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ChapterThree
Weston
Bailey’s scent called to me through the closed car door. It lingered around me, creating an intoxicating mix with the crisp night air. After watching her walk out into the night while my fucking brother told me she was a scent match, I was already on edge.
I’d had my eye on her since she arrived here. She was this timid little rabbit in a den of wolves. Her eyes darted from one side of the room to the other, her shoulders held firm by confidence I could tell was feigned. I could see right through her lackluster disguise.
Bailey was a con artist, a dangerous one. Although my team hadn’t been fooled, everyone in the campaign office, the senator included, had bought her ability to come across as air headed and innocent.
Right now, the mask she slipped on had dropped. She was shaken, worried, and panicking, just under the surface. Something about the paper in her hands had broken her facade, and I was desperate to read her like a book.
When I tapped her window, she screamed before she stole back a bit of courage and rolled it down. I clocked the moment her world was rocked as mine had been.
Scent match.Mates.
I hadn’t been hunting for this connection, but considering this little rabbit had already caught my attention, I wasn’t going to walk away or hide from the possibility of what could grow between us.
The boss wouldn’t like it, but I had never cared much for rules.
“What’s wrong?” It was a demand more than a question, but my voice was out of my control at the moment. She blinked up at me before her eyes narrowed. I simply raised an eyebrow to show that I expected an answer, but the disgruntled set of her mouth told me the rabbit didn’t like confrontation.
“Nothing.” She tucked the paper under her bag and glared at me. “I have to go. Do you mind backing up?”
“Yes.” She snorted out a laugh and put her car in gear. I’d barely stepped out of the way before her tires caught on the gravel. She pulled out by slamming down on the gas. I barked out a laugh at the close encounter. My presence scared most, yet this little omega hadn’t blinked twice.
Never in my life had I been challenged like that. She saw my demands and intimidating stare but didn’t balk at all. No, she’d issued a fucking challenge, and my rabbit had no idea what kind of Pandora’s box she’d just opened.
Exactly what had she been through to create a backbone like that? Even grown men cowered before me, and that wasn’t arrogance. It was reality.
Walking back inside to meet my family, I had the biggest smirk on my face, something they noticed right away.
“What did you do? I said no killing her!” my father thundered, expecting the worst from a son with low impulse control. I was the one he routinely had to question. My brother Hayes was calm and purposeful, though deadly in his own right, and our alpha brother Sterling was quick to anger but didn’t generally act quite so… rash.
My laughter was enough to startle him into silence.
“Fucking spit it out,” Sterling demanded. My eyes locked onto his, waiting for his reaction when I told him what I was holding back.
“Bailey is my mate too, brother.” Instead of Sterling reacting, Hayes’ fist flew at my answer. Had I not honed my skills meticulously, he’d have caught me in the jaw. Instead, he spun with the force of his punch, and I recovered quickly enough to slam my own fist into his stomach. The whoosh of air leaving his lungs was just the cherry on top of this whole thing.
“Don’t fuck with me, you know better,” I chastised my brother with a chuckle. Hayes generally wasn’t reactive, but all bets were off when scent matches were involved.
“Children,” Sterling deadpanned. He’d apparently found his calm in Hayes’ surprising reaction. “We know that Hayes is her mate now, and we’re pretty much a solid pack, so why are we shocked that it’s a family affair?”
His ability to remain unaffected by it all was equally as impressive as mine to hold grudges for eternity. Most betas were the balance in a pack, able to keep alphas' anger at bay, but I was the opposite. I’d push every button I could and fight just as hard as the alphas when necessary. I’d leave the calming effect to my brother, Hayes, when he wasn’t in a new mate tantrum.
“Let’s go home,” Cyrus barked out. “I’ve had enough of this godforsaken office. If I hear one more goddamn giggle or word of false praise to that fucking cocksucker, I’ll blow the whole place up.”
“That’d get our job done quickly,” Hayes said as if it were a good idea. “Though the boss might disagree with the method. That’s hardly low key.”
We didn’t bother to interrupt when he was having a conversation with himself. Instead, we locked up the office and headed out to the SUV.
The Tower was a welcome sight. Coming home was even more enticing after a day of bullshit. This was the worst assignment we’d gotten so far, but it was an important one.
Henry Burke was not just hated by omegas and decent humans alike. He had ruffled the wrong feathers in more than one circle. The moment Hayes put Burke’s name on our list, it was over for him. Our father’s sights were set on the senator, and he was relentless. He’d find evidence and be patient, but the moment he knew Burke was guilty, his death warrant was signed.
The penthouse was already thriving by the time we got there. Grady was serving drinks, the girls were doing their jobs and keeping the alphas happy, and poker was going strong.
And at the head of it all there he sat, the boss, the man who pulled our strings like we were simply puppets. Or he thought he did at least.
