Page 59

He puts the truck in gear so they can head around the side of the motel, where Jay insists Gideon and Leo stay with the van, but agrees to take the tranq with him—just in case.

Digging around further, Gideon unearths blankets and three new burner cells, plus a case carrying eight subcutaneous trackers.

Those are a surprise.

“What are those?” Leo asks with a nod.

He’s arranging the blankets from the overhead compartment and laying them over the rear seat in the van.

He’s laid it flat so they’ll have somewhere Finn can be comfortable, even if he comes willingly.

He pulls the meager belongings from the duffle bag, too, and puts them near the head of the makeshift bed.

Leo isn’t usually a nester, but it looks comfortable and thoughtful.

Gideon sighs, opening the lid to reveal eight trackers lying in a row, with their initials over each one. Using one of the burner phones, Gideon scans the QR code on the lid, and it pulls up a brief on the device. Each one is formulated with a specific mate’s physiology in mind to avoid rejection.

“They’re trackers.”

All Gideon has to do is inject the nano-device into his mates, and he can track them at any time, at any distance on his phone.

Lauren might be his new favorite person, no matter that he’ll never say so to her face. Or out loud.

“Trackers? What the fuck for?”

Leo’s tone implies he can’t imagine a single reason they would need individual trackers.

For a second, Gideon revels in how his mate has lived a life without fear and thought of the darker sides of life.

He now understands why Lauren kept her secret life away from her son.

Will Gideon be the one to pull the rose-colored glasses away from his charmed life?

Not bloody likely.

Leo sits cross-legged in the center of the makeshift bed, low-key excited to see his mates. It’s clear in his jittery legs and occasional shimmy of his shoulders. Even his eyes are bright.

And Gideon won’t be the one to ruin it.

Right now, anyway.

Tucking the tracker kit into his duffle, he hopes he won’t regret not using it right the fuck now.

The Goddess must have turned her gaze his way today, because he doesn’t have to dwell long on his indecision—just then, the side door to the hotel bursts open.

Luca and Grayson come racing out, carrying the bags and some of the hotel bed linens.

“Move, move, move!” Grayson shouts as they climb in and throw the linens on the makeshift bed before crawling into the front of the van and out of the way.

“They’re coming.”

No sooner than Grayson says it, Nix bolts through the door and up into the van, throwing himself into Leo’s arms with a cackle of glee.

He’s naked, with his baby belly on display.

“He’s right behind me! Why is this so fun?”

A similarly naked Finn falls out the side door, nose lifted to the wind, chasing his omega as alphas have done since time began.