CHAPTER 5. HOME FIRST, THEN EZRA.

LUCIEN'S POV

Three weeks. Nothing.

I had never been this worked up over something.

How did we manage to lose a simple omega? It wasn't even about the fact that our feeding had been strained for a while, it was the fact that something bad could have happened to him.

Of all the stupid things he could have chosen to do and he picked the one that involved leaving the people that kept him safe.

With a sigh, I dropped my coat on the chair and Caius looked up from his desk. He had that look, the one where he already knew what I was going to say and had already prepared a response he thought was reasonable.

"Don't tell me to be patient," I rubbed my face.

"I wasn't going to."

"What did Marcus say?"

I pulled out the chair across from him and sat. "Same as everyone else. He passed through, bought food, took the northern line out of the city. After that–" I spread my hands. "Nothing. The trail just stops."

Caius tapped the table with a finger, "Because he switched lines at the Creston junction," Caius said. "I found the ticket purchase this morning. He used a ghost name, cash top-up card. He bought four tickets at the same terminal."

I stared at him. "Four? Why would he need four?"

"Four different directions. He used one and left the other three on the machine." He said it with the tone he used when something impressed him against his will. "Whoever was looking would have to check all four routes simultaneously to catch him. We didn't have eyes on the junction so we couldn't."

I leaned back. "Do you think he planned for us specifically?"

"Seeing as he knew we would do everything to look for him, yes. He planned for us specifically," Caius confirmed. "Everything like the accounts, the camera, the tickets, it's all built around how we operate. How we search. He's been watching how we do things for years and he used it."

I didn't say anything for a moment.

Smart.

The thing about Ezra was that you could know something intellectually and still have it hit differently when the evidence showed up in front of you. I knew he was smart. I had always known he was smart, had found it inconvenient on numerous occasions, had used it against him sometimes in arguments and come off worse more times than I would ever admit. But knowing someone is smart and then watching the blueprint of a months-long exit strategy designed specifically to outmanoeuvre your family's considerable resources was a different thing.

It was way too smart.

"So the northern lead is dead?" I said.

"The northern lead is dead." He confirmed.

"And the eastern one I followed last week?"

"Also dead."

"What do you actually have, Caius? You're the smart one, what have you figured out? A fucking clue or whatever, give me something before Father puts a stake through us or worse.”

He was quiet for a second. "A pattern," he said finally. "There have been three incidents in the last two weeks. I'm talking about unusual omega pheromone activity in public spaces. I was following up on leads and realized he's the omega. If he left, he left for the city where it's mostly halfbreeds. It should be easy to find an omega because of their erratic pheromones especially in their heat.”

I sat up, my brows furrowing. "You think that's him?”

"His heats have been irregular since he was seventeen. Without the house's suppressant supply, without monitoring–" Caius picked up his pen and turned it over in his fingers. "I think he's managing it himself and occasionally not quite managing it. The three incidents form a line going northeast."

Interesting.

“What's Northeast?”

"There's a city. I didn't want to say this because I'm not sure but I saw a professional hockey league. He's been using a ghost name to maneuver around so it would make sense to follow ghost names too in the city and I found something there. A roster with a ghost name attached to a physical profile that matches."

I looked at him, barely listening to any other thing. "Hockey?” I asked incredulously.

"Hockey."

We sat with that for a second.

"That's actually…" I started.

"I know."

"Of all the things he could have–"

"I know, Lucien."

I exhaled and stood up, picking my coat back up off the chair. "So what's the play? Will we go there?"

Caius hesitated. "I brought it to Dorian this morning."

Right, of course Dorian knew first.

"And?"

"He wants to confirm before we move. He doesn't want to spook him with a direct approach if we're not certain it's him."

I put my coat back on. "I'll confirm. Tell Dorian I'm going into the city to check it out."

"Lucien–"

"I'm not going to do anything. I'll go, I'll look, and I'll come back." I buttoned my coat. "I'm not sitting here waiting for Dorian to decide when we're certain enough."

Caius gave me a long look. "If you find him and he runs…"

"He won't know I'm there. It's not my first time stalking someone."

"You're not exactly–" he paused, choosing his words with visible care.

"Say inconspicuous and I'll throw something at you."

"I was going to say subtle."

"Same thing." I headed for the door. "I'll be back in two days.”

I didn’t wait for another word before I walked out.

This better be a good lead.

***

The city was cold and grey and completely ordinary in that way that made it easy to disappear into. I understood immediately why he'd picked it. It was not flashy. Not the kind of place anyone would go looking unless they had a specific reason to.

And filled with halfbreeds. People that he could relate to more than he would with us. There was a big chance he could be here.

I found the rink on the first day without trying very hard. A ghost name new to the roster with no background and a match scheduled for the following evening.

After a bit, I bought a ticket and sat in the upper section where the lighting was bad, keeping my hood up.

The teams came out and I scanned the ice and I found him in about four seconds.

He skated out, his dark hair now shaved down to a buzz cut and his fingers gripping the hockey stick tight.

I immediately sat up, my brows knitting as a low smirk curled my lips.

Found him.

Not as subtle as he thought, huh?

A month and he had already started a new life… changed his looks, went to a new city and even… got a hobby. Interesting. Very interesting.

Time to report back to the others, but first, I wanted to watch.

He was good.

Not just competent, he was genuinely good. The kind of good that the crowd responded to without knowing why, that pull that certain players had where every eye went to them automatically. He set up two goals in the first period and scored one himself and the section around me got increasingly loud in a way that had nothing to do with me being there. It was all him.

I watched the whole match surprisingly and afterwards I sat in the car outside the arena for a while. The confirmation sat in my chest in a way I hadn't anticipated. Watching him move through a crowd of people who had no idea what he was, who just saw a hockey player they liked, who cheered for him because he was good at a thing he had apparently decided to be good at.

I called Caius immediately.

"It's him," I said.

There was a sharp intake of breath. "You're sure?”

"I'm not fucking joking, you know?

"Okay." Another pause. "How does he look?"

I watched a group of fans coming out of the arena exit, laughing about something. "He scored in the third period off a backhand that I didn't see coming and I was watching for it. But he looks fine. Almost… Happier.”

Caius didn't respond immediately. I could hear him breathing on the other end, which meant he was processing something he didn't want to say out loud.

"Come back," he said finally. "We need to figure out what to tell Dorian."

"Tell him we found him. It's that simple."

"And then what? We just show up?"

"I don't know yet." I started the engine. "But he's not lost anymore so at least there's that."

Caius didn't sound too pleased with my answer. “Get home, Lucien. We're not losing him this time because of your recklessness.”

A frown pulled at my lips as I pulled out of the lot.

Right.

Home first. Then Ezra.