“I can’t breathe!” she laughs, clutching her belly with her giggles.
“Omegas! What’s going on?”
We both look up as several members of staff come rushing forward, and I fake a nervous swallow.
“Quick! The fuzz!” I yell, lifting Delilah with ease and moving her to ride piggyback.
Her laughter in my ear is like my new favorite song as I jog off, leading the staff on a merry little chase.
“You’re impossible, Joker,” Phantom sighs in my ear.
I don’t get a chance to answer before I hear the line go dead.
I roll my eyes, unbothered. I’ll tell him everything he didn’t see later when I’m back in my room, but right now, I’m having too much fun with my wisp to care.
Chapter six
Myheadisalreadypounding and we haven’t even gotten Joker on the line for our nightly debrief.
Bones paces like a caged animal behind me, his boots pounding on the dusty floor of our temporary base like a heartbeat. My heart aches for him, but it’s not like the rest of us aren’t also tense as hell these days. Phantom and Siren are sitting at the busted-up card table, Siren on their tablet, and Phantom cleaning his side arm for the fourth time today. He’s been tense all day, ever since he got off with Joker this morning, not that he’s offered any insight as to what’s set him offthis time.
“Where is he?” Bones snarls, stopping at one of the mostly boarded-up windows, glaring out of the crack in the direction of the facility.
I sigh deeply. “He’s fine. I know you can feel that,” I drone, not for the first time since we started this mission.
My bond with Joker isn’t as strong as the one he has with our prime alpha, but even I can tell he’s happy and safe, just like he always is. I try to give the invisible string between myself and Joker a little tug, to get his attention. But all I get back is a soft pulse of reassurance.
“I know,” Bones concedes through gritted teeth.
“And we all know that he won’t do a damn thing before he’s good and ready, B. Learn some patience,” Phantom drawls, not looking up.
Bones throws a warning growl at his second-in-command, but Phantom just rolls his eyes.
“You’re one to talk,” I toss at him, spinning my chair away from the comms station.
“There’s a difference in patience and tolerance, Cross,” the alpha replies coolly.
It’s Siren’s turn to laugh, not looking up from their tablet. “You’ll tolerate a whole hell of a lot when someone’s got their mouth around your—”
“Joker to base, checking in.”
Everyone perks up as our omega’s voice comes through the speaker, Bones coming close to lean over me.
“Where the hell have you been?” he snarls, sounding to anyone who doesn’t know better like he’s pissed. But this close, I can scent the earthy concern on him.
“Well, it’s been quite the day, let me tell you. I had the worst lunch in the world, and then went on a tour, and then played chase and hide and seek with the staff, and then—”
I laugh as he rattles off the laundry list of activities he did, but I look up and watch Bones’s eye twitch.
“I’m glad you had a good day, Joker. But we really need to focus on the mission,” I say, gently interrupting.
Joker lets out an overly dramatic sigh, and there’s some rustling of fabric, on his end.
“If we must,” he says wistfully.
Phantom chuckles from the table, making Bones growl.
“Did you ever learn where they’re keeping the servers? How many alphas are on site?” I ask, directing the conversation away from confrontation with practiced ease.
