Chapter 43

It had been a few years since Kade had last spoken to Karim and things hadn't ended on a good note. He had kept in touch with the refugee after that day in Afghanistan when Laila and other girls and young women were forcibly taken from their homes and family. Kade had tried to find the girl but most of the clues were gone by the time he was fit enough to start searching. Despite being a werewolf, being shot and then having half a building collapse on him meant Kade could just sleep it off and fight another day. He was lucky to be alive in all honesty, a human wouldn't have survived being crushed under rubble.

But, he had promised Karim he would look for his sister so that's what he did. But despite calling on favours and turning over every stone, Kade had never been able to locate the girl. Eventually the ghosts of his past began to take over and eventually he just stopped looking.

So this meeting wasn't going to go well.

He had tracked Karim down to Manchester where he was working for the police. It didn't surprise Kade much that the human had followed this path. Karim's only goal was to find Laila and he was willing to sacrifice friends, his home and his nationality in the pursuit of his mission. The police made sense given that Karim would have access to information and tools to hunt for his sister. Kade just didn't know if Karim had been successful in finding anything. And while he undoubtedly wouldn't want to see Kade, Kade hoped that the new lead he had would at least earn him a conversation with Karim if nothing else.

It was closing in on nine in the evening when Kade finally saw Karim walking out of the main entrance to the Greater Manchester police headquarters. He had bulked out a little more since they last saw each other but the muscle suited him. Gone were the football t-shirts and instead, he was wearing a tailored suit that Lucien would be jealous of with a crisp white shirt and purple tie. He had certainly grown up from the awkward lanky boy in the middle of a warzone to this confident young man.

"Looks like you've done well for yourself." Kade spoke up just as the man came towards him, oblivious to Kade standing there.

Dark brown eyes flicked from the illuminated screen of his phone to focus on Kade, recognition filling them followed by an icy hardness.

"I have nothing to say to you." Karim glowered, picking up his pace.

"Okay good then you can just listen." Kade replied, following a few feet behind the other man. "I think I know where Laila is."

That was certainly enough to stop Karim, a tentative silence falling between them. Kade said nothing but instead let the younger man process the little bombshell in his own way. There was still a chance Karim would tell him to piss off but Kade knew he had to try. He owed Karim and Laila that much after all these years.

"There is a lot to explain but I think she's in Prague." Kade spoke again when Karim made no attempts to walk away or break the silence.

"You think?" Karim turned half way, glancing over his shoulder.

"It's not just a hunch." Kade replied quickly. "There is evidence to suggest that Laila and other girls are being kept there possibly to be sold."

Karim said nothing and Kade couldn't read his expression. Gone was the hopeful boy praying for his sister's return and in his place was a young man hardened by betrayal, loss and disappointment.

"Look, I know you don't owe me anything but if you just hear me out, I promise I will try and explain everything."

"Fine." Karim muttered. "But if this is one of your crackpot theories then I'll arrest you for wasting police time."

"Fine by me." Kade nodded. "Think we could get something to eat though? I'm fucking famished."

"I see that mouth hasn't gotten any cleaner." Karim smirked, shoving his phone into the inside pocket of his jacket. "Come on, I know somewhere."

Half an hour later the pair were seated in a Middle Eastern restaurant that was packed with late evening diners. The scent of charred meat and spices filled the air while waiters hurried between tables with bread and sizzling plates of food. In the back, behind wine red and gold velvet curtains, a party of thirty or forty guests were making enough ruckus for the whole city. The pair were tucked away at a small table away from the noise at Kade's request while they waited for their food.

"No shot of whisky or bottle of beer?" Karim raised an eyebrow when the waiter left with their order.

Kade shrugged. "Just didn't fancy it."

"Okay." Karim clearly didn't believe that but Kade couldn't very well tell him the truth. "So care to explain why you think my sister is in Prague?"

"It's complicated." Kade sighed. "I'm helping someone who is trying to stop something really bad from happening and there are girls like Laila messed up in it."

"So what? Is this somebody working a criminal case or something?"

"Not exactly." Kade frowned a little. "There are two elements to all of this. There's What I'm working on which we think involves Laila and then there is the human trafficking element which is why I've come to you."

"Me?" Karim raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Why me?"

"Because you work for the police." Kade shrugged. "Don't you have some way of reaching out to authorities in Prague?"

"I can't just ask local law enforcement to go arresting people without evidence." Karim retorted. "And besides I'm only interested in finding Laila. You know that."

"Don't bullshit me." Kade muttered. "Sure you joined the police to find your sister but you know as well as I do that you also did it to help bring justice to others. Would you really sacrifice dozens of scared and innocent girls like that? Besides, if it's evidence you want then I can give you evidence but I need you to follow me on this one and trust that I know what I'm doing."

"Alright. Fine." Karim leaned back in his seat. "So now what?"

"We need to head to my colleagues place but we need to pick someone up along the way."

---

"Are you sure you can trust this Lucien guy, Kade?"

"Not really but I have no choice." Kade sighed tiredly.

Dinner had gone well and he was now waiting for Karim to come out after insisting on paying the bill. A headache was beginning to form behind his eyes but he didn't have time to stop. They were close to putting an end to all of this.

"Bringing humans into the fray is risky business." Daniel pointed after a moment.

"It is." Kade agreed, shifting his phone from one ear to the other. "But I can't deal with both sides of this. If I strike at the auction I could risk losing Thalia and if I strike at Dante, dozens of girls could end up disappearing into the black market. Besides, humans need to deal with human affairs, remember?"

Daniel grunted in response. "I'm not going to lie, I don't like it but I trust you know what you're doing. Just tell us where and when and we will be there."

"Thanks." Kade smiled. "So any signs of a baby Wolfe on the way?"

"Dude, it's been less than 24 hours since you saw us." Daniel chuckled. "It doesn't happen that quickly."

"Yeah I know." He heard the door to the restaurant open and glanced towards it, seeing Karim on his way out. "Listen, I need to go. Enjoy your honeymoon while you can and I will text you the coordinates."

"Okay."

Kade shoved his phone back in his pocket just as Karim came into earshot.

"All ready to go?" Kade asked.

"Yeah, the car is this way." Karim motioned back towards the car park near the police headquarters. "The sooner we get there the sooner we can get my sister back."

It felt weird being around each other again after how things had been before, so Kade wasn't surprised when an awkward silence fell between them as they left the city to head towards Lucien's base of operations. Kade was in no rush to speak either. It wasn't like he could explain much more without the evidence Lucien compiled. He also knew that there were going to be things that wouldn't make sense to Karim unless Kade explained *everything* which the beta wasn't sure would go down well. After all, it wasn't every day someone came out and said they were a werewolf.

“So are you going to tell me who this person is that seems to know where my sister is?” Karim finally spoke up.

“It would be best if we waited until we picked Mully up.” Kade muttered.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t like repeating myself.” Kade looked at Karim with an eyebrow raised challengingly. “And I’ve been doing a lot of it lately.”

“Alright.” Karim frowned, glancing briefly at Kade to confirm he had heard him but afterwards kept his eyes on the road.

It was helpful that Jake Mulligan happened to be on their route which avoided any detours. Kade had kept in touch with his ex-colleague over the years, if only because Mully made it difficult to shake him off. Any chance the man could get he was trying to recruit Kade to join the private security company he worked for. Kade had always resisted because of his duties to the pack but now he had another reason to resist going down that violent and dangerous route. Not that Mully would understand. He was too in love with the money and the adventure.

As expected, Mully was waiting for them at Moto Birch Eastbound services. By now the place was all but empty save for a few very tired looking travelling businessmen and lorry drivers that had stopped for a bite to eat and rest. They found that ex-soldier in the costa with a takeaway cup of coffee. The first thing that struck Kade about the man was that he still had that damn annoying smile plastered on his face but also, he had a new scar running from his temple, following his hairline to where the corner of his bottom jaw.

“What happened to you?” Kade frowned.

“Hello to you too.” Mully smirked, his hand coming up to finger the scar absentmindedly. “And this? Oh, someone got a little too friendly with a blowtorch.”

“What the fuck?”

Both werewolves turned to look at Karim whose almost black eyes were wide with shock and a hint of disgust.

“Oh hey, you brought the kid with you.” Mully chuckled and held up his paper cup. “Nice to see you again. How’s life treating you?”

“He works for the police now.” Kade replied flatly.

“He works for the police?” Mully repeated feigning surprise. “Our Karim is all grown up and playing with the big boys now.”

“At least it’s legitimate.” Karim grumbled taking a seat the furthest away from Mully as he could. “And it’s DCI Hassan to you.”

“Oh don’t be like that, princess.” Mully cooed.

Kade left the pair to bicker while he grabbed the coffees to go. It was going to be a long night and at some point Kade was going to have to induct Karim into their world so that they could get this to work. He just wasn’t looking forward to it though, Karim could react in a lot of ways and Kade was grateful that he didn’t carry a weapon because Kade was in no mood to be shot again.