Virtue & Crave

Calla took the shirt off the rack and turned around, so her back was to the sales associates. “How much longer am I supposed to wander around this mall?” she whispered.

“A woman who doesn’t like shopping?”

“Shut up, Beck. Not all women like shopping.” Eaton’s voice came through the earpiece.

Calla smiled. “I like shopping. But I’ve been here for three hours now.”

“We’ll switch you out with Quinn when she gets here, Calla. You’re doing great.”

Calla turned around and put the shirt back on the rack and picked up the two bags. They’d suggested she buy some things to make it less suspicious. If anyone was watching her, she probably looked very suspicious because she spent more time looking around instead of looking at the stuff for sale.

“Go down to the food court level and see if you can spot anyone out of place,” Beck told her.

Beck, Eaton, and a few others were outside watching the entrances of the mall while she wandered through it, watching for a man who was a traitor to all of them. He was part of the reason Asher and Journee had lost their families. He was the reason Zain didn’t have one, and Illias was scarred. He was the reason she had volunteered to help find him.

She smiled at an excited little boy who was racing ahead of his mother. It had taken two months to track down the area he was in. In that time, the new US Alliance Headquarters was up and almost running. She’d gone down to visit with Zain and Oaklyn after the holidays and been allowed to help the reno team break down some walls. There was a training center set up on the second floor, with rooms for trainees or trainers to sleep in. The third floor was all offices, and Zain and Oaklyn turned the top floor into their home. She was so happy for them. After she’d heard about Zain’s life, she’d cried and then gotten so mad that something like that had happened. She’d asked Jesse if she could have a more active part in the fight to find and stop all involved in the ring that now spanned most of the globe. Now, here she was doing just that by wandering around a shopping mall.

She went down the escalator and scanned every direction as she did. “What am I supposed to do if I do see him?” She hadn’t even asked that.

“If I were there, I’d pull his spine out through his mouth.” Devin Addison growled.

Calla looked at her feet and tried not to smile. She didn’t blame him, but she’d never heard him like that before.

“We need him alive, son. That’s why you’re not there.” Shepard Addison said.

Calla stepped off the escalator and moved over to the left of it, trying to decide a direction. Sighing, she went over and sat on a bench and looked around. How was she supposed to know who was out of place? Had any of them ever been in a shopping mall before? Everyone looked, dressed, and acted differently. She looked down the hall that she figured was likely for a janitor’s room or supplies. She should have played the part of a cleaner moving freely through the building. No one would look twice at her then.

When she turned to check out the other direction, she saw two men walking quickly with a shorter man between them. Her heart jumped into her throat. She’d studied the picture enough to know she was looking at the man they were looking for.

“I see him.” She looked at the nearest entrance. It was from the parking level. “I think they came up from the parking garage.”

“Do not take your eyes off him,” Devin ordered.

***

Calla stopped struggling and went lax in his hold. She wasn’t stupid. This guy was big and could crush her if he wanted to. “Put me down.” She tried to sound bored.

The wolf nodded, and the big one released her.

She glanced at him and then looked back at the traitor. “I didn’t think I’d actually find you.” She pushed her hair back from her face while she tried to think of a name she could toss out there to make them believe she was one of them. “I’m glad I remembered this place because people keep disappearing all over the place.” She nodded, briefly wondering I she could get the earpiece back in unnoticed. “Allen Dunlap is gone. Just gone.”

The man whose spine the prince wanted to rip out relaxed. “I know.” He glanced at the man beside him for a second, before putting his hand on his hips and studying her. “He told you about this location?”

She nodded and then rolled her eyes. “I’m here, aren’t I? He didn’t give me the exact location of this space. I’ve been wandering around these shops all day.” She exhaled loudly. “What is happening? Where is everyone going?” She stepped further away and whispered. “I went to Chicago…”

“See. I told you.” The man closest to him said.

She watched the short man shake his head. “There’s no way they got him. He’s probably hiding out and hasn’t had a chance to reach out.”

“I don’t know about that, boss. There were a lot of our kind roaming the area.”

The wolf shook his head. “That doesn’t mean it’s the Alliance. There’s a lot of us that don’t follow them and the king. They could be watching the place until he gets back. He’s disappeared a few times before. I remember my dad trying to track him down.”

Calla jammed the earbud in while they looked at each other. “So, what now? Is there a secret headquarters nearby? How many more of us are there?” She hoped Eaton and the others were hearing her.

“Hold. Let this play out.” It sounded like Raymond Hardy in her ear.

All three men stared at her.

“What?” She put her hands on her hips. “It’s taken me months to get here—find here without getting snatched up. If you think I’m going back, you can think again. I joined the cause and—” She glared at the one that had grabbed her. “—there are a lot of others just waiting for me to give the go, and they’ll be here too.” She hoped the others were understanding her.

“Receiving, Calla. Don’t take it too far. We’re getting in place.” Eaton’s voice in her ear almost had her visibly sigh in relief.

“So—” She looked back at the wolf. “—is there someplace, or do you guys just hang out in a storage warehouse?”

“Everyone, hold. Let’s see if there’s more nearby.”

“Not close.” The wolf said. “We just check here to pick up deliveries and—” He motioned to her. “—followers.”

“Okay. So—” She looked around. “Who are we meeting?”

“You’re doing good, Calla,” Eaton whispered, making Calla wonder if they were already inside this space.

“We aren’t,” he motioned to the one who had grabbed her. The man walked by the shipping door. “We’re picking up some supplies.” He studied her. “What’s your name?”

“Calla—han. Missy Callahan.” Calla smiled.

He nodded. “As you know, I’m Leon.” His grin was cynical. “The next king of all shifters.”

She pasted her best smile on her face. “Great to finally meet you, Leon, or should I call you your majesty?”

There was a growl through the earbud, and she had no doubt it was Devin Addison.

The wolf chuckled. “Leon is fine. Until we figure out where Aiden took my uncle and kill him, I’m just Leon.”

“He took Shepard Addison. Where do you think Aiden’s hiding?”

“Hold. Let her play this out.” It was Raymond Hardy.

“I don’t know, but when we get back, I’m going to find out.”

Calla nodded. She needed to let Eaton know she was going with them. “Excellent.” She shrugged. “When do we leave? I’ve had all the shopping mall I can stand.”

“Be careful, Calla.” Was whispered in her ear.

“Do you have a phone?” Leon asked.

She snorted. “Yeah. Doesn’t everyone? Why?”

“It stays here.”

Not good. “You want me to leave my phone here?”

“Calla, this is not a good plan.” That was Zain.

“It’s so you can’t be tracked.”

Calla grinned. “You think I’m important enough to track?”

“She has a tracking chip. Let her do this.” The king said. “We’ll follow you, Calla.”

Leon shrugged. “Can’t take chances.”

The one that grabbed her started walking toward her with his hand out.

“Back off, Igor.” She pulled out her phone. “Let me transfer my photos to the cloud.” She gave him a warning look. “I’m not losing them.”

He stopped and glanced at Leon.

She opened the screen and typed quickly to Zain. “Track me. I’ll get word when I can.” Sighing, she turned the phone off, ending any contact she had with them. With a hard look, she held the phone out.

He took it, dropped it, and then crushed it with his heel.

Calla looked at Leon. “Happy?”

He smirked. “Yes. Let’s go.” He pointed to the other goon standing beside the boxes. “Grab a box.”

“You owe me a phone.” When the three of them had their back to her, she took out the earpiece and tossed it over her shoulder. She didn’t know if this was her best plan, but it was too late to go back now.

“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.

***

Calla looked at the dash. They’d been driving for over an hour. Her cat was not impressed being closed in with a traitorous wolf and two bear goons. “How much longer?”

Leon glanced over his shoulder. He didn’t resemble the prince at all. He had light hair and a narrow face.

She shrugged. “I’m hungry.”

He turned back around. “Half an hour, and you can eat when we get there.”

“Okay.” She looked out the window, trying to figure out where they were. She hadn’t studied the maps very thoroughly when she’d found out where they were headed. At that time, she had just planned on wandering a mall until they found him. Now, she was driving through a town that she didn’t remember on the map and had no idea where they were going. Of course, it meant nothing if she couldn’t find out if the others knew where she was.

She had that tracker in her hip, but no one told her what the range was on them. After it had healed, they’d had her go for a run to test it, but that had been in a controlled area. She shouldn’t have given up her phone so easily. Glancing at the sky, she hoped to see Gideon or Dane up there but saw nothing flying at all.

Eaton would follow. Zain would make sure of that. All she had to do was get to wherever these losers holed up and wait for the team to bust in and take them. She relaxed in the seat. It was easy to take down these three. She knew Bear was part of the team; she hadn’t seen him in action, but he could easily manage a few bear clan.

~

When the van slowed, Calla looked around. They were in a subdivision still under construction. Leon put the window down and nodded to a couple of guys hanging out beside a car. She looked out through the windshield. There were three large homes spread out around the circular end of the street. She wondered which one they were going to. “Nice neighborhood.” She said, trying to sound impressed. “I guess you have to keep shifting on the down low, huh? So neighbors don’t see.”

The guy beside her chuckled. “Neighbors don’t care.” He grinned at her, and she had to bite her tongue so she didn’t tell him that smiling did not improve his looks. He had a shaved head, a round face, and a black goatee that looked out of place on him.

“Oh?”

He shrugged. “All three belong to Leon.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh. Great.” She smiled and turned her head away—no quick takedown. If Eaton had followed, the eight of them on this op weren’t enough. She gnawed on her lip for a second. She was going to have to find a way to tell Eaton it was all three buildings.

“There’s an empty room in number three, boss.” The driver said.

Leon looked back at her. “Kumar Will show you where that is.” He turned in his seat and looked at the guy beside her. “Explain the basics.”

Kumar nodded.

Leon flicked his gaze back to her. “How many others are you in contact with, that want to be on the right side of this?”

Calla blew out a breath. “That I know personally? Thirty.” She shrugged. That was a good number and around the right amount of Alliance team members that she’d met. “I’m sure there’s more, though.”

Leon nodded slowly. “Housewives? Hunters? What kind of people are we talking about?”

Calla grinned. “The kind that wants action and is tired of BS.”

Leon nodded again and turned back around. “Good. We’ve lost too many lately.” He looked at the driver. “Get in touch with our man and check her story.” He gave her a brief look. “If it checks out, we’ll work on you reaching out to your people.”

Calla shrugged. “Cool.” She looked at the house they pulled up in front of. How were they checking her story? Who was their guy? The hair on the back of her neck stood up. There was still a traitor in the Alliance.