“What do you mean he was arrested for murder?” Rick asked, staring at Miguel like he had two heads.
He couldn’t have heard the juvenile correctly.
There was no damn way.
“I called his house and told his parents that I was Dorian’s coworker and was worried that he didn’t show up for work today. They told me he was being accused of killing three people.”
Rick grabbed the phone on his desk, dialing his top enforcer’s cell phone number.
“Nate. I need you to head down to the police station and find out what is going on with Dorian.”
“Your nominee?”
“Yes,” Rick growled.
“On it.”
Rick wished he could go himself, but he had a staff meeting to attend.
Being the boss did not mean he could come and go as he pleased.
That would have helped right now, but it wasn’t possible.
Plus if he showed up at the police station, he was more than likely going to be accused of being changeling.
Nate was good.
He could spin a story that was plausible and have the cops believing him.
Rick was too pissed to even try to lie right now.
Rummaging on his desk for his notes, Rick tried his best to put Dorian out of his mind.
He had planned on dating Dorian last.
It would give him a chance to decide what he was going to do with the human for seven days.
He should have started dating Omar and then Silvia by now, but Rick had found one excuse or another to put things off.
He knew the pack wasn’t going to wait much longer.
Thankfully, neither Omar nor Silvia had complained about Rick not seeing them yet.
Rick was stalling for time, praying he found a way out of this whole mating thing.
Nothing had come to mind yet, but he wasn’t giving up.
“Are you going to bail him out?” Miguel asked, a worried expression on his face.
“You know he didn’t kill anyone.”
Rick didn’t know shit about Dorian.
All he knew was that Dorian was his human employee who worked over in the deli section and one of his nominees.
That was the extent of his knowledge.
“Let’s wait and see what Nate finds out.” There was no need to get up in arms, yet.
“Thank you.” Miguel smiled at Rick before leaving the office.
Rick shook his head.
Juveniles.
Unfortunately, Rick knew he had to bail Dorian out.
As archaic as pack law was sometimes, he knew he had to date Dorian for a week.
That was kind of hard to do if the man was behind bars.
He wasn’t sure if he would be penalized by the elders or his pack if he told them that Dorian was indisposed.
As alpha, he could make needed changes, but the more ancient laws of the changelings were written in stone.
All shifters abided by the rules. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
It didn’t matter if they were wolves, lions, leopards, or deer.
They all heeded the ancient decrees.
And the mating law was about as ancient as it could be.
It was outdated, but there was nothing Rick could do about it.
Three candidates had been chosen.
Three candidates would be considered.
Rick just hoped he didn’t have to date Dorian behind a thick piece of plexiglass.
He frowned when the telephone rang in his office.
The meeting wasn’t for another half an hour.
No one should be calling him.
“Hello?”
“Is this Alpha Enrique?”
The hairs on the back of Rick’s neck rose a fraction.
He didn’t recognize the voice, and whoever was speaking used a soft tone, as if afraid someone would hear him.
“Depends on who is calling me.” And at work no less.
Was he nuts?
If anyone found out Rick was changeling, he was screwed.
“We need to talk. I have your human candidate. Meet me at the Great Oak Forest, south entrance at sunset.”
“Who is—” Rick growled when the caller hung up.
He was using Dorian, a human he didn’t really know, as leverage.
How fucking stupid was that?
But Rick knew he would go.
Not only did he have to uphold the laws of mating, but as alpha, he couldn’t stand by while a weaker being was held hostage.
Rick picked the phone up again, this time dialing Nate.
“I was just about to call you,” Nate said before Rick had a chance to talk.
“Leave it. Dorian has been kidnapped. I want you to gather the enforcers and meet me at Great Oak Forest at sunset, southern entrance, but make sure none of you are seen.”
“Shit, Rick. What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure, but whoever is behind this, they have Dorian. I can’t ignore it, even if Dorian is a human candidate.” Rick really didn’t like the idea of being mated to a human, but he liked the idea of the human being hurt even less.
He protected the weak, and it shouldn’t matter if the weak wasn’t changeling.
Rick could hear a heavy sigh on the other end.
“No matter. I called ahead and was told by our guy on the inside that Dorian set up his own escape—which is hard to believe considering the man was just arrested. He wouldn’t have had time to call anyone to plan an escape. But they are saying he had help getting away from the cops. There is an APB out on him now. We need to find him before the cops do.”
“I’m working on it.” He had no clue who had Dorian, or what they wanted, but they were going to soon find out what messing with the alpha of the local werewolf pack alpha entailed.
No one took from him.
He may have to play nice in the human world, but Rick wasn’t someone to fuck with when it came to his pack.
And since Dorian was up for candidacy, by law, he was pack until Rick made his decision.
* * * * Rick pulled his Mustang off of the main road, driving up an access road and parking his car.
Being silver, it wasn’t easy to hide, but he was parked far enough away that someone would have to be really looking to spot it.
As soon as he got out, he inhaled deeply, scenting the area.
He could smell changelings, but they were far enough away that he couldn’t detect what breed.
There were also some werewolves close by.
Rick smelled pack all around him.
Nate was here with backup, hidden in the copse of the forest.
Confident that he was covered just in case whoever was forcing him here had more men than he could handle, Rick began to walk back down the access road.
He came to a stop when a man walked from behind a tree.
“Alpha Enrique.”
“You are?” he asked, using a tone that said whoever the man was, he wasn’t important.
He never showed weakness to others, caution, but never weakness.
It was a surefire way to come under attack.
His plate was already full.
Rick didn’t need any added headaches.
“I am one of the wererats. My king wanted me to meet with you.”
“Does your king have a backbone or does he always send his subordinates in to do all of his biddings?” It was a strike against whoever the king was.
Rick wasn’t aware that a pack of wererats had moved into the area.
He ruled this territory and should have been asked permission first.
It pissed him off that the wererats thought they could just move right in.
The man waved a hand toward the parking lot.
Someone got out of a black sedan and stood at the back door, watching them, but guarding the car.
Dorian must be in the backseat.
The guy talking to Rick turned back to face him.
“I am Leon. I spoke with you earlier on the phone.”
“If you have a point, make it.” Rick was tiring of these games.
“Our king has gone missing. We would like your help in finding him.”
“First of all, you just told me your king wanted you to meet with me. Now you’re saying he’s missing? And secondly, you kidnapped one of my pack members thinking I could be strong-armed into doing your footwork?”
Leon quickly shook his head, his expression panicked.
“No, but we rescued your nominee from going to jail. He was set up. There would have been no bail for him, and the evidence is airtight.”
Rick tensed.
Word had gotten around fire-quick about his candidates.
That was to be expected in the changeling world.
What hadn’t sat well with him was how knowledgeable the rats were about what was going on with Dorian and the cops.
“And how do you know all of this?”
Reaching into his jacket, Leon pulled out an envelope.
“The hyenas mailed this to me. They want to take over your territory. They thought sending your nominee to jail would start the ball rolling.” Leon handed him the envelope.
“I’m not sure why they gave me this. They had to know I would pass it along to you.”