“You son of a bitch.” He roared and grabbed the front of Dominic’s shirt, cocking his fist back to punch him. Dominic closed his eyes, as if resigned to it all. Something about that finally made my legs, which had been previously frozen to my spot in the doorway, unfreeze and I hurried forward.
I threw myself in front of Dominic as Leon’s fist began to descend and I could hear the shouts of our pack as I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the pain. But it never came and after a minute I peeked one eye open to see that Leon’s fist had managed to stop right before my face. It dropped to his side and he glared at me.
“Move Eloise.” He ordered with a bark and everything in me wanted to crumple to the floor and present my neck to him but that feeling was quickly replaced with anger.
“Don’t you bark at me Leon Russo and I’m not moving.” I scolded and gripped his fingers that were still clutched around Dominic’s shirt, “Let him go Leon. We don’t have the full story.” I said gently and willed my omega pheromones to calm him down, watching as his muscles began to relax one by one until he finally let go of Dominic’s shirt and dropped the man onto the ground.
“You have ten minutes to explain everything to us Dominic and if I don’t like your answer not even the omega can stop me from rearranging your face.” He growled, pointing a finger at Dominic before turning and heading back to the couch. I watched as Owen ran a soothing hand out his back, murmuring softly in his ear as the rest of our pack looked at Dominic as if he was a stranger.
I turned to Dominic who looked completely miserable, his lip was split and I could already see a bruise blooming along his jaw.
“Are you okay?” I murmured as I helped him to his feet. I didn’t quite know what was going on but my heart hurt to see Dominic so… lifeless.
Dominic shook his head, “You should have just let him finish, Eloise.” At his words tiny little cracks formed in my heart, I couldn’t help but feel like I was about to lose him. I didn’t know what else to do so I just gave his hand a squeeze before leaving him to stand in front of us as I rejoined the pack on the couch and sat down next to Link who pulled me in close, his comforting scent washing over me and quelling some of the panic that was building in my chest.
“I began selling information to Volkov around ten months ago and stopped right after Dimitri Volkov broke into the house. He recognized that I was the weak link in this pack and used that to get to you all. I had spent a year and a half trying to fit in with this pack and nothing I did worked. I was never kept in the loop on decisions and felt more like an employee rather than a member of Pack Russo. The money Volkov offered me was too good to pass up—my grandmother was living in Paris at the time and the city was so smog filled and dirty that it was constantly making her sick. I figured that it would kill two birds with one stone, I could take out my anger at you Leon and buy my grandmother the home she deserved. I didn’t feel bad about it really, not until…” He trailed off and Gage, who’d been silent up until this point, answered for him.
“Until Eloise came into the picture.” he rumbled.
Dominic nodded, “Yes. Suddenly everything was changing so quickly and I could barely keep up. We were working together as a unit in a way that I’d never experienced before. I stopped selling information to Volkov a few weeks after Eloise arrived, the break-in was the final straw and I cut contact with him after that.”
“That was why we were suddenly able to start cutting Volkov off financially.” Ric said from the other side of the couch with a shake of his head, “We’d been running around like chickens with our head cut off until after the break-in. That was when things finally started to go our way.”
“I am so sorry for all of my actions that kept Russo Enterprises from gaining the upper hand on Volkov. I should have just left the pack rather than work with him and I would have left once I realized that things were getting hairy but… well I couldn’t. The thought of being away from Eloise is torturous to me now. I am a coward.”
“I want you gone.” Leon growled, glaring at Dominic who flinched at his harsh words. I turned to protest but Link squeezed my hand and shook his head. There was no way that I was going to let Dominic just walk away—dumb ass decisions or no. My inner omega screamed at the very idea of it. He was pack. My instincts knew that and I was sure that the rest of the pack (aside from Leon who was too far gone to feel anything but anger at this point) felt the same way.
“I understand. I will go but I must ask for one last favor. Please help me rescue my grandmother—she has nothing to do with this.”
Leon looked like he wanted to say no but I leaned forward and put my hand on his knee and pleaded with my eyes. For a moment I thought he would still say no but finally he let out a great sigh, “Fine. Lincoln, call Agent Collins. After this is all over Dominic you are out.”
“Thank you, Leon.” Dominic said before turning and heading back upstairs, leaving the rest of us in the living room reeling from how much things had changed in the blink of an eye.
“So let me get this straight,” Agent Collins pinched the bridge of his nose, as if trying to ward off the inevitable oncoming headache, “The mole was a member of your pack who now has a family member who is being held hostage by a Russian crime boss who has not made any demands yet and is expected to call any moment on that burner phone that was hand-delivered to the house? Did I get that right?”
He pointed at the offending device which was sitting on the coffee table. We were all situated around it, I was sitting next to Leon and trying my best to keep him calm. He kept glaring at Dominic who was sitting on a kitchen stool in the corner, his head tilted backwards to rest on the wall behind him. I was afraid if I moved too far away from Leon that he would choose to say screw it and lunge at the other alpha again and finish what he’d started almost an hour ago.
“...uh. Yes, that is correct.” Ric answered for us. He’d been on his phone for the past hour, making sure that Madeline headed for the academy to spend the night with Tibby. We didn’t want to risk any more of our family members being taken by Volkov.
“What part of ‘don’t do anything else and let the FBI handle it’ do you people not understand?” I couldn’t help but feel bad for Collins. He looked exhausted after having to deal with our mess for the past two weeks.
“Sorry?” It was all that I could offer him.
Collins sucked in a long breath to calm himself, “It’s fine. It’s done anyways. Okay here is what we are going to do.” He said and began to lay out his plan.
“I don’t like it.” I stood in front of Agent Collins with my arms crossed over my chest. He’d just finished explaining his plan to us and I, along with the other members of the pack, were in agreement that this was a shit plan.
“I agree. I refuse to offer Eloise up to that man on a silver platter.” Dominic, who was the whole reason we were in this mess in the first place, chimed in.
“Well had you been honest with everyone a whole hell of a lot earlier than this we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Agent Collins’s words were harsh as he turned to glare at the Frenchman, “But since it had escalated to this, this might be our only option. It stands to reason that Eloise will be what Volkov asks for. She is the only real weakness in your pack and would be the only way that we can get a location on where Volkov is keeping your grandmother.”
“Watch yourself.” I growled at the beta, irritated that he’d had the nerve to call Eloise weak.
Eloise slid her hand into mine from her seat, “Relax, Gage,” She gave my hand a squeeze, “He’s not calling me weak, just saying that I am a weak point for you guys which is true.”
“You don’t have to be so logical about everything all of the time Ellie.” Owen was on Leon’s other side and he was also glaring at the FBI agent.
“I know Owen, but I just want to get all of this done with. It’s been hanging over us like a cloud for the last four months. Besides, Dominic’s grandmother didn’t deserve to be pulled into this mess. Agent Collins do we have any other options other than this?” She asked, turning her attention back to the man who was typing something into his phone—probably shooting a text to his supervisor.
