Page 152 of Mercy & Her Devils

Antonio rocks on his heels. “I could set up a hacker masterclass.”

“You couldn’t,” Gabriel says, firmly. Then his coldness thaws, as he looks at me. “Have you heard from Tom this week?”

I can’t help the sadness that forms in my stomach because Thomas isn’t here with me.

He’d love it in the Devil pack.

His sacrifice, however, is what’s keeping us safe.

I realize now that he’s wearing a mask with Dad to protect my secrets and possibly, the resistance’s as well.

How many other secrets is he hiding?

We found a way to communicate via an encrypted email. I’m still careful to talk in code and not to give away anything that could be used against the resistance.

I know what it’s like to be controlled and used like a puppet.

I don’t want to put my twin in that position.

“Something’s wrong, I’m sure of it.” The dread increases in my stomach, as I say it. “Tom doesn’t sound like himself. He can’t say it, but I think that he’s scared. Dad has him working fourteen hour days. He doesn’t trust him since…” I glance at Millie. She appears to be busy drinking her milk, but I can’t say it in front of her. “What if he’s sent to that place again?”

They all know that I mean the Alpha Center.

Gabriel stiffens, paling. “I’ll get him out. I’d burn the world down for your brother, you know that.”

“The tough thing is that he doesn’t want us to.” I look down, as my hands wring my dress in my lap.

“Aye, the best ones are like that,” Kai agrees.

“Why don’t we do it anyway?” Lark tilts his head. I glance up at him in surprise. “Simply because he’s a good Alpha, your brother, and that makes him pack.”

My eyes burn with gratitude.

“But we’ll treat it like any other mission because Tom deserves us to trust him as well,” Gabriel adds. “He’s risking himself to protect you. We should honor it, if he wants us to hang on and wait.”

“And before any of that,” Lark wraps his arms around Millie and stands with her, adjusting her on his hip, “I have a tired little Omega to get to bed because she’s been rubbing her eyes for the last half an hour and hoping that I won’t notice.”

“Have not,” Millie protests, yawning.

“It must have been some other Omega with a violet ribbon in her hair and a milk mustache then.” Lark makes a grab for Millie’s stuffie, before she can accidentally drop her. “Careful. You don’t want Pee-Pee to go on the floor, do you?”

Antonio snickers.

Lark glares at him. “How old are you?”

“Younger than you.”

“Okay, enough.” Gabriel exchanges a glance with Kai.

I call it the plotting look that those two have perfected.

What are they up to?

I’ve felt like they’ve been scheming all day.

I saw them whispering together in the study in the morning, before Antonio joined them practically bouncing in excitement.

I assumed that it was about some kinky idea that they’d finally agreed to. Something possibly involving edge play like the fantasy that Antonio described about being captured by a rival mafia family and slowly having his clothes sliced away with a knife…

---