Page 23 of A Promise of Forever (The Vallaverse #3)

Forrest

Making sure the door clicks shut when I leave, I press a hand to the wood, willing myself to rein in my anger until I get Sterling home.

That look in his eyes almost broke me, almost had me telling everyone here to fuck off while I took him back to the cottage and held him against my chest. But neither of us would have gotten any sleep.

I need to rip someone’s head off and Sterling doesn’t need to see me in this state.

I’ll give myself an hour and then I’ll go home to him.

One day, I’ll introduce him to the Valla everyone else knows, but not tonight.

I move back into the main room, Bryn sitting on the edge of the couch with Astra clinging to his side.

The Valla looks positively peeved, his expression dark with barely contained violence, and I recognize the look.

Someone threatened his Omega, and every instinct he possesses is screaming for blood.

"What the fuck happened?" Bryn asks, his voice rough.

"That's what I would like to know," I reply, scanning the room for any other potential threats to Sterling's safety.

Astra shifts against Bryn's side, his earlier playfulness replaced with genuine concern.

"I think he noticed Sterling was yours, Valla, and I guess wanted to impress?

I don't know. Sterling said no to the drink, but then the waiter just..

. he reached for him. But I don't know if he actually touched him or. .."

Astra frowns, clearly replaying the incident in his mind and trying to piece together exactly what triggered Sterling's distress. The uncertainty in his voice makes me feel even guiltier. I put both of them in that situation by bringing Sterling here before he was ready. I’ll have to put out a statement that lets everyone know they aren’t to so much as look in Sterling’s direction.

"I'm sorry," I say, the apology directed at both of them. "I shouldn't have put you in that situation. That waiter won't be working here or anywhere in the city again."

He'll be lucky to find work cleaning toilets in establishments that don't give a damn about my organization's reach. Bryn's expression softens slightly at my words. "Thank you for your concern. Astra is alright. How is Sterling?"

Bryn barely knows Sterling, has only seen him for maybe twenty minutes, but the concern in his voice is real. It reminds me why Caelan chose him as a mate, why their pack works so well together.

"I need someone to get him home," I say, dragging a hand down my face in frustration.

The night was supposed to be about handling business and showing Sterling a controlled glimpse of my world.

Instead, it turned into a disaster that probably set back all of the trust we just built.

"Where is that bastard Dorian? I need to deal with him before I can focus on anything else. "

Thea appears at my elbow, her timing impeccable as always. She snorts with obvious amusement. "I guess I'm on Omega duty, huh?"

The question triggers a round of laughter that helps cut through some of the tension in the room. I forget sometimes that she worked with my father and spent a lot of time with my Omega father. If anyone will be delicate enough with Sterling, it will definitely be her.

Caelan comes back into the viewing box with Lorcan, both of their expressions telling me that they probably enjoyed whatever they did to that waiter.

"The waiter has been all but disposed of," Lorcan reports, a smug smile spreading across his lips.

"I’ve also carved out a perfect space for him on the docket for this evening's fight. Should be quite a sight to see."

Anyone who makes Sterling feel unsafe deserves whatever punishment comes their way, and being thrown into the ring with actual trained fighters is merciful compared to what my Valla instincts are screaming for me to do.

“Great. And Dorian?”

Another Alpha steps up with a small file and hands it off to Thea before explaining about missing bets and how the financial records aren't lining up because Dorian skipped out on a payment due at midnight.

By default, his string of fighters is no longer allowed in our ring because of the breach of contract, which puts several upcoming matches in jeopardy and costs us potential revenue.

Which is fine. Except for the fact that I was dragged out of bed for this shit.

"And where's the fucking emergency?" I ask, frustration bleeding into my voice. "Money goes missing all the time. We hire people specifically to deal with collection issues."

Caelan chuckles as he leans against Bryn, his hand moving to settle on Astra’s head.

"Because the motherfucker was caught sneaking in here maybe half an hour ago on camera.

Lorcan grabbed him before he could get far.

He's in one of the holding cages downstairs.

Lorcan went a few rounds with him already, but it seems like this situation is a bit deeper than just not paying his debts. "

I glance out the window to see down below, realizing that the cage is shrouded in darkness on purpose. They all knew I was bringing Sterling and I’m not sure how he would have reacted seeing Dorian in the condition he probably is in.

"He might have something to do with the drugs we've been having problems keeping out of the ring," Lorcan adds, running his tongue along his top teeth.

He leans back against the window, peering down at the ring and then looks at me.

"We thought you might want to have some fun going a round or two with him yourself.

Get some answers about who's bringing contraband into your establishment. "

The drug issue has been ongoing for months, despite my explicit instructions that I want my operation completely clean of anything that could bring federal attention.

Fighters who want to use performance enhancers on their own time is one thing, but bringing that shit into my club creates a liability I'm not willing to accept.

"And this couldn't fucking wait until tomorrow?" I ask, though I already know the answer. They wanted me here, wanted my authority and reputation backing whatever punishment we're about to dish out to Dorian.

Caelan snorts, amusement flitting through his features.

"It could have, but that fucking Beta just had to tell you about it and it was easy enough without a billion staff wandering through the halls.

" His expression shifts to something more serious.

"Seems like you've figured out the Omega stuff, though.

Dad used to send all the staff home early when things got intense. What, you don't remember?"

I only vaguely remember nights when the house seemed almost scarce, completely silent while my fathers stayed at the cottage. “He sent them home because of Dad?”

My brother nods, a genuine smile slipping onto his face.

“Yeah, he saw that there was more than the business and everything else just kind of clicked. It’s not something I could really explain to you and the staff really likes the family so they weren’t going to say anything.

” He just shrugs, but that doesn’t make me feel any better about it.

“Look, it’s fine. Just beef up security a little bit so Sterling feels safer.

Now, back to the issue at hand. We would have been fine handling Dorian ourselves, but apparently he's got a price on his head that isn't ours.

If he doesn't show up to whoever put that bounty out, it could be our asses on the line.

So, we need you to see if you can get information from him about who else he's tangled with. "

And there it is. My interrogation skills aren’t really legal and they definitely border on insanity but if it gets us information, it’s worth it.

Unfortunately, in this kind of business, time truly is of the essence and waiting until the fights tonight or even later this week might have been too late.

"It's a good fucking thing Sterling told me not to kill anyone," I muse, a dark smile spreading across my face. "Because otherwise there would be a mess to power wash off the fucking floor by morning."

The comment triggers another round of laughter, the tension breaking as everyone recognizes the truth in my words.

Without Sterling's influence tempering my worst impulses, Dorian would already be dead and we'd be dealing with the fallout. Not that we couldn’t but it’s probably for the best keeping a target off my back when trying to protect Sterling.

"He's going to regret the day he ever came up to my table at middle school lunch and asked to be friends," I continue, refusing to put any sentiment behind those words.

Our relationship became all business when his sorry ass came crawling up to me for a position.

And now, his greed will be his downfall.

"Who do we have on cleaners tonight?" I ask, shifting back into business mode.

"The Gibbs crew," Lorcan answers immediately. "Probably one of the better ones."

"Perfect. They're going to need to scrub extra clean after I'm done with Dorian. I don’t want any evidence he was here.

" I turn to Thea, who's been watching the entire exchange with her usual careful attention.

"Make sure Sterling gets to the cottage safely, but don't go inside.

Not unless he's screaming for help. Not one goddamn person goes in there except for him and me. "

The Beta bows her head slightly, already moving toward the small room at the back. "Just like your parents. I like that you're keeping it special for him."

"Fuck off," I shoot back at her, but I can feel warmth spreading through my chest at the comparison.

If I can build even a fraction of what my parents had with Sterling, I'll consider myself lucky.

I turn to Bryn and Lorcan, refocusing on the immediate problem.

"Anything else I need to know about Dorian before I go down there? "