to tell him no.

“Your only offer right now is to run. The cops are already on their way here. They’re getting to every person you know. If you don’t leave right now, you won’t get far. Chasing down Toya is only going to get you caught, and I doubt you care about anything as much as your own skin.”

His face twisted into impotent rage, caught between the truth of her words and his desire to win. He was a man used to winning, to bending people to his will, but he couldn’t bend her.

“I guess it’s well enough. I’ll still find them no matter how long it takes. He stole from me, and I don’t take kindly to that. I don’t let people get away with that.”

“Cry me a river,” Blake muttered.

Michael went still, like a coiled snake before it struck. “I always pay what I’m owed. He took from me. I’ll take from him.”

It all happened so fast.

Michael lifted the pistol gripped in his hand with a comfort that said he was no stranger to the weapon. Again, Farrah stood by her choice to help, to get Toya away from the madman. Whatever the cost, it seemed a small price to pay for the girl, for Knox.

Farrah flinched at a ringing in her ears when the shot went off. She’d have liked to stand tall and proud to face death. None of that huddled-in-fear nonsense. However, bodies reacted without input often, and it seemed the life-or-death instinct was one such time.

Except, when she was ready for the agony, no pain hit her.

Why doesn’t it hurt? She’d heard that gunshots didn’t hurt right away, not until the adrenaline wore off, but she’d never believed it. She looked down, expecting to find a gushing wound in her chest. At least he missed my face, right?

That was something.

No blood.

Farrah lifted her gaze to find Michael’s body on the ground and a single bloody wound in his forehead.

The loud sound, the gunshot, it had come from Ryder. He kept surprising her. The quiet one, the sweet one, the first to put down someone without hesitation.

“If you want to join him, stick around. Otherwise? Take the offer he didn’t and run. It isn’t like anyone is paying you now,” Pax growled out.

The men scattered, moving back through the slider. Engines roared to life out front, and soon enough, the alphas and Farrah were left with only the lifeless body of Michael.

Farrah turned around, unsure what to do.

Out of all the ways she’d never expected the day to go, being alive and safe was at the top.

What now?

* * * *

Toya didn’t meet Knox’s eyes, her lip caught between her teeth. If Farrah didn’t feel for the young girl, she might still hate her, which she admitted was petty and childish.

“She’ll be safe?”

Ryder nodded as they stood to the side, watching the goodbye between the teenagers. “The people I know in California deal with a lot of cases like hers. They’ll keep her off the record until she’s eighteen, help set her up with schooling, teach her a trade. Trust me, there is nowhere safer for her.”

“I can’t believe Knox let her go,” Pax added in. “It’s pretty clear he’s bonded to her.”

Farrah bristled at the idea of her young son having bonded. He was too young and hadn’t figured out his life yet. Still, she let the truth settle, uncomfortable though it might be, because arguing about it didn’t change it. “I told him she deserved the chance to figure out who she is on her own first. He couldn’t really argue with that. Besides, they can still talk on the phone, maybe visit, too. They both need some time to grow up.”

Pax stroked his fingers along her lower back, just beneath the hem of her shirt. “Maybe tell him not to wait fifteen years, though.”

Farrah tried to think beyond that teasing stroke, to focus on the words. “Maybe that’s how long it takes to be ready.”

Ryder brushed her hair from her face, the touch soft and sweet. “Still too long for people who are meant to be together.”

Meant to be? The words were something she’d so desperately wanted to believe, that she’d have given anything to hear from him.

“And how long is the right amount of time?” There was no question that they weren’t talking about Knox anymore. They were talking about them, about Farrah, Pax, Blake and Ryder, about all the hurt and regret and years between them.

Blake leaned in and nipped her full bottom lip, the sting a promise all its own. “I can only speak for myself, but after how long we waited? An hour is way too fucking long.”

He pulled her against him and sealed the sentiment with a kiss.

And, for the first time, Farrah agreed with them.