Page 68 of Laced With Secrets

My hand drifted to the bump beneath my loose sweater as I watched them exchange a loaded glance—the kind of silent alpha communication that meant they’d done something they knew I wouldn’t like and were trying to decide who had to tell me.

“You’ve been busy,” I observed, keeping my tone light.

“Katherine pulled the construction permits and inspection records for the preservation projects underway during the time Thomas went missing,” Blake said, not looking up from his tablet. “Public records, mostly, but illuminating.”

“Abigail’s been cross-referencing them with the copies Mayor Fairfax gave you from the Historical Society archives. We’re building our own timeline,” Dominic explained, moving to pull out a chair for me. “Since Hawkins can’t share everything from an active investigation.”

“Any news?” I repeated. “He can say if he has any leads, right?”

Blake’s lips curled into an amused smile. “Dom and the sheriff are giving each other the cold shoulder at the moment.”

“What happened?” I asked, a knot of anxiety forming in my stomach.

“After you had lunch with Vicente at Bella Vista,” Blake said, his tone almost conversational, “Dominic had what I would diplomatically call a ‘passionate discussion’ with Sheriff Hawkins.”

I turned to my alpha slowly. “What kind of ‘passionate discussion’?”

Dominic’s jaw tightened, and through our bond I felt a flash of guilt mixed with defensiveness. “I may have… expressed concern about your safety.”

“He threatened to sue the department for failing to adequately protect a pregnant omega from organized crime threats,” Blake supplied helpfully, not even trying to hide his amusement. “Had Katherine on speaker phone drafting the complaint right there in Hawkins’ office.”

“Then when Hawkins tried to call his bluff,” Blake continued, clearly enjoying himself, “Dom here very calmly pulled up the sheriff’s reelection schedule and started googling potential opponents to fund. Mentioned something about billboards and attack ads.”

“Blake,” Dominic warned.

“And when Hawkinsstillwouldn’t cooperate,” Blake added, his grin widening, “Your alpha pulled out his phone and said he had several major news outlets on speed dial who would beveryinterested in a story about local law enforcement obstructing a concerned mate’s attempts to protect his pregnant omega from mob violence.”

“You did what now?” I asked, equally shocked and mortified.This is going to be THE town gossip in Millcrest for the next three years! Oh my God.

“They’re very responsive to stories about omega rights violations,” Dominic said.

“You have a CNN producer on speed dial?” Penny asked.

“I have a lot of contacts,” Dominic said. “In my defense, I have recently experienced significant bond-stress. My cortisol levels and protective instincts were somewhat elevated?—”

“He told Hawkins, and I quote, ‘I’m patient, I hold grudges, and I have excellent records retention,’” Blake said, absolutelydelighted. “The deputies had to physically escort him out before he could file the lawsuit, make any campaign donations, or actually call CNN.”

“Will you give it a rest?” Dominic’s lips curled back, exposing his sharp canines as he glared at his cousin.

“What? As a fellow alpha, I thought your commitment to your mate’s protection admirable,” Blake said, his baby blues twinkling. “Though I personally would have led with the media threat and saved the lawsuit as the nuclear option, but that’s just me. You went full scorched earth immediately.”

Despite everything, I felt my lips twitch. “Scorched earth, huh?”

“I was… not at my most rational,” Dominic admitted. “You’d just had lunch with a man whose family makes people disappear. I needed to know if you were in danger.”

“So naturally, threatening law enforcement was your first move,” I said.

“Second move,” Blake corrected. “His first move was waking me at two in the morning—after he waited for you to fall asleep—to demand I use my ‘connections’ to verify Vicente’s whereabouts in 1973.”

“It was a reasonable request?—”

“At two AM,” Blake repeated. “On a Tuesday. I had a board meeting at eight.”

Blake’s gaze fixed on me. “All whileyou—the source of all my woes—snored blissfully away in dreamland.”

“I don’t snore,” I said defensively. As if that was the part I should be objecting to.

“Did you get the information?” Penny asked, clearly fascinated by this glimpse into their behind-the-scenes panic.