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“That’s what the whole ‘have fun breaking into secure databases’ comment was about?”
My lips twitch. “Yep.”
Maddox’s mouth curls at the corners. “Challenging little omega.” He doesn’t sound like that bothers him.
I nod. “Yeah, she is. I think it’s a good thing, though. How bored would we be if she was just… easy?”
Our prime doesn’t say anything, but he picks up his phone and taps out a message. I’m sure it’s to Ethan, to add Sadie’s health records to the load of information we already need about her. I lean back in my chair and watch him.
I’m not surprised Maddox is resistant to this newest development. He’s been the most vocal about not wanting an omega. Ever. And while he says ‘ever’, I suspect what he actually means is ‘not right now.’
Our lives aren’t exactly safe, and we need to provide a secure environment for our omega. She needs to feel like nothing will hurt her, and we need to feel like we can protect her from anything.
While we have a lot of men at our disposal, a secure penthouse that only the five of us have access to—soon to be six once we get Sadie into the system—and we all know how to fight, shoot and kill, it isn’t enough for Maddox to feel confident that we can keep her safe.
Not while we’re still in this transition stage. Not until we’re able to go one hundred percent legit, and even then, I’m not sure we’ll really be safe. No matter if we’re no longer criminals in the eyes of the law, we still had to step on a lot of other packs and organizations to get to where we are. We have enemies.
“How are you holding up?” I ask, and he turns a dark glare on me. I meet his gaze steadily. He can glare all he wants. It’s my job to look after my pack’s wellbeing and that means more than just their physical aspect.
“I’m fine,” he grits out.
I suppress my mouth’s urge to curl into a smirk at his petulant tone and keep staring at him. “Now that you’ve got that out of your system, why don’t you tell me how you’re actually doing?”
He shakes his head, runs a hand down his face, and leans back in his chair. “I honestly… I don’t know.”
His voice is gruff, like he hates admitting it.
I lean forward. “She’s ours, Dox. She’s here now. A part of our pack. I know it’s not the right time, or easy. But this is the situation and we have to deal with it. Now.”
He sighs and nods. “I know. Believe me, I know. It’s just…” He stares off over my shoulder, looking haunted. “Its not safe, Logan. We’re not safe.”
A low warning growl rumbles from my chest and Maddox gives me a look. “Stop it. You know that’s not what I meant. We wouldn’t hurt her. Never. I know that, but…”
Swallowing the growl, I nod. “I know.” I brace my elbows on the arms of my chair and lean forward. “It doesn’t change the fact that we have an omega now. That Luca bonded her.”
Maddox scowls. “Fucking Luca.”
Oh, Maddox is pissed at our packmate. Really fucking pissed.
I keep quiet, letting him decide if he wants to talk about it, if he wants to discuss it with me. My patience is rewarded when he continues, “I don’t know how he could do this to us, to her. He took away all of our choice in the matter. Just knotted her and bonded her without our consent. I would expect something like that from Swift, but Luca?” He shakes his head. I agree with him. Luca is usually more level-headed than that. But then I can’t be sure I wouldn’t have done the same thing If I’d found Sadie first. She has a way of making every alpha instinct I have rise to the surface. I can only imagine it’s worse when buried inside her. “And what the hell was Ethan thinking? Letting him bite her? He’s a beta. He should have been the first one to pull Luca back from making a mistake like that.”
I swallow my growl again, but my accent is thicker as I snap out, “she’s not a fucking mistake.”
Maddox meets my gaze. “I didn’t mean she’s a mistake. Fuck, I have a nose, alright? I can smell her. Smell how she’s…”
Perfect. Our scent match. The single omega we are helpless against.
“I meant the way it happened, Logan. In one of the back rooms at a bar? During what she thought was a one-night stand? Fuck, as soon as Luca scented her, he should have called us and we could have approached her together. Courted her properly. Given everyone a chance to get to know each other. Instead, she’s here and bonded into our pack.”
I get what he’s saying. I do. Hadn’t I just been wishing we’d had the chance to do this right? There’s a way to approach adding an omega into a pack. It usually includes a period of courting where the pack takes the omega on dates, brings them gifts and proves that they can take care of them, to provide for them.
All Sadie got was a quick tumble in a public space and a bite on the neck.
“So we do those things now.”
Maddox glares at his desk. “She doesn’t want to be here. Ethan told me they had to convince her to come meet us.”
I swallow and nod. “It had to be confusing for her, thinking she was a beta for all these years and then finding out she’s not. I’m sure she needs time to process and that can’t be easy while dealing with her scent matched pack, new omega instincts and a bond with Luca. You know he’s pestering her on that thing all fucking day.”
