Nikolai rumbles next to me. “We won’t let anything happen to you, little bird.”
She tilts her head at his words. “Little bird?”
We all turn to look at Nik, and I watch in fascination as his neck flushes a deep red. He opens his mouth, searching for the right words.
“It… uh… it’s just a saying,” he fumbles, and Luc smirks where Ava can’t see him.
Nik suddenly makes a dash for the door. “I need to check on Nash.”
When he disappears, Ava looks after him for a moment, her brows lowering, before swinging her attention to me. “Who’s Nash?” she asks hesitantly.
Now it’s my turn to fumble. “Nash is… um… he’s our…,”
“Nash is Nikolai’s son,” Max explains quietly as he packs away his supplies. He presses gauze against Ava’s collarbone with an apologetic smile, and she winces.
“He has a son?” Shock rounds her eyes.
It’s unusual to have a child outside of the restrictions set by the Omega Compound. There are generally only two ways to bear a child. For alphas, it requires making an application for an omega through the pack process and impregnating them through artificial heats.
The second is through the heat nests. Any children borne as a result are normally placed into an adoptive program for betas. Ava’s situation was an exception. Her father must be high up in the Government ranks.
I can see Ava drawing conclusions, her mouth twisting down as she stares at her hands.
“It’s not what you think,” I murmur, and she looks up, her hazel eyes meeting mine.
“It’s not?” There’s a hint of challenge there, but this isn’t the right time to talk about Emery.
I shake my head. “Do you want to come with me to look at the cameras? I’ve been tracking Stone across the city. I can show you what they’re doing.”
Luc frowns at me, and I meet his disapproving look without flinching. Our new omega is much stronger than they think. And I can still see the worry in her eyes – if she can see that Stone’s men are nowhere near here, it might make her feel a little more relaxed.
She considers it for a moment, and I hold my breath, my stomach flipping when she nods at me.
Lucien slowly releases her, and she scrambles away. Her face is flushed, her breathing a little heavy.
“Thank you for doing that,” she says to him, primly smoothing down the material of her dress.
“My pleasure, brat.”
Her face reddens again, and she lets out a strangled sound of frustration before turning and stomping past me into the corridor. I hear grumbles ofimpossible manandstupid alpha, and I bite back the laugh on my tongue before I call out to her.
“Ava? It’s the other way.” Stopping sharply, she spins on her heel and storms past me.
Looking behind me, I catch Luc grinning.
“Dangerous game you’re playing, brother,” I note in a low voice.
He smirks at me. “It’s good for her to remember she has a temper.”
I have a feeling he might live to regret that, but I shake my head and pull the door closed.
Catching up to Ava in a few paces, I gently steer her into my office. Catching her looking over her shoulder, I make a point of leaving the door wide open, and her shoulders soften as she turns to the main desk.
“Wow.”
A small burst of pride thrums through me at her surprise.
The walls are lined with dozens of screens showing various angles from the city and the area around our home. I point Ava towards my comfiest chair, and she takes a seat as I talk her through the different set-ups, keeping to the other side of the room.
