When I slant my eyes to him, he’s leaning back in his chair, balancing on two legs. His grip on his scotch is so tight I’m concerned he’s going to crush it and cut his hand open.
“Apparently their biological systems work differently to ours. They need tosubmit,or it can damage their health. Badly.” He spits the words out.
Gabe scoffs. “That’s such bullshit. You saw her – do you really think not letting her look at us and making her crawl around is what sheneeds for her fucking health?” His voice rises at the end, frustration pulsing through him as Devlin looks away. I can’t tell if he means what he’s saying. He’s locked the bond down tight, not letting anything slip through to us.
“None of us are disagreeing with you, Gabe,” Rogue stares into his glass as he swirls the liquid around and Gabe frowns at Devlin.
“I don’t want to put her in a cage or use a damn shock collar on her. But my father was clear before we left – people are going to be watching us, and we have to be seen to follow the rules. If they check up on us and anything seems off, she’ll be dragged back to the OC and we’ll never see her again.”
Clearing my throat, I offer what seems to be an obvious solution. “So, we meet in the middle. We have enough security to know if anyone gets within a three-mile radius of this place. We can test different things, see how she responds and keep an eye on her. Your father can give us a heads up if the OC is planning to make a visit and we’ll make sure we toe the line. Everyone’s happy.”
Gabe makes a sound of distress. “I don’t want to do that to her, even if it’s just for show.”
“I think we’re all agreed on that.” I catch Dev’s eye at his words, and he scowls at me. “What? I might not like omegas, but even I can see that this is beyond insane. She can’t go back to that fucking place.”
“What does she even eat?” I grab the pack that came with the box of bullshit and turn it over. “Er… so, beige sludge. Yum.” Gabe pales even more and yanks the box of powder out of my hand, studying the back intently.
“I can’t cook for her?” he sounds so horrified that a snort of amusement escapes me. Pressing my lips together to stop my snigger escaping, I catch Rogue’s lip twitching. Not being able to ply someone with food is literally Gabe’s worst nightmare.
Well, almost. Sobering, I ask, “So what now? How do we explain this?”
“We’ll let her sleep for tonight and sit down with her in the morning. We find out what she absolutely has to do and what we can work with. She might feel more comfortable following some of the rules they’ve laid out. I think we need to offer her a choice as much as we can.”
Gabe nods frantically in agreement at Rogue’s words, staring longingly in the direction of the pantry.
I just know he’s thinking of what to make for breakfast, and I send a silent thought of sympathy to the sleeping omega above us. She has no idea what’s heading her way. Gabe in a feeding frenzy is scarier than meeting Devlin in a dark alley in the middle of the night. I make a mental note to stock up our walk-in freezer next time I’m in town.
“Well, I’m heading up.” Dev stands, swiping the scotch as Rogue goes for a refill. Rogue curses and Devlin cocks a finger to his brow in a salute as he saunters out of the room, swinging the bottle between his fingers and leaving his glass on the table. I wonder what nightmares he’ll have tonight.
Rogue looks at us both. “You should head up too.”
Gabe points at him accusingly. “No working in the office tonight. We need you firing on all cylinders tomorrow.”
Shrugging, Rogue brushes the concern off. “I just need to finish writing up the mission notes and then I’m for bed. See you in the morning.”
“Do we need to do anything? What if Harper wakes up and wanders off in the night?” Gabe drums his fingers on the table in anxiety.
Rogue’s frown pulls his eyebrows down. “She seemed pretty exhausted, but I’ll make sure all the doors and windows are locked. She does have the collar on, so we can track her if needed. I don’t think she’d get very far in her current state.”
We all split up, heading to our respective areas, Gabe a step ahead of me as he takes the stairs, clearly going to check on Harper.
Rogue’s shoulders are slumped as he moves away from us, down the corridor towards his office. Jogging after him, I grip his shoulder and he turns back to face me.
“Are you okay? Everything today with your dad must’ve been a headfuck.” Rogue always tries to lock his emotions down, like he doesn’t want us to see that our steady pack leader isn’t made from stone. You have to push him.
Rogue grimaces. “A massive one. But I get the feeling there’s something bigger going on with him. It wouldn’t make sense for him to behave the way he did if there wasn’t. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking though.”
He hesitates. “I hope… I hope he turns out to be the man I’ve always thought he was.”
Clapping my shoulder, he hauls me into a brief hug. Surprise holds me tense for a moment until I wrap my arms around him. I can’t remember the last time he initiated pack contact, but I’m not complaining. The bond hums happily, my pack bite mark buzzing slightly. Stepping back, he claps my shoulder and steps into the office.
ChapterSeventeen
Devlin
The next morning I’m in the kitchen making a coffee to chase away the pounding in my head when Ace stumbles through the door. His runs a hand through his messy, unkempt hair and grins with appreciation when I hold out a mug.
“Oh baby, I didn’t know you cared,” he coos at me in a truly fucking awful high-pitched tone.
