AllFreeNovel
Share Us
More than anything, though, I wanted her to be happy. If she wanted Dio, and only Dio, I would find a way to be okay with that. He deserved happiness, too, after all the shit I’d put him through over the years. He’d been my calm through every storm, and stood up for me more times than I could count. If I could give this to him, I would. If I stayed out of it, there was also less chance I’d mess it up for him.
I turned to him now. But he cut me off with a hand in the air before I could say a word. He knew me too well.
“Don’t even think about pulling any of your self-sacrificing douche canoe bullshit. Not going to happen. We’re going to figure this out. I’m happy to pave the way, if that’s what it takes, but we’re doing this together. Just like always. So, I’m not letting you get all up in your head about it. She’s ours and we’ll fight for her, together, if we have to. “
He gave me the look he used when he meant business; a slap upside the head usually followed it. “I don’t care if she’s an omega or a beta. I just need her. We need her. So tonight, I’m going to have a shower, shave, and rustle up some clean clothes to make myself look pretty. Then I’m going to go up there and give her anything she damn well wants.”
He grabbed my face and smooched it up so that I was sure I looked like a fish sucking a lemon. “While I’m doing that, you’re going to wipe off your resting dick face scowl, and practice putting on the charming face I know you have buried in there somewhere. So we can woo our girl. Got it?”
He let me go abruptly and slapped my face lightly, with an affectionate grin.
“Fine,” I said with a light growl, rubbing my face. Trying not to smile.
“Before you get all pretty,” I said as I ruffled Dio’s hair, messing it all up while he tried to dodge me. “Tell me about Pala. Is he okay?”
“Yes, and no. Holy crap, it was good to see him. You know?” Dio’s whole body softened and a goofy smile spread across his face.
I nodded as I stretched my arms across my body one at a time, not wanting the muscles to seize up after the punishing workout I’d just done.
It had taken everything in me not to react when I’d recognized Pala signaling. Dio had been closer and had beaten me to him, but I’d been a heartbeat behind him. Not knowing where Pala was or if he was okay had been an ache gnawing at me for far too long.
I missed his calm strength and wisdom. He was a soul far older than his years, even as a kid. I understood why the Network had wanted us separated when we joined the military. The three of us had been too close and too in tune with each other. It would have raised suspicion and made it hard to slip under the radar. They could pass two of us off as a close friendship. Three was too much like a pack.
We’d been young, and people we respected had convinced us it was the right thing to do. I had still regretted letting Pala go ever since the moment he hopped onto the bus that took him away. The Network had been trying to get more intel for years, but kept coming up short. So they had deemed our sacrifice necessary for the greater good. I don’t know that I’d make the same choice now.
“Why, no?” I needed to know why Pala wasn’t okay. I could feel a fist tightening over my heart just thinking about him being down there alone with those asshole alphas. Nobody having his back.
“Just a sense. He was holding a lot back and there were shadows in his eyes that were never there before. It’s past the time for him to come home.”
My heart sank as Dio told me how deep undercover Pala was at the Palace and what he was about to risk getting us their secrets and trying to protect Lexie. It sank even further when he told me Pala had asked if he could come back here if he blew his cover.
I felt like I had failed him if he didn’t know where he belonged. My heart clenched for my friend. I needed to do better.
I wanted to go down to that storm cellar and yank him out right now. But Pala was his own man, who made his own decisions. I had to respect that. I’d make damn sure he knew where his home was and how to find his way back, though. His home was with us wherever we were.
“He does this last job, then we convince him to come home. Enough is enough. It’s time.”
“That’s what I said,” Dio agreed, nodding his head enthusiastically. He was like a giant puppy sometimes, but I loved him. Dio was more than my best friend. He almost felt like an extension of me, another part of me I wasn’t whole without.
“Can we stage a breakout? Get him out of here quicker, before we send the rest of them back?” I asked him.
“That’s a great idea. I’ll talk to Dave this afternoon and make it happen tonight.” Dio rubbed his hands together as his brain worked overtime, trying to figure out how to make Pala’s escape credible. The world thought Dio was easygoing, and he was, but he was also a brilliant strategist.
“Tonight,” I agreed, nudging the sawdust on the ground with my foot. “Then we contact the Network.”
Dio nodded as he looked from me to the deflated punching bag. “For now, you need to work out some more. You’re still leaking too much. Let me grab a focus mitt and you can punch the shit out of me.”
He started rifling through equipment, hunting for what he needed to help me work off my dominance as I unhooked the punching bag from the roof and went to grab a broom.
So much was going to change tonight. I felt it coming. I could almost scent it. Like a wild animal sniffing the air when a storm was building on the horizon. I could feel the pressure mounting in the air. Whatever was going to happen would happen tonight, and I needed to be ready.
I felt my dominance rise again with an angry growl, undoing all my hard work on the punching bag and Dio’s attempt to calm me down. Two words beat through my brain on repeat.
Lexie. Tonight.
nine
Iranmyhandslightly along the smooth timber railing. It was cool under my touch, having finally lost all the warmth it had stored from the sun earlier today.
