She scoffed. “There’s a federal death penalty, right? They killed that guy who blew up a government building a few years back. And omega trafficking is international. I should know; I was brought here from Canada.”
I’d had no idea she was Canadian.
Why hadn’t I known that?
I cleared my throat. “Fair point. Just so you’re aware, it can be really hard to get that kind of a sentence.”
I’d never seen her expression grow so hard.
“Paolo’s pretty motivated to succeed.”
After the idea she’d planted in his head, I didn’t doubt it.
“Did you ever think about killing me to get rid of our mating bond?” I joked. At least, I sure hoped it was a joke.
Her face softened. If anything, she looked sad now.
“No. Just the glandectomy.” To my surprise, she reached across and covered my hand with her bandaged one. “And anyway, this is much better.”
I turned my palm up to interlace our fingers. The sting from my own scrapes and cuts felt appropriate, somehow. “Yeah. Sorry I tried to go all alpha on you, back at the hospital.”
That part was going to take some work, because the things my instincts tried to tell me about protecting my omega weren’t going to fly in this relationship—whatever it turned out to be.
She squeezed my hand. “Thanks for that. Maybe channel some of that protectiveness toward Tony instead. I think he’d appreciate it more.”
“You really are all right with that? With Tony and me?” I said, unable to keep the wonder out of my voice.
“Yes,” she agreed. “I really am. It’s funny—I’mrelievedthat Tony is becoming part of the pack, because it means if I make mistakes, there’s... I don’t know... a buffer, I guess?” She looked away, her cheeks pinking. “But the moment Paolo called Knox by his first name over the phone, I was ready to start clawing out eyeballs.”
My eyebrows flew up in surprise. “Were you, now?”
She shrugged, still not meeting my eyes... but not letting go of my hand, either.
I sighed. “You should know that Gage is going to talk to you about something when he isn’t so loopy. He wants to know howyou’d feel about him pursuing Tony as well. Assuming Tony is interested, of course.”
Her eyes shot to mine, and her sudden, wide smile was completely unexpected. “Really? Oh, my god. They’d besocute together.”
I couldn’t help a startled laugh.
Then a different kind of light came into her eyes. “I think... I’d like to see that. To watch, I mean.” She chewed her lower lip, and I cursed the sudden southward migration of my blood in response. “I’d like to see Tony with you, too,” she said, and now there was no mistaking the spark of arousal ricocheting through the bond. “If everyone else wanted that, I mean.”
I couldn’t help it. I reached out with my free hand and cupped her jaw, guiding her to me for a kiss.
It was completely inappropriate while we were on a job, even if there was dark glass separating us from the car’s driver. But her delicious scent wrapped around me, and the bond flared with hot tingles... and it was all I could do to keep the brush of lips from turning completely filthy within seconds.
Pulling away felt like ripping Velcro apart, and it didn’t help when she let out a little whimpering noise, chasing after my lips. I closed my eyes and pressed our foreheads together.
“Later?” I said, not even sure what I was asking for.
There was a long hesitation, and then she nodded. “Later,” she agreed.
The car turned, and I looked up to find that we were entering the hospital grounds.
Knox’s operations were always planned and organized flawlessly. This one was no exception. Bud reported that Vozzina had two men on Paolo’s door, which was why Knox had sent twelve alphas of his own, plus Jez and me.
The transfer paperwork was already handled. It only required Paolo’s signature. While three of our alphas surrounded each one of Vozzina’s goons, silently daring them to make a scene, Jez shoved the papers under Paolo’s nose and said, “Sign these, and don’t whine about it.”
Once he’d done so, she swapped his phone for a burner from Knox’s stash, stomped on the old one, and handed it to me—ignoring Paolo’s wail of protest. I pulled out the sim card and snapped it in two, then dropped it and the cracked phone case in the nearest trash can.
