12. Felik

FELIK

If someone had told me two months ago that I would be playing billiards with the three primary alphas of the Ferrini family, while one of them bounced a baby on his hip and we strategized the ways in which we could either convince my brother to stand down or take him out completely, I would have told them they were crazy.

When Vince first recruited me to seduce Jeremiah, my initial plan had not gone much further than actually being able to talk to him. But now, there was no way I would ever go through with what my brother had in mind. In fact, it was easier than I expected to switch sides completely.

If it meant keeping Jeremiah safe, I would go to the ends of the earth and kill everyone in the Mennetti family if I had to.

He meant that much to me.

"What the hell is Vince"s story, anyway? We never had any problems with your alpha father. Hell, we had an amicable relationship." Andro lined up his stick with the cue ball, easily hitting and sinking the striped ball he was aiming for.

Meanwhile, I'd scratched on my last two plays. Billiards was not my game.

Maybe I could convince them to put up a dart board in here.

"Fuck if I know." I leaned on my stick like a crutch, having more success with it that way than on the table. "I never paid much attention. I"m only his half brother and a bastard son. My father didn't bring me into any business discussion, but I think Vince is running out of people who trust him."

Andro smirked. "Good. That works out well for me. I'm collecting allies like fucking candy. I probably know more about your family lineage than you do."

I shrugged, agreeing with him. He struck me as the type of guy who collected information and was fully informed before making any decisions. It was why he was so successful.

"You know, there's a chance this will end with your brother"s death." Andro was totally nonchalant as he chalked the cue in his hand. Like we were talking about losing a silly game rather than a family member.

But I couldn't bring myself to care. I may not have been involved in the family business, but I wasn't ignorant to what that world was like.

I took a deep breath and did my counting. "Yeah, I know that Vince has become hungry with power, and he"s not going to let anything stand in his way. It started with this turf war between your family and ours, but at this point, he"s breaking rules that aren"t meant to be broken. Bringing in family members who aren"t involved in the business, innocent omegas like Jeremiah, is crossing a line." As little as I knew about the rules of the world I now found myself at the center of, I did know that.

It was why I had been able to live a comfortable life prior to my brother dragging me in.

"You were actually willing to do it." Orsino paced in front of me, staring me down. "Give up Jeremiah?"

"I told Vince I would seduce him. I never would have gone so far as to take Jeremiah to him."

Orsino stopped right in front of me, puffing up his chest as an intimidation tactic. "Even if you weren"t in love with him?"

"Even then." I knew it was true. I agreed to the job to get my brother off my back. But would I have really delivered an omega to their most certain death? Not likely.

Louie handed off Matias to me, and I held the baby awkwardly in my arms as he gurgled with laughter.

"Dude, you"re gonna need some more practice. Or in nine months" time, you're gonna be in over your head," Louie teased as he lined up his shot.

"Practice all you want, you"re still going to be in over your head. Nothing prepares you for fatherhood," Andro said.

We seemed to have made a complete one-eighty if they were joking about me and their brother making babies together.

My chest warmed, and a sense of longing filled me. After last night, it was almost guaranteed that Jeremiah and I would have a child on the way. That was the way of things.

I didn"t have a job, and he hadn"t even graduated yet. We were wholly unprepared for fatherhood. Yet that didn"t quell any of the excitement that blossomed within me.

"I"ve seen that look before. It'll all work out." Andro patted my shoulder, startling me. "I can"t say that I knew what I was doing when I kidnapped my omega and married him without either of our families" permission. But nine months later, we had a child, and I had new enemies to deal with. It"s terrifying no matter what you do."

I scoffed as the baby gripped my finger with his tiny fingers. "That"s reassuring."

"I think it should be," Andro said, squeezing my shoulder. "All I'm trying to say is that you have family around. Families help each other. You and Jeremiah will not be left on your own to deal with this. You're welcome here in this house, and if you wish for your own place, we can make arrangements for that. As soon as it's safe." He paused for a moment and blew out a deep breath. "And if you wish to work within the family, we can always use a lawyer. I don't know if Jeremiah will want to use his degree at all or if he just wants to paint for the rest of his days. Either way, you guys can do what works best for your growing family."

"You"d let him do that?" I was shocked to hear him say that. I'd always assumed they needed him to have his law degree.

"Of course. We only want our brother"s happiness. Even if most days it seems that we don"t get along at all."

"I want to make sure he doesn"t take over as number one uncle. But other than that, yeah, he can be happy. We want him to be happy." Orsino shrugged as if trying to convince himself as much as the rest of us.

"I don"t know that he"ll be happy just painting, though. Even before this weekend, he mentioned that he"s always wanted to be more involved in the business. He didn't tell me what that business was, of course."

Andro seemed to contemplate that for a moment. "Father insisted that omegas weren"t to be a part of the discussions. I don"t have a preference either way. In fact, I constantly look to my mate for help because he offers a unique perspective. That being said, I"m not taking him to any sort of gunfight. The same would apply to Jeremiah. I have a hard enough time putting these two in danger." He nodded back toward his younger brothers.

It was oddly sweet from such a tough guy.

Louie let out a long whistle. "Yeah, zero out of ten, I don"t recommend being in a gun fight with your mate, man. Keep your omega home when shit goes down."

"I take it you"ve been there?" I asked.

"That's a story for another day. But yeah, I've been there. Andro, too."

"Y'all could just take a page out of my book." Orsino cleared his throat and looked at us with a smug smile. "Don"t have any omega at all. Problem solved."

"Perhaps." It made sense, considering the shit they saw, but having Jeremiah in my life was a thousand times better than not.

Now, my only priorities were to regain his trust fully, convince his brothers I was serious, and live happily ever after. Easy enough.