“I guess de joke’s on be,” Lucas said gloomily from where he was propped up with pillows on a gurney.
“None of this is a joke, Lucas,” Linus said with an exhausted frown, leaning against me. “You’re going to jail for this.”
The ambulance jostled a little as the paramedic, a driver, and a policeman climbed in and we started off up the drive. I tried to keep my wince inside, but Lucas groaned like a baby.
“I’b nod going to jail,” Lucas said, way overconfident. “Dad and Baba will ged me oud of dis.”
“No, Lucas, they won’t,” Linus said, surprisingly calm. “You committed a crime. You’ll probably spend years in prison because of this.”
“No, I won’d,” Lucas said, but he didn’t seem at all confident now.
Linus glanced up at me with a sad look that said, “My brother is totally going to jail for this.” I could only slip an arm around him and pull him close so he could rest his head against my shoulder as we bumped along toward the hospital.
Lucas’s fate was sad, but Linus was right when he’d said his brother had done it all to himself. I felt for my omega, but I didn’t have much pity for the snake who’d gotten us all involved in criminal activity.
None of this would have happened without Lucas, but that also meant that Linus and I never would have met if not for his brother’s mean-spirited shenanigans. Was it worth the trouble? Absolutely, though I definitely wished things hadn’t happened the way they had. Still, if it wasn’t for Lucas being an absolute jerk and more or less torturing his brother, I wouldn’t have met and bonded with the most amazing omega I’d ever known. Now that I had Linus, I wouldn’t give him up for the world.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Linus
Who would have thought that participating in a spur-of-the-moment police sting and having your twin brother sent to prison as an accessory to drug and firearm trafficking would involve so much paperwork? As soon as Saint and I were given a clean bill of health and a green light from the doctors to leave the hospital, we were whisked straight off to the police station so our statements could be taken.
I fell asleep in the back of the cop car on the way there, and even though he refused to admit to it later, I’m pretty sure Saint did, too.
It was afternoon by the time we were allowed to go, after shaking Zane’s hand and the hand of his supervisor, who had been trying to catch the Dumfries gang and the Westfield family for months.
“The arrests we’ve made from this operation and the information we found on the boat is already helping us to locate and arrest the remaining members of both gangs,” Zane’ssupervisor said, so enthusiastic about shaking my hand that he wouldn’t let go, despite Saint glowering at him. “I’ll make certain you both receive the highest civilian honors possible for your part in this whole thing.”
Two weeks later, I was back at my teacher’s desk at the front of a colorful, innocent classroom, staring at the small plaque I’d received in the mail the day before, feeling like the whole thing had been a dream. The plaque was really quite lovely. It had an embossed, silver plate thanking me for “special services” to Barrington set on a satisfyingly thick slab of polished mahogany. I hadn’t been able to stop staring at it from time to time as I graded handwriting homework and jotted down plans for the little Teddy Bear’s Picnic play my students would perform for the school assembly at the end of the month.
Had all of that really happened? Did I really stand up to hardened criminals and end up in the middle of a gun fight at dawn?
Just to make sure it was real, I reached out along my bond with Saint, feeling for him. Saint was definitely there. I could tell he was at work, and if I had to guess, he was with a client. The emotions coming from him had that steady, compassionate feeling that I’d come to learn meant he was helping someone through a difficult time.
I smiled. My alpha was such a good man. We might have met under shocking circumstances and bonded just as extremely, but once we’d had a chance to go home, get into a real bed together while I wasn’t in heat, and just sleep together, which we did for a full ten hours, things had settled.
Saint, when he wasn’t dealing with criminals, anxiety attacks, and my brother, was a gentle giant and one of the most wonderful souls I’d ever met. I was so happy to be bonded with him that those good feelings had stopped me in my tracks several times so I could just smile and think of him.
My phone ringing in my desk snapped me out of that particular session of just sitting there, feeling my alpha, and loving it. I used to keep my phone on silent through the school day, but it was after school now, and since the police had needed to contact me a few more times about Lucas and the house, I’d gotten into the habit of keeping it on, but quiet.
When I pulled it from the top desk drawer, I saw my papa’s name appear on the screen.
“Hi, Papa,” I answered gently.
“Hello, Linus,” Papa answered, his voice strained and sad, like it’d been since he and Dad had been told about everything and flown back up to Barrington to deal with it.
“You okay?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.
“As much as could be expected,” Papa sighed. “We’ve just been to see Lucas at the state penitentiary.”
My heart squeezed for my papa. Lucas had been sentenced two days ago after an expedited trial process. He’d been difficult from the start and had been deemed a flight risk. Since the evidence against him was clear, he’d been remanded into custody as soon as he got out of the hospital for his broken nose. He’d now be spending the next five years at a medium-security prison for omegas that was part of the state penitentiary.
“How’s he doing?” I asked. My question was stiff, since I was still furious with Lucas, but it was genuine.
“He’s calmed down quite a bit,” Papa said. “He’s unhappy about the conditions of the prison, especially since he has a roommate.”
Something in me tweaked over the way Papa couldn’t say “cellmate”.
