SEQUEL: EIGHT

Roman sat in his hotel suite, wondering why he was still here, not just in the hotel but in New York City in general. In his initial plans, he should have been on a flight back to his territory, several hours ago.
What made it worse was that he wasn’t exactly sure what he was waiting for, it just didn’t feel right to leave.
He hadn’t seen Alina the entire day, and one would think that that would make him happy. Actually, it did but they also had something very important to discuss so it was also a nuisance.
It was only after he had spent the entire day indoors did he realize that he didn’t even have the phone number of the person he was about to mate but was too late to ask, and he would rather jump off the balcony in his hotel room, and fall down twelve floors to the hard concrete below than ask her father.
He rubbed a hand over his face, it looked like he was the only one trying to make this work and that rubbed him off the wrong way because the very last thing he wanted to come off as was a moocher.
He was very content with his territory and he honestly didn’t need this type of hot mess on his plate at the moment but he had thought that he could be selfless for once in his life for the sake of werewolves everywhere.
He should have known better though, Alina wasn’t the kind of person you saw eye to eye on anything.
Roman glanced at his gold watch, it was already less than an hour to midnight, he hadn’t even noticed it get so late. He would retire for the night and then wake up early the next day so that he could catch the first flight.
He knew that Anton Costin was still at the hotel, as well as a few stragglers who still had various businesses keeping them in New York City but he didn’t approach the older Alpha King.
There was no reason to, they had already come to an agreement, the only person he had a discussion with was Alina, and she had pulled a disappearing move. He would do the same, whenever Alpha Costin was interested in making progress, he knew just where to find him.
Roman pushed to his feet and started for his room, he was in an unbuttoned silk shirt, his feet bare as he padded out of the living room.
A knock halted his motion, making him pause and turn to his door with a questioning expression on his face. He wasn’t expecting anyone and it was a little too late for room service to come knocking.
As he couldn’t predict who it could possibly be, his curiosity was piqued and he headed for his door where the incessant knocking refused to die down. He checked the peephole, knowing better than to just open the door to what could potentially be an attacker and finding out who was on the other side of his hotel room door made him do just that.
“Anton?” He asked after pushing the door wide open, surprise lighting up his otherwise cold eyes.
Frankly, Roman would have been less surprised if it had been an attacker, although the security around the hotel was really tight, humans were quite incompetent when it came to security. However, Alpha King Costin showing up at his hotel room door was the very last thing he would have predicted.
“Is something wrong?” He asked dryly, uninterested in late night visitors, especially the older Alpha on the other side of his door who looked uncharacteristically nervous.
Well, it was mostly because he didn’t want Anton to bring up the conversation he had with his daughter the night before, he liked to keep an image of being capable.
“Yes, can I come in?” The Alpha King bluntly invited himself.
Roman was at a loss for a few seconds at this response, *’Just how many surprises would he get in a single night?’* He stepped backward nonetheless and ushered the older Alpha King into his hotel room, walking right to the wet bar built into the living room. “You want something to drink?”
“Actually, yeah,” Anton accepted informally, settling on a chair without being asked.
Roman shrugged and took out a bottle of vodka, he had been the one to offer after all. He meticulously poured the drink into a glass and took it over to him, the glass, bottle, and all, he still remembered the European Alpha King’s preference.
“Thank you,” Anton said genuinely, downing the entire glass in a single swig and pouring himself another almost immediately.
Roman fell silent and waited impatiently, he could be nice but he wasn’t interested in playing host so late at night when he could be doing far better things, like getting some shuteye.
“I’ll take it that you haven’t seen Alina all day,” Anton began, sounding like he was building up to something.
Roman clammed up, “You already sound certain.”
“I should be, I keep tabs on her all the time.” Anton replied.
“How sweet,” He muttered, pushing his hands down the pockets of his pants. “However, I’d appreciate it if you got to the point.”
By now, the bottle of vodka had already been downed to half and Roman found his blood pressure rise steadily as he watched the older Alpha King drink it down like it was sparkling water. He had a feeling that he wasn’t going to like what Anton had to say.
“Yeah, I owe you that much, especially as I’m about to ask for an unreasonable favor.” Anton sighed, sitting on the edge of his seat. “I can only be blunt so I’ll say it upfront, Alina is about to be auctioned off or worse.”
Roman blinked in silence for a few seconds, trying to process what Alpha Costin just said and hoping that he somehow misheard. “What?”
“I take it you’ve heard of the Underground?” He sighed again, looking like he had aged a decade.
Roman’s expression darkened, “I might have heard a thing or two.” He answered vaguely.
The Underground was a supposedly phantom organization that specialized in human trafficking, especially trafficking werewolves to humans, he had hoped that it wasn’t real.
“Contrary to prevalent rumors, The Underground doesn’t specifically target werewolves but they’re nothing if not opportunistic and would take anyone brought to them.” Anton supplied, reading Roman’s thoughts on his face.
“And just how did she get into their claws?” Roman asked with narrowed eyes, he was relieved somewhat to hear that but if that was the case, it meant that it was The Underground directly that snatched her up. “You don’t look like the type to have a lot of enemies.”
He wasn’t flattering Anton when he said that, although the European Alpha King was easily the most powerful, he also took the time to cultivate solid relationships with everyone around him, so although he might not be everyone’s favorite person, he had no haters either. Alina on the other hand…
“I have no idea. I left her in her hotel room and went for the conference, and I’ve been so busy all day that I just had the chance to check her tracker and I find her in the headquarters for the Underground.” He narrated, sounding like a distressed father.
“You didn’t even notice she was gone? You were together,” Roman accused, realizing just how neglectful Anton actually was.
“I wanted to give her some space,” He said contritely.
Roman remembered all the times he had seen Alina interact with her father, she had always been so docile and almost sane, it was hard to figure out why she would want space from the only person she genuinely loved - if she was capable of an emotion like that.
“Sure but what does any of this have to do with me? We both know that The Underground is no match for you.” He bluntly asked, uninterested in getting dragged into it.
“I had to step away briefly from an important meeting because of this,” Anton rose to his feet, “I’ll give you a pass and directions, I want you to get her back...”
Roman barely let Anton get all of his words out before barking out a laugh, “I’m not obligated to do that.”
“Even to your future mate?”
Roman quieted down, “Political mate.” Even as he said that he knew that the noose was already around his neck.
“Which will never happen if she’s sold off,” Anton deadpanned.
“Somehow you don’t sound very concerned about your only daughter being in mortal danger,” Roman said, his words cutting. In his case, it was understandable because he and Alina were practically enemies but he couldn’t imagine being as detached as Anton if his only child was in danger.
“If I wasn’t I wouldn’t be here,” The European Alpha King coldly said, placing down a file on the table before heading out.
Roman looked from the unimposing brown file to the quickly retreating Alpha King, feeling like he had touched a nerve. “And what would you have done if I wasn’t around? Call someone else to save your daughter? Because you’re busy in a meeting?”
Anton stopped for several long seconds at the doorway but he said nothing, silently continuing out.
Roman cursed under his breath, wondering why he was getting so worked up for. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about Alina and he wouldn’t be trapped in this abominable situation if he hadn’t agreed to a political mating with an insane werewolf.
He glanced down at the file and reached for it, he knew he should have turned Anton down when he came up with the preposterous proposition of a mating to merge their territories together.
He glanced down at the black card which was plain save for a glittering silver number at the center on both sides, it read ‘21’. His phone dinged, making him pull it out and glanced at it.
Anton had truly sent him directions to the venue but more than that, he also connected his phone to what looked to be a tracker that was on Alina, if the beeping indicated right.
He cursed and rubbed his face, he should have just gone to bed, hell, he should have left New York entirely. He wasn’t stressed out about infiltrating The Underground because, from the looks of things, Anton just wanted him to buy back Alina, that was easy. No, the difficult part was confronting Alina again, there were several other things he would rather do, like jump into oncoming traffic.
Nonetheless, as much as he didn’t like Alina, he had to do it so he got ready. He strapped holsters to his chest and slipped his guns in, covering it up with a jacket. He topped it up with a face mask and sunglasses, he would rather keep his identity hidden because he had a feeling that he would be bumping into a lot of familiar faces.