“Or some of them went rogue with the Alpha gone and decided not to wait for his pathetic auction,” he agreed bitterly. “You should go tell Remy.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “You guys okay here?”
“I think Jack is mostly harmless, but he’s definitely confused,” he replied, frowning. “We’ll meet you downstairs with the others.”
“Okay,” I said, turning to go. I made my way to the stairs and headed to the second floor where Remy said he was going. It was definitely more chaotic here, and scared girls were starting to line up along the wall. They gave me curious stares as I walked by.
“Rhodes!” I called, spotting him and Larkin coming out of a room. Larkin was carrying a little girl who looked no older than three. She had her thumb tucked into her mouth and tear stains on her pale round cheeks.
“Where’s Remy?” I asked.
“Down the hall with Katy and Maren,” he told me, a dark look on his face. “They just left these kids here with some bottles of water and crackers. Some of them haven’t eaten since yesterday when their food ran out.”
I flinched, looking around at the many faces of the girls standing around before giving my attention to the one in Larkin’s arms. “Is she okay?”
Larkin rubbed a hand down the girl’s back. “She will be.”
“You guys find anyone upstairs?” Rhodes questioned.
“Yeah,” I replied grimly. “But apparently a bunch of girls were taken from here at the last minute.”
“Fuckers,” Rhodes swore, snarling a bit.
The little girl jumped in Larkin’s arms, her wide brown eyes staring up at Rhodes with fear. She sucked her thumb harder.
“Rhodes,” Larkin hissed, shooting him a reproachful glare.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” he apologized sweetly, lowering his tone and bending his knees so he was eye level with the girl. He slowly reached out and brushed a blonde curl from her eyes. “Let’s go see what we can find for you to eat, okay, sweetheart?”
The little girl watched him with big eyes and then slowly extended her arms to him.
Rhodes stiffened, looking at Larkin. “What do I do?”
Larkin rolled her eyes. “Hold her.” She passed the toddler into Rhodes’s uneasy arms. He held her stiffly for a moment, but seemed to relax when she burrowed her tiny head against his chest and closed her eyes.
“What now?” he whispered, eyes huge as they swung from Larkin to me and back.
“Don’t drop her,” I suggested, going in the direction he said Remy was.
“Not funny!” he yelled at me as I walked away.
“Not trying to be,” I retorted as I headed down the hall in search of Remy.
I found him in a room with Katy and Maren and half a dozen girls ranging from preteen to early teens. One of the girls was openly sobbing and Maren was trying to comfort her while Katy was trying to pick up another girl who was literally at Remy’s feet, her hand on his ankle.
I growled softly, not liking anyone touching my mate. I tried to shove down my wolf’s need to stake our claim on him until the girl lowered her damn forehead to his shoes in reverence. He gave me a helpless look, his hands outstretched on either side, not touching her or encouraging her.
“Okay,” I said sharply, helping Katy pull her away. “That’s enough.”
The girl stared at me in confusion, her frustration turning to fear as Remy pulled me against him like a shield.
“I was only trying to say thank you and welcome,” she whispered, head down.
“Say it with words,” Katy told her grumpily.
The girl whimpered at Katy’s tone and shrunk deeper into herself. “Men need to be shown appreciation and respect. The deferential touch of a female is supposed to soothe them and display our need of him.”
“And you need to learn not to touch what isn’t yours,” I replied curtly, ignoring the cult-like way she explained her behavior. “Touch my mate again without his permission and we’ll have a problem.”
She flinched. “You can’t say that. A male owns his mate. She does not own him.”
Remy and I exchanged baffled looks.
“Go wait in the hallway with the others,” Katy ordered, snapping her fingers and pointing to the door.
The girl stared at Katy in horror, her violet colored eyes wide on her pale face. “You can’t speak that way. He’s an Alpha. He, or his men, give commands.”
Katy gave her a look. “He’s my brother. And I’m about done with you.”
“Katy,” Maren said, tugging at her arm. She looked at the girl. “It’s okay, Quinn.”
Quinn turned her worried eyes to Maren. “We were told to stay here. If we leave, Alpha Damien will be angry.”
“Alpha Damien is gone,” Maren told her gently. “Remy is the Norwood Alpha now.”
With a gasp, Quinn dropped to her knees, head bowed once more.
Dropped. To. Her. Knees.
“Forgive me, Alpha Remy. Forgive us all for not showing proper respect.” She slowly outstretched her hands.
“What is she doing?” I asked quietly.
Maren blinked back tears. “She touched her pack Alpha without permission. She’s waiting for punishment.”
“Punishment?” Remy repeated, the word strangled.
“Usually a broken hand for a touching offense,” Maren murmured, her mouth turned down. “Damien enforced high protocols in his pack with females.”
I stared at Quinn. She wasn’t even fighting what she assumed would be punishment. She was simply resigned to it.
“Jesus,” Katy muttered, turning away with barely veiled rage.
“Get up,” Remy told her kindly.
Quinn looked up hesitantly.
“Go wait in the hall,” Remy added, his tone still gentle.
Quinn got to her feet and walked away with a bewildered look.
“That was awkward,” Remy grumbled.
I turned and arched a brow. “Yeah.”
Maren turned to us. “She was from Norwood. She’s been raised here since she was a baby. Her ultimate goal was landing an Alpha or someone on the council. It’s what they’ve drilled into her head.”
“I get that,” I replied, my tone softer, “but she doesn’t get a pass for groping Remy without consent.”
“What Skye said,” Katy agreed.
“Besides, we’ve got bigger problems,” I sighed, looking at Remy. “We found the other elemental. He’s a kid, but he told us that they used vans to take away a group of the girls here a couple days ago.”
Remy turned his attention to Maren. “Did you notice anyone from here missing?”
“Jayla,” Maren answered. “She should have been in here with these girls or across the hall with Kit. She wasn’t in either room.”
“Could she be in one of the rooms upstairs?” Katy asked.
Maren shook her head. “No. Only adults were on the third floor.”
“So, people are still missing,” Remy groaned, shaking his head in disgust.
“Yeah,” I replied softly.
“Maybe Elias has a list of all the people who were here?” Katy suggested. “We can see who’s missing.”