The Beta and His Angel (The Belesone Pack #3)

Chapter 12

Leo went down to dinner with a splitting headache. He had tucked a few healing herbs into his shirt pocket, so he could add them to his coffee over dinner. Other than that, he was just going to have to suffer it. He was meeting Donkor and his brother for dinner; he hoped they had some good information that could lead him to Angel. He was getting frustrated with the lack of information he had and was likely to get.

"Did your message help at all?" Frenkin wondered as he walked over with a cup of steaming hot coffee, seeming to have read his mind.

Leo offered the man a genuine smile of thanks and immediately added the herbs to the drink. "It did actually, thank you. A friend in town has some more leads for me to follow," he lied kindly, to keep his true mission a secret.

Frenkin nodded with a brief smile and left, apparently happy to know what the letter had been about. He hadn't even blinked or looked suspicious about a foreigner adding herbs to his coffee.

Leo figured that anything he did that was out of the ordinary, would be classed in the 'strange foreigner' category and left alone. He appreciated that.

Leo drank down his coffee, which was much better than he had expected for such a small establishment and ordered his second pretty quickly. His headache was already dissipating and he was able to think more clearly as he waited for Donkor and his brother to arrive.

He had a vague idea, from checking out the local area on his run that morning, of which areas were remote enough to keep Angel captive. It had to be somewhere away from civilization, away from suspicion. Somewhere out of the way, so that if Angel transformed in the old days, no one would think twice about the wolf cries. But also somewhere that wasn't made suspicious by cars coming to and fro.

There was a lot of mountain area to cover, so he would have to stop spending days searching for information, if tonight's meal didn't offer any new clues. He would have to spend his time gathering his strength for the final escape and searching the surrounding areas for a sense of Angel. He was so well connected to him now, after their dream walk. He was pretty sure he would find his scent, even if it was a faint hint left over from the past.

"Leo?" Donkor's voice shook him from his thoughts.

Leo smiled up at the man who offered so much valuable information for his search. He invited Donkor and his brother to sit and called the waitress over, to take their dinner order. He wasn't at all surprised to see that Donkor's brother ordered the most expensive thing on the menu, as soon as he knew he wouldn't have to pay for it. But Leo didn't care. Money meant nothing compared to Angel's safety.

"How are you both?" Leo asked, fighting off a yawn. He sat and listened to the men talk of work and their relationship, recounting childhood stories until their meals arrived. And then, without any prompt whatsoever, Donkor's brother, Aidan, began telling him of the carnival.

"It was a horrible place. Even as a man I didn't like going to it. But I had to with Donkor working there," he protested, shooting a displeasing glance at his brother, who seemed not to notice.

Leo didn't need Katarina's gift to know that Aidan was tormented by the things he had seen at the carnival. Like his brother, he seemed to sympathize with Angel more than take pleasure from his torture. That put him squarely in friend mode at the moment, but Leo knew that might change.

"The things they did to that boy were savage. I once saw him whipped a hundred times and each time he healed, they did it again," Aidan said, quietly. "I was horrified, but at the same time, I was just a foolish boy on the inside and I was fascinated," he confessed uneasily.

Leo understood why. It was like watching a slasher movie, knowing exactly what was going to happen but still being terrified and surprised when it finally happened.

"You couldn't tear your eyes away," Leo explained for him, in understanding.

Aidan diverted his gaze and tucked into his dinner, pretending they were talking about something normal. "Yes. I'm ashamed to admit it now, as a grown man who knows better, but young men do stupid things and that's what I did," he shrugged. "I stood there a whole day, while they lashed the flesh off his back. The boy didn't even make a sound and, just like that, he healed himself," he clicked his fingers and sighed, shaking his head as if to explain the utter impossibility of it all. The horror and the depravity of it.

"I thank you for telling me this Aidan. I know it is very difficult for you, but this information means a lot to me," Leo wasn't sure what brought the words out. He sensed in Aidan that he had suffered, because of the things that he had seen done to Angel. And that made him invaluable. He was honest, even though it made him uneasy to admit to the things he had seen and done. To his surprise Aidan smiled at him in a knowing way.

"I know. Donkor says you're writing a book, but that look in your eyes, that tells me you know what you're getting yourself in for," Aidan explained, calmly. "That's the same look I had, after seeing that boy at the carnival. Wolf, shifter, whatever they wanted to call him, he was just a boy," he said, before taking a drink of the beer he had ordered with his meal.

Leo felt a sense of apprehension in the air, as if Aidan had much more to say that was going to be important. Apparently Donkor felt it too, because he looked shocked as he stared at his brother.

"And so I decided, if I means so much to you that you'll lie to get whatever information you possibly can, I should give it to you," Aiden insisted. "The carnival owner's name was Brandon Rios. His security man was Roy Klein and I'm pretty sure the pair of them were thick as thieves. If they still have the boy...if he's still alive, then they're together and they have him in the mountains. I wrote down the address for you,"

Leo held his breath, stunned and bursting with anticipation, as Aidan reached into his top shirt pocket and extracted a piece of paper than he handed over. There was a sad, guilty look in his eyes, but absolute determination as well. If anyone knew what he was doing, he or his family could be targeted and harmed. But he wasn't going to let that happen. He took the piece of paper with a nod and an irrepressible grin.

"Aidan, I could kiss you," he laughed as he opened the folded piece of paper, to see an address and the two names written down. A lead. Finally a lead that could take him to Angel.

"Yeah, well Frenkin warned me about you, so don't bother," Aidan smiled as he said the words so Leo didn't bother being angry or embarrassed.

The three of them laughed, even if Donkor's was slightly restrained and nervous. He would reassure them both of their safety and the secrecy of their conversations later. Now, it was time to celebrate.

He had a lead to follow. He had a path to Angel.