“Don’t play hard to get, sweetheart,” Tin said. “Your master is getting his balls handed to him about now and you--”

Jake thought the lights went off for a moment. But no, it was just his vision going dark at the mention of Erin. In a split moment, he grabbed a chair and threw it at Tin, who deftly disappeared under the counter, while the glass shelves broke into little pieces, dragging the bottles along with them.

There was no time to waste. Jake stole into the dark corridor he’d seen Erin going. Rooms, doors left and right, and he began shouting for his charge, while pushing his shoulder into one door then another.

This had been a trap. Someone who knew Erin liked getting his dick wet, though Jake had to wonder if the kiddo ever realized that he was being targeted. 

“Erin!” he shouted.

Tin’s click-clack of heels came fast from behind. Jake turned right in time to avoid getting hit over the head with a small leather bludgeon. He didn’t hesitate as he caught the omega’s arm and pushed him into the wall hard enough to make his head swing and hit the hard surface.

Quickly, he checked Tin’s neck. If he could help it, he didn’t want to hurt anyone too badly, no matter what was at stake.

Such as the fact that someone knew his secret. His well-guarded secret. Or maybe he was in a register somewhere – he had to be – from ten years ago. But if that were the truth, and these omega wranglers must’ve known about him for a long time. Unlikely.

Which meant that Tin’s special nose was to blame.

Jake cursed as he continued yelling for Erin. There seemed to be no one around but Tin, but if Erin was in danger—

The door he pushed into last burst into sharp pieces of wood and dust.

“What the fuck, Jake?” Erin exclaimed, who was on top of a pretty man whose arms were wrapped around the alpha’s neck.

“We must leave. Now,” Jake ordered. “It’s a trap.”

It all happened in slow motion from that moment on. Or Jake, who got a nasty hit to the head, could no longer process his surroundings properly. There was a shocked look on Erin’s face, then the omega he’d been fucking slid from the bed to the floor, covering his head. Men were in the room with them, and Erin jumped, quick as a weasel, hitting one of them with a punch to the head, making him drop like he was nothing.

Jake staggered but didn’t fall. There were advantages to his big body, after all. It wasn’t so easy for anyone to put him down, unless they used lethal force or weapons.

A second hit came, and this time he went down. Not for long. Whoever attacked him must’ve thought he was out of commission.

But Jake’s vision stabilized, and his ears finally heard clearly.

“Give up, pup,” a low, unpleasant voice warned, clearly aiming the jab at Erin. “We outnumber you, and your bodyguard is useless.”

Two men were behind Erin now, holding his arms, while a third, the earlier talker, stood before him, blocking Jake’s line of sight.

That would work to his advantage. Jake didn’t move much, as he observed his surroundings. There were two more men, but they, too, had closed on Erin and had their backs turned.

It was true that he wasn’t a fighter. But Jake knew the importance of knowing how to defend himself in a world like theirs. It had been for the same reason that he’d helped Rico in the first place, that time at The Thirsty Dragon. As strange as it could be for someone of his standing, Jake had principles. And in his book, several grownup men picking on a kid was wrong.

He stood slowly. Erin’s eyes flickered at him for a moment, but the young Salazar wasn’t stupid. He stared at the guy in charge, jutting his chin out.

“Who the fuck are you, Dead Eyes?”

The man chuckled darkly. “You don’t know me. But your daddy does. He’ll know who has his pup the moment he’s going to hear my voice, asking him to pay up if he ever wants to see his son alive.”

Erin – Jake had to give it to him – looked unimpressed, despite the direct death threat aimed at him.

“You better not mess with us, fucker,” he continued, struggling against the men holding him. They were the ones he hit earlier, because one had blood at the corner of his mouth, and the other looked a little dazed, most likely from a hit to the head. “My dad is going to find you and hang you by your guts.”

“I don’t think so. I think you’re going to sing a different tune when I’m removing your pinkie to send it to your father as proof that I have you.”

The goons laughed, to show their boss how well they knew to lick his boots.

That moment of inattention was everything Jake needed. He grabbed the two goons flanking their leader by their heads and smacked them together. The boss turned, while the others’ laughter died.

But it was too late. Jake planted his fist in the man’s face, making him stumble and fall. Erin didn’t hesitate and brought his elbow into the stomach of one of the men holding him. The other tried to pull him back, but Erin had already turned and head-butted him into a pile on the floor. Jake smacked the man bending from the waist from Erin’s elbow kick over the back of his head. They were all down, and it had all taken less than half a minute.

The omega, who’d been silent so far, started to scream. Erin was by his side in a single jump.

“Honey, don’t be scared,” he cooed. “Now, be a good boy, ‘cause I have to take you for a ride.”

“Erin,” Jake warned. He knew the goons wouldn’t remain sprawled on the floor for long. “We must go, now.”

“We need information, Jake. And I’m going to extract it from this beauty,” he said, grabbing the omega and throwing him over his shoulder.

Jake didn’t like it. And the omega was still screaming and crying, smacking his fists against Erin’s back, though it was obvious the young Salazar didn’t feel much.

“He might be only a victim in this,” he told Erin.

The young Salazar deserved his name. There was a dark expression on his face. “Yeah, that may be. But he still knows things that we need to know. Come on, let’s go.”

***

Erin had forced the omega into the trunk of the vehicle, despite Jake’s protests.

“He’ll be fine,” he said, closing the lid over the terrified omega. “What?” he asked, giving Jake a strange look. “Those fuckers wanted to kidnap me. What did you think would happen to you?”

Jake was honest about everything but his omega status. “They would’ve killed me.”

“There you go,” Erin said. “Drive, my man. We need to get to the bottom of this and fast.”

Jake had questions. But he knew that it was better if he kept his mouth shut. These were the Salazars, after all. And it looked like someone was gunning for them.

tbc