Forbidden by Liliana Carlisle
CHAPTER 18
JAKOB
“Something’s up with you,” Lucas accuses.
I raise my eyebrow at him, looking away from the latest report. “What are you talking about?”
“You smile more,” he says. “You fucking whistled the other day. Are you getting laid?”
There’s no judgement in his tone, only a delighted curiosity.
I scowl at him.
“It’s not your business,” I snap.
His eyes light up and he pumps his fist in the air. “Hell yeah! I knew it!”
Calum rounds the corner, sitting next to me at the table, the same report in his hand “Did you see that—what’s going on?” He looks up at Lucas, already annoyed at his theatrics.
“Pretty boy got laid,” Lucas says gleefully. Calum, the judgmental asshole he is, narrows his eyes at me.
“So…you matched already?” He asks.
He knows I didn’t, of course.
This is why I didn’t want to fucking tell them.
It’s been about two weeks since I rescued Amelia from the bar, and I’ve spent as much time as I can around her, kissing and fucking her senseless. It’s ridiculous.
I’m obsessed.
I show up to her place in the middle of the night after debriefings, defiling her on every surface of her tiny apartment.
Or, I pick her up and take her back to my house, where we attack each other until we’re both breathless and spent.
It’s madness.
But I’m also fucking happy.
And they notice.
As if on cue, my phone buzzes, and I silence it before clearing my throat.
“And you smile at your phone way too much,” Lucas accuses.
Calum remains silent, his eyes still narrowed.
“You got something to say?” I hiss finally at him, and his eye twitches.
“I don’t know what you’re doing,” he accuses. “But I do know that a random piece of pussy will only complicate things in your future.”
I growl. Calum’s temper has always been worse than mine, but I’m slowly turning into a short fuse when it comes to Amelia.
Lucas snorts. “Beta pussy is fun. Chloe dabbles in it, and I watch.”
I groan. “Both of you shut the fuck up. I’m done with this.”
Calum’s eyes narrow, and the judgmental asshole clucks his tongue.
“Thought you had more self-control than that.”
I snap.
I jump up and knock him out of his chair until we’re both on the ground. I get a punch in before he can defend himself, but arms pull me back as I bare my teeth at him.
“What the fuck is your problem, asshole?!” Calum roars, swinging a fist back at me. He lands his punch, and suddenly more arms are pulling us both away.
“HEY!” Conrad booms, marching in. “What is this? Asher, get up! Chambers, what the fuck is going on? Are you twelve goddamn years old?!”
I spit a wad of blood out of my mouth, growling. Calum continues his death glare at me, while Lucas holds me back.
“All three of you, sit. We have something to discuss.” I sit back in my chair, growling at Calum. Conrad takes the head of the table, a folder in his hand. “And no more of whatever the fuck that was. We don’t have time for that right now.”
He tosses the folder our way, and I open it.
Photographs fall out, and it takes me a moment to realize what I’m looking at.
There’s a collection of small metal pieces, all lined up on a table. Blood stains each piece.
“Chips?” Lucas asks, and Conrad confirms with a nod.
“Collected about a hundred miles from here,” he says. “Found in a dumpster, wrapped in napkins. We believe the Omegas survived the removals, considering there’s no damage to the chips.”
I stare at the picture, sick to my stomach. After an Omega presents, the hospital places a small metal chip into their body to track who they belong to. It’s a permanent implant.
The removal of a chip is extremely dangerous and illegal. If done incorrectly, the chip releases a deadly toxin. But if the Omega survives, it puts them in even more danger.
An unchipped Omega is any trafficker’s dream.
Calum growls next to me, and my anger at him from earlier dissipates. His Omega, Aria, cut out her chip just so she wouldn’t have to be with him.
It all worked out in the end, but he’s still sensitive to the subject.
“Whoever did the removals performed them perfectly,” Conrad continues. “We suspect it was a doctor on the Saviors’ payroll. We have a name and location. I’m sending you three tonight to get answers from him. Then, the next step is finding the Omegas.”
* * *It only takes a few hours to find him.
He’s in a dimly lit office, hidden behind an alleyway.
I kick in the door, and the old man leans back in his chair, his tired eyes resigned.
“Figured you would come eventually,” he sighs.
Calum points his weapon at him, breathing heavily. “You have a lot to answer for,” he snarls.
But he gives Calum a bored look.
“I’m not the only one, son,” he croaks. “Get rid of me now, and ten more of us will appear. You can’t stop what we started.”
“We’ll see,” I hiss, determined to make him talk.
We get the information we need.
As we dispose of him, Amelia’s face plays in my mind.
And there’s a stab of guilt as I realize what a dangerous game we’re playing.