“I am, so long as it is used correctly or where the chemicals have been sourced from someone reputable and authorized,” he admitted. “I can understand why such things exist —and I have been known to use them myself when I am traveling through unknown packs— but to be misused in such a way…” he shuddered and shook his head. “It makes me uncomfortable. Especially when we don’t know if they are safe, or what else they might be supplying our community.”
I sobered at his serious tone. “Yes, well, it made our scales bristle, too. Metaphorically speaking.” I recalled my fears about their unknown origin and what kind of nefarious things might happen once our people were lulled into a false sense of security. “So, I think you’re right. We should see if Beckett can get in touch with some of the shifters in the Sheriff’s office. Get them to keep an ear to the ground.”
“In the meantime, promise me you’ll both be careful,” Sergio tightened his hold around me, and I suspected he was doingthe same with Sage. His protective streak was unexpected, but really quite cute. “I don’t like not knowing what else is being distributed around the pack.”
“We’re big boys, Alpha,” I teased lightly, “we’ve managed to survive this long.”
Sage snorted, muttering “Barely,” just under his breath. Removing my hand from toying with Sergio’s delightful silvery chest hair, I poked at Sage’s soft belly, making him squeal and recoil.
“You can speak for yourself,” I told him primly, but my smirk refused to remain hidden.
“Please. I’m not the one who—”
“Children,” Sergio cut Sage off, sounding amused and exasperated, “you’re not going to bicker like this the entire time I’m gone, are you?”
“That depends,” I couldn’t help replying, grinning before I even finished forming the words, “will youpunishus, Alpha?”
“Oh, dear lord,” Sage groaned and rolled away from our little cuddle pile. “Really, Dex?”
Stretching out on my back, I shrugged. “Tell me you wouldn’t love a spanking from our sexy silver fox, baby.”
“You’re going to scare him off before he bonds with us,” my best friend pouted at me as he pulled fresh clothes out from the wardrobe.
Sergio laughed. “Nonsense. It would take a lot more than a bratty omega to scare me off, beautiful.”
I gasped, clutching imaginary pearls. “Bratty?!” I feigned outrage, even though I’d thought the very same thing about myself before. Honestly, I wore the adjective with pride, but…I wanted to fuck with my alpha.
Gracefully sitting up and swinging his legs over Sage’s side of the bed, Serge turned his head to face me, arching an eyebrow. “If the shoe fits, dear-heart.”
Snickering, I dropped back onto my pillow. “Well, you’ve clearly got my number, don’t you, darling?”
“I do,” his voice lost its teasing edge, instead going back to that soft, tender place that made me ache inside. “And, like I said earlier, I will call you every day.”
That did not make it any easier to let him go.
"I don't like it," Beckett frowned as we sat around the boardroom-style table, Sage and I having just explained our findings from the Unlocking party. With everything that happened, it felt like a lifetime had passed since then, though it had been less than a week.
I nodded, gazing around the room to take in everyone's matching somber expressions.
The Alpha's meeting room was a large, converted formal dining room in the house he shared with his mate, their two rambunctious children, and the Alpha's sister, Sandy. Years earlier, Eric had had the room soundproofed for meetings of this nature, and I silently applauded his forward thinking. Even though the Alpha's house was far enough from the main strip of the town, shifters were inherently nosy folk, most of whom hadenhanced senses (including hearing). It just made sense to have a private space to discuss sensitive topics.
Leaning forward onto the polished surface of the solid timber table, Beckett continued, "Even if the scent blockers are chemically safe, I don't like the idea of them being so readily available." He flicked his gaze across the length of the table to where Rex, another alpha, sat scowling in displeasure. "The Moonmusic people wore blockers when they came for the kids, didn't they?"
Rex and I bobbed our heads in unison, and I averted my gaze from his, ashamed that I hadn't been able to keep the children, including his then-newborn son, safe at the time.
The strange shifters had crashed through the nursery window in a large group, knocking me out cold before I could do more than shout for help. I'd been useless, unable to shift or breathe fire, and the guilt still lingered.
"They did," Rex answered in his southern drawl when it became clear that Beckett was waiting for a verbal response. "I got a faint whiff of weasel and then a whole lot of nothin'."
"Which is a big part of how they got the drop on us back then," Beckett told him, kind enough to say 'us' instead of laying the blame at my feet where it belonged. Nobody had known that my dragon was out of commission. I had not been at all helpful in protecting the pack's most vulnerable members during the pack run that night. The Alpha sighed and sat back in his seat —a cushy, rolling office chair, matching the rest around the table— making the high back rock slightly. "And it's how they concealed themselves from me during their first attack on our pack, too."
I hadn't been here for that one. It had occurred before I'd ever arrived. From what I’d heard, Beckett had been successfullyabducted and Brandt had been the one to rescue him, but I didn't know the whole story. It made sense that scent blockers would have been involved then, too.
It made my gut churn with anxiety.
"So, I guess what I'm saying is, I'm worried about something like that happening again," Beck continued. "And I am open to suggestions on how to prevent it." He turned his attention to me and Sage again, gaze bouncing between us. "Also, do either of you know what happened to Sergio? He was staying here, but he didn't come back after the party."
Sage stiffened at my side. We had agreed to keep what had happened between the three of us to ourselves, but I wanted nothing more than to shout from the rooftops that we had found our alpha in Serge. Still, I understood why Sage wanted to wait. It was painful enough missing our mate without having to answer a million questions on the topic.
