Chapter Twelve

 

It was three days before Tristan saw Griffin again. Three days where he lounged around in front of the fire, explored the grounds with Quinn, and caught up on sleep he didn’t know he’d been missing. There was plenty of food, too. Quinn seeming intent on providing as much variety and flavor as Tristan could handle as if to make up for the three months of bland nutrition.

Griffin took a seat in the living room, sitting opposite him while Quinn sat next to him on the couch.

“Good news,” the omega said. “There were a few years’ worth of records on that computer. We were able to locate the breeder house. I’ve done some digging and, thankfully, it’s not affiliated with any of the larger packs. There’s no one for them to go crying to if we try to take them down.”

“Can you?” Tristan asked. He hadn’t seen much of the pack, but he didn’t get the sense that they had the resources to take down a whole operation like that.

“Not alone. We’ve made contact with a pack that are anti-breeder. They’ve asked us to keep their identity under wraps, but they’re willing to work with us to bring this operation to a halt. We’ll take out the broker too, while we’re at it.”

“I want to help,” he told them.

Griffin smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that. We need as much information as you can tell us about the house itself, about the guards, patrols, weapons, that sort of thing.”

“I can do that.”

For three months, he’d watched and waited, learned everything he could that might help his escape. It was information he’d pass on gladly.

Griffin returned later with Ronan, and they did another brainstorming session around the kitchen table, Tristan dredging up every memory he had of the breeder house. By the end, they had a rough sketch of the building and the grounds, an approximate number of guards and their shift changes.

“We can work with this,” Ronan said.

“Thank you, Tristan. You’ve been very helpful,” Griffin said, getting to his feet. “We hope to have a plan finalized with the other pack in a matter of days and within a week, this should all be over.”

“I have an idea,” Tristan said. “About getting past the gate.”

Griffin sat down, curious. “Oh?”

“The broker’s van. They’d wave him right through. If the van was full of your people, you could keep the gate open, let the rest in.”

“But they’d need to be expecting the broker, wouldn’t they? We’d have to wait until he bought another shifter. Who knows when that’ll be?”

“You said it yourself, you plan to take the broker out. Cut a deal with him, get him to cooperate in exchange for not killing him.” No one had said outright that the broker would die but he’d read between the lines.

“But there are procedures, checks. We’d have to find an omega, they’d want to confirm they’re unbonded…”

“Unless it’s me,” he said. “They know me. The broker can tell them he found me hiding in his house and that he’s bringing me back.”

“No,” Quinn said. “We’re not taking you anywhere near that place.”

“I’m not suggesting handing me back over,” he said with a shudder. “Just using me as a ruse to convince them to let the broker in.”

“We could do this without Tristan even needing to be in the van,” Griffin added, looking thoughtful.

“No, I want to be there. The others will be scared, they’ll panic.”

“And a familiar face might help,” Griffin concluded.

Tristan was thinking more about the chaos being a good distraction to slip away. Once they got into the breeder house, once they realized Michael wasn’t there, had never been there, they’d be looking to Tristan for answers. He needed a way out. And slipping away in the middle of all that meant it was much less likely he’d be noticed.

“You’d be safer here,” Quinn said.

Tristan avoided the alpha’s gaze. “It’s not just about me, remember?”

“We’ll make sure Tristan’s safe, Quinn, whatever happens,” Griffin said, getting back to his feet. “For now, let’s fine-tune our plan.”

 

According to Ronan, the broker caved as soon as his position was made clear. He agreed to sell out the breeder house in exchange for not dying. And the lynchpin of this plan? Tristan.

Which was how he found himself sitting in Darcy’s rooms, the beta staring intently at his face, a tiny brush in his hand.

“That about does it,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder at Quinn. “What do you think?”

The alpha winced. “Very realistic.”

“Can I see?” Tristan asked.

Darcy held up a mirror, and Quinn’s wince made sense. The black eye, bruised cheek, and cut lip looked very realistic.

“I’m glad you’re talented with costume makeup,” Tristan quipped. “I’d hate to have had to take a blow to the face to make a convincing captured omega.”

He stood and walked over to Quinn, canting his head to the side.

The alpha reached out, cupping his cheek gently.

“Never,” he said softly.

His phone beeped, and he pulled his hand away to check it. “That’s Ronan. They need the photos. Ready?”

He nodded as Darcy grabbed a camera.

“Just try to look scared,” Quinn said.

That wasn’t hard. All he had to do was think about the breeder house and he felt tendrils of fear curling around in his belly.

He heard the click of the camera, again and again, keeping his eyes focused on the wall past Darcy’s shoulders.

“There,” the beta said. “That should do it.”

Quinn, looking over his shoulder, agreed. “Send them to Ro, and we’ll get this show on the road.”

“Try not to touch your face,” Darcy said. “We might need you to play captured omega for a while longer.”

If things went as planned, they’d be on the road the next morning.

Quinn steered him back to the guest wing, a hand on the small of his back.

“Nervous?” he asked.

Tristan shook his head. “Why should I be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because we’re about to drive you back into hell?”

That wasn’t what was worrying him. Well, mostly not. Griffin seemed to have the whole thing in hand. He was just worried about the fallout from his lie.

“Go, get some rest,” Quinn said, pulling his hand back. “I’ll call you when there’s news.”

 

In the end, he didn’t need to ride in the back of the broker’s van, much to his relief. Instead, he was in the back of a car, sitting next to Mark. Quinn was part of the team in the van, alongside Ronan and three others. Their job was to get through the front gate, stop the gate from closing, and take out the external guards.

Mark was with the second wave, who’d flood in once the gate was open and head inside the house. Tristan was the tail end of the storm, only going in once it was confirmed to be safe, to help guide the scared omegas to safety. The pack they were working with had a lot more people than they did and were better prepared to take in the rescued omegas. The plan was to get them into a group of minibuses and take them to halfway houses and other safe havens.

“They’ve done this before,” Mark commented, nodding at the strangers in the vehicle next to them. “This’ll be the second breeder house they’ve taken down this year.”

Tristan wasn’t sure what to say to that. It was good someone was doing something, but it seemed like so little when he knew there were many more places just like this.

Mark glanced at his watch.

“They should be through the gate now.”

“They’ll be okay, won’t they?” he asked, worried about Quinn. The guards at the gate were armed, that he was sure of.

“Don’t worry, they can handle themselves,” Mark assured him, getting out of the car. “Hold tight until someone comes for you, okay?”

“I will,” he promised.

Even though Mark was gone, he wasn’t alone. There were shifters manning the buses that would transport the omegas and a few others who looked like medics.

Tristan sank lower in his seat and tried to stay calm. His goal was to get onto one of those buses before anyone missed him. They wouldn’t hang around, not with groups of scared, possibly pregnant, omegas on board. All he had to do was slip away.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty, and then Mark jogged back into view.

He got out of the car.

“You’re up,” Mark said. “We have the guards in hand. And the owners. They tried to run but we slashed the tires on every vehicle we could find. They didn’t get far.”

“The omegas?” he asked.

“The guards locked them in their dormitories when the fighting started. I’d say they could do with seeing a familiar face right about now.”

They raced to the house, Tristan barely pausing at the gate as the wall loomed into view. And then he was inside, back to his prison, only this time, all the doors were open.

“Tristan,” Quinn called from a stairway. “Up here.”

He ran to the alpha, frowning when he caught sight of blood on his face and shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“Just a flesh wound. I’ll be fine. They’re up here. Can you go in, talk to them, explain why we’re here?”

“Of course.”

Minutes later, they were opening the door to the first dormitory. His dormitory.

Quinn poked his head in first, ducking back out immediately. “There are no guards, just omegas. They’re mostly hiding behind the beds. Go in, talk to them. Tell them we’re here to help.”

Taking a deep breath, he stepped past the alpha and into the room.

“Hi, guys,” he started to say. “Miss me?”

There was silence, half a dozen heads peeking up from behind beds.

“Tristan?” someone called, and then Lesley was vaulting over his bed and running across the room toward him. “You’re back.”

“I told you I would be. I brought help, like I promised.”

Lesley threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly.

“Who are they?” he whispered into Tristan’s ear. “What’s happening?”

“They’re here to help us,” he said, raising his voice so everyone could hear him. “We’re being rescued. They’ve got buses waiting to bring us to safe houses. They’ve got medics so if anyone’s hurt, you need to let them know. They’ll take care of us.”

The others were gradually getting to their feet, looking around at each other.

“Is it safe?” one of them asked. “We heard gunshots.”

“They fought the guards at the gate. But they’ve got it all in hand now, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“Where are they taking us?” someone else asked.

“Safe places. Halfway houses of packs who are against breeders, shelters for omegas in trouble. If you have packs to go back to, they’ll help get you home. If you don’t, they’ll find somewhere for you.”

“And the babies?” someone else asked. “Are they going to take them?”

At a guess, there had been maybe four recently born infants in the house last time Tristan had been there.

“No. Babies stay with their omega fathers unless they don’t want them.”

Which was possible but unlikely. Scent contact alone made giving up a child willingly a very hard thing to do.

“They’re going to come in now,” he said, stepping back toward the door. “I have to go to the other dormitories. Lesley, will you come with me?” Two of them could cover more ground.

“Sure,” his friend said, grabbing onto his arm. “Lead the way.”

He got to the doors, opening them wide.

“Go easy,” he said to the shifters waiting. “They know you’re here to help, but they’re still scared.”

“We’ll tread softly,” the shifter nearest the door promised.

Tristan and Lesley split up, taking a dormitory each. The next one Tristan went to had Eric and the other pregnant omegas. They took more convincing that help was at hand, but there was a palpable sense of relief once they started to believe it was true.

The nursery on the top floor was last. A place Tristan had never been. A place he’d prayed he never would be. The omegas there were overjoyed to realize they’d been set free. To realize that no one was coming to take their babies from them.

Tristan helped get them all out, then sat down on one of the beds and tried not to cry. This could have been him. Would have been, if circumstances had been different. If the gap in that damn bathroom window had been an inch smaller. But here he was, here they all were.

Quinn appeared in the doorway.

“That’s everyone out of the house,” he said. “We’re organizing them into groups. How are you holding up?”

He scrubbed a hand across his face and stood up.

“I’m holding up,” he said. “Thank you, for making this possible.”

“You made this possible,” Quinn said. “But we need you to do one last thing. Help us find Michael.”

He nodded, feeling his heart start to race and his mouth go dry. Lies had a tendency to catch up with you. And his were about to. This was the point when he slipped away, escaped back home, and tried to put this all behind him. Which he would have done were it not for Quinn.

The alpha wrapped a hand around his shoulder and pulled him into a sideways hug.

“You’re doing great,” he encouraged. It took all the strength Tristan had not to melt into the alpha’s touch.

He followed Quinn down the stairs, slowing to a stop before the door. He’d never planned to be here for this part. It was always his intention to leave before the truth came to light. And yet, he couldn’t leave Quinn and the others always wondering.

“Quinn?” he said softly.

The alpha turned back to him. “Yeah?”

“Michael’s not here.”

There. He’d said it.

“What do you mean?”

“He… he was never here.”

Quinn took a step toward him, his face creasing in consternation. “I don’t understand.”

“Back at the broker’s house, I overheard Griffin asking the broker about him. And then when you caught me, I used that information against you. There was never any Michael here. I used what I overheard and bits and pieces of stuff I learned from the others here in the breeder house to make it sound more convincing.”

Quinn looked horrified, but that horror quickly morphed to anger. Tristan, about to explain about the guard who’d been looking for Michael, shut his mouth abruptly as the alpha spoke.

“Why the hell would you do that? Why not just be honest?”

“Because I thought no one cared, Quinn. That no one cared about places like these. This house has been here for over half a decade, people know this place exists, but they just don’t care. But you… you cared about Michael. I used that to get you to come here.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Quinn said. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“Can you tell me honestly, one hundred percent, that you’d have done all this if I told you I’d never heard of Michael. If I told you there was no Michael here?”

Quinn opened his mouth to reply then shut it, looking away.

“I made Lesley a promise. I did what I had to do to keep that promise.”

“You used us. Used me.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I guess I’ve learned a little something about being used. It was bound to come in useful eventually.”

Quinn’s fists were clenched in anger, his face like thunder. “I—Stay here. I need to go talk to Griffin. He still thinks—Jesus, Tristan, don’t you understand what you’ve—” He cut himself off.

“Stay here,” he said again. “I’ll be back.”

And then he was gone, storming outside. Tristan had no intention of waiting for his return. He ran to the door, peeking out. Most of the omegas were milling about the yard while shifters tried to divide them into groups. He could see Griffin on one side, flanked by Beau and Ronan, Quinn striding toward them. Near the gate, he saw a group of omega being led out. That was his chance.

When no one was looking, he dived out the door and slipped in amongst the group leaving. One of the omegas wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“We’re getting out,” he said, beaming. “We’re going home.”

Tristan tried to smile back, but all he could think of was the look of betrayal on Quinn’s face when he realized what Tristan had done. How he’d said, ‘used me,’ like everything between them had been a lie. Except it hadn’t. Which just made it all the harder to walk away.