Chapter 211

Chapter 61: Theo Ayla and I made our way to my office the next morning. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Randy lying across the couch. His eyes opened as we entered and he yawned as he stretched.

“Just make yourself comfortable, I guess,” I chided.

“Well, I couldn’t exactly announce my arrival,” he replied as he stood up. “Luna Ayla, I hope you are doing well this morning.”

“I’m better at seeing you.” She gave Randy a hug he was expecting, making me chuckle.

Although, I knew she wasn’t feeling all that great. Her morning sickness was starting to set in more and she was up early vomiting in the bathroom. Mom was bringing one of her remedies to the office with her to help relieve Ayla’s nausea.

“It’s definitely a relief to have you back,” I said as I shook his hand. “You made great time too, apparently. What time did you sneak in here?”

“Just before sunrise,” he said. “I needed to make sure no one saw me. At least, no one who would recognize me. Things have been a bit dodgy lately. I’ve got a lot to fill you...”

The office door opened and Mina and Briggs walked in. Then Jimmy a few minutes after them. My parents weren’t far behind him. We went through another few rounds of greetings but I was eager to get down to business. We needed more than one plan in place and as soon as possible.

With Randy there, I quickly went back through everything and started proposing our next possible actions.

“From what we can gather, there has to be multiple long- standing agents working here in the city. There can’t just be one and they aren’t likely to be newer members,” I said.

“Especially since they aren’t actually advertising they join the Waar P ak Society as far as I can tell,” Jimmy said. “So far, the name hasn’t even been hinted at.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Randy said. “They are kind of an uptight bunch. Very old blood. It took a reformed member just to get me in their ranks. This is both scare tactics and manpower. You’re right about needing to put a stop to it.”

“Do you think you could help us with that?” I asked.

He nodded, but his face said something different. “I’ll do what I can, but they’ve become more suspicious lately. It’s getting harder to get any information without drawing attention to myself. Right now, they have me working on tracking down a family in another pack. It will be hard to ask questions about what is happening here when I’m not supposed to be involved.”

“An Onyxcrown family?” Ayla asked sternly.

Randy gave her a light smile. “Don’t worry. If you want anyone to find them, it’s me. They’ll ‘disappear’ before they can get anywhere near them.”

Ayla smiled softly back.

“I have to ask if you’ll let me pick your brain a little, Randy,” Briggs said. “Something about Theo’s role in all of this. I have a feeling he ties into this in a way even the Waar P ak don’t know about.”

“How so?” Randy asked.

Briggs shrugged. “Just something about Ayla’s father. It’s just a hunch right now, but I’m looking into it.”

‘Hey, Alpha,’ Harmon mind-linked me, ‘you got a minute?

‘Not really,’ I replied honestly, but something in his tone said I needed to take the minute. ‘What’s up?

‘Well, there’s something you should come see,’ he said curiously. ‘We’ve had an... unexpected snag.’

He was still working on the tunnel and was supposed to finally be connecting it up to the cellar today. Whatever it was, would have to do with the cellar wall.

‘I’ll be right down.’

“Everything okay?” Ayla asked. She must have noticed I was linking with someone.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Harmon has run into some trouble with the tunnel build. I guess we’re taking this meeting elsewhere.”

Ayla and I went down first, the others would meet us down there slowly. Since the tunnel wasn’t complete, we still only had the entrance through the utility building and we really couldn’t risk looking suspicious at the moment. I saw Ayla’s gaze fall down the hall when we entered the cellar and felt the wave of nausea through our connection. Lloyd was still being held down here. So I knew what had her on edge. But we made our way down a different side passage instead. Keeping clear of the vile rogue.

We passed by the few workers as they leaned against the wall and continued to the build site. The first thing I saw was Harmon’s back. His tense shoulders indicated concern but the head-scratching told me he was also confused.

“What’s all this ab...” my words were cut off by the huge hole in the floor before me.

It wasn’t so much the hole that was startling, but the fact that it dropped down into what appeared to be another floor beneath us.

“What the...”

“Yeah,” Harmon concurred with a nod. “This wasn’t on our survey, Alpha. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “So how the hell is it here? More importantly, where the hell does it go?”

“I guess that’s what we need to find out,” Harmon said. “And soon, if we want to get this passage connected, we’ll need to seal this back up.”

“And you guys had no idea there was another floor beneath us?” Ayla asked.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We thought the cellar was the foundation floor to the packhouse.”

“So, what’s going on down he...” Dad came up beside me with the same reaction. “What in the hell?”

“So, I’m guessing you had no idea this was here either,” I said With a side-eye.

He shook his head. “None.

I clapped him on the shoulder. “Well, then I guess you’re going down with me. Harmon, can we get a ladder?”

“Are you sure it’s safe to go down?” Ayla asked worriedly.

“It’s structurally sound,” Harmon assured her. “It would have to be to still be holding this place up. But we’ll be checking all of that as we make our way anyway. So don’t you worry, Luna.”