Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Maverick

" W hy are you acting weird?" I ask Bless as we carry another stack of boxes down to the bed of her truck.

"Oh, I don't know." She scoffs. "Maybe because your partner couldn't keep his teeth out of someone I genuinely care about."

I frown. "Brooklyn shouldn't have to put her life on hold just because her ex is a royal piece of shit."

"Don't lecture me," Bless growls back. "The three of you are thinking with your instincts and not rational sense. I can't even go with my backup plan to get her out during the wedding. Now we have to pivot at the last minute, and that makes me anxious."

"He already saw me and Brooklyn together. He knows she's moving on." I bump the door to the parking lot open with my foot.

"Dating is one thing. Being bonded is another entirely. Knowing Avan, he's probably grateful that she's distracted while he needs her to be, but you're all fools if you think he's done with Brooklyn forever. Especially if he knew about the other thing." She doesn't have to say it for me to know she means the new baby.

"We have backup of our own that we're calling in," I assure her. "Someone who can appeal to Ivanov on our behalf. If things go well, maybe we can get him to move up his plan. I've never met the man, but I've heard he doesn't hurt women or children."

"Not usually." Bless huffs. "But Avan also kidnapped his daughter and married her off to a man almost three times her age."

Yeah, that was an awful situation, but the only person who needs to be punished for that is the man who caused it.

Avan fucking Barrett.

Liberty passes out on the couch with one leg up in the air, crossed over the other.

It's cute as hell.

I'm exhausted.

Point blank—I don't understand how Brooklyn does it alone day in and out.

Brooklyn takes the sippy cup tucked under Libby's arm and drops it onto the table. She heaves her sleeping child off the couch, carrying her to bed, while I watch like a total asshole.

I should have helped, but I'm still perplexed.

Are all toddlers that tall in comparison to their moms? I guess I never paid attention to my baby pictures.

Brooklyn comes back a few minutes later, and it's finally just the two of us again.

Bless and Stacia took an entire truckload of bins to store somewhere, but they made it clear they'd be back tomorrow for more.

I knew it was going to take Gunner a couple of hours to drop Nova off. He'll need to do a nightly run with each, and trying to take them together is a clusterfuck if they've been pent up all day.

Not that I'm complaining about finally getting some one-on-one time with the little omega.

Brooklyn frowns and immediately starts picking up toys before tossing them into the toy chest by the television.

"Nah, leave all that," I say, leaning forward and planting my elbows on my knees. "Come sit with me?"

"I really should clean this up first," she says, continuing her mission. "If I don't, it's a giant hassle to wake up to an already-dirty apartment."

"It'll keep." I stretch back. "And I'll even help tidy up if you let me snuggle you for a bit." I wiggle my eyebrows obnoxiously until she laughs. "Okay, I'll help clean either way, but I really want to catch up with you."

She drops the last couple of toys into the toy box and stands. After a few seconds, she nods.

I lick my lips, studying her baby belly. It seems rounder than it did earlier today, like maybe the baby is all stretched out, or hell, it could be gravity.

Is it weird to be captivated by the fact she's growing a human being?

She's building a baby one cell at a time, and my instincts are fascinated.

Brooklyn sways forward in her dress and leggings, and I watch, transfixed.

Damn, I bet I look like a total fucking creep.

The shy smile that tugs at her lips gives me hope. She moves to sit at my side, but my hand wraps in hers, giving her a tug.

"If you're comfortable"—I clear my throat—"I'd like you right in my lap."

"Are you sure I'm not too heavy?" Her long, dark hair falls around her shoulders as her hazel eyes sparkle.

"You know, with a couple of perfectly placed throw pillows, I could toss your ass over my knee for the spanking you're working on." I smirk, pulling her closer.

She climbs right onto my lap like a sweet omega.

I grew up watching my family pack be disgustingly affectionate, but if nothing else, it convinced me that love exists. We aren't there, but I've pined over this woman for months.

It's hard not to go the route Gunner did and lock her ass down before she can get away. There's plenty of time to get to know each other once we're bonded.

Hell, it might seem weird to betas, but alphas and omegas end up with claiming bites before names are exchanged.

I'm pretty sure my instincts are trying to rationalize me right into bad behavior.

Brooklyn holds herself up on her knees as her head tilts.

My forearm rests in the indent above her ass, and I give her a little shove. "I could cuddle Gunner in my lap and not even notice. Sit on me."

She snorts, lowering herself to rest on my thighs. It puts her pussy directly over my cock, but I ignore it.

I figure only one of us gets to rush things. So, that means it's my turn to be the gentleman for a change.

"Thank you for saving me today." Her lips push together as her head shakes. "More than that, thank you for carrying Liberty. If she'd been in the stroller…"

My stomach drops.

She's right.

It would have been disastrous.

I've spent a lot of time this afternoon replaying our exchange with Avan. The man didn't even ask to hold his daughter. Sure, it could be easily explained away by him not wanting to wake her, but even that is a cheap excuse.

"Just thank you," she says, burying her face in my throat. She sniffles, and it makes my chest tight. "I had more time to really think about it, and it clicked how close it was."

She has so much stress.

All I want to do is to help alleviate it.

In a few months, she's going to be a mom for the second time.

Brooklyn deserves to rest and enjoy all the time with Libby that she can before that huge life change.

"No thanks necessary," I assure her, palming the back of her head. "What's the bond like?"

Her warm breath fans over my throat as she hums. "Incredible, but strange. I still have no idea how it works. I could be projecting all my thoughts and feelings at Gunner." She shrugs. "It's amazing. Even though he's not close by, I can still feel him—like I know he's alive and fine."

"That does sound unreal," I murmur, nuzzling my cheek to the top of her head.

She runs her fingers through my beard as her nose cuddles to my skin on the opposite side of my neck.

It's such an intimate feeling to have her this close. She's tender in a way I'm not used to, but this is why Gunner and I and all the other guys at Assurance do what we do.

Omegas are meant to be cherished and protected. They're the only thing that stands in the way of our minds failing us when the rot of going feral sets in. And, in exchange, we're meant to protect them above all else.

"How's life been since I saw you last?" Brooklyn asks.

"Lots of working, but also a little trying to find you mixed in," I say with a playful lilt to my voice, so I don't scare her.

Admitting I still haven't washed the T-shirt I wore that night might be over the top. I huffed hits of her scent until the last hints of it basically disappeared, but I still couldn't bring myself to wash or wear it again.

"I do feel bad about that, even now. I should probably tell you about my neighbor. I mentioned Noble to Gunner?—"

"Bless mentioned him." I cut her off because she sounds so uncomfortable. "Apparently, he got the Bless seal of approval."

"He had to leave this morning for work, but I haven't heard from him since. Who knows? He might be really upset that Gunner and I bonded."

I tilt my head and kiss her forehead. "Alphas don't control omegas." At least, not ones worth an omega's time. "He'll adapt if he'd like to stick around."

She sighs. "Yeah. I just think I would feel better if I could talk to him."

Brooklyn falls asleep before Gunner gets back. He drops our duffel bags and aims for the bedroom with barely a backward glance at me.

I snort.

Damn, he's in deep.

Not that I'm not, but I think I have better chill factor than he does.

Once I have fresh clothes, I hop in the shower in Brooklyn's bathroom and dress in sweats. I check on Libby and do the rounds to make sure the door is locked and the lights are off before climbing into Brooklyn's bed. I cuddle up to her front since Gunner is at her back.

I'm not sure what time I'm woken out of a dead sleep, but my phone vibrates on the nightstand.

Rolling over, I pat around for it and squint at the screen once it's within reach.

Merrick's name glares back at me, and I know I can't ignore it, no matter how much I'd like to.

Shoving myself out of the bed, I head for the living room.

I briefly spoke to the tech specialist for Assurance again after Brooklyn fell asleep, but he told me I was rushing him and that hacking takes time when it's done right.

Once I'm no longer worried I'll wake Brooklyn, I take the call.

"Merrick?" I exhale heavily, trying not to let panic set in.

"Shh, you're okay," he coos in my ear, and I pull the phone away to frown at the screen.

Maybe I'm half delirious from chasing a toddler around all afternoon. It takes me several long seconds to remember his omega gave birth to twin girls two weeks ago.

"Sorry, Cecily is pissed at the world right now…" Merrick huffs. "Hold on, this is important. I'm going to pass her off to Steele."

Couldn't he have handled that before dragging me out of bed?

Whatever.

He's doing us a solid favor, and if he's calling at three in the morning, it's safe to say, it's serious.

"Okay, I'm back," Merrick says after a few seconds. "First, Soren took the necessary steps to secure a conversation with Ivanov."

Mikhail Ivanov is Keeley's dad. Considering Keeley and Soren are bonded, couldn't Soren have just called his father-in-law?

Hell, he is supposed to be dead. Maybe they have some secret code or network to facilitate communication between them.

"Secondly, I looked into the guy you asked me to. Deveraux Noble, that's a fuck of a name. Anyway, Bless is right. He does contract work—the kind Grady used to." Merrick clicks away on his keyboard. "I could only tie him to three jobs and not through the clients. I had to hack the site servers. He's good at hiding his tracks. He's basically on par with the stuff we do, but he takes high-profile jobs."

My hand flies up, swiping over my face.

High profile, meaning politicians, dirty cops, basically anyone the general public would take notice of when they go missing or meet their untimely demise.

That makes things significantly more dangerous for anyone he gets close to.

Me and him are going to need to have a serious conversation.

"Are you listening?" Merrick asks.

"Shit, yeah," I say around a yawn. "Hit me with the info."

"He's off grid. Completely untraceable, and he has been all day."

"He's hunting," I say absentmindedly.

"Yeah. He was forty-five seconds behind the SUV this afternoon." Merrick clicks away. "And I only caught that because I watched the replay of Brooklyn's near miss over a hundred times. He swapped vehicles somewhere after he left the apartment building this morning…" He pauses. "Okay, technically, that was yesterday morning. He likely has a backup vehicle in a storage unit or parking garage somewhere. My software caught half his face, but I was able to get a match."

That means Noble knows someone is trying to kill Brooklyn, and he's in the process of handling it.

That's a huge relief.

"Here's the issue," Merrick says. "He followed that same SUV around all afternoon. No big deal, but then, at just after eight p.m., the SUV drove into the warehouse district. Neither vehicle has exited since. I don't have access to exactly where they disappeared to in that dead zone, but it's been seven hours."

"Fuck," I hiss, immediately knowing where this is headed.

If he was planning a hit, he would have been in and out in as little time as possible…unless something went wrong.

" Fuck is accurate," Merrick agrees. "Guess who owns property smack-dab in the middle of that dead zone?"

My foot bounces against the floor petulantly because I already know.

I'm definitely not making it back to crawl into bed next to Brooklyn tonight.

"The Barretts," Merrick says, like I was having trouble figuring it out.

Dammit.

I need to call Bless to get someone over here to keep eyes on Brooklyn while we rescue her boyfriend…

If he's even still alive.