Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(45)

“No. But you might like to talk to the pride’s leader.”

Tears filled Addy’s eyes. “Yes. I do. Can we go now?” She hurried over to stand near her guard then paused. “I need to get Troy back, first.”

“He’s fine with Zavi.”

“I’m sure he is, but we’re new here. I have to see him.”

“Follow me.”

They walked out of the sitting room connecting all the rooms in that wing to another long hallway then up a back stairway. Owen’s base of operations was bigger than the place where she’d been living, though it was nowhere near as elegant.

At the far end of the hall, they entered what had to be another bedroom wing, for it had a sitting room just like hers. She could hear boys laughing. For a jarring moment, it was almost like hearing Augie and Troy playing together. God, was her boy safe? Why had Augie left the watchers? Where was he?

Selena sent her an odd look. Addy stopped that line of thinking. She’d have answers soon enough…she hoped.

In the room with Troy and Zavi, were two women, one young and a little heavyset, the other pregnant and with copper-red hair. Both looked up and smiled.

“Hi, I’m Mandy,” the redhead said as she came over to greet her. “You must be Addy. I’m Rocco’s wife and—”

“And my mom,” Zavi said as he came over to lean against Mandy.

“I made a friend, Mom,” Troy said.

Addy smiled. “I see that.”

The other woman stood and shook hands with Addy. “I’m Wynn, Zavi’s nanny and tutor…and teacher to a whole bunch of watcher boys, too.”

“I was just about to go see them.”

“It’s Saturday, so no classes,” Wynn said. “No telling where they might be. Selena, maybe give Lion a shout to see if he can come talk to Addy when he’s free? He may be busy with Owen.”

“We were just on our way to go see him. I’ll give him a buzz.” Selena took out her cell and stepped into the sitting room.

“How about we go with Selena to give Troy and his mom the tour, Zavi?” Mandy asked.

“Okay. Can we show them Aunt Eden’s puppies first?” Zavi asked.

Wynn smiled. “How about we do the house tour first.”

“Lion’s free,” Selena said as she came back into the room. “We can head out that way after the house tour, if you’re okay with that,” she said to Addy, who nodded.

“Thank you.” She wanted to rush through everything so she could get right out to talk to the leader of the watchers her son had been with.

Mandy caught her arm and held her back as the others moved out of the sitting room. “I can’t imagine what you must be going through with your son. Zavi isn’t my biological son—he’s Rocco’s from his first marriage. Even so, if something happened to him…”

Addy blinked. “It’s been almost three years.”

“God. I know we’ve only just met, but believe me, we’re all here for you. And now that Owen knows he has a son, there’ll be hell to pay if he can’t get him back for you quickly. Nothing stops Owen.”





15





Addy was feeling overwhelmed by the size of the team’s headquarters. Her castle had been a simple V. This one was an X with a long middle. She learned that the compound supported the careers of at least two of the wives here—Mandy’s horse therapy center and Eden’s dog-training business.

Addy hated that she was suspicious of everything. It was something she was going to have to heal from now that she was out of the Omni world, but in it, no one did anything for another when there wasn’t something to be gained. She mistrusted kindness most of all, and everyone here seemed kind.

It didn’t surprise her that two of the women were given space for their work. Anything for the appearance of independence. It fit that these men, consumed by this secret war, would want to keep their women happy…and quiet. Fiona and Hope worked for the team in their capacities as an assistant and mechanic. Wynn worked and lived here.

What did surprise her was that two other women worked outside the home—Ivy at her diner and Remi at the university. And Ace was, apparently, part of the team, like Selena.

Addy hadn’t met everyone, but her mind absorbed all their pertinent details, tucking them away as if her life depended on it—because it did. Everything—on the surface, at least—seemed normal…as normal as could be for the circumstances, and that was something Addy knew nothing about.

She didn’t have enough facts yet to determine if one, some, or all of them were Omnis…or if they were truly fighting them, as they claimed. It was hard to know who was in and who was out. The Omnis had people everywhere—governments, royal families, society’s glitterati, all the way to the working classes. Many of the world’s powerbrokers were owned by Omnis. It would be naive to think some of those here weren’t also owned.

She’d thought her brother was fighting them, but after talking to Owen, she wasn’t so sure. She was in over her head, trying to stay afloat, keeping very, very calm and still so the sharks wouldn’t eat her.

She went with the women and boys to do the outside portion of the tour. She was interested in what they were showing her. Everything she learned about the lay of the land and its people might come in handy sometime. Owen had said there was a bunker underground. She wanted to get a tour of that as well.