NINE
Zaira put her handbag on one of the couches before she rushed up the stairs. Aleisa was seated on the only chair in Kace’s room while the little kid was moving around the room with toys in his hands and making sounds. She looked exhausted and ready to sleep. Zaira smiled at the scene before moving to Kace and taking him in her arms and bringing him from the floor.
“Have you been troubling mommy, you little handsome boy?” She said to him. Kace gave her a big smile. “Happy to see me? So am I.” She played with him for a few seconds before putting him back on the floor.
Zaira turned and walked closer to where Aleisa was seated. She took a seat on the bed that was spread with Marvel superhero bed covers.
“When you told me that you are coming over, I did not expect it to be so soon,” Aleisa said.
“Of course, I had to be here as quickly as I could. I still cannot believe that Black has a crush.” Zaira said with excited and wide eyes.
Aleisa almost choked on her spit when she sat up straight abruptly. “Black has a crush?!”
This was even more shocking than finding out that her mate had abilities. She had never seen Black with a woman unless he was helping to train her. This qualifies to be the most shocking news she had heard in quite a while and it also sounded impossible.
“Have you not seen Caleb’s story?” Zaira asked and Aleisa shook her head. “Damn girl, get with the times just because Isaac knocked you up doesn’t mean you have to forget about being up to date,” Zaira said before searching her pockets for her phones.
“Oh shit, It’s downstairs in my handbag.” Zaira stood up and went out of the room.
Aleisa did not want to miss anything that was happening and so the urgency of the situation told her to follow after Zaira. She was by the door before she remembered that she has a child to take care of. She turned around and picked up Kace before following Zaira downstairs.
“I’ve got it right here,” Zaira said as she tapped at the screen of her phone before showing the screen to Aleisa. “See this, Black doesn’t have a bored look on his face.”
Surely, it was Caleb’s story but the was a picture of Black with a pleading look on his face. Captioned on the picture were the words, ‘Someone’s got a crush’. Aleisa gasped and took a seat on the couch before placing Kace next to her.
“I can’t believe this,” she muttered, sounding breathless.
The picture was enough proof, it was in this same house in Caleb’s gaming room. Black spent most of his time in that room when he was in the house and she remembered the day when all three men were in the room. It had been a mess, cans of beer everywhere with wrappers of snacks. The look on Black’s face was also a foreign one, Black never pleaded to anyone. He always had an unfazed look on his face.
“You ain’t the only one. I need to see Caleb, I need to verify this information.” Zaira said.
“And we need to see this girl,” Aleisa added.
Zaira clapped her hands. “Come on, we won’t get answers on the couch. Where is Caleb?” She asked.
“School,” Aleisa replied and Zaira groaned before her face lit up once again.
“If Caleb knows something then so does Isaac,” She said.
Aleisa frowned and pursed her lips together. “Why did he not tell me anything?”
Zaira rolled her eyes. “It’s like how I come to you and we gossip about your brother and you don’t go to him to tell him.”
“Believe what you wish,” Aleisa scoffed.
“What? You tell him?” Zaira looked panicked and Aleisa wished she had her phone nearby to click a picture.
“Just kidding,” She laughed.
“Don’t do that to a girl.” Zaira breathed out.
Aleisa stood up. “Isaac is at the training facility for women, keep an eye on Kace while I grab a few things and then we can solve this big mystery.”
“We’re going with Kace?”
“Of course not, after getting the answers from Isaac we are leaving the father and son to spend time together.” Aleisa smiled devilishly before running up the stairs to change into something more presentable and grab Kace’s bag.
(^○^)
The knock on Isaac’s door forced him to look away from the papers on his desk. He looked up and replied with a ‘come in’. The door opened and a lanky and tall guy walked into the room in dark wash jeans and a shirt rolled up to his elbows.
“Good afternoon Alpha.” The man bowed before Isaac ushered him to take a seat with his hand.
“Good afternoon Vincent. The good news?” Isaac asked and settled back into his seat.
“I don’t know if it’s good or bad but you will be pleased to know that I found the location of the club,” Vincent said with a small smile, feeling proud to be able to help his Alpha.
“Just give it all to me, this day has been very boring.”
Vincent breathed in. “Well since it’s the outskirts of the city, only a few clubs are in the small town and finding one with a lot of rogues isn’t that hard, the entire place reeks.”
“I found the club easily and I’ve never seen so many rogues in one place, it’s like their home or something. I asked around and the place also offers other um...services.” Vincent explained with his cheeks brighter than before.
Isaac almost laughed. “Sex?...” He asked despite knowing that it was exactly that.
Vincent nodded. “Most people don’t know about it and only the rogues do...a human bartender is the one who gave me this information. Apparently, most of the people doing this are being forced.”
“So you’re telling me that they’re also doing illegal shit?”
“Yes, and the owner is a guy named Louis just like you said.”
Isaac sighed and a frown took over his face. This was not good. With the little clues he could get from Willow’s thoughts he had instructed Vincent to investigate. The results were just as he had guessed and he now only had a clue on what was going on. It could be that Willow is a threat and working for Louis. Or Willow was in trouble and she needed saving from this Louis.
He could not easily neglect the fact that Willow had fallen for this Louis person. Hearing another person’s thoughts is an invasion of privacy but it came in handy during such situations when the safety of a pack is at risk. Isaac never liked listening to other people’s thoughts and he had learned to control his ability. Using it on Willow was not something he liked especially since she had no idea but at least it got a bit of the questions answered.
Isaac was now worried. He was worried for Black. Black clearly liked Willow more than he admitted and Willow also felt the same, it was easy to tell because every thought of hers was surrounded around Black. This could be bad or good. Isaac had a hint on what was going on but he would not dare to say it out loud until he was very certain.
“Anything else?” Isaac asked after a long stretch of silence.
“I also found out that the owner, Louis has a younger brother who oversees the smooth running of the club. His name is Levi.”
Another name that he had collected when hearing Willow’s thoughts. She had expressed clear concern for this Levi, she was worried about him. She did not say anything because she was worried about the safety of Levi and Charlotte, even more than her own safety. Willow was obviously scared of Louis. Isaac knew that the next thing he had to do was find out about Willow and her involvement with Louis.
“I also sent a picture of the Levi guy to you just in case, I did not manage to get a picture of his brother though,” Vincent added and Isaac nodded gratefully.
“Thank you, Vincent.” He thanked. “I now need you to do something else,”
“Sure thing, Alpha.”
“There’s a woman named Willow who is tangled up with all this rogue business, she works in a restaurant...I’ll send the location and a picture of her. I need you to find anything you can about her and most importantly how she is involved with Louis and Levi.”
“Okay, I’ll get on that,” Vincent replied and stood from his seat. He bowed and left the room.
Isaac was contemplating whether to call Black and tell him about what he found out but he decided against it. If Black really liked this girl then it was better to let him know personally. Besides, Isaac worried that his hunch was wrong and if he told Black, he would overreact and probably scare the first girl he ever liked.
Isaac was about to return to sign the papers on his desk when the door opened once again. Aleisa walked through the door with an angry look on her face and Kace in her arms. Now this was a sight to behold. Isaac wondered why she looked angry and before he could ask, Zaira walked into the office as well. Only a few people entered his office without knocking, Aleisa, Black, and Caleb.
“I am upset with you!” Aleisa walked closer to his desk.
“I can see that. Can you tell me why?” He asked tilting his head to glance and the other woman in the room. Zaira’s arms were crossed.
“How could you not tell me that Black has fallen in love?” Aleisa sounded almost offended.
“Woah, he isn’t in love! Who even told you this? Was it Caleb?... I am definitely going to kill that boy.”
“So it is true, Black likes a girl...” Zaira mused. “This just sounds unbelievable. Where is he? I wanna see him and the girl as well.”
Isaac scratched his head nervously. This was definitely the last thing any of them wanted. Aleisa and Zaira knowing was like calling for trouble, especially Zaira. If Black did not want them to know then it was for a reason and the reason was right here standing in Isaac’s office.
“Will you relax?...B-Black doesn’t like anyone.”
Aleisa gave him the ‘Are you serious?’ look. “Two years is enough to know your mate enough to know when he is lying.”
“I’m not lying.” Isaac wanted to bite his tongue, lying to Aleisa was not one of his favourite things but he was only doing it for Black. He frowned when he heard Aleisa’s thoughts. “I’m not keeping secrets neither am I a jerk.” He defended himself.
“How unfair, you can just listen to my thoughts and get anything while I can’t even get the name of the girl Black likes.”
“I’m not keeping anything from you, this is different. It’s not my responsibility to tell you anything and you guys shouldn’t force Black to say anything.” Isaac stood up from his seat and rounded the table to stand in front of Aleisa and Zaira.
“But Black likes someone, how am I supposed to control my curiosity?” Zaira asked.
“It’s complicated right now and I’ll let you guys know when it is okay for you to interfere and meet her.” Isaac gave them a smile before pulling Aleisa to his side and kissing the side of her face, she did nothing to push him away.
“I guess I can be patient a little bit more, I’ve waited years for the day Black would finally find someone,” Zaira said with a dreamy smile.
Isaac bent to smile at Kace and made sounds to entertain the little boy who started laughing. Kace let out his arms for his father and Aleisa pushed Kace into Isaac’s arms. Aleisa looked at them with so much love in her eyes, she still could not believe how she had gotten so lucky and she was barely twenty. A lovely mate and a cute baby.
“But on a serious note, where’s Black?” Aleisa asked after a while.
Isaac looked up and shrugged. “God knows, Nina’s cottage or the training facility or his house...” He offered and went back to paying more attention to Kace.
“Black has a house?!” Aleisa asked.
“Yeah, but he only goes there when he wants to be away from everyone which would make sense right now,” Isaac replied.
“I don’t know what is more shocking, Black having a house or him liking someone...”
“I can’t believe I came here for nothing,” Zaira pouted.
Aleisa smiled and turned to her. “Of course, you didn’t. How about we spend some time together?”
“Great,” Zaira smiled excitedly at Aleisa.
Aleisa turned to face Isaac once again who now had a confused look on his face. Aleisa pecked his lips before kissing Kace’s forehead as well.
“Bye,” She waved and walked out of the room with Zaira.
Isaac remained standing in the room, dumbfounded that he was tricked into babysitting duty. He sighed and looked down at Kace after staring at the closed door. Kace was looking at him with innocent, big eyes.
“Mommy abandoned us,”