Page 19

“We will see you tomorrow, Boo-Boo,” his Mama-Frankie pats his cheek, making sure she jingles the car keys to remind her wife that it’s her turn to drive.

May the Goddess protect them—and every unfortunate pedestrian—from here to the Costas’ house.

He and his Mom watch as she stops to point out something to a Sentinel agent installing a motion detector system along the courtyard. The woman in black eyeballs the spacing between the neighboring device before moving it two inches to the left.

“Leo,” his Mom says and clears her throat. She is working up to something that makes her uncomfortable, and, boy, is that a weird sensation.

If there is something he can always count on, it’s Lauren Arnell Costas always having an unapologetic opinion with facts to back it up.

“Mom?” Leo prompts.

His dread of her uncertainty comes from his confidence in her certainty, and seeing her falter is disconcerting. Come to think of it, he’s seen more of that faltering in the last week amongst his own usually resolute alphas than he ever has before.

“Leo,” she begins again, and this time, he looks up to see her gazing at him. “I apologize.”

Holy shit.

“Uh…for what exactly?” Leo would never be fool enough to assume and get caught out.

She tilts her head and squints her eyes suspiciously like she can read his mind. Maybe she can. “For keeping the truth about your Uncle Lance from you all this time. He and I were close as children, and once I presented, my parents sent me away to school.”

His mom had graduated from La Sorbonne, spent her early adult years modeling across Europe, and eventually returned to America to pursue an acting career. “I missed him terribly, and when he…died, I felt like a piece of me died, too.”

His mother’s normally firm tone is soft, and just for a millisecond, Leo sees the slightly softer younger woman she had been. “I’m sorry you lost someone you loved. That must have been life-altering.”

She lets her surprise show for a moment. “Yes, it was. Lance was the only omega we knew, and we only realized he was one because my great-grandfather once worked for a family with a ‘special son.’”

She fiddles with the clasp of her Chanel bag, snapping it open and closed absentmindedly, her thoughts drifting elsewhere. “That was a long time ago.”

“But when I met our Nix, I knew right away that he was an omega—that he is different in other ways, too. He shines, Leo. Shines with something so lovely and pure.”

She sighs, clearly smitten—then, just as quickly, she frowns, a muscle ticking in her jaw. “I will not allow anything bad to happen to him. Are we clear?”

Leo nods. “Yes, Mom. We don’t want anything bad to happen to him, either.” He wisely leaves out that Nix is the most dangerous one of them all.

“Of course not.” She sounds affronted, as if she hadn’t implied the entire morning that Nix’s pack—namely Jay and Gideon—were disappointments.

Leo is about to defend them when Frankie-Mama flicks on the aux and LRH’s Too Drunk To F*ck booms out at top volume throughout the courtyard.

Shaking her head, his mom looks directly into Leo’s eyes. He’s not used to it, and the intensity takes him by surprise. The only other time she’d looked at him like this was when he told his family he was mating Jay and Luca the moment Luca turned eighteen. She had said nothing, just stared into his soul before giving him a single nod.

This time, though, that piercing gaze is softened by a small smile and a warm hand cupping his cheek.

“I know I don’t say it often, Leo, but I love you very much. We— I —am proud of you, and I’m happy you’re all finally together.” She pats his cheek before squeezing his shoulder. “See you at the courthouse tomorrow. And Leo? Make sure Gideon gets there on time.”

A Sentinel agent barely gets the gate open in time and, if Leo isn’t mistaken, he heaves a sigh of relief once his mothers drive away.

Cat is out along the perimeter wall with her tablet, checking camera angles, as Leo walks around the side of the house, thinking he might get a status report. But Tsuki is lying in the sun nearby, and when Leo approaches, she wags her tail, trotting over to greet him.

Damn dog. Leo is sure she is taunting him with her attention. She must know he’s not fond of animals.

He turns abruptly in order to head off her incoming trajectory, slipping in the side door and closing it in her tiny furry face. “Ha!” He says out loud, following it up by sticking out his tongue. “Suck it, doggo.”

Immediately, he hears Grayson, Jay, and Gideon burst into laughter.

Jay—perched on a tall ladder with a drill in hand—is attaching the tether supports for the cat tree while Grayson steadies the ladder at its base. Jay has to set the drill down to keep from dropping it on his mate’s head as his body shakes with laughter.

Gideon, meanwhile, hasn’t moved from his spot on the couch—and for good reason. Both cats are curled up on his belly, bouncing gently with the rhythm of his laughter.

“Why don’t you like our sweet girl? She only wants you to love her,” Grayson says, eyes on Jay, hands never leaving the ladder just in case their leader needs a rescue. Tsuki is sitting patiently on the other side of the door, staring holes into his soul.

He can feel it burning through the glass.

“Ha fucking ha. It’s not her; it’s just animals in general,” Leo groans, finally letting her in and jumping over the back of the sofa to avoid her slobbery kisses of gratitude. “Where did everyone go?”

If he had to guess, Nix and Luca are probably getting into trouble with Rowan, while Finn is hopefully on wrangling duty. Nose to the ground, Tsuki leaves the living room shortly afterward, trotting toward the nest room.

Well, that answers that question.

“Taking a nap,” Gideon says. “Look.” Gideon holds his arm out so Leo can take the phone from him. It’s playing a video of the cutest puppy pile.

Rowan is lying on the bottom, with Finn and Luca holding hands over the enigma’s belly. Nix is up between his legs with his cheek resting on Rowan’s hip, facing Luca. They look so angelic. Tsuki enters the video and lies curled up behind Luca, with her snout on his butt.

It’s only then that he realizes the video isn’t a recording—it’s live. “Holy shit. Is that part of the new security system?”

“Mmm. I like it.” Gideon goes back to watching his babies sleep, occasionally petting his cats.

Now, someone might say that Leo’s addiction to Mike Myers films is to blame, but his alpha is surely giving off Dr. Evil vibes. He’s smart enough to keep that to himself, however (Leo is an expert at holding his tongue, thank you very much).

Given that everyone is busy and Leo is starving, he decides he could rustle up a late lunch. Delivery isn’t an option, and Gideon is occupied with his live video surveillance of the nest room.

Meanwhile, Jay is still on the ladder, hand on his chest as he dramatically quotes Juliet’s lines from Romeo and Juliet to Grayson, who’s doing his best not to laugh despite his blushing cheeks.

Fuck it. Leo can boil water. He can follow directions. Because Leo is a fucking adult.

Or so he thinks.

That line of logic is precisely what sets off the new heat sensors in the kitchen, resulting in the local fire department dispatching a truck thirty minutes later. Turns out, water in a pot needs to be watched —otherwise, it evaporates and sets the pot on fire .

When Gideon smacks him upside the head, Leo tries to argue that a watched pot never boils.

Gideon’s unimpressed glare is answer enough.

The commotion wakes the rest of the house, and once the agents and fire department leave, Jay steps in to make pasta— show off . They all collapse onto the couch like heathens, sharing the meal in a comfortable sprawl.

Later, Leo finds himself stretched out with his head in Nix’s lap and his toes tucked under Finn’s thigh. Together, they watch Austin Powers to distract themselves from the weight of tomorrow. Despite the incoming stress, his mates smell content, and for now, that’s all Leo needs.

Happiness might be in short supply after tomorrow’s events, but tonight, he has them—and that’s enough.