We both stared after him as he yanked the door open and disappeared through it, slamming it so hard behind him that the walls rattled. Outside, the old Volvo’s engine roared to life. Gravel sprayed as the car peeled out of the circle drive.
Silence echoed through the house for the space of several heartbeats.
“Gage,” I said, already feeling exhausted before we’d even properly begun. “What the hell just happened?”
Gage was still looking fixedly at the closed door. After a moment, he stepped forward and engaged the locks. When he finally turned to meet my eyes, he looked every bit as worn down as I felt.
“With Tony?” he asked. “It’s just a guess, and I might be wrong. But I think him and Heath might have athinggoing.”
I filed that information away, along with all the other things I needed to yell at Heath about.
“And Heath just mated someone else,” I said, putting two and two together.
“Heath just mated the same girl who ran away and left Tony alone to deal with his murdered stepdad a year ago,” Gage clarified. “And who tried to killyou.”
I took a cautious breath—holding it for a moment to make sure the dampeners had fully kicked in. My shoulders slumped as I let it out.
“Gage.” I held his hazel eyes, reading the defeat in them. “Why in thehelldidn’t you let the police take her? Tony said you caught her in the penthouse suite, practically in the act.”
The big alpha’s expression collapsed, deep lines adding years to his rugged face.
“It was...” He hesitated. “It was complicated, boss. She’s our scent match. But she’s also a homeless omega wannabe assassin. If the legal system got hold of her, they’d toss her in a dark hole and throw away the key.”
“Yes. That tends to happen to people who murder other people for money,” I said evenly.
“It wasn’t just that, though!” Gage went on quickly. “We needed to find out who hired her. She’s not the real threat.”
“Isn’t she, though?” I couldn’t keep the dryness from my tone.
“No, she’snot.” The words were forceful. “She’s a hurt, naïve omega who found a way to lash out after her fuckin’ dad auctioned off her first heat and sold her to traffickers at the age of thirteen!”
It wasn’t like Gage to get this worked up over something—and definitely not withme. I made myself take what he was saying on board.
“Okay,” I said. “So, she had a rough childhood, and you feel bad for her. And Tony’s got a soft spot for her because she offed his abusive stepfather. After which she decided to start offing other people for money. Which is where we’ve got a bit of a problem.”
Gage’s jaw clenched stubbornly. “Do we? Because Heath snapped a couple of necks at the silos. And those necks belonged to alpha predators who were abusing kids. You gonna turn him in for that?”
I blew out a frustrated sigh. “No, Gage. I am not going to turn in my packmate for killing the people who kidnapped him and injected him with a rut-stim against his will.”
“Well,” Gage said doggedly. “That’s the same kind of alphas that Jez has been going after. You didn’t see her, Knox. When me and Heath caught her at the hotel, she was one-hundred percent convinced that she’d fallen into the hands of the same kind of people who made her childhood a living hell.”
“Which we aren’t,” I reminded him. “And that makes me wonder how manyothermistakes she’s made over her short-lived career in vigilante justice.”
That shut Gage up. His jaw snapped closed, and the light of uncertainty flickered behind his gaze before once more being replaced by stubbornness.
“Maybe she did. And maybe she didn’t,” he said. “But it doesn’t change the fact that she’s our scent match, and now she’s mated to Heath. The past is deeply fucked up, but right now I’m more worried about what happens next.”
“A glandectomy, at a guess,” I replied, not letting any emotion come through in my voice. Mating bonds were for life... unless you surgically removed the organ responsible for maintaining them.
Gage paled. “That’s ourmateyou’re talking about maiming.”
My temper flared. “For fuck’s sake, Gage! I meantshe’llwant the surgery. Not that I plan on holding her down and hacking it out myself! This isn’t the goddamned twentieth century!”
He still looked queasy. “Yeah. I guess.”
Not for the first time, I was struck by how close my normally unflappable packmate looked to completely breaking down and losing his shit. I wasn’t in much better shape after my stint in the hospital, but Iwashis pack leader... and I hadn’t spent the last few days cooped up in this house with Jez’s pheromones.
“Go get some rest, Gage,” I said. “Those dampeners you gave me seem to be doing the trick. I’ll watch over Heath and our resident homicidal maniac for now.”
