Page 94 of Mercy & Her Devils

Like I fit here.

I swallow, snuggling closer against his chest.

Gabriel jerked off to thoughts of both Kai and me every morning…?

I clear my throat. “But why would Kai think that he’s unworthy? He’s clearly from an elite pack, a smart journalist, and seriously hot.”

“Alphas don’t have the same power in Scotland as they do here.” Gabriel looks like he’s working out how to explain. “It’s hard to understand, until you’re experiencing it for yourself. I thought that I’d adore it there but I didn’t. Their treatment of Omegas is everything that I always wanted for my own Omega, but on the other hand, there’s just as prescribed a role for Alphas. They must be warriors in the service of the Omegas. Kai’s strong but he’s introverted in social situations, a scholar. That’s not respected in an Alpha. On top of that, he’s softly dominant. He can out dom me and not many can. In Scotland that made him a lonely outcast.”

Shocked, I blink.

That isn’t equality.

So, would things be just as bad if Omegas ran things, as Alphas being in charge?

Equality is what we need, balance.

The three dynamics should to live in harmony. I’ve learned in our history that once we managed it.

Can we again?

“I’m glad that he found you,” I say, quietly.

“I’m lucky that I found him,” Gabriel replies. “We both found each other at our lowest and discovered a common purpose together. Kai’s father is a tyrant. His family were trying to force him into a bond, and it triggered me because of what’d happened to you, Mer. It was the last thing that I needed to push me over the edge and desert. I agreed to help Kai flee the country. My love and duty to Kai was higher than my one to a military that I’d been forced into against my will at sixteen simply because I’d been born into a family who always served in it. Together, Kai and I formed the Devils.”

“Is Devil really Kai’s pack name?”

Gabriel quirks his brow. “I wish that it was but sadly not. I had to come up with a story like you were always so good at, when Kai and I came to America. I may have picked up some shady skills in my time in the SEALs. The Devils were a good front. Do you like it?”

“I love being a little devil.”

“I bet you do, although I remember that being Tom.” Gabriel’s expression is unreadable. “How is he?”

My chest is tight. “I don’t know. He’s still living and working with Dad. He put up with a lot, so that he’d have permission to visit me at Fletcher’s. Tom’s a good man. You’d be proud.”

“I’m certain that I would. I wish that he was here.”

My eyes burn with tears. “Me too. Do you think that we could find a way to contact him?”

“Not yet. But we will.” Gabriel’s voice becomes firmer. “Now, tell me about this Omega of yours.”

“Lark is you know — mine.” I bite my lip. “He saved my life in that cell. He nursed me through Broken Bond Syndrome. He gave me his food, even though he was starving. And he got me walking again, despite being devastated. We made a pact that we’d always belong together.”

I hold my breath.

I need Gabriel to understand and accept Lark.

I have no idea what I’ll do, if my Alpha can’t accept a second Omega.

Lark and I belong together as firmly as any Alpha and Omega pairing.

I’m as certain of that as I am as the sun or the rain.

As the breath in my fucking lungs.

“Then Lark is my pack too,” Gabriel says without a flicker of doubt in his voice. “And I already love him for saving the most precious thing in the world to me. Now, why was he devastated?”

“Fletcher took his daughter away from him. He sent her to be a Companion.”

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