Chapter Ten

I shot straight up in bed, breathing shallowly. My dragon had woken me repeatedly through the night, huffing with concern.

Sleeping in the bed next to my omega, a mate I didn't deserve and who would be cursed to live a life with me—I wasn't worthy of that honor.

But there was no way in hell I could let him sleep in the warehouse, not knowing if he was cold or hungry or would wake up scared. If he was my mate, then I was his, and, with my scent touching everything in this room, hopefully he slept in a cocoon of comfort, for the first time in a long time, I would guess.

I let out a long, quiet breath, careful not to wake him. For months, he had been tortured in one way or another. He would need more than food and a place to rest.

He would need someone to talk to. Someone to help him traverse his trauma and the aftermath.

I could do this. I could keep my mate at arm's length and make sure he was taken care of without letting more of a bond grow between us.

I'd killed a good number of assholes and faced bullets and monsters in my line of work, but keeping my distance from my mate would be the hardest job I'd ever done.

Putting on a pair of jeans, I looked at his serene face as he slept. I hadn't even heard him stir once. Only soft breaths came from his nose. He rested on his side, and I itched to slide into the bed next to him and be the bigger spoon. Keep him warm. Protect him with my body and soothing words. Let the touch of his mate help to calm him.

No.

I slipped from the room while pulling a shirt over my head and made my way to the kitchen. Pop-Tart had amended the chore schedule to account for all the people under our care. I had first duty along with King. We were tasked with cooking for about a hundred shifters, so comparable to three hundred hungry people.

The reviving scent of coffee hit my nose before I entered, along with the scent of lion. "Morning," I said and stood next to him, waiting for the coffeepot to stop dripping. "Anything on the run?"

He shook his head. "No. The silence didn't feel right. Not even the whoosh of wind."

I turned around and leaned on the counter, hot cup of coffee cradled in my hands. King had already set up everything for blueberry pancakes, including three griddles. I hadn't even realized we owned three griddles but thanked the gods that we did.

"Nobody has allergies?" I asked, tipping my chin at his setup.

"No. Well, not to blueberries or anything in the pancakes. Pop-Tart made a list under the schedule."

Sometimes Pop-Tart could be late on things but, when it mattered, he was solid.

And this mattered, maybe more than anything else we'd ever accomplished.

Our teammates along with Gray and the little wolf staggered in through the next hour or so while we cooked. No one breached the silence except for asking for the spatula or simple polite gestures.

Tyrus grunted, slamming his coffee cup down. Gray startled, but Hammer was quick to calm him with an arm around his omega's shoulders. "Someone fucking say something."

Aziz shook his head. "He's right. We have to talk about this shit. Someone is fucking us over."

What an apt way to put it. That was exactly how I felt. Fucked over.

I flipped another line of pancakes. "Safe houses aren't safe. We have been saving omegas only to turn them over to even worse conditions. For every breeding ring we take down, three more take its place. I was sent in to kill a group of alphas who had my…had an omega in the house. I almost burned the place to the fucking ground. Anything else?"

Hammer spoke up. "I don't know what the fuck is going on, but we have to fix it." His anger blanketed us all. "I built this team to save omegas from the same fate as my father, and we haven't really helped anyone at all. We've contributed to their ongoing suffering."

This time it was Gray who calmed his alpha.

Tyrus sat up straighter. The pancakes were done, and the omegas would be filing in soon for their breakfast. "We have to take care of the omegas we have here. Gray is going to help me compare the omegas we took in over time to the ones we found last night. Instead of breaking up breeding houses, we are going to move to revisiting safe houses. Can't even call them fucking safe houses anymore."

"Some of them are," Jack said, coming in with his wee one. "Some are doing good things. I am in touch with some omegas from the breeding place. Some who got out. I can give you a list of the ones reported safe. That way, you can focus on the others. Does that help anything?"

"It really does. Thank you, Jack," Hammer responded. "Until then, everyone, even the ones we work for, are presumed to be the enemy."

Grunts and growls rang out around the kitchen.

We didn't have time to linger on the what-ifs or the rage I was sure flowed through all our veins. We had work to do.

We put the griddles away and served the omegas their breakfast. They all had some level of sadness in their eyes. Some of them didn't speak or look up.

Guilt flooded me, but I had to remember the real villain here.

"What's up with you and the omega?" the hyena asked.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

Aziz moved to make sure he and I were at eye level. "You know what I'm talking about. What's his name? Heath? I can't keep them all straight."

"Hutch," I said. "And you need to mind your own business."

Aziz cocked his eyebrow. "Mind my own business? How boring."