Mated To The Cold Hearted Alpha
Chapter 123

“Diversion?” Sydney suggested. “A false trail to stall us.”

“Maybe,” I acknowledged.

As I contemplated, the biker Luca had referred to as Frank walked to a nearby table with an open laptop. He sat down, his fingers running across the keys, before grunting, “What’s the address, Tommy?”

The male holding the phone repeated the question into the receiver. The caller rattled off an address. Tommy relayed it back to Frank whose fingers flew across the keyboard.

Both Ever and I walked to stand behind Frank. His spine tensed at our approach, but he didn’t take his attention away from the monitor. Placing a finger on the screen, he muttered, “Here.”

We stared intently at the map he’d pulled up.

Ever took out his phone and keyed in the information. Lips pressed into a hard line, he muttered, “Yeah, about an hour away. But this is too easy.”

“I agree,” I scowled. Dagger wouldn’t make it that easy for me to replace him.

But if not there, then where?

My Wolf paced in the back of my head, his impatience spiraling. I gritted my teeth to contain him. I hated the delay as much as he did, but we needed to be smart.

Frank opened a new window in the browser, his fingers once again dancing along the keyboard.

“What are you doing?” I stared at the Facebook page he’d opened.

“You said friends or family, right?” he replied, his voice tight with tension.

Understanding lit my expression. Within another second, a screen with several potential profiles appeared. I turned to Luca. “Come here.”

He hurried to stand next to me.

“Any of them look familiar?”

Leaning in, his head almost resting on Frank’s shoulder, he studied the screen intently.

Frank scrolled down slowly. “These are all of the Cameron Martin’s in the state.”

When Frank reached the bottom, Luca shook his head, his frustration evident. “I don’t recognize any of them.”

“Start with the profile closest to the address,” I said. “Maybe Luca will recognize one of the friends.”

Frank seemed to be on the same wavelength because he was already opening one of the Cameron Martin’s.

Right away, Luca leaned in even closer. “Stop!”

His reaction caused an electrical spark of anticipation down my spine. My Wolf itched to get free. We pressed forward, staring intently at the screen.

Luca reached over Frank and tapped the screen. “That looks like the vehicle!” He pointed at an image of Cameron Martin with three other males standing in front of a large black SUV. The image was backlit putting their faces in shadow.

“But I can’t tell if it’s them.”

“It’s got to be them,” Ever ground out. “Did you see the size of them?”

He was right. They were too big to be human. Frank clicked into the friend list and began to scroll.

Several profiles down, Luca lurched forward, pointing at the screen excitedly, “There! Him!”

“You still got Duke on the line?” Frank called over his shoulder to Tommy.

“Yep,” Tommy replied, “Hit me with it.”

“Chris Martin. Brother,” Frank read from the screen.

Tommy repeated the information to the caller, adding, “I need an address on this a*****e ASAP.”

“Got it,” the caller replied and then went silent..

While we waited, Frank continued to run through the friends list. He went slowly, giving Luca a chance to carefully examine each one. After a few minutes, Frank reached the bottom.

“I don’t recognize anyone else.” Luca took a step back, drawing in a breath of frustration and releasing it.

Almost simultaneously, the caller came back on, “Got something for ya.”

I turned to Tommy. His jaw was clenched as he listened, nodded, and then relayed the address out loud. Frank quickly opened another window and keyed in the address. Ever also enter the information on his phone. As soon as it came up on screen, I studied the location. “It’s farther.”

“About two hours east,” Frank agreed.

“Can you show both locations on the same screen and zoom in so I can see the surrounding terrain?” I asked.

He easily complied.

I looked over my shoulder at Ever. “What do you think?” I didn’t need to communicate the gravity of my concern. He understood perfectly. We were already low on manpower. Splitting up would further reduce our chances of success.

Posture rigid with tension, a vein in Ever’s neck bulged as he stepped forward and leaned in to study it with me. He pointed at the second location on the screen. “There is more natural terrain here, woods and forest. It would be more defensible than the other. It was also harder to reveal and related to the vehicle not just the tag.”

I nodded. I’d thought the same thing. “It still feels too easy. If he really wanted to, Dagger could have hidden his tracks much better.”

“Yes, we could be walking into an ambush,” Ever agreed through his teeth, “but a part of me thinks Dagger wants you to replace him.”

Ice ricocheted through my heart because I understood exactly why Ever had said that and why there was a high possibility he was right. But I couldn’t respond to his words, not then and keep my sanity at the same time. Besides, my response to his point wasn’t really required. We both knew we didn’t have a choice on our next step. We had to go to both locations which meant splitting up.

“You and I will go to the second location along with five men. There’s a much higher chance she’ll be there.”

He gave me a hard nod.

I faced Sydney. “Take the remaining men to the first location.”

“Got it,” she replied grimly, already putting the location in her phone.

“I’m going with you,” Luca took a step in Sydney’s direction.

Tommy walked to stand next to Luca. “Where he goes, we go.”

“No,” Luca replied quickly. “It’s far too dangerous.”

Shoulders pulling back, Tommy’s voice hardened, “Look, Whiskey, it’s pretty fuckin’ obvious there’s somethin’ different with all of you. I don’t know what it is, and I’m not sure I want to, but it’s clear, both you and Abby need as much help as you can get.”

Luca turned his attention to me, a question in his eyes. Tommy followed his questioning gaze.

It was forbidden to reveal our secret, but at the moment, I couldn’t deny the human’s reasoning and frankly, I was ready to throw all the rules out the window when it came to Hycinth.

Besides, chances were low she was even at that location. If it happened, I would deal with it then.

“Do it.” I nodded..

“Let’s go, boys.” Hands wrapped in fingerless leather gloves, Tommy cracked his knuckles as he ordered the other two. The muscles in his tatted arms bulged.

They had no idea what foe they were up against, but if any human had a chance against wolves, they had the necessary physique to pull it off. Not to mention, they’d survived Dagger’s last attack. Maybe they wouldn’t die in the process.

I refocused on Sydney. “By the time you arrive, Ever and I will be about forty-five minutes to the East of you. If Hycinth is at your location and not in imminent danger, contact me and don’t engage unless you have to.”

“Understood,” Sydney replied shortly.

Plan in motion, we all walked out the door…