“So, you’re theorizing that this strange alpha who unlocked Mason’s collar wrote the note?” Ken asked.
“I dunno. Maybe. It’s the only thing I can think of right now,” I said with a shrug.
“It does make sense that the one who released him would warn him of danger,” Charlie mused. “I just wish I knew who he was. I mean, if there’s a Scarlet Ridge alpha releasing omegas from the collars, doesn’t that mean he’s on our side?”
“Not necessarily,” David growled. “There could be some other ulterior motive. We can’t assume anything.”
Charlie sighed. “I know, but… If he has the shock collar key and is helping omegas escape, I don’t think this guy is a bad person.”
David had no response this time. Flint turned to me.
“So, what should we do about the note?” he asked. “It seems like we’ve reached a standstill about what to do about it.”
“I don’t think there’s anything wecando about it,” I admitted.
“I agree,” Ken added. “Not with the information we have right now. But most importantly, I think we can all agree to trust our brothers.”
As he glanced around the table, all of us nodded - Shadow included. He wasn’t a member of our close-knit hunting party, but he was still a packmate. We needed to trust each other. We weren’t going to let this warning tear us apart.
***
Later that evening, I went to pick up Mason from work. Our routine had become comfortable and I looked forward to walking him home every night.
“Hey, sexy,” I said as he walked out with the same tired smile on his face.
“Hey,” he said.
“You a bit less anxious now?” I asked.
“Yeah. Work does me good that way. It keeps my mind off things,” he said. “It reminds me that there are real problems, like hunger. I don’t have time to waste thinking about things like that stupid note.”
I chuckled. “I was actually talking about that with the guys tonight.”
“Yeah?” Mason said with a note of curiosity in his voice. “What’d they say?”
“We basically promised we would all trust each other, and that we weren’t going to let this cause chaos among us,” I told him. “And actually, Charlie brought up a good point. He wondered if maybe whoever sent this note was the same guy who unlocked your collar that night.”
Mason stopped and blinked at me. “I never thought of that,” he mumbled. “I guess… that does make me feel a bit better about being spied on?”
“That’s a good way to think about it,” I said with a grin. “Look at you, looking at the bright side of things now.”
He blushed and rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”
I wrapped my arm around his waist and leaned in to give him a kiss to the temple. “Mm… You’re so cute when you’re feisty.”
He grumbled but didn’t attempt to bat me away. “Save it for when we get home, at least. The last thing the pack needs to see is us doing it on the street.”
I laughed and promised to keep it in my pants until we got home. But when we did, it was fair game.
Mason lay across the bed in the dim light, looking at me with his bright eyes. The room was already filled with the musky scent of his arousal - his pregnancy was making his hormones go haywire. Thankfully I was here to fulfil his needs.
He groaned as my hand brushed against his already hard cock, straining inside his stretchy pants. His belly was swollen from the pregnancy and it was making me go fucking crazy. I wanted to rip off his clothes and fuck him until he was pregnant a third time.
I leaned up to cradle his face and kiss him. We melted into each other for five minutes, lost in the pleasure of kissing.
Mason broke away. I thought he just wanted some air, and gave him a moment to catch his breath before I leaned back in to kiss him again, but he held out a hand and pressed it to my lips.
“Wait,” he said. “Jericho, I…”
