Zane stiffened, and the other alpha with him glanced at him as if Linus might have just thrown a wrench in their plans.
But I felt Linus’s relief a moment later as he said, “Okay, okay. I’ll be ready in thirty minutes. The lights are broken on the boathouse anyhow, so it’ll be okay. Right. Bye.”
Everyone held their breath after the call ended. Linus lowered his arm, but continued to stare at the phone for a second. I could feel fear and determination bubbling in him, but I could also feel the heat wave he was working like mad to suppress. My omega was doing an incredible job of holding it together.
I wondered if I was actually wrong about that a second later, when Linus glanced around at everyone, including the alpha who had just returned to the room after whatever phone call he’d made. Even Lucas stared at him with wide eyes, as if asking, “Well?”
Linus swallowed, handed the phone back to Fenn, and said, “Wally Dumfries is about thirty minutes away. He says he can see the house from the ocean, and he’s upset that there are so many lights on. He knows there are more people than just Lucas here.”
“You told him the Westfield family showed up in person for the hand-off,” Zane said.
Linus nodded. “I figured that since it was supposed to happen at midnight but didn’t, that would be a logical response. It hasn’t deterred Wally and his men from coming.”
“They might come in heavily armed and ready for a fight,” one of Zane’s men said.
Zane made an unhappy sound. “We’ll have to be ready for a fight, too, then.” He paused, then said, “Somebody get this sack of shit out of the way.” He stood, lifting Lucas with him. Fenn stepped in to take him. “As for you,” he said to Linus, “We need to brief you on everything you have to say and do to make it possible for us to arrest Wally Dumfries and his accomplices.”
Linus nodded in understanding. “I’ll do it,” he gusted out. “Just tell me what to say.”
I couldn’t have been prouder of my omega if I’d tried.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Linus
“What the heck am I doing?” I muttered to myself as I changed into a pair of Lucas’s black jeans and a dark-grey t-shirt.
From the floor of the closet I’d pulled the clothes out of, Lucas hurled some sort of muffled insult at me as if in answer. His hands were still cuffed behind him, his feet were tied together, and Fenn had gagged him, since he wouldn’t keep quiet. I should have had the closet door shut to keep him in the dark. Saint had repeated that he was probably so tired after his heat and the craziness of the last few days that he would fall asleep as soon as he was isolated in a dark, quiet place.
So far, Lucas was still going strong.
“I’m not going to say I blame you for this,” I said as I reached into the closet to take my brother’s black leather jacket from one of the hangers. I left the sentence hanging, because really, Ididblame Lucas for everything. I just didn’t want to say it out loud.
Lucas shouted something at me which, judging by the fury in his eyes, was probably nasty, but the gag muddled the whole thing.
I shrugged into the jacket, hating the feeling of so much clothing against my still heat-hot skin. There had been just enough time for Saint and I to take a few minutes in my bedroom to get me through another wave. It had been short and weirdly unsatisfying, but it had taken the edge off the near madness I’d been feeling. I still wasn’t out of heat, though.
I shook my head at my brother. “I’ll get you a pillow so you can stay comfortable. The best thing for everyone is if you go to sleep and let us all handle this.
Lucas definitely swore at me, even if his words didn’t make it through the gag. Heart hurting for all the potential he had but had wasted, I stepped over to grab a pillow from the bed and brought it over to prop by his side.
“I’m going to make this all right,” I said, crouched in front of him. “I’ll try to speak up for you when the time comes, but it’s pretty clear to me that your choices have just caught up with you.”
Lucas scowled and tried to rabbit-kick me with his bound feet.
I sighed and stood, drawing in a deep breath. It made me a little sick to do all this, but what could I do?
“Behave, Lucas,” I said, like he was one of my first-graders, then shut the closet door.
Lucas shouted something once the door clicked shut, but I had to ignore it for now. I loved my brother, despite everything, but the best way to love him at the moment was firmly, not by caving in to everything he wanted. The time for me rolling over and doing whatever Lucas wanted was long past.
I closed my eyes and took another breath. I didn’t want to do any of this. I was terrified of what might happen with theDumfries gang. Even though it had taken a backseat, my heat was still going. My skin crawled with the need to get out of my clothes and under my alpha. My womb ached to be filled with more of his seed, even as my belly was still slightly distended with what was already there. I’d had to find the thickest absorbency pad possible in the bathroom to catch everything leaking out of me, and I still didn’t think it would be enough. Both the cops and the criminals would be able to smell my heat and?—
I forced myself to take a step forward to stop my spiraling thoughts. Saint was just downstairs, waiting for me. I could feel him through his bond, and while his emotions were tense and brittle, I knew he would protect me with his life, come what may.
I nearly changed my mind about everything when I made it downstairs, just as the very first pinks and corals of dawn light limned the ocean horizon out the window, when I saw Saint waiting there for me. He came forward at once, and whether because he was worried or because he could smell my heat and it was pushing him toward rut once more, he wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight.
“I’m not sure if I can do this,” I said, pressing my face into his chest. I felt so tiny compared to him, but so sheltered in his large, alpha body.
