He marched forward, heading for the front door like he would take care of everything immediately. I exchanged a look with Fenn once he had passed. Fenn arched one eyebrow in an expression that said both that Lucas was a menace and that he knew what he was doing.
I trusted my brother, so I nudged Linus then moved toward the small table near the front door, where I’d left my keys earlier. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” I said as we moved outside into the windy, increasingly ominous afternoon. The sun was almost gone now, and dark clouds moved in from the horizon.
“You won’t get hurt if you stay hidden while they’re here,” Lucas insisted. Before anyone could reply, he continued with, “I’m going to move the van down to the boathouse, since it looks like it might rain.”
The next few minutes were spent moving cars around. The garage where Fenn and I ended up parking our cars was surprisingly tidy compared to most garages I knew. Both cars fit into it, and there would have been room for the van as well.
I got why Lucas wanted to move the van to the boathouse as soon as the cars were put away and the three of us joinedhim down near the surprisingly long and sturdy dock that jutted out into the cove below where the house had been built. The boathouse was a sturdy structure with two sides and a roof, but it was also open to the elements. It was close enough to the dock that someone who tied up a boat there could shift everything from the back of the van onto the boat with very little effort.
When we reached there, Lucas had the back of the van open and had crawled inside to rearrange the van’s contents. My initial thought that he was working to make the handoff of bags and turtles as easy as possible changed into a sudden sense of alarm when I noticed he had to put way more effort into picking the bags up than he should have.
“Is something inside the bags?” Linus asked the question I was thinking.
“What? No,” Lucas answered, far too fast. “It’s nothing. Everything is fine. Really. Go back to the house. There’s nothing to see here.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Fenn stepping back and reaching for his phone in the pocket of his robe.
“It’s more than just handbags, isn’t it,” Linus said, striding up to the back of the van and leaning into it. “What are you doing, Lucas?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Lucas said, flushing bright red. “This has nothing to do with you. The guys will be here at midnight, we’ll shift this all from the van straight into the boat, and the cargo they bring with them into the van, the handoff will happen, and everyone will be happy.”
“What are you smuggling here, Lucas?” I asked in my Dom voice.
Lucas shivered, which I didn’t exactly like, since he was still in heat and his reaction wasn’t fear. “Ummmm,” he said, peeking guiltily at me.
I wasn’t having any more of this shit. Lucas was putting my omega in danger. I reached for the nearest bag, a large, slouchy bag that should have been light and soft. It was heavy, and something inside was hard. I unzipped it with a scowl and found exactly what I was worried would be in there.
Guns. The bag was filled with firearms.
Linus gasped at my side. “Lucas!” he huffed. “These are guns. You’re smuggling guns!”
“Is that what’s in there?” Lucas faked surprise badly.
“You knew it was guns!” Linus shouted at him. “This whole time, you lied to us, lied to me. You knew you were smuggling guns and not handbags.” He stopped and his eyes went wide. “It’s not turtles on the other end either, is it.”
“Well,” Lucas said with a wince, rubbing the back of his neck.
“What are these guns being exchanged for?” I demanded, pretty much done with the whole thing.
“You don’t have to worry about it,” Lucas insisted, hopping down from the back of the van and moving Linus aside so he could shut the van’s doors. “Just pretend you never saw anything. Wally and the guys will be here at midnight, your cars are hidden, and you’ll be tucked away upstairs, enjoying the height of your heat. No one will know you were here.”
“What are they exchanging the guns for, Lucas?” Linus echoed me with just as much ferocity.
“Nothing, nothing!” Lucas insisted, flushing a deeper and deeper shade of red by the second. “Nothing you have to worry about, at least.”
“What is it, Lucas?” I crossed my arms and towered over him.
Lucas whimpered, then dropped his shoulders and lowered his head before answering, “It’s drugs, okay? Is that what you want to know? It’s drugs.”
I was so angry I could have throttled the guy. Even though he was almost a mirror image of my omega, Lucas was as differentfrom Linus as could be. Linus was sweet and wonderful and special. Lucas was a manipulative, unscrupulous prick.
“Lucas, how could you?” Linus gaped at him. “This is Dad and Papa’s house. You could get all of us in real trouble.”
“Nothing is going to happen, I swear,” Lucas insisted, holding up his arms. “Fuck, it’s getting hot out here. Where’s my alpha? My next wave is starting.”
It was a diversionary tactic, but unfortunately, there was a lot of truth to what he said. For Linus, too. He was fighting it, but I could tell that Linus’s next wave had started as well. The wind and sea breeze might have been holding it off a little, but that wave was still coming on, and we didn’t really have time to deal with any of it.
CHAPTER TEN
