Chapter 43

The door swung open with a bang, startling Elroy and I both and breaking the moment we were suspended in. Astor sauntered in, his lips curled into that infuriatingly smug grin I'd come to both dread and secretly appreciate. He’d been more endearingly annoying than truly problematic recently, but that was without Elroy in the same room.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Astor drawled. "Hard at work, I see. I brought you this.”

My eyes locked onto the thick manila folder in his hand, and I instantly perked up. "What's this?" I asked, unable to keep the intrigue from my voice.

Astor's grin widened. "Oh, just a little something I whipped up in my spare time.”

“Spare time?” I said incredulously. “You’re taking on so many of the Alpha’s responsibilities and you have spare time?” Astor shrugged nonchalantly.

“Well, turns out it’s not as hard as my dearest brother makes it look,” he said smugly. I heard Elroy growl softly, glaring daggers into the side of his brother’s head. He looked like he was barely holding himself back.

“Or you’re half-assing the work to get it done early,” I said with a frown. I had no proof he was doing that, obviously, and I doubted that he would—but I couldn’t just let him imply that sort of thing about my Mate.

“Or you’re getting half the work load,” Elroy added venomously. “And that’s after I put out all the fires I started with.”

Astor’s growl was less subtle, his scent flaring and making my wolf take a defensive stance. He’d obviously said that to make Elroy seem less capable than him, but it wasn’t going to fly with either of us. Still, I decided to say something before another fight broke out.

“You still haven’t told me what’s in the file,” I reminded staunchly. Astor grinned.

"I took the liberty of compiling a list of all the venues where Midnight Echoes has performed," Astor said, handing the folder over to me. "And wouldn't you know it, there's quite the interesting pattern."

My heart raced in anticipation as I flipped open the folder, scanning the meticulous notes within. I didn’t know what I could be about to find, but Astor clearly thought it was something of importance. And he was right.

"All of these names..." I breathed, the realization hitting me like a punch to the gut.

Astor's voice dropped to a husky whisper. "Our missing Omegas. Not all of them, but almost three-quarters of the missing persons bought tickets for one of Midnight Echoes’ shows shortly before going AWOL. Quite the coincidence, wouldn't you say?"

I looked up at him, a mix of gratitude and frustration warring within me. Why did he have to be so infuriatingly helpful? Plus now I felt bad for him for the shit his father put him through, so I didn’t want to be unnecessarily mean to him in spite of his attitude.

"This is... incredible work, Astor," I said.

“Well don’t sound too pleased.”

“Sorry,” I deadpanned, “I reserve better praise for people who don’t annoy me.” Astor laughed.

“You admit I did good though!” I quirked a little smile at him.

“Yeah, okay, you did,” I admitted. "But why? Why go to all this trouble?"

His cocky grin softened for a moment, something unreadable flashing in his eyes. "I know I’m not on the case anymore, but I’m still invested in it," he said. "I want to see these Omegas return home just as much as you do, Olivia.”

I turned to Elroy, finally noticing the icy glare he was directing at his brother. My excitement dimmed slightly as I realized I'd stepped into some unspoken tension between them.

"We should visit one of these venues this afternoon," I said, turning to Elroy—only to finally notice the icy anger simmering around him. My spine tensed, my wolf shifting uneasily. Neither of us understood why Elroy was looking at Astor like the younger man was a threat, but we were instinctively prepared to back up our Mate.

Elroy didn’t take his glare off of Astor as he responded to me. "Agreed. We'll head out after lunch."

I smiled weakly, trying to dispel some of the unexplained atmosphere. “Great. Thanks for the lead, Astor.”

"That will be all, Astor," Elroy cut in, his tone clipped and dismissive. "We can take it from here."

I blinked in surprise, taken aback by Elroy's brusque dismissal. Astor all but snarled back at him, disgust plain as day on his face, and I was worried they were going to actually duke it out this time—but Astor just turned to leave.

“See you later, Olivia,” he threw out as he left, but the door closed behind him before I could tell him to just focus on his Alpha duties instead. It hadn’t sounded ominous or anything, but it didn’t actually feel pointed at me as much as it was said to annoy Elroy. Unfortunately, I could tell he was working.

I pressed my lips together, something in me deeply uncomfortable by that whole exchange. “…Is this because you had to take him off the case?” I asked aloud.

“This?” Elroy asked, playing dumb. I rolled my eyes.

“Seriously?” I asked. “He’s being pissy and immature, I don’t need you doing the same. Is he mad because you took him off the missing Omega case?”

Elroy frowned, then sighed. “Yes, he is. …You think he’s immature?” I snorted.

“Incredibly,” I said. “So don’t stoop to his level. It’s infuriating.”

Elroy looked a little pleased with my assessment, and I ignored the urge to huff in exasperation. I couldn't help but notice how the afternoon light caught the angles of his face, highlighting the sharp line of his jaw. Absently, I found myself wondering what it would feel like to trail my fingers along that jaw, to feel the rough scratch of stubble against my skin.

I shook off the inappropriate thought.

“So you don’t like him?” Elroy asked. I grimaced—was this a trick question? After all, family history aside they were half-brothers.

“I think his heart’s in the right place,” I said carefully, “but I can’t say he’d be my first choice for a friendly chat. Why?” Elroy shook his head.

“Just wondering, now that you’ve had to spend some time with him,” he said. There was an undercurrent to his words, and I felt like I was missing something that should have been right in front of me. It made me feel off-kilter.

“Well, try not to rise to his bait next time, okay?” I said. “You’re grown adults, not middle schoolers fighting in the cafeteria. Now, let’s crack open this file.”

I laid the file on his desk between us and pulled it open, excited in spite of myself. We really had needed this lead, and if this was human trafficking like I expected then we had to find these Omegas before they were sold out of Lunaris and beyond our reach.

I couldn’t help but notice, though, that Elroy had never thanked Astor for his help. The realization sent a chill through me. Goddess Above, I hoped this wasn’t going to become a bigger problem.