Chapter 70

Sarah POV

There was no question of finding anyone soon, however. We had to deal with the slaves first and foremost. I saw the girls bundled into the car and sent back to the villa. Dr Hayes agreed on the phone to be there and see to their sleep schedule.

There were so many people to be arrested and/or helped that I couldn’t keep up. I identified several people I had seen in cuffs, and then openly decried some werewolves who were pretending to be innocent. I said I’d not only seen them bid on the human-in-disguise auction but also using humans in the “VIP Room.” Some of the things I had to explain made me want to vomit.

Zane, meanwhile, went looking for Rob, only to find that Zara, the woman in the knife dance, had killed him. We agreed it was a fitting end for him, but of Zara herself, we could find no sign.

I worried quite a bit at the number of werewolves who were slipping away from the police. I spent some time with a policeman who had been recounting all the wolves I had seen in the WIP room, which made me feel unclean just talking about them. At one point, I had to sit down and just breathe through it.

For a few minutes, Zane and I stood there as the circus played out around us. Werewolves were being arrested, humans were being medically cared for, and some staff of the Rotary Club were spilling their guts, whereas others had evidently been in the dark about the whole thing.

Zane held me for that precious time. I couldn’t help but think of the way he’d helped me through my sexual desperation. I remembered his warm fingers, his kind expression, and his overall gentleness.

I mean, I’m only human.

Would this count against me in a court of law, I wondered? I’d signed a document that I wouldn’t try to seduce him, and then I’d begged him to have sex with me. Could that be used to take the girls away from me, or were we both just supposed to ignore what had happened?

Zane left my side eventually, which I understood. He had so many wounded to see to. This had happened in his territory, and I knew he needed to perform damage control.

If I lost Chloe and Grace, just how much could I plead unfairness? As I looked around at the hurricane around me, I had to wonder just how much I counted in all this.

I ended up watching over the human ex-slaves as they were cared for and taken away in ambulances. I helped the emergency personnel, who were almost all werewolves, to understand who was unresponsive due to shock, drugs, or just exhaustion. I looked at my phone when Dr. Hayes texted that the girls were asleep and found out it was three in the morning.

“You!” screamed a woman I didn’t recognize as she pointed at me. “You were one of them!”

I looked at the beta ambulance driver next to me and shook my head. “I don’t know her,” I said.

“She seems to know you,” he said, staring at me like I was something he’d stepped on.

“What?” I asked.

“This is disgusting,” he said. “Do you have any idea how intolerable this all is?”

“Considering I was almost raped and murdered a few hours ago, yes, I do.”

“And that’s enough of that,” I heard from over my shoulder. I turned and saw one of the sharpest-look beta females I’d ever seen standing there, phone in hand. She looked at me and said in a slightly accented voice, “No more statements at this time.”

“What?” I asked again.

“Daryns Smith,” she said, handing over a business card I tucked into a pocket without really thinking about it. “I’m your lawyer, and this gentleman has no business questioning you without me.”

“I was being questioned?” I asked.

“How tired are you?” she asked.

I thought about it. “I think I’m asleep on my feet.”

She nodded. “Yes, I thought so.” She looked at the beta ambulance driver. “If you don’t want to be sued five ways to Tuesday, piss off.”

He sneered but left.

Daryns Smith looked me up and down and then nodded. “Alpha Zane hired me,” she said. “There have been about a hundred violations of a hundred different laws here tonight. Am I right to think you and Alpha Zane had no knowledge of the human trafficking going on here?”

“None at all,” I said. “We both just thought this was a charity event for the Children’s Hunger Bank.”

The double meaning hit me, and I almost threw up.

“Are you all right?” Daryns asked in alarm.

“The children, the humans they had holding up the items we were bidding on, they were the real items on display.” I tried to explain further, but my throat closed up.

“And you and Alpha Zane had no knowledge of this?”

I just shook my head.

“And you’re prepared to testify to this in a court of law?”

I nodded.

“Sarah,” a familiar voice said, and I turned to see Agent Travis was standing there next to us. “Are you all right?”

“No,” I said. I gestured around us. “How can anyone be all right with this?”

“Daryns Smith,” my lawyer said, holding out a hand Travis shook somewhat absently. “I’m counsel for Ms. Astor.”

“Are charges being levied against Sarah?” Travis demanded.

“No, and I sure as I’m standing here, there won’t be. She’s a fucking hero, and so is Alpha Zane.” She turned as a black SUV pulled up. “And there they are.”

“Who?” I asked.

“The FBI. The number of laws that have been broken demands nothing less.”

I looked at Travis, who shrugged.

Zane showed up then. I was seriously swaying in exhaustion at that point and was glad to have him introduce himself to Daryns Smith and explain the state of the bust.

Many werewolves who had participated in the auction had no idea what has going on and were cooperating fully with the police. Others, however, were neck-deep in the mess and trying to cover their asses. The little human boy I’d seen thrown out of the VIP room was dead, and his parents evidently had enough money to be bringing a lawsuit.

Zane looked at Daryns at that point and said he’d be seeing to my safety.

“No,” she said. “I’m Ms. Astor’s lawyer, nor yours.”

“That’s for the best,” I said when Zane looked like he wanted to argue. “Let’s keep this as well documented as possible.”

And then, bless him, Ollie pulled up in the black car, and I just told everyone I was exhausted and went to sit in the back seat. Around me, blue and red lights flashed.

Hours later, I woke up in that backseat. Zane was holding me in his arms, asleep himself. Considering what had taken place in the last twenty-four hours, I just lay there, breathing in the scent of him, thinking about the security his embrace brought me, and, well, just not really thinking about anything much at all.

This man was the father of my daughter and the little girl I was starting to think of as my second little girl. He was profoundly decent, strong, and moral. He was kind and thoughtful, skilled and steadfast.

If he were a human, I admitted to myself, I’d have thrown myself at him weeks ago.