“Oh, please, calm down.” A figure came out of the trees, and I relaxed slightly. It was the hooded alpha we had met earlier who seemed to be friends with Virgil. But that wasn’t entirely reassuring. I still had no idea who this man was, although part of me was convinced that I knew him fromsomewhere.
“Who are you?” I growledloudly.
The hooded alpha paused. I thought I would be able to see his face clearly in the sunlight, but underneath the hood, he wore a black face mask that only revealed asingleeye.
“Gonna say that’s still none of your business, for now,” he said with ashrug.
“Look, I’m not in the mood for games,” I snapped, stepping closer to him. “Either you tell mewhyyou were spying on us, and tell me me who you are right now, or I’ll rip that mask right offyourface!”
“David!” Niko cried, running to my side. “Come on. Leave him alone. He helped us meet earlier, remember? He was the one who helped me escape the omegacompound.”
The hooded alpha shrugged. “He’s right. Maybe you should listen to him. And for the record, I wasnotspying on you. I just happen to live around the corner in some bushes and you two made such a racket that it woke me up - last nightandrightnow.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but he lifted a finger and interrupted. “And no, I didn’t wait around and listen to you have sex. By the time the sweet-talk started happening, I was long gone. Sochill.”
I closed my mouth and gritted my teeth. “You seem familiar. Do I know you fromsomewhere?”
The man’s single exposed eye made contact with me. Then he looked away and muttered, “Maybe.”
I growled. “Look, I’m not gonna say it until Virgil gets here,” the hooded alpha growled back. “I helped you out before, but I still don’ttrustyou.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “I don’t trust you,either.”
Niko pointed to the sky. “Guys,look!”
An ink-black raven circled frantically up above. We all knew instantly it had to be Virgil. He dove towards the earth, shifted just before he hit the ground, and landed on his feet. It wasn’t every day a naked alpha descended from the sky. Thankfully, as shifters, we weren’t bothered by casual nudity the same wayhumanswere.
“Virgil!” Nikogreeted.
“Hello, everyone,” Virgil said in that same cool tone he always spoke with, except this time there was an edge of urgency to his voice. “It’s good to see you all in one place. We have a bit of aproblem.”
“What happened?” Iasked.
“Gunner knows I’m up to something,” Virgil explained with a grim expression. “As one of his First Order alphas, he’s supposed to trust me. But just last night, after I returned from leading Niko to this clearing, he pulled me aside and spoke to me. Said I’d been spending too much time with David and the omega, and told me he’d have to take mykeyaway.”
“The key to the omega compound?” Iasked.
“Yes.” He lifted his finger, which I only know noticed had a small silver keyring on it. “Fortunately, I snagged Delta’s key last night, so I have access to the building in case weneedit.”
“I don’t think we’re ever going back,” Niko said decisively. “Virgil, David and I, um… We had sex lastnight.”
Virgil nodded, as if he already knew this. “And you’re worried about the potentialpregnancy?”
“Yes. I don’t think going back there is a good ideaanymore.”
“Fair enough.” Virgil nodded. “As long as you’re all on board, we should startplanningnow.”
Niko and I exchangedglances.
“We’re ready,”Isaid.
“Definitely,” Nikoagreed.
Virgil glanced at the hooded alpha, who stood a few feet behindus. “Well?”
The man shifted his feet uncomfortably. “Yeah,metoo.”
“Wait,” I growled. “Before we bringhimon board, does anyone mind explaining to us who the fuckheis?”
