Harrison smiled, tapped the bottom of the window frame with his palm, and chuckled. “Well, I’ve got two, so you’d best work fast.”
“One’s enough,” Dash said.
“Multiples run in the family,” Harrison said, pointing between him and Emerson. “Just ask Tanner and his triplets.”
“Oh, fuck,” Dash said, laying his head against the rest.
Emerson laughed. He squeezed Dash’s hand and brought it to his lips.
“See you in a few. Don’t take too long,” Harrison said before returning to his truck.
“Ready?” Emerson asked.
Dash eyed him with a grin. “Would it matter if I said no and wanted to go home to spend the rest of the day alone with you?”
“After lunch. I promise. It is our mating night tonight.”
“Have I been cleared for sex now?” Dash asked, sitting up straighter.
“I think you might be okay to give it a go.”
“Now I really don’t want to go to lunch,” Dash said.
Emerson pulled out into traffic. “At least we’re not facing the opposite. An empty table sounds worse to me.”
“True,” Dash said. “I’m just not big on socializing. I guess I need to get used to it with a family like yours.”
Emerson smiled. “A family likeours.”
38
Four months later…
Dash and Agent Harper stepped out of the Black Guard sedan before he opened the back door. Jaye Lachlin stepped out, wrapped in a rough blanket.
“Thanks, Agent Keller.”
Dash didn’t correct him. There was no point. Not when Jaye’s parents were waiting on their son. “You’re more than welcome.”
Jaye’s parents rushed forward to embrace their missing son, tears streaming down their faces. Dash leaned against the side of the car. Jaye was one of many abducted alphas recently returned home. Searching for all of the auctioned alphas had taken much longer than Dash had imagined it would. Crenshaw had covered his tracks too well. Client names had been in code and Dash, along with the team of Black Guardsmen still assigned to the case, had had to break each code individually.
So far, they’d found ten alphas. There were dozens more left to hunt down, some who’d been missing for a decade. As hewatched the Lachlins holding their adult son, he caressed the small swell to his stomach, vowing to never let his own son come to danger, all while logically knowing he couldn’t protect him at all times.
A camera shutter snapped nearby.
Dash turned to see a familiar reporter scribbling in a notebook while a man beside him took shots of the happy family reunited. Dash crossed over to them, stepping in front of the camera’s lens and holding up his hand.
“Come on,Meade. Let them have this moment in privacy.”
“This story is big news, Dash. The people of this province are excited to hear about all of these reunions,” Meade said.
“You can print the story, and since they’re well-known, use a stock photo of them instead of sharing something this intimate. If that was you there, would you want it splashed across the front page?” Dash asked.
“No, but my last name isn’t Lachlin.”
“They’re still only people.”
“People who’ve funded organizations which have fought against positive alpha-attracted legislation. I wonder if Jaye’s father might change his tune if the public learned the reason why his son was abducted. Maybe we should ask them and find out.”
