FBI brought into LeVieux arson investigation.
"Fury is a very real aspect of an alpha's relationship with their mate," psychologist Carl Evans explains in promotion of his newest book. "It's not just an emotion; it's an instinctual response, and it's a very bad idea to be on the receiving end."
Darius had trusted Marlowe for the first seven floors down, but now he was getting jumpy. "Why are we taking the elevator?" he hissed. "The next time those doors open, some of Tyler's men could be there waiting!"
Marlowe leaned against the mirrored wall with crossed arms like he was bored, but Darius could see how tired and in pain he was. He winced when the elevator car stopped and started, and he kept shutting his eyes like he was trying to sleep standing up. "Excuse me if I'd rather not take more than 40 sets of stairs when I don't have to. We'll get off at the third floor and take the stairs from there."
"Stairs to where? We can't go into the lobby or–"
"Please shut the fuck up, Darius." Marlowe was so exhausted that there was no bite in his tone. "With all due respect, I'm having a much worse day than you are, so please keep your mouth shut and let me get us out of here."
Darius swallowed down his words and obediently stood in silence as the elevator descended. He followed Marlowe out once they arrived at the third floor and was slightly gratified when they took the executive staircase down to the garage. He was still worried that some of Tyler's people would be waiting for them, but the garage was empty except for cars.
Marlowe snorted in disdain and pulled open the door to a white sedan. "Left it unlocked with the keys still in the ignition. Damn, it must be nice to be rich."
Darius grabbed his arm. "I don't think you should drive."
Marlowe rolled his eyes but did not pull away from Darius like usual. "What if Tyler's replaced the attendant? Do you think they'll let us out if you're driving? Get in the back seat, smarty pants." Marlowe slid into the driver's seat and slammed the door, leaving Darius with no choice except to get in the back.
"Smarty pants?" Darius complained as Marlowe started the engine and threw the car into reverse.
Marlowe offered a non-committal snort as a reply. "Get down on the floor just in case."
Darius squeezed into the space between the front and back seats. "Can you move your seat forward?"
"That's against my driver's ed training."
Darius poked his head up near the console. "You actually took driver's ed?"
Marlowe reached back with his right hand and shoved Darius' head down. "Yes. Now stay down."
"Didn't know they offered driver's ed in the underworld," Darius muttered.
"There's a lot you don't know about the underworld," Marlowe retorted, taking a corner with one-handed efficiency. "And, for the record, I didn't become a cog in the machine of the underworld until after I took Segment 1."
Darius shook his head. "That could be any time from fourteen to sixteen, assuming you took Segment 2."
"I don't give details about my own life."
"But–"
"Shut up." Marlowe rolled the window down and had a brief and mundane conversation with the attendant before pulling out into the street.
Darius waited for a few blocks before climbing up into the passenger seat.
Marlowe's light brown eyes looked golden in the early afternoon light as they glanced in Darius' direction, likely checking the side mirror. Darius had never really thought about it, but Marlowe was distinctively attractive, objectively speaking. He managed to hide it most of the time with oversized hoodies, ragged hair, and his habit of spending most of his time hunched over a computer, not to mention his surgically sharp tongue. He had said "exes" when talking to Tyler, so there had been multiple people who had seen past all that. Or maybe those had been the people who hurt Marlowe so badly that he felt the need to hide in the shell of a beta. He had not exactly discussed them in glowing terms after all. "Where are we going?"
Darius snapped out of his thoughts at the question and pulled up Noah's address on his phone. "To my friend Noah's house. 6592 Milo Street."
Marlowe gave a sharp nod and made a quick turn. Was he one of those people who had a manipulatable map in their heads? Based on the way he did not ask Darius for directions, it seemed so. He made turns and switched lanes at the proper places without any prompting. When he leaned forward at an intersection, the seatbelt tightened across his body, drawing Darius' eyes to a waist that was slender enough to make any omega jealous.
Darius quickly looked away, feeling like just admiring Marlowe's physique was akin to assaulting him. He knew Marlowe did not want any sort of sexual attention, even if it was a compliment from a friend.
Marlowe must have caught him looking because as soon as he turned the corner he asked almost innocently, "Is there something on my hoodie?"
Darius shook his head, keeping his gaze fixed out the front windshield. "I was watching to see if the seatbelt locked," he lied.
"Ah." Marlowe subsided into silence for the rest of the drive, pulling smoothly into Noah's driveway and turning off the car. "I'll leave if you're cool with that."
Darius glanced over at him. "I assumed you would want to stick it to Tyler."
"I can do that from my apartment."
"Physically," Darius clarified. "You know, like punch him or something."
Marlowe shrugged. "You'll take care of that if I know you."
Darius rolled his eyes, irritated that Marlowe was not getting his point. "You want me to spell it out? Fine. I'm not cool with you leaving. I want you to have a chance to hurt Tyler in revenge."
Marlowe shrugged again, apparently conceding. He got out of the car with Darius and followed him up to the porch, where Darius rang the doorbell.
After a minute, Noah came to the door and yanked it open with horror-filled eyes. "You look terrible!"
"Thanks, Noah," Darius replied bitterly. "Good to see you too." He pushed past Noah into the foyer, Marlowe creeping in behind like his shadow.
Noah shut the door and then looked very pointedly at Marlowe. "Who the hell is this?"
Darius sighed heavily, trying desperately to keep his fear and desperation under control. "Noah, this is Marlowe. Marlowe, this is my annoying best friend Noah."
Noah's jaw dropped. "Marlowe? The Marlowe?"
Marlowe smirked, probably pleased with Noah's reaction. "Hi. Nice to meet you."
Noah looked back and forth between Darius and Marlowe. "I assume you're going to tell me the reason you brought your elite hacker to my house and why you look like you're about to burst a blood vessel."
Darius ground his teeth together. "I'll give you a rundown. You're not allowed to ask questions." At Noah's nod of agreement, he continued, "Owen's name is actually Rowan, and he's the son of Tyler Ellis, who somehow now owns my company and is holding Rowan hostage so I can't hurt him. Him being Tyler."
Noah blinked like he just got hit in the face with a bucket of cold water. "Okay…" he said hesitantly.
"And Marlowe's here because I got him dragged into this mess and I think we'll need him to get into wherever Tyler's keeping Rowan."
"Glad to know I'm still useful," Marlowe remarked cheerfully, grinning when Noah shot a look at him. "What?"
Noah shook his head. "You're weird."
Marlowe's grin did not falter for even a moment. "I'll take it. Not the worst thing I've heard today."
"Focus!" Darius snapped. "Tyler wants to hurt me, so he will target anyone and everyone I care about, and right now he's probably hurting Rowan."
"You want us to help you get him out." Noah yanked his shoes on, ending over and quickly tying the laces. "Let's go. My therapist said I need to physically blow off steam anyways. I think she meant going to the gym, but this'll work."
Marlowe held up a hand like a kid in a classroom. "Um, we don't know where we need to go. I've looked into Tyler's holdings and properties, but I have no idea which one that psychopath would use for his son's prison. He's got a lot."
"Probably not something too far away," Darius reasoned. "He'd want to be close enough to travel between my company and that place without too much trouble. He seems like he's the efficient type."
"Psychopaths usually are," Marlowe muttered, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He appeared to be mentally sorting through the possibilities.
"Not all efficient people are psychopaths," Noah retorted.
Marlowe winked at him. "No, of course not, darling."
Noah spluttered, his rage sounding like a broken sprinkler system. "Did you just call me darling?"
Marlowe's eyes were focused on the ceiling again. "Are you someone else's darling, or are you just being pissy because your little alpha brain took offense?"
Noah's eyes narrowed. "You throw around gendered insults far too casually."
"That was the first one," Marlowe replied innocently. "And don't come for my throat about it. I'm a beta. I'm allowed to make fun of you."
Noah backed down, Marlowe's lie working its social magic once again. "Fine," he muttered. Noah was still mad, but he was too much of a gentleman to push the issue. That was one of the reasons Darius had befriended him: Noah knew when to keep his mouth shut. Usually.
"Okay, I've narrowed it down to three locations." Marlowe glanced over at Darius. "But if we pick the wrong one, they could alert the real location and then we'd be up an asshole without a condom."
Darius snorted, and Noah looked stunned out of words. "That's some really stupid shit, Marlowe," Darius said while fighting down his laugh at Noah's shocked expression.
"That's my game," Marlowe replied without missing a beat. "So, which do you want to try: EX Tradings headquarters, EXodus research facility, or the nondescript solid concrete bunker out past the city limits to the north?"
"What do you think?"
Marlowe nodded. "Concrete bunker it is."