Page 131 of Pack Choice

“I’m not a baby. And why?”

“He needs to be focussed on the job,” Axel says, his murderous eyes finding mine again, “and not your ass.”

“Someone interested in my ass, is going to be a lot more invested in saving it if it comes down to it,” Molly points out.

“Molly is very important to me,” I tell her brother, holding his gaze.

“Is she now,” Axel growls, taking a step towards me.

Luckily for all of us involved, his omega waddles out of the doorway at that exact moment.

“Molly,” she says with obvious delight. Molly rushes towards her and leans over the mated omega’s huge belly to hug her. “I’m so glad you are home. There has been far too much testosterone in this house and not nearly enough estrogen.”

The omega takes Molly by the hand and starts to lead her inside. I hesitate. I don’t want to let her go.

But Molly squeezes her sister-in-law’s hand, then slips away and walks straight up to me, taking my hands in hers instead.

“Will you call me later, Alpha?” she asks.

“Of course.” I rest my fingers on her hips, not caring about our audience, images from the last few days flashing through my mind. The breeze lifts wisps of her fair hair, the lowering sun catching in the strands and turning it into golden threads. Her blue eyes so like the ocean, sparkling bright and threatening to draw me down, down into their depths. I sigh. This woman is so damn beautiful.

“And you’re coming to Monaco with us, right?”

“Monaco?” her brother and her sister-in-law say together.

It’s going to be impossible to extract myself from her side. Anywhere she goes, I’m going to want to follow. “Yes,” I tell her.

She grins and stands up onto her toes to kiss me.

I forget all about the murderous brother and kiss her back. I can’t help myself. She’s just like the ocean, pulling me towards her in that magnetizing way, inviting me to plunge right in.

My fingers dig into the soft flesh of her hips. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to let her go.

“Tomorrow,” she whispers into my mouth. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

It’s really not that long and yet it’s going to feel like an eternity.

* * *

The small apartmentI rent near the center of the city seems barren and emptier than the last time I entered it. I’ve been renting it for eight months, since I moved here and took the job with Silver’s firm, yet there are unpacked boxes stacked in one corner, the walls are bare, the shelves empty, and there’s nothing to eat in the fridge.

I slump down on the couch, kicking off my shoes, laying back and letting my feet dangle off the edge.

God, I’m spent. Exhausted. Emotionally and physically. But despite all that, I’m happy too. Happier than I ever remember being.

Molly Stormgate wants to be with me. She doesn’t care about my past. She doesn’t care about my mistakes. She thinks I’m worth having anyway. And she wants us to find a pack together.

A warmth radiates in my chest, warming all along my body and down to my toes, like basking in sunshine. Soon my eyes grow heavy and I fall into a contented sleep. No nightmares this time. No dreams of gunfire and explosions. Of yells and screams. Of the faces of the men who should have been my packmates. I don’t dream at all. I’m out cold until the buzz of my phone in my pocket snaps me awake.

It takes me a moment to understand where I am, then yawning, I drag the phone from my pocket, expecting the call to be from Molly.

When I see it’s from Silver, I bolt upright, my heart slamming to a halt. Molly – has something happened to Molly?

“Sir?” I say. “Is everything okay?”

“You tell me,” Silver says a little gruffly, “you know I should fire your ass. You realize I’ve fired people’s asses for far smaller transgressions.”

“Yes.”