Page 50 of Knot Their Safe Haven

She'd been thinking of me, even then. Even drowning, even dying, some part of her had remembered the boy who'd looked at her without conditions.

"Because she's tired of cowards," I said simply. "And whatever else I am, I'm not that."

Alexia hummed in agreement.

"No, you're definitely not. Insane, possibly. Obsessive, definitely. But not a coward."

"I learned from the best."

She laughed, that rich sound that she only let out around pack.

In public, Alex's laugh was controlled, masculine, carefully modulated.

But Alexia laughed with her whole body, unashamed of her female Alpha status even if the world wasn't ready to accept it.

"Speaking of which," she continued, "I've had the lawyers draw up secondary documentation. If those three grow balls and try to contest the claiming, we need to be ready."

"They won't."

"You seem very sure."

I looked at Velvet's face, peaceful in unconscious rest but with a tension in her jaw that suggested even sleep wasn't true respite.

"They've had twenty years to claim her properly. If they challenge now, after letting her nearly die rather than sign papers, they'll look like exactly what they are…men who only want her when someone else has her."

"The media would crucify them."

"If the media found out." I smiled, though she couldn't see it. "Which they would, through carefully placed leaks from concerned sources."

"You've thought this through."

"I've had seventeen years to think it through."

Silence stretched between us, comfortable in the way of pack who understood each other.

Finally, Alexia sighed.

"The cottage in Regensburg is ready if you need it. Full medical suite, private staff, completely off the grid. Dante and Damon have their men running security."

"Men?"

"You know what I mean. Their... associates."

Their soldiers. Their family's army.

The Corleone twins had inherited more than their father's legitimate businesses. They'd also inherited an organization that predated Mussolini, with fingers in everything from construction to Congress. They played at being art dealers the way I played at being just a venture capitalist—it was true as far as it went, but it didn't go nearly far enough.

"We might need it," I admitted, watching Velvet's eyes move under closed lids. REM sleep, probably. Dreaming of something. "Once she's stable enough to travel."

"I'll have the jet ready. And Alessandro?"

"Hmm?"

"Read the rest of those books. Especially chapter twelve of the third one. Very educational about what Omegas actually want versus what Alphas think they want."

She hung up before I could respond, leaving me staring at the paperback I'd abandoned.

Chapter twelve, she'd said. I flipped through, finding the page.