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“You can’t threaten me! I will?—”
Whatever he’d been about to say died in his throat as I rose to meet him. I wrenched his wrist behind his back with one hand, grabbed the back of his neck with the other and slammed his face into the table, careful not to break his nose in the process. His noises of protest ceased when I bent down to whisper in his ear.
“I don’t think you quite grasp what I’m saying here, so I am going to spell it out. If you do anything that will cause my mates or those women, who were literally tortured and almost trafficked, any sort of harm or further distress—I. Will. Kill. You.”
The miserable excuse for a human stilled then, putrid fear leaching into his scent. I also caught the impact of my declaration on Trevor’s scent as it deepened with a note of arousal. Maybe we were a twisted pack, but I reveled in it.
“And, if it comes to that, I wouldn’t care whether you suffered or not. But I would make sure your death was carried out in a manner that would have left you humiliated in life. Would destroy your pitiful reputation so thoroughly that no one would ever dare speak well of you. So, not only would I end your life, but whatever legacy you thought you were building would be forgotten. Do you understand me now?”
I pressed his wrist further, knowing the angle would cause pain in his strained shoulders. He nodded, his cheek smearing in the saliva that had leaked out where I’d forced his face down, reinforcing how powerless he was in my hands.
“Good. Now, sign.”
I released him and he collapsed back into the seat, cradling his arm and blinking back tears. Trevor pushed the agreement and a pen toward him. He signed quickly then fled the room.
Trev came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, carefully tugging me backward. I could feel his hardness nestled against my ass as he nipped at the sensitive skin where my neck met my shoulder.
“So. Fucking. Hot.”
I laughed lightly as I leaned into his embrace, dropping my head back to his chest. We stayed like that for a moment then I pulled away and turned to face him.
“C’mon. We need to check on Cat and the others so I can call Shae with an update. You going to stay a while and help me convince your brother not to flee?”
“I need to get back to Drake House. Cole is still looking into his hunch. He’s messaged Ethan, asking him to come in and keep looking into any links between the warehouse and the Jackals. All that medical equipment and shit they were using.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Anything I should know?”
At this point, I was basically the whole Board of Directors for Drake House Securities. When my dads had retired to travel the world with my Omega mother, they’d set it up so their seats would be consolidated into one. Since the other two seats were currently held by one of Miles' dads and one of my uncles and neither of them cared too much about the day-to-day running of the company, I was mostly free to do what I wanted.
“Not yet; it’s just some things sticking out at us right now. As soon as I have actual evidence and a plan, I will set up a briefing.”
“See you at home, tonight?”
“Not tonight. I’ll grab Theo’s favorite from that Lebanese place downtown and crash here again, so he doesn’t try to take off down a fire escape or something.”
Trevor must have sensed my worry through the bond because he closed the small space between us and cupped my cheek before pressing a sweet kiss to my lips.
“I’m not avoiding home, or Ethan, this time. I promise. I know everyone would be more comfortable if someone stayed with Theo. I also don’t want Ethan to be worried about me in the nest or not being in it when we haven’t even got to talk yet.”
“Okay. I love you, Trev.”
“Love you too, Alpha.”
CHAPTER SIX
SHAE
I’d woken up in a pile of limbs, sandwiched between Ethan and Miles. My face had been pressed into Ethan’s hair, his nose nuzzled in my neck and his hands holding mine between us. Miles had been spooning my back with one of his legs between mine and his chin rested on my head. Whenever I shared a bed with Miles, it was only ever the two of us, never any of our packmates, so I hadn’t known what my instinctive reaction would be when I woke up. When I’d looked down to where Miles had his arm wrapped around my waist, I’d seen that the backs of his fingers brushed Ethan's bare stomach. Rather than making me feel possessive of my bonded mate, the sight had caused butterflies to erupt. Miles touching Ethan wasn’t a sexual thing; it was just another sign that we were getting closer and closer to becoming a complete pack. The pack, including Miles and Trevor, needed to talk about bonding Ethan, so that then we could talk with Ethan himself, but there was no denying it now—he was our Omega.
Ethan had been a bit awkward and sheepish when he’d woken up but that had been quickly forgotten when we went downstairs to start making breakfast and realized that Jade wasn’t having a shower or getting dressed: she wasn’t anywhere in the house. When Miles had checked his cell, and said her phone showed her location as at the hospital. I’d felt for her in our bond, but I started to get worried when I realized she’d put up a wall between me and her emotions. Miles had texted the pack chat to confirm everyone was alright before Ethan and I could devolve into a full panic. Trevor had replied quickly that Jade was with Theo at the hospital and that he would be in and out of the BullPen throughout the day. Over coffee and breakfast, Ethan had got a text from Cole, and he asked if someone could take him into Drake House so that he could work on the case. But when we went to our room to get ready, a battle of wills had ensued between Miles and I. Miles had been insistent that I shouldn’t leave our bed and he should stay with me, but I’d felt the warring emotions on his side of our bond.
He wanted to stay with me, to hover and be as much of a mother hen as Alphas could get, but he recognized that Ethan couldn’t go alone either. Theo and Jade were not available. We didn’t think Trevor and Ethan were comfortable enough yet to spend time alone in the enclosed space of a car, so that had left the two of us. Although Miles huffed and puffed, he’d ended up compromising that we would just take Ethan to the BullPen, then go back to the house. I’d jokingly promised that I would let him wrap me in bubble wrap and stick me in bed once we got home.
The familiar journey had become a trial as soon as we left the house. Miles had stuck to my side like glue. He’d checked my seatbelt, like I was a small child, making me literally bite my tongue to keep from snapping at him. Then when we walked Ethan up to the BullPen, he’d mean-mugged every person who looked at me, even growling at a few. I was trying to be understanding, knowing what Miles must have gone through while I’d been taken, but he had to understand that I needed some normalcy. I didn’t want to be treated like I was seconds away from shattering.
We’d made our way home in, mostly, comfortable silence and retreated to our floor of the house. Miles was checking his emails in his office, across the hall from our room, and I was sitting on the bed staring at the number I’d typed into my shiny new phone, with my finger hovering over the call button. If I let my finger drop, it would connect me to the same trauma counselor that Ethan had started seeing after his heat. Shaking my shoulders out, then taking a deep breath in through my nose, and out through my mouth, I braced myself and pressed call.
