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I needed to say it back. I needed him to know how I felt, that to me, he was all there was.

Moving again, around the front of the house, I checked the window and heard Wynton yell. When I checked, Sasha had his hands up, eyes on him, not moving. Interestingly, he wasn’t shaking, and he didn’t look particularly scared.

Why? Why wasn’t he scared? He had a gun pointed at him. But then, Royce had pointed a gun at him the night before, and he hadn’t dissolved into a panic then either. He was counting on his speed to get him safely out of the house. But why stay to begin with? What had made him remain in the house alone with Wynton Coe instead of leaving?

The answer, of course, was me. He’d been scared for me. He wasn’t terrified that he’d be shot; all his fear was for his alpha.

But now, he thought I’d bought his act and was driving around trying to figure out what to get for a late dinner. That knowledge allowed him to slowly, as Wynton was talking, make his way toward the front door.

As the man ranted, Sasha nodded, appearing quite concerned, even as he widened the gap between them inch by inch.

It was smart, it was a good plan, but as fast as Sasha was, all Wynton had to do was lift his arm and fire. Sasha could not outrun a bullet to the head. I needed to get in there and shield my mate. I would not let him be hurt.

Darting to the porch, I leaped the four feet straight up and stood there, right outside the front door, then slowly, carefully, slid my key into the lock. There was no alcove, no hallway. As soon as I opened the door, I would be there, on display—Wynton wouldn’t be able to miss me. But that was okay, because I’d rather have the gun on me than Sasha.

Wynton yelled again, and Sasha bumped against the front door. I could smell him, the orange blossoms and the cloves, the cardamom and the cream.

It was amazing that he was there, walking, not running. He’d made it without Wynton actually recognizing what he was doing.

“Don’t you dare move!” Wynton roared, rushing across the room as I turned the knob, throwing open the door, hurling Sasha sideways, to the left, down onto the floor, and charging forward at the man threatening my whole life.

“No!” Sasha screamed, and I heard the terror in his voice because I wasn’t supposed to be there. He’d moved me, like a piece on a chessboard, out of harm’s way, but there I was, back where he didn’t want me to be.

I grabbed Wynton’s arm, lifting it high, and the gun fired once, then again, before I grabbed his wrist and wrenched it sideways. Then Sasha was there, so fast, driving his fist up into Wynton’s chin, which gave me an opening to slip behind him, wrap my arm around his throat, and cut off every breath of air he had.

“I have the gun,” Sasha announced happily.

I tightened my grip like a vise.

“Love,” Sasha said, taking a breath. “His eyes are turning red, his face is going gray, and his lips are a bit blue.”

I wanted him dead.

“Love,” he repeated, even gentler the second time. “You need to let him go.”

He could have taken everything from me.

Sasha put both his hands on the arm I was using like a fulcrum, squeezing, tightening. I had Coe up off the floor, and he’d stopped fighting, no longer moving.

“Deacon,” he murmured. “You have to let him go. He said everything smelled different in here, not at all like it did last night. He said he knew, even without seeing you with me, that an alpha had laid claim to my home.”

I wanted him dead.

“I said it was our home now. Ours. Yours and mine. And he said that all the hateful omegas he’d ever met were the same, that we all wanted alphas and how stupid that was.”

Wynton’s arms fell to his sides, limp and lifeless.

“I told him I couldn’t help it. My alpha was my true mate, so there was nothing to be done. I told him that I loved you, and that was the truth.”

Instantly, I let Wynton drop to the floor, hard, and he lay there at my feet and didn’t move, just stared up at the ceiling. I turned to Sasha and wrapped him in my arms, squeezing a small gasp out of him that made him laugh.

“I love you too,” I barely managed to get out. “You must know I love you too.”

“I do know, my alpha,” he said, taking a slight breath. “This hurts, so I know it’s real.”

I let go a fraction, and he sucked in a bigger breath, then smiled.

“I don’t know when it happened, somewhere in two days, but I never want us to be apart.”