He rocks me slightly. “You’re right,” he admits, his voice gruff. “We can’t decide for you. But, sweetheart, we’re a family. We need to talk it through together. We know why you want to go, of course we do. But you need to understand where we’re coming from too.”
Sagging, I mumble into his chest. “I hate it when you make sense.”
He kisses the top of my head. “I’ll try not to do it too often, then.”
Everyone takes a seat, and I climb into Max’s lap, making myself comfortable before I turn to face my pack. “All right,” I grumble. “Let’s hear it.”
Max strokes his hand down my back. “If you go,” he starts, his voice measured, “What happens if something goes wrong? Maybe it’s not a trap. But tensions will be high, and your father will know you’re there and likely plan accordingly. If you’re taken, we might not be able to find you, love.”
His hand tenses on my back as his voice drops. “We would also be hinging all of our hopes on a government that hasn’t exactly been on the right side of history.”
I know he’s right. I know this is risky. But if this is our only chance, how can I not take it?
“They haven’t asked the Winter pack?” I ask, turning to Luc, and he shakes his head. “Just you,” he says flatly. “I checked with Devlin. Which also doesn’t make me inclined to trust them, brat.”
I turn to Nikolai next. He’s silent, his eyes hooded as he watches us. The mating bond thrums in my chest, churning with frustration, anger and sadness.
“And you?” I ask him, rubbing at where the bond seems to originate, right over my heart. “What do you think, Nic?”
The anger inside my chest pulses, a strange reflection of the feelings stirring in the alpha staring at my face. He traces me with his eyes. “I don’t want you within ten miles of any of them, little bird.”
“But if we don’t go,” I counter, “They might use it as an excuse to reject the laws being repealed.”
And then all of this will be for nothing.I need them to trust in me.
“And they might not.” Luc’s voice is still hard. “You don’t owe them a single second more of your pain, Ava. Fuck knows they’ve had enough of it already.”
I fight back the flinch that threatens. “Then it’s all the more reason to go and let them hear what their laws have done!”
Bastien tugs at his hair. “Ava, please. We can offer them a video connection instead—,”
I shake my head, my jaw determined. “No, Bastien. I want to do this. I want to look into their faces and let them see me. I need to be there, not a two-dimensional voice on a screen!”
Luc’s eyes blaze. “Damned stubborn omega,” he says furiously. I square my shoulders back, facing him head-on.
“Infuriating, overprotective alpha!” I snap the words back at him, pausing at the flicker of hurt in his eyes.
He takes a step closer to me. “Is it so bad,” he grits. “That we want to protect you from them? That we don’t want them to breathe the same air as you? God fuckingdamnit, Ava. You have no sense of self-preservation!”
“You say that like I don’t want to live,” I throw back at him. “That’s all I want, Luc. To live a free life with you, with our pack, our family. For our daughter to live life on her terms.”
I swallow. “I can’t give her that,” I challenge. “Neither can you, Luc. But they can.”
Luc curses. “I didn’t want you to do the video,” he says, but there’s a defeated tone to his voice. “And now you’re going to stroll into a courtroom full of government heavyweights and expect to just walk back out again?”
I kneel in front of him as he sinks down into a chair, laying my head on his thigh. “Trust me,” I plead. “Just trust me, Luc.”
He lifts some of my hair, rubbing it between his fingers. “It’s them I don’t trust. Not you. Although I’m definitely going grey thanks to you, brat. I thought omegas were supposed to have a sense of self-preservation.”
I stick out my tongue, picking up the slight change to his tone with relief. I don’t want to fight with him, not when there’s a bigger battle to win. “I don’t need one,” I tease him. “Not with you around.”
With a yelp, I find myself deposited unceremoniously onto his lap, and I scramble to face him. He stares at me imperviously, and I blink. “What’s wrong?”
When he stands up, my legs lock around his waist, hands winding into his hair. “Luc?”
“I’d like a word,” he says silkily before he stalks towards the stairs. I catch Max’s eye over Luc’s shoulder and he winks at me, although worry still lurks on his face as he watches us leave.
Luc shoulders open a door, his scent wrapping around us like a Christmas bow. Bracing myself, I expect to land on the soft mattress of his bed, but instead he takes a seat on the edge, keeping me on his lap with his feet settled on the floor. I glance around a little uncertainly. “Are you okay?”
