Chapter 2
Kaiden
“He’s leaving. Why else ask for a meeting with us all?” Luciano sighs, twirling a knife between his fingers. “Shame, I actually like the fucker.”
“He wouldn’t be that stupid,” Valentin murmurs, his voice echoing through the phone on loudspeaker. “He worked hard to get employed with us. He’s not gonna throw that away after a year.”
“I dunno, man. If he’s found an omega.” Luciano whistles. “Things change quick when you do.”
“Maybe it’s money. Someone offering him more,” Valentin suggests.
I frown at that.
“We pay the best wages. It isn’t that.” Sylvan never looks up from his tablet, but the next thing I know, there’s a spreadsheet on the centre screen of the table, displaying competitive security firms and their corresponding wages. “See.”
“Let’s stop guessing,” I say, the command subtle but clear. “Whatever it is, we discuss it as a pack before making a decision. Agreed?”
They all nod, except Val, whose gruff acknowledgement echoes from the speaker.
Right on time, punctual as ever, there’s a knock on the door.
I straighten my shoulders. “Come in, Rue.”
He steps in with an easy-going smile that squashes half our concerns. “Hey guys, thanks for meeting with me so quickly.”
Luc holds up his hand, and Rue clasps it as he walks by with a hard shake. “Course, man, sounded urgent over text. Got the guys and me a little worried you’re about to leave us.”
“Leave? Fuck no, I love it here.” Rue takes the seat at the opposite end of the table, facing me directly.
The seat beside Luc is free, but I respect that he chose this one. I’m the pack alpha; he knows that and is showing me respect.
I settle back in my seat, silently showing he has the table.
“Can we get on with this? It’s 4 AM here.”
“Sorry, Val. I appreciate you being here too, especially because it’s… personal.” Rue shifts a little.
“I fucking called it,” Luciano says over the bond.
“It’s my sister.”
I wasn’t expecting that. Even Sylvan glances up from his screen.
“There was an incident last night, and, well…” He pulls out his phone. “Might be easier if I just show you.”
We all get a notification. Syl taps it open, and in one fluid flick, a video is projected onto the two-way screen in the middle of the table.
It shows the outside of a building. The video’s a little grainy with no sound, but it shows enough. A brunette woman exiting a taxi, pausing on the street to search through her bag, and then a towering figure steps into frame.
She sees him. Her searching becomes frantic, and she pulls something small and rectangular out. A pass?
She rushes towards the building doors. The camera angle switches. Now we’re inside what looks like a hotel lobby. All white marble, clean and modern, and she enters—with a man chasing.
We all lean forward in our chairs. When his hand swipes for her, we tense. He misses, but keeps going, closing in. The girl’s mouth is wide open, and then the alpha’s hand snatches her hair, yanking her back.
A low rumble emits from us all.
“Don’t tell us that’s your sister,” Luc growls.
But then there’s a flash of colour, a woman in high heels with pale pink hair rushing in. Even with her back to the camera, it’s clear she’s focused on the alpha.
We all watch, locked onto this woman as she walks… towards him.
“What the fuck is she doing? He’s triple her size.” Valentin’s voice is tight, like his teeth are gritted.
When the towering alpha turns to her, my alpha grumbles, and our bond rushes with tension. I’m about to tell Syl to stop the video—when her right hook connects with the alpha’s nose.
“Fucking hell,” Luc murmurs, a slow grin curling his lips until it’s as wide as Rue’s.
“That’s my sister,” he says proudly.
There’s blood pouring down the alpha’s face, his nose clearly broken as he stumbles back. But what happens now? She just punched an aggressive alpha. How on earth does this end well?
In the footage, his body tenses, and then she steps even closer. Our growls fill the room, jaws locked in preparation for the alpha to—
Be pushed down by her hand, into a chair, and stay there.
Just when I thought this couldn’t get crazier, she lunges for him, placing the blade of her scissors to his throat.
Luc’s knife drops to the table with a loud clink. “Rue… is your sister an alpha?”
We all know there’s no chance, but he still has to ask. She’s so small and curvy. She must be a beta—
“Omega.”
Our heads all snap to him.
An omega did that to an alpha?
I’m already back to the video, watching how she never takes her eyes off the bleeding alpha while people start bringing her wires to tie him up. Then the footage ends.
“As you’ve all seen, my little sister can kick ass,” he says, so smug and proud.
I don’t blame him. That was impressive.
“But she’s only one person. She owns a big salon that has predominantly omega staff and clients, so she needs—”
“—security,” Syl finishes for him, his eyes still on the black screen.
I turn to Rue, his beaming grin too wide to be sincere, but it soon wavers when he meets my stern expression. “Rue, you know our clientele.”
“Kaiden, sir, please help me out. I trust you guys. I trust everyone at this firm. I know she isn’t a high-profile politician or an A-list celeb, but she’s my little sister.”
“There are other firms that are equipped for this low-level job.” Syl swipes over his tablet, and Rue’s phone pings. “I’ve sent you several.”
Rue shakes his head. “I don’t know them. I don’t trust them.”
“We don’t have the capacity,” I state, calm but stern. “We have a waitlist of clients, government officials, royalty. I understand your concern, and I appreciate your respect for this firm, but it’s not possible at this time.”
Rue’s gaze searches each of us, but even Luc is silent, threading the blade between his fingers again.
He sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “I know. Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to waste your time, it’s just…
” He shakes his head, hand clenching into a fist on the table as he seeks me out again.
“You know what omegas are told all their lives, right? Find a rich pack, get claimed, have some pups. But that’s not Revea. ”
Revea.
That’s her name.
He’s never told us that before, and I’m not sure who it is, but someone repeats it down the pack bond.
“She’s built this salon from the ground up. Literally. Did it all by herself. And she works so damn hard. Booked up for months, training apprentices, heading to conventions across the globe.”
He gestures towards the paused video.
“That girl in the footage? Serena. The shit she’s been through…” He shakes his head. “When my sister opened applications for an apprentice, thousands of people applied, including the mayor’s daughter. But guess who she picked?”
He nods to the screen.
“Serena. An omega with no experience, an omega too terrified to leave the house. Because Serena didn’t want the job—she needed it.
” Rue exhales slowly. “That’s what my sister does.
She takes people under her wing. The weak, the vulnerable.
She protects them, just like we do.” His voice drops.
“But even we work in pairs. She’s only one person. ”
He looks at each of us in turn before settling on me.
“She’s my baby sister. I can’t watch her lose everything she’s built because of one asshole alpha…” He trails off, eyes dropping to the table.
It was a valiant effort. I’ll ask Luc to try and convince him to use one of the other firms Syl sent through; we’ll make sure it’s someone we’ve used in the past—
“I’ll nip round tomorrow.”
“What the fuck, Luc?” I snarl over the bond.
My alpha bristles instantly. No one in this pack makes decisions alone. Not on jobs. Not on clients.
He holds up his hands. “I’m off anyway—it’s my free time. Maybe I just want a haircut.” Then he grins, turning back to Rue. “I’ll at least get a feel for the place, sketch out an action plan. We’ve got some retired guys who I bet would love a gig like this.”
“Luciano, I fucking love you, man.” Rue exhales hard, then his lips tug into a tight smile. “There’s just one other thing.”
“What?” Val snaps.
I honestly thought he’d left.
Rue scratches his scruff. “My sis isn’t exactly keen on the idea of having security… especially not alphas.”
“You’re forcing this on her,” Syl states, tone dry.
“No, she agreed, eventually,” he murmurs that last one. “She’s just very… independent. Wants to show the world what omegas are capable of. But yesterday, it hit home…” He shrugs. “A little.”
“You’re basically asking me to convince her you’re right?” Luc finishes, then huffs. “Fuck, man, this is turning out to be one big favour. What if there are shears at my throat next?”
“You’d like that,” Syl adds over the bond, and he’s not wrong.
Luc smirks.
“Anything you want, it’s yours. You know my brother’s chief of police? You want some top-secret information?” Rue snaps his fingers. “Done.”
“You think I haven’t hacked into police servers before?” Syl chips in, expressionless.
I throw him a quick look.
“Should I not tell him that?” he asks over the bond, and I shake my head.
Thankfully, Rue chooses to ignore it. “I mean it, though, guys, I owe you. Next time you need something, I’m your guy. You never know, this might work out. Maybe you’ll get free haircuts for life?”
When he leaves, he gives Luc another hard handshake, and as soon as the door clicks into place, I turn on him.
“What happened to agreeing as a pack?” I snarl, low.
“You’re blurring boundaries,” Syl adds quietly, tapping his tablet.
“Idiota,” Val curses.
“Calm down, it’s one fucking day.” Luc rolls his eyes. “Besides, you’re telling me not one of you is curious to see what this omega looks like?”
No one denies it.
“Luciano, do not get invested in this. In her,” Valentin growls.
“Bro, you know me. I’m shit at commitment.”
I glance at my packmate. He’s fixated on the screen, and the interest makes me uneasy. This isn’t just some omega. She’s Rue’s sister.
Even Syl is watching again. But so am I…
Then Luc replays the footage, and no one stops him.