Hidden Passions (Hidden, #7)(39)

"I'm fine," Rick's voice said tinnily. "But I don't have much time. Is this line secure?"

"Of course it is. What the hell is going on?"

"We have the dragons. We need you and the pack to protect them. Don't involve anyone you don't trust a hundred and ten percent. There's a second faerie involved in this. She's unaccounted for."

"And the first?" Adam sounded a helluva lot calmer than Tony could have done.

"Sword Guy is torturing Cass's father for information. We're hoping to rescue him."

Tony didn't like the sound of that. Faeries were dangerous. Getting between two of them in a fight wasn't an objective for sane people. Adam knew this as well as him.

"Rick," their lieutenant said. "Wait for us. Wherever you are, don't do anything crazy by yourself."

Tony was aware of Nate and Carmine scrambling to trace the incoming call. Tony couldn't move. His white-knuckled fingers were glued to Adam's doorframe.

"We can't wait," he heard Rick say. "Track my cellphone. If you lose the signal, we're in a spot only Nate and Evina know about."

"Only Nate and Evina . . . Rick--"Adam spat out a curse. Rick had hung up on him.

"Why does he want you to track his cell? Why can't he just tell us where he is?" Tony's voice was high, his energy ragged and uncontrolled. He swallowed and reined it in as Adam spun around.

The alpha's expression wasn't reassuring. "He's probably hoping to delay us. I suspect he doesn't want our help rescuing Cass's father. He must be afraid he'll get us killed."

"That's f*cked," Tony said angrily. "Packs are stronger together."

Adam met his gaze without comment. That he agreed with his omega was obvious.

Carmine came up behind Tony. "Boss," he said. "We couldn't pinpoint the signal. Outside the city and to the south is the best the software is giving us."

The older wolf put his hand on Tony's shoulder, squeezing the muscle there. Tony realized he was shaking.

With anger, he told himself.

"Nate," Adam said, pitching his voice to carry. "What spot do only you and Evina know about?"

Nate was on his feet, leaning over Carmine's desk as he tried to narrow down Rick's location on the computer screen. He looked back at Adam. "I don't--"

His face changed as a possibility occurred to him.

"Shit," he said, so Tony guessed the memory wasn't pleasant. "He's in Wolf Woods. He's at the hidden lake where I almost ate Evina."

Okay, that was a story Tony hadn't heard. Adam either, to go by his raised eyebrows.

"Uh, hey," Carmine interjected. "Anyone but me notice Rick said they had dragons?"

They goggled at each other.

"Dragons," Tony repeated, the word sinking in. "Not eggs."

"And not 'dragon' singular," Carmine said.

"He said he needed us to protect them," Adam finished.

In spite of being furious at and frightened for his brother, Tony's heart thumped with excitement. His brother had hatched some dragons. He couldn't deny that was cool.

Their allotted period for amazement ended when Adam shook himself back to the task at hand.

"Call Johnny," he said to Carmine, meaning the husband of Tony's sister Maria. "We need a chopper and a pilot, and he just got his license. Tell him to keep it quiet. Better he steal a bird than officially request one."

"Done," Carmine said, pulling his phone from his back pocket.

Normally he'd have made a crack about the instructions. Going black ops wasn't Adam's style. Their alpha went by the book, generally. Not tonight, Tony guessed.

"Nate," the alpha said next.

"Boss," Nate responded, as straight and respectful as a soldier--sure sign of how dire the circumstances were.

"Do you trust Evina's tigers?"

"With my life," Nate said.

His lack of hesitation surprised Tony--pleased him too. Chris was one of the tigers Nate had no doubts about.

Adam rubbed the side of his face, less sure than his third was. "Could you ask Evina to call them together as a guard? Ari and the baby--" His green eyes flared at the thought of his wife and child. "Ari has power but not enough to defend against pureblood fae. I want the pack's family members to have protection. Maria, Ethan, everyone. There's another dragon hunter on the loose. I don't want any hostages to fortune."

"I'll take care of it," Nate said.

"And me?" Tony asked.


Adam leveled a very sober alpha gaze on him. "You won't like this, but I need you to do it anyway."

"Do what?" Tony asked, the back of his neck tensing.

"I want you with the cats. They're brave, but they're not cops. I want someone with your instincts watching over the women and children."

"But Rick's my brother! I should be on the team that goes after him!"

Adam's hand squeezed the side of Tony's neck. His top-dog authority radiated through the contact of palm to muscle, something Tony resented the hell out of right then. "It's not an insult. You're the pack's heart, Tony--and probably its sense of humor."