“No hiding it.”
“Fuck. Of course, Kane would need to show off. Damn this business. We leave tomorrow at dawn. Naya isn’t sleeping well and will be awake anyway. How many men will the thing fit?”
“It’s huge. “Two men came with it. Maybe one more up front? Two on the outside. But you could get six or eight in the seat area, I bet.”
“I don’t want anyone in the seat area.” Monster smiled. “You and two others, then. I can take care of my own omega, but extra eyes are a good thing.”
“Done.”
Alreck felt the weight of Darre’s assessing look. “You can ride in the cab with us. Naya might have questions for you.”
“Sir, Jordan would be—”
“Don’t fucking try to get out of this. I told you that you are going, so you are going. Naya wants you. And I know you want her.”
Darre stopped Alreck before he could speak, “And you can’t wear the breather. She says it will make us stand out, look weak, like younglings—or worse, like wild men from Sector 2.”
Alreck had to take in that information for a moment and play out the potential scenarios in his head. His alpha wanted him to sit in an enclosed space with a woman who smelled like sex and heaven for a ride that would take over four hours. A death sentence.
“You will do this. She’s uncomfortable about going home—wants it, but is afraid of it. Feels obligated, yet never wants to go back. So, we get that shit done. I’ll talk to the fucker who sent the car, deal with some other crap while we are there, and all the rest. And you? Will keep it together.”
The threat was silent. Alreck understood it all the same. “Yes, sir.”
“It won’t be like here. Nothing like here. There will be omegas—females of all stripes—everywhere. Mated and unmated, old and young. You get me? You and the other boyos are gonna be great entertainment. But youwillkeep it together. I don’t know what Kane has going on there, but an ambush is always possible. You are my eyes and ears. Watch well. You might see things I don’t.”
Darre relaxed into his chair, like a large and slinking creature from the wild Un. He moved with a grace that shouldn’t have been possible for a man his size—loose-limbed, at one with his body and the space around him.
“I understand.”
“Good. Glad to hear it. Naya’s worthless parents will be there. She has three little brothers, two older ones, and a sister. I expect most of them will be there to greet her, along with a household of six drones. If we stay for a full visit, there is an aunt and another brother who might show up. Kane will come with his secretary writing his every precious word, but he will leave his omega and show-boys home. Maybe Ebbon will show up. I asked him to, but I don’t know. There shouldn’t be anyone else, and that is more people than I want to see anyway.”
“And the retired king? What if your mother comes?”
“I’d see her. I might kill him. But yes, they are a possibility. A family reunion and a big fucking party. Yay.”
Alreck saw the monster in Darre’s eyes when they darkened. He did not get along with his father. Too much history there.
“The layout of that house will be an issue.”
“One you will deal with, won’t you?”
“What if your mate’s family invites more people?”
“I told them what I expected—family only. They go too far, someone is going to feel it.”
“As you say.” Alreck saw a heat shimmer ripple across Darre’s face. Alreck didn’t have to look at the other door of the room to know the omega was out there. He’d observed his alpha often enough to recognize and divine his seemingly imperceptible mood shifts.
“Go then. Tomorrow is soon enough for you,” Darre said.
Tomorrow was soon enough for Alreck to have to suffer the torment of seeing and not having—of smelling and not touching—of wanting and not getting. Darre knew what Alreck was feeling, thinking. The alpha’s nostrils flared as he inhaled, watching Alreck’s every move.
Muscles bunching and twisting between his shoulder blades, Alreck kept his expression placid beneath his mask. He couldn’t control his involuntary tells, and Alpha Darre read every one of them accurately. Did Alreck’s rut have a smell? Did his sweat change at the thought of the omega? She was the symbol of everything Alreck wanted, needed, and would kill to get.
Under the dangerous scrutiny of the Mad Monster of Sector 2, Alreck turned and walked out of the room.
Chapter Four
Mother tapped at Phee’s bedroom door. Only using her finger pads, as if she didn’t want anyone to know that she was checking on the barren omega hiding inside.
