“Oh yeah. I’m not worried. He can sling mud all he likes. I know I’ve done nothing wrong.”
There was a pause, then the alpha pressed his palm across Oliver’s belly. “I meant about this.”
Inhaling, Oliver gently ran his fingers over Lucas’ wrist. “I… I’m not sure. It’s all just a bit… unexpected. I’m struggling to look ahead just now.”
Lucas nodded, slipping his hand into his pocket and drawing out the ultrasound image. They stared at it in silence for a long moment.
“Looks like you,” Oliver said, sticking out his tongue. “If you were a blob.”
Lucas snorted before leaning down to kiss his neck.
“Anyway, what time are we heading back tomorrow?” Oliver asked, dragging his eyes away from the picture. The alpha hummed, tucking it back into his pocket.
“So long as no one throws themselves on the tracks overnight, I’d say around seven. Give or take.” He shifted the blanket that was covering Oliver’s legs, wrapping it around the two of them. “Blake said they’d found some communication data between Patrick and the Octane Club associate. His name’s Bartek Bosko. He’s a known organised crime leader in Poland. I haven’t had many dealings in that region, which is why I didn’t recognise him.”
Oliver raised an eyebrow. “Really? Well, Patrick’s fucked then, isn’t he?”
“Indeed.”
“Let’s go pull the plug on these fuckers, shall we?”
TWENTY-SEVEN
BLUES & TWOS
Rain thundered across the windscreen of the blue Honda Jazz, the heavens having well and truly shit the bed that afternoon. Oliver sighed as he took a sip of steaming hot tea from the thermos flask balanced between his knees.
“This is boring as fuck,” he said, handing Nancy a cheese sandwich.
Stretching her legs into the footwell, she sighed and took a bite. “I know. That’s why I said to bring a packed lunch. Should have brought a board game, too.”
“This isn’t a school trip,” Oliver scoffed. Though, Scrabble sounded infinitely more appealing than being parked up in a lay-by on the side of the M5.
“Surely they can’t be far off,” Nancy said, tapping her foot against the dashboard. “Sarge said they had eyes on him at junction six, right?”
Oliver sighed. The peppermint sweet he’d been sucking was quickly dissolving into a chalky paste on the back of his tongue. He didn’t care what the internet said, nothing could truly combat morning sickness.
“Yeah,” he said, swallowing back another wave of nausea. “But there’s probably been a crash or something. You know that slip road’s a fucking death trap.”
Lucas—in his infinite wisdom—placed him and Nancy in a car as far away from said death trap as possible. He’d tried to stop Oliver going altogether, but finally relented when the sigma pointed out that suddenly being withdrawn from active duty, just a few weeks after the mating, would make their situation pretty fucking obvious.
“I don’t care what everyone else thinks, I only care about you,” Lucas had growled, rubbing Oliver’s back as he threw up into a service station toilet. The journey back from London had been horrific, but fifteen stops and a breakfast drive through later, they finally made it back to West Newton.
Matteus cornered him as soon as he stepped foot into the station, demanding to know how the trip went and why the hell Oliver looked so fucking unwell. Oliver had kept out of sniffing range long enough to convince his brother that they’d speak later over a takeaway.
“Together,” Matteus said, stamping his foot. “With Lucas. As a pack.”
Oliver flippantly waved the comment away, but in reality he was absolutely shitting himself at the thought of telling Matteus about the pregnancy. He loved his brother, he really did, but he was only just coming to terms with it himself.
“Bravo delta one.” The radio resting on the dashboard suddenly flashed to life.
“Bravo delta one, go ahead,” the dispatcher replied.
“Both suspect vehicles heading eastbound towards Morton Cross. Surveillance units to remain on standby.”
“Oh, oh, oh, that’s us!” Nancy said, excitedly slapping his arm.
Oliver couldn’t ignore how the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It was go time. The cybercrime unit had worked through the night to extract the location and messaging data from Patrick’s mobile phone.
