I thought of the breeding pens. The plantations. “Yeah. I hear you.” Breathing in, I sensed the slight shift in the perfume surrounding us. The ache in my cock eased as my body responded to her cues. “Hey, it looks like she’s drifting off now,” I said. “You want to get the toy out of her? I’ll hang out here until you’re both asleep, and then clean everything up for the next round.”
Kam freed a hand from his embrace of Leona in favor of wrapping it around my forearm as he met my eyes. “Thank you, Flynn. Truly.”
And... damn, but these two were going to be the death of me, coming out of nowhere like a fucking wrecking ball.
* * *
Ikept silent watchover the nest as the omegas slept. Hours passed, and Leona’s scent was just beginning to thicken again when the sound of a familiar engine rumbled along the private drive. Grabbing my handgun from where I’d stashed it just beyond the pile of cushions and blankets, I rose and went to confirm through the nearest window that it was who I expected it to be.
Alex climbed out of the driver’s seat and slammed it behind her, striding toward the front door. She, too, had a hand on her sidearm—just in case. My alpha instincts quieted from their state of high alert. She looked haggard, and I wondered in a distant and detached sort of way if I was going to have to track down and kill some more people after all, to get revenge for Jax.
I stowed my Glock and went to unbolt the front door, letting out a complicated little whistle that anyone else might mistake for a birdcall before I opened it. Her stance relaxed as she took me in, though she did twitch a bit as the scent of heat hit her.
“Is he dead?” I asked, unwilling to beat around the bush.
She entered as I stood back, making way for her. “He was still alive when I left the clinic.”
I nodded once, sharply. “Good. Any other news?”
Her face set in hard lines. “The IV bag Beckett snatched from the lab contained a dilute solution of a novel thiophosphonate compound.”
“Thiophosphonate.” I cast my mind back to our military training. “A nerve agent?”
“Apparently. There are structural similarities to VX agent.”
There was a ‘but’ in there somewhere.
“But...?” I prompted.
She shook her head, frustrated. “But the lab tech seemed confident that this variation wouldn’t be dangerous to betas except at very high concentrations.”
“The weapon,” I said. “The one mentioned in that speech they were supposed to read, that would kill alphas and omegas.” It made sense. At least, part of it did. “But you said Jax is still alive.”
“Yeah.” Alex’s mouth twitched into a frown. “Seems like it’s not quite ready for prime time yet. Small mercies, I guess.”
“They think he’ll be okay, though?” I asked.
“They’ve got him on atropine and pralidoxime at the moment. The IV bag was still mostly full when I ripped the cannula out of him, so he didn’t get the dose they intended him to get. The big question is whether there’s going to be any permanent nerve damage. It’s too soon to tell.”
“Shit,” I said eloquently.
“How are the civvies doing?” Alex asked, changing the subject.
I shifted mental gears. “About as well as can be expected, I guess.”
Alex sniffed the air. “She’s getting ready to peak again.” Tension lurked behind the statement.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Kam’s been doing the heavy lifting. I’m just supplying the pheromones.”
Alex raised an eyebrow at me. “You’re on a first-name basis, then?”
I shrugged. “He insisted. Can’t really argue—once someone’s seen your dick waving around, ‘Madam Ambassador’ and ‘Mr. Patel’ start to sound kind of silly.”
She stared me down, and I tried not to shift uncomfortably beneath that dominant gaze.
“Don’t get attached to them, Flynn,” she said. “You know that can only end badly.”
My jaw tightened. “No, Idon’tknow that,alef,” I retorted. “You haven’t spent time with them. They’re special. This pack—we could have something with them.”
