If the leak came from security, the Tri-Force could just fire the shitbag.
I pocket my phone, and I wrench my shovel from the mound of snow and go back to work.
Shoveling the driveway, my bones grind and muscles throb. Cold bites my exposed face, and I push through aches and pains from two deployments.
If I could tolerate twenty questions tonight, I’d be inside watching the Flyers game with SFE.
I can let a lot roll off my shoulders, but I’m not looking to be bombarded with questions about Thatcher and updates on Omega.
I have the answers. Perks of being the twin brother to a lead and friends with another lead. I probably know too much.
Akara and Thatcher told me not to spread intel yet, and I’d sooner rip out my vocal cords than betray those men.
I’ve shoveled maybe a fourth of the driveway before my phone rings.
I dig the cell out of my pocket and tear off my glove with my teeth. Clicking into a call from my brother.
He must have news about Omega’s future on the team.
I put the phone to my ear. “Hey—”
“Xander is in trouble,” Thatcher cuts me off, his voice like a cement block. “He locked himself in his room.”
I barely hear him say, you need to go. I don’t think—I just react, a shot of adrenaline thrusting me towards the Hale mansion. I shove off.
Can’t grab car keys.
No time.
Can’t turn around.
No time.
I sprint through thick snow down the half-shoveled driveway. Pain recedes in my body, silent behind urgency, and I reach the mailbox. Where a bike is resting.
I grab it.
I climb on.
Comms buzz in my ear.
The rich neighborhood is plowed daily, and so the streets are clear. I pedal fast, standing up and hearing the chains creak under my weight and height.
Cold air chills my face and cracks my lips, my eyes burning from the freezing wind, and I keep pedaling. Even as snow begins to fall. Even as my pulse thumps hard and deep.
I pedal until the chain breaks.
And then I run.
I’m too laser-focused for jumbled thoughts. I’m on a single track that says, help Xander. Help the kid you love.
The one you’re tasked to protect.
I storm past the fir tree in the yard and up the porch steps. And I put a hand to the knob. Mother of Christ, be unlocked.
It’s open.
And in my peripheral, a car is already parked in the driveway. Rose Calloway, plus Daisy and Ryke Meadows are already headed to the front door too.
Not stopping to greet them, I rush inside the house, through the foyer, and instinct guides me up the stairs. I hear a strange noise like hacking and Kinney’s distressed sobs.
My pulse pounds.
“Kinney, I’m coming!” I yell. “Back away!”
She shouldn’t be the one to break down her brother’s door. She shouldn’t see Xander if he’s…
Stop stop stop.
One track mind.
One goal.
I never slow, not even as I reach the second floor. I run harder and come up to the scene. Kinney Hale fists a kitchen knife and has crumpled to her knees, crying. She tried to carve out pieces of Xander’s door.
Rose has somehow caught up to me, but I run past her. Straight for my client’s room, and Ryke is right next to me when I slam my boot against the wood.
He does the same.
One more time, and we kick the door in. It crashes against the wall.
Rose is behind us as we enter.
His room is a mess. Just like when I left. Clothes piled up on his four-poster bed and slung on his life-sized armored knight.
I bypass it all.
And I sprint into his bathroom.
Xander jolts—he’s sunk neck-deep in a bathtub, headphones covering his ears and blaring music. “What the hell?” His voice cracks, looking between me and his uncle. Xander’s eyes are puffy and cheeks red like he’s been crying.
I sweep the bathroom for razor blades, and clicking my mic, I quietly report to the team. “Banks to Alpha-Epsilon, Xander is okay.” I’m hoping someone will relay this by phone to Omega. Thatcher is probably losing his mind.
“You can’t lock the fucking door,” Ryke growls.
Xander lets out a heavy breath. He already looks shattered, and I glance at Rose as she places Kinney’s knife on the counter.
“Am I not allowed to take a bath anymore?” Xander retorts. “Is that off-limits too?”
He’s wearing boxers and submerged in water. I’m not the only one who notices it.
“Why are you fucking clothed?” Ryke asks.
Xander chokes on a noise and looks to me, like I might help him out. But his eyes lower because I think he remembers that I’m just his bodyguard. I can’t speak out of turn in front of his aunt and uncle.
“Were you planning on hurting yourself?” Rose asks, her voice not that gentle but her eyes try to be.
Xander grimaces like he might start crying again. “Just…leave me alone. Jesus.” He’s about to put his headphones on his ears.
I squat and check around the tub for anything sharp.
“Talk to us,” Ryke tells him.
“I don’t want to talk!” Xander shouts in tears. “You don’t get it.”
Rose edges closer. “Xander—”
“I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here.” He takes sharp breaths and bows into himself, hands on his head and knees to his chest.
My heart is fucking breaking, and I stand up, doing one last quick sweep of the bathroom. I can’t do much to console him. While his family is around, it’s not my place.
Rose kneels at the tub and places a hand on his shoulder. “Breathe, Xander.”
He inhales raggedly, face covered in snot and tears. “I want my mom.” His voice quakes.
Ryke is already dialing Lily.
No sharp objects.
I back up into the bedroom. Giving them privacy.
“Alpha to Banks, did your client hurt himself?”
My eyes sear, muscles still flexed, and I lift my mic to my lips and answer, “Negative. Xander was in the bathtub with headphones on. He couldn’t hear anyone knocking. He’s currently on the phone with his parents.”
I drop my mic back on my collar and hear commotion from the hallway. I glance outside the door frame.
“Let us see him!” Winona yells, trying to dive between her bodyguard’s legs, but he lifts her up and blocks her from reaching the chipped door.
“Come on, dude!” Tom gapes at his bodyguard. “Let us through.”
“That’s our cousin!” Ben chimes in, trying to rush forward. His bodyguard restrains him too.
“It’s imperative!” Audrey shouts in panic.
Their bodyguards don’t relent, even as the kids protest more.
Strict orders have already come from the Alpha lead. We’re not supposed to let any of the kids into Xander’s room. The parents don’t want their children to see him. In case…
He’s fine.
I pinch my eyes once and shake it off.
Daisy is holding Kinney on the floor, soothing her, and I slip back into Xander’s room when the Alpha lead says Lo wants the hinges on Xander’s door removed.
I click my mic. “I’ll do it.”
He’s my client. And I need to physically do something right now. I don’t want to sit with my feelings. Plus, I like working with my hands. With tools. Usually on cars, but I’ll take anything.