Page 73 of Shattered Omega

“You’re interested because I have ties to the Mandela pack?” If that was it, I was going to give Decebal an earful.

“Nah,” Mord said. “I’m far more interested in what was buried, why Ekkon doesn’t believe it’s a problem, and…” Mord paused, as if he was considering if he should say the next part. “If it has anything to do with your very curious scents.”

Our scents?

That’s what he was fucking interested in? I wondered, for a moment, what that meant. It had never been confirmed, but we were sure our poison scents were a result of experimentation.

“If I told you, would you fuck off?” I asked. I wouldn’t tell him, but I wanted to poke at his mask.

Mord leaned back, the echo of a smile on his face as if he didn’t believe it at all. “The safe—and that omega of yours are a far more interesting challenge.”

It took every ounce of my self-control not to react at the mention of Shatter. Instead, I took a breath, mulling over the rest as I tapped my finger on my jeans. First off, the safe, it seemed, was still locked. Not that Mord would be here at all if it wasn’t.

Second, I was surprised he was willing to say as much as he had, but his curiosity lined up with what I knew of him. He was calculated, patient, deadly—but even so, mostly tied up in work that didn’t have a bad ending. Well, not as bad as it could get in the underbelly of New Oxford. Maybe I could push on that one. “You said Kai’s work is ethical. You don’t consider yours the same?”

“I consider my work selfish. I prefer tasteful jobs, but nothing kills business faster than flipping on clients.”

At least we weren’t pretending about the obscene lie that he was considering joining the Lincoln pack. The conclusion was clear. His interest in what was hidden about our pack was worth the risk of taking a job that might end up distasteful.

So buying him out wasn’t an option.

Fucking great. We’d left blood in the water, and the sharks had come. Not a complication I needed.

Except, I had learned something just by his presence.

“So.” I tilted my head, pushing the facade Shatter and I had already put up. “Did they ask you to watch their scent match getting throat fucked by another alpha, or are you just lonely?”

Mord lifted his shoulders in a half shrug, eyes fixed on me without flinching. “Lonely,” he said. “It was a good show.”

I snorted.

He wasn’t giving up anything else. Every word he chose seemed calculated, hosting a potential for double meaning. Even the word show seemed designed to leave open whether he thought it was an act.

But he’d picked the wrong moment to watch if he wanted confirmation that Shatter was in love with our pack. I was, at least, confident about one thing—something I’d known just by catching him here.

I got to my feet, sure I’d got everything I could get out of this conversation.

“I’m asking the same questions you think I am,” he said mildly, crossing his legs as I picked up my textbook. I glanced at him, eyebrow cocked. “Are the Lincoln pack playing me, trying to take something they shouldn’t?” he supplied. “Or are you playing them?” There was a pause, and I thought I saw his eyes flash. “Or perhaps that pretty little golden-eyed thing is playing all of you.”

I measured my expression as he outlined what he already knew I’d gathered from catching him here. He was looking for over defensiveness, something to give away that Shatter meant more to me than a dark-bonded prize—especially at the mention that he was watching her.

But that last option? That was what I needed to avoid.

She wouldn’t be caught in the middle of this.

I found a smile without too much difficulty. Playing a part had always been easy, and I knew it was a piece from my missing past. Had I been a performer once upon a time? Theatre had a good ring to it, but I would never find out if we didn’t get free of this curse.

I clapped him on the shoulder as I passed. “Have a good evening with your new roommates. I have an omega to enjoy.”

TWENTY-SIX

DUSK

“Shhh shh, sleep, Gem,” I growled, the weight of the dark bond and my alpha bark behind it as I settled onto the bed beside her.

Just like I had asked, she was waiting for me in my room. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the command to put her back to sleep, but her breathing instantly slowed, her eyes drooping back shut.

Well. That was…

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