Chapter 28
Mags
“Aw, c’mon! Surely there’s another way …”
Kip shakes his head. “No, Mags. We’ve grifted long enough. It’s high time we started looking for legitimate jobs. No more heat helping, no more breeding, none of it. You’ll stay here and be the omega you were born to be, and Nik, Kaden, and I will find jobs to support us all.”
“But … we’ve built up such a great team. We all know our parts. We—”
“Mags.” Nik’s voice is edgy, tense. “Look at it this way: We’re all going to have to testify against the Langleys and DeltaCorp. When that goes down, we need to build honest, hardworking fronts.”
“Yeah.” Kaden smiles at me as he massages my arm. “We’ll consider it the ultimate con: convincing the authorities and judges that we’re trustworthy.”
Okay, that was funny. I giggle a little, then turn back into putty in their hands.
“Just think … You can stay home with the baby. Relax.”
“I don’t know how to relax.”
Nik lifts my other arm at the elbow, demonstrating how my limp hand dangles. “Hon, you’re as relaxed as you can be right now. Imagine this but multiplied.”
Even as I roll my eyes at the notion of me relaxing, I sigh contentedly as they work all the tension out of my body.
“I somehow doubt I’ll relax much once the baby comes.
Those things require a lot of work.” I gasp and bolt upright as a wave of panic hits me.
They’re not just going to leave me all alone—they’re going to leave me all alone with a newborn!
“Wait! If you three are working, how will I take care of the baby? I don’t know what to do with a baby! ”
“Calm down, babe.” Kip pushes my shoulders until I’m lying flat again. “We can take alternating shifts wherever we work. We won’t leave you alone, okay?”
“Roll over.” Nik nudges my shoulder. “Let’s get your back, too.”
“I really do need that shower …” I mumble as Nik and Kaden work the knots out of my shoulders and lower back. “As amazing as all this attention feels, I also would like to wash the DNA off of me.”
It’s too bad we don’t have a tub. A nice, hot bath would be good, too.
Maybe some unscented bubble solution in the tub, too.
I’ve smelled enough chemical bubble baths in my days as a fake beta that I couldn’t stand anything perfumed, especially right now.
It’s like any scent other than my mates’ throws me into hurl mode.
“Somebody make a note for the new house, since we’re set on moving: bathtub. A big one.”
“Anything else, your highness?”
I swat at Kip, who easily dodges me. “Hey! You guys want me to be an omega. Well, omegas are needy, privileged bitches. So gimme.”
“Maybe we should remind you of your pretend beta roots,” Kaden teases. “You’re good to stand now, right? Because we’re not helping you shower. You’re a big girl, and we’ve soothed every muscle we can reach.”
Nik pats me on the shoulder as I sit up.
“We have to change the sheets and blankets and probably a couple of the mattresses. You shower, we’ll clean up the nest, and then we’ll each take turns in the shower after.
Give us, say … forty-five minutes, and you’ll have a nice, post-sex euphoria cuddle pile. A clean one.”
I groan and reluctantly stand under my own power. It’s easy to see now why omegas are so spoiled. This is nice. The attention, the affection, the love and tenderness. Who wouldn’t want a pack of males tending to your every desire?
After taking a depressing solo shower, where there weren’t nearly enough hands on me, I step out and wrap a soft, plush robe around me.
I pad back to the nest, but surprisingly, no one’s there.
In fact, the nest looks trashed, like the guys left in the middle of taking out all the soiled bedding. That’s not like them.
I search the house, but they’re all gone. No one in Kip and Kaden’s room, no one in my old room, not even anyone in the kitchen or living room. What gives?
If this is for some kind of special surprise, it sucks.
When I can’t find them, I open the pack bonds and poke them. Thankfully, the guys are okay, but they’re being evasive. None of them will relay their location through the bond, which is suspicious as fuck. Why would they just abandon me without letting me know where they are?
I dress in a rush as worry overrides any sense of self-preservation. Stretchy leggings, a baggy tee, and some loafers. There. I’m decent, or at least decent enough to go outside.
I fling open the front door and come face-to-face with Agent Elgin.
Fuck.
“What are you doing here, Agent?” I ask, hoping I can play the idiot when I’m so scared for my mates. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
She scowls and points to a shiny black SUV parked in the driveway next to my car. “There might be, yes. I seem to have found a missing witness here, along with some suspects in his disappearance. Care to speculate how he got here, or why the other two are not cooperating with us?”
Okay, so we’re not playing nice. “Well, considering you invaded our home and took them against their will, I’m not surprised at the lack of cooperation. That was just plain rude of you.”
“Rude like stealing ID badges and personal items?”
Oh. They noticed. “I think kidnapping is a little ruder than some petty theft.”
“Detention is not the same as kidnapping, Ms. O’Neil. Now, speaking of detaining, we need you to come to headquarters with us as well.”
Fuck. Are they going to try to pin the whole Langley-slash-DeltaCorp mess on us?
“I didn’t do anything wrong, and neither did they. Isn’t one of your ‘detainees’ the person who blew the whole case open for you? Like, he risked his life to get evidence to the authorities. Detaining him is kind of a shitty way of saying ‘thank you.’”
Agent Elgin huffs out a frustrated sigh.
“Ms. O’Neil, please, we aren’t trying to be difficult, so there’s no need for you to be.
We’re trying to protect your pack from the people behind the trafficking.
The company the Langleys were working for is run by some rather …
unscrupulous individuals, and we want to ensure your safety. ”
“You mean DeltaCorp?”
She folds her arms over her chest. “I doubt you believe DeltaCorp is a legitimate entity. It’s one of many shell corporations, with layers upon layers of false fronts, that lead back to some nasty people you really don’t want to know about.”
I rub my temples as a headache blooms. “What are we supposed to do for you? We’re small-timers. We can’t help against people like that.”
“You’d be surprised what ‘small-timers’ like yourself and your pack can do.
” Agent Elgin gestures at the SUV again.
“No one has gotten close to DeltaCorp before you guys. After the takedown, we discovered decades of falsified contracts that resulted in hundreds of packs trafficked across the globe. You brought them down. Now we need to keep you safe until you can testify and keep them down.”
“And if we refuse to get involved?”
“Then we’ll do more than just detain you four.
We’ll have to arrest all of you for obstruction of justice.
” Her severe expression softens, which scares me more than the glare.
“Ms. O’Neil, I know you’re pregnant. I know that one of those men in my car is the father.
What I don’t know, or perhaps I just don’t understand, is why you’re so determined to refuse our help. ”
Tears come unbidden to my eyes. I’ve never been one to cry at much, but lately it seems like I cry all too often. Perhaps it’s related to the baby.
“What will we have to give up if we help?”
“This shithole house. That rusty old car. Any personal connections outside of your pack. You’ll have to wipe the slate clean.” She taps her new badge. “And you’ll have to give up the scams. No more stealing or lying, beyond the lies we give you to live.”
Normally, it would be an automatic “no” from me. We can handle ourselves, and we certainly don’t need someone else telling us how to live our lives. However …
I look back at the SUV. My mates are in there. My pack. My family. One of them fathered my child, and I know that I can count on all of them to step up to the plate when it comes to raising the baby.
I can’t think about life in terms of my benefit anymore. Not even just for me and the guys, now I have to think about what’s best for all of us and the baby. All five of us.
“What kind of job will you give us? Will it have benefits?”
“We’ll make sure you’re all taken care of. Benefits, dental, whatever you need. The government will set you up somewhere new, remote, but safe.”
I eye her suspiciously. “All that, just for testifying?”
“Yep.”
“They’ll all be safe?”
She nods. “And you, of course.”
Safety.
A new beginning.
A fresh start.
What should I do?