CH 12

Rydge He'd been patiently waiting for her location to move on his phone, and it kind of wound him tightly. For the past two months, she’d left that pack at the exact same time and today was supposed to be no different. That time had passed a few minutes ago, and he was hoping that she wasn’t suffering at the hands of her Mates. That, they’d not seen her all dressed up and dragged her back to their bed to take her once more now that they saw just how beautiful she really was. It was the most likely thing to happen in his mind. She might be wolf-less, but she was completely stunning. He’d seen it under all that designed frumpiness. Had made a point of finding out just what her exact job was in that auction house, she was a junior appraiser of goods. So, after a month of watching and listening to what went on with her or around her, himself or one of his unit; all scent masked, had been strolling in and out of that auction house. He’d taken a piece of art in there, it was just over a hundred years old and asked to have it appraised, told the lady he’d heard from a close friend that an appraiser named Jessica was good at her job, and he’d like her to do the appraisal. The lady had frowned and stated, ‘She’s a junior.’ But then nodded, and he’d made an appointment for him with Jessica. Though that had kind of hit a wall for him, in her going to him, which was ideal for him. They didn’t like sending their employees to hotels, so he’d offered to have it done in a private restaurant during the day, a lunch meeting, still he’d hit a wall. The safety of their staff came first, it seemed. Which told him that something like that had happened once before and likely the staff member had been sexually harassed. So, in the end, he’d had to take it there to the Auction House for her to appraise. He had walked right into her office and she did have one. It was a working office with other things in there to be appraised, and she had all her equipment as well. He’d smiled at her and introduced himself, “Rydge Fairmont.” And held his hand out to her. “Jessica Lane.” She’d shaken his hand, she was completely professional, and in this office she’d had her hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, worn small black framed glasses, and looked a little neater than when outside. Though she still hid behind the baggy clothing, she smiled politely at him and accepted the piece of artwork. He’d sat and watched her not only inspect the art but the frame itself. Then she’d sat back in her chair and looked at him afterwards. “I’m afraid the frame is worth more than the portrait itself.” “Hmm, I suspected as much. But it’s been in the family home for four generations now,” he shrugged. “I was simply curious.” She’d looked at him. “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t fit the criteria of an auctionable item.” “That’s fine, I wasn’t really here for that anyway,” he smiled at her and then had leaned an arm on this side of her desk. “Have lunch with me tomorrow. I wanted to talk to you about a job offer.” She’d frowned right at him. “You have an Auction House.” “No, but I have a large gallery that could use your talent,” he’d offered. “I’d also rather not talk about it here in your current workplace, it’s got… eyes and ears I’m not interested in listening in on our conversation.” Again, she’d frowned at him, his eyes had moved right to her neck, the clothing she was wearing didn’t hide her filigree in full, so he’d looked at it pointedly to make her realize he could see it. “It’s just one lunch, and I’ll make you a good deal. You’ll get… respect from myself and the others that work under me, I’ll guarantee it. Being the boss.” He’d kept it to human terms in case those ears out there were listening to him and her. He’d doubted it, those she-wolves couldn’t give a rat's ass about this young lady, regardless of who she was mated to. She’d thought about it for a long minute, really looked him over and then frowned after a moment, “I’ve seen you before,” she’d murmured. “Hmm, in the café a few times. You looked right at me once.” He’d held his hand out to her, “I’ll give you my oath that I’m not about to harm you, snatch you or do anything untoward to you. Just a chat over lunch and a new line of work being offered.” She’d thought about it for several minutes and then just nodded. “Tomorrow.” That one word had told him all he’d needed to know about Jess. She wanted out and was willing to do what it took to get away from her Mates as well. She’d not taken his offer to have him swear an oath to her either, which meant she either didn’t care to be snatched away or was going to put her trust in him. His thoughts were interrupted by her signal finally moving, and he’d called her a few minutes later when she was away from that pack, to make sure she was all good. She was, and it was a relief to him. Though she’d had a run-in with her Mates, she’d still managed to get away. Though he’d not been wrong; it had been the pack Beta that had seen her; brought the Alpha and Luna. Now seeing her like this, after three years of her being mated to their sons, they were now only willing to hold the official Luna Ceremony. That was pathetic to him, and that ceremony he knew was just their way of trying to hold onto Jessica for their sons and nothing more. She’d finally changed into something they thought was worthy of being the future Luna to that pack. Only it was too late, he’d gone in and snatched that girl right out from underneath not only her two Mates, but her own Alpha, Beta and Luna as well. It wasn’t often something like that could be done, months of plotting and putting a plan of action into place, to see one mated to the leadership of another pack, willingly hand herself over to another. The plan he’d come up with was simple enough, but laying the groundwork was the problem. He didn’t want anything to go wrong, and so he’d bought into that auction house and become a silent partner and investor, had their uniforms and dress code all changed. Fired two of the she-wolves for blatant disrespect in the workplace and put the other one on notice, he couldn't get rid of all of them that would set off alarm bells. Then he’d set about giving Jess more hours, changing up, shifts and working areas, all for the better of the auction house, of course. So, the actual owner didn’t kick up a fuss too much. He’d also paid for it all out of his own pocket; that helped. Now, today he was up in his hotel room: the place where everything was going to go down, and he saw her car, driving into that car park where she always parked, and watched her walk to work as she always did. He’d told her to do nothing out of the ordinary. Just attended your day as per normal. Which he’d seen she did do, she didn’t even so much as look to where she knew he was going to be. Just stopped to get her morning coffee and headed right for the auction house. He’d also seen 30 minutes later that she-wolf he’d not gotten rid of, because he’d left one there so it didn’t look like all the protection around her was suddenly gone. Though Jess herself had told him that the two he'd fired hadn’t been mentioned or brought up to her, and she doubted the Alpha, Luna or Beta even knew those she-wolves no longer worked there. That, if it was the case, was good for him, her, and their plan; that was going down in just three hours. He wouldn’t interfere with anything in her day job, not even with that other she-wolf there. He didn’t think she would care what Jess got up to. Though seeing her dressed and done up like that should make her have second thoughts about disrespecting her. His Beta and Gamma had already hired a van from a hire company down in Oregan. They would leave nothing to chance, and no traces back to their own pack either, it had been hired under a stolen human identity. His tech team had secured that in full. Though the human was already a man in a human prison, so there was no way he could be blamed for snatching Jess. He had been behind human bars for two years and wasn’t due to get out for another three, but he was from Oregon, and his boys had already scrubbed the footage of them at the hire car company, and it would be again scrubbed when the van was returned. That way, when this pack realized she was missing and started actually looking for her, all their leads would come to a complete dead end at that hire car company. He’d planned it out carefully; to make it look as though rogues were snatching her, it was the only way to pull off the plan in full, and the pack Alpha or her Mates not suspect Jess had anything to do with her own disappearance. He wouldn’t have even gone to such lengths if there were no one from the pack watching her for the Alpha, Luna and Beta of that pack. If they’d not bothered to keep an eye on her, he’d have just put her in his car and driven her away and that was that. A proper, more detailed plan had been created because she did have a supposed security detail, and a plan that would see them think she was kidn*pped. Not that hard to do considering she was wolf-less. He walked about his hotel suite and checked for maybe the dozenth time that he had everything he needed to pull this off, though he knew he did. His own pack doctor, Emelia, had given him preloaded syringes, and they were all clearly labeled. Stopping the heart drugs were in one box that was red, and the restarting of the heart was in another box that was clear and attached to the de-fib machine if it was needed. He’d gone over the process many times with Emelia until he knew which drugs to give and in what order. Recited it a hundred times and practiced it as well. He didn’t want an excess of people from his pack, here in Seattle. The fewer of them there were, the less chances they would be detected here. It was just him, his Beta Rhett and Gamma Charlie here for this mission to rescue Jess from a life of humiliation, degradation, abuse and suffering. His Delta Warren was currently back in the pack in charge and holding down the fort, so to speak. It would also just be Jess and Rydge from here on out. After that snatching happened, in the city, his Beta and Gamma would head back after she’d been handed over to him. He’d be going back with Jess, just the two of them. She’d accepted his job offer, and the pack was prepping themselves for him to bring home a Future Luna for them. They were all aware that she was wolfen but without a wolf. None of them had any concerns; his former Mate had been human, and one that hadn’t shifted either. So, it hadn’t actually surprised anyone inside his pack that he was taking a Chosen Luna or that she was wolf-less. Not that she knew what his end goal truly was yet. He’d told her he’d get her out of her pack and away from her two Mates and, in return, he needed someone that was Luna Ranked to sit in the Luna’s Office and do the job of his Luna. She fit the bill. Jess had stared at him when he’d told her that, and then stated, “You do realize I have no Luna training whatsoever.” He’d just smiled “I can give you that. You’ll reside in the Luna Suite and hold the full title; you’ll also be allowed to hold a job outside the pack in my art gallery after the full moon comes, and you’re settled into the pack.” To which he let her think about it, and she’d gone off and done so, thought about it for many days and then just called him one day and agreed to his deal.