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“Well, whatever it was about, it concerns Deacon’s buddies, which is why he didn’t want to speak about it in front of him.”

“What?” Now I wanted to throttle my mate. How dare he not trust me.

On the other hand… what had I ever done to be trusted? I’d only ever lied to him. I had made him feel worthless, and I’d rationalized it by saying it was for his safety, which it was, but all he saw and felt was my rejection and disdain.

It was possible I’d made a mistake.

Avery was glaring at me now. “All he knows about you, and the alphas you call friends, is that none of you are good people.”

“They’re not, I am.”

“And we know that, but Sasha doesn’t. All he knows is what he’s seen and heard. Hard to change his heart or mind when you’ve never done a thing to alter his perception of you.”

“I lied to him to protect him,” I insisted. “Period.”

“And he has no idea about any of that,” Avery pointed out.

I groaned. “Do you know why I hung out with them?”

“Of course. To keep an eye on them.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“It was an excellent plan.” Gigi nodded. “It worked out so well, with Royce ratting you out to your enemies and nearly getting you killed.”

“Your sarcasm is not lost on me. However, the only reason I told them all that I’d rather die than take an omega for a mate⁠—”

“You what?” Graeme rasped, his voice guttural with sudden fury.

“Please, think about why I would have done that before you eviscerate me right here in the middle of your living room in front of your daughter,” I grumbled at him.

His eyes were still murderous, but he calmed.

“I told everyone so no one would come after me through him.”

Several moments of silence went by.

“Which was very smart,” Stone granted.

“See?” I waved a hand at him.

“No, it’s stupid.” Avery shot me a judgmental look. “You had resources to keep your omega safe, chiefly Graeme, and me and Gigi. Plus, it’s not as though you actually spoke to his father, Alpha Norwood. I’m sure his father would have hired a small army to protect Sasha. My father knows him, does business with him, and all he’s ever said about the man is how much he loves both his mate and his son.”

I hadn’t actually thought of that, because in my experience, fathers did not come through for their children.

“Whatever. Where is he now?”

“Well, now, because you ran him off and Graeme was about to interrogate him about being your mate, which would have been in extraordinarily poor form⁠—”

“Why am I in trouble?”

“For a man who normally thinks and speaks at the same time, I have no idea what came over you.” Gigi shook her head at him.

“So now he thinks Linden Van Doren and a human can take better care of him than his mate and a cyne?” I asked Avery, utterly gobsmacked over this development.

“It’s no longer Van Doren,” he corrected me. “It’s Linden Massey, and God help you if you made that mistake in front of him.”

“That’s right,” I agreed. “I apologize.”