“Can you imagine if they’d come across the Nix we know? The battle-ready, ass-kicking omega who has never—not once—liked strangers in his den?”
Luca shudders theatrically. “We’d have a big mess, that’s for sure. Yikes.” He pulls away suddenly. “Jay! Nix took my phone. Won’t he show up on the security app?”
Gideon wants to facepalm.
Jay already has the family security app open on his phone before Luca even finishes his sentence.
Sure enough, it shows Luca’s location—except it looks like Luca is at the hospital.
With Finn.
And…Tsuki?
They’re at the hospital?
The last time Nix had been in a hospital flashes through Gideon’s mind like a punch to the gut.
He knows he’s not alone in that thought when Jay immediately dials Finn’s phone instead of Luca’s—then starts pacing, waiting for him to answer.
“Rowan had Tsuki chipped?” Gideon asks, distracted for the briefest moment.
The front door beeps, and Rowan confirms it while removing his suit jacket. “Fuck yeah, I did.”
His broad shoulders strain against the light pink dress shirt. Whoa. They’ll have to get him a few new suits at this rate. Where he’d always been tall, he’s only been growing broader by the day—maybe it’s the presence of their omega that’s ramping up the enigma’s physique.
“Sure as fuck not giving a gift only to have a stranger steal her away.” His nose goes in the air. “Hey, did we have people in while I was gone?”
“Not voluntarily,” Leo says, handing Rowan the tablet.
Rowan goes stock still.
Grayson joins them a minute later from the powder room, minus his jacket and scent patch, looking pale and sweaty.
“Is it the BBS, Gray?” Luca asks, already finding their mate a glass of juice and some anti-nausea meds.
“Yeah. I was away too long. The CEO stopped us at the door. But it got worse a little while ago—then there was an accident on the highway. Fucking detours. Where’s Nix? And did you say we had visitors?”
Grayson does exactly what Jay had done. With an ominous growl, he puts his nose in the air before moving at a fast clip toward the stairs.
Gideon doesn’t stop him.
A few minutes later, Grayson returns with Nix’s sleep shirt wrapped around his face. It seems to help his color somewhat—but not the waves of menace oozing from his every pore.
“What the fuck isgoing on?” he asks.
Rowan hands the tablet back to Leo before disappearing out the back door and across the yard—the same way the intruders had gone.
“Fuck. Rowan!”
Gideon takes off after him.
The last thing he wants is his alpha clearing the wall in one fell swoop and chasing whatever scent trail he’s caught—barefoot through the streets of Nashville.
He bursts through the doors just a second behind Rowan, who is already sprinting into the woods.
Rowan’s toes dig into the stone wall, and he’s six feet off the ground, one leg swinging over the top, when Gideon catches him around the waist.
Together, they tumble backward toward the ground.
