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I looked up over her head as Sadavir came to join us. He took Ruya's hand automatically, as if she were the only thing that could ground him. And maybe she was. Omegas were more powerful than many people gave them credit for. The room was empty now except for the three of us, so I didn't guard my words for fear of setting off our princess. "I hope so too," I said honestly. "Josh is a good man. And I know he means a lot to both of you."

Sadavir's gaze met mine, his unusual eyes back to their normal appearance. The color was so strange, neither yellow nor gold, nor orange, but somewhere in between. He was handsome—strong jawline, high cheekbones, tall and broad, and emanating raw power. I could see why Ruya was drawn to him—and why Robin wanted to eat him simply for existing. "I know we aren't part of your court," he signed slowly. "And I appreciate the protection and support you all have offered us."

He didn't acknowledge how much the human meant to him, didn't point out what we all knew—that Josh was his weakness, just as Ruya was ours. The one thing he'd risk everything to protect. Alphas. So stubborn. I nodded to acknowledge his words.

Ruya patiently waited, clearly used to not catching all of the silent communication, without Cicely here to use his mind speak to keep her informed. "Sadavir was thanking us for protecting and supporting him and Josh even though they aren't part of the court," I supplied.

Ruya huffed impatiently. "Nonsense," she said firmly. "Josh is one of us, Sadavir. So are you. You and Robin might like to pretend otherwise, but it doesn't matter." She grinned. "You're all mine. And that's all there is to it."

I chuckled as Sadavir shook his head, a fond smile playing across his chiseled lips. And why was I noticing how good-looking he was constantly? I enjoyed both men and women—as much as I could without actually touching them. But I tended to favor softer men… pretty guys like Cicely. And this was another alpha. It felt not only strange, but… disloyal, to find myself more than a little drawn to this odd naga.

I cleared my throat. "If that's all? I should go see what I can do to help with information gathering."

Ruya tilted her head, as if she had picked up on my discomfort. "Of course," she said slowly. "I only wanted to thank you. But… when you have time, will you come see me? I feel like we haven't spent time together in ages, Dusek."

Ah. Busted. She was right. I'd been avoiding her. She had a way of not letting me hide, and my feelings for her were too complex, too dangerous. "Of course," I said reflexively. "If I don't get sent out on a spy run."

She pouted. It was adorable. And maddening. Sadavir watched this little back and forth with one eyebrow raised. It was only then that I realized he was standing within my aura and didn't seem the least bit fazed.

"I… should go. Get to work," I muttered, nodding once to the confused duo before dematerializing into shadow and escaping to find something more productive to do.

Chapter 25

Martina

It had been two days since Josh went missing. We were supposed to be planning our attack on the emperor. But while I knew Robin still schemed, it had become a background task for all of us. The air in The Fox was tense, and everyone was on edge. The fact that Acacia knew we had tried to kill the emperor meant that the entire syndicate might be about to come knocking at our door. And of course, we were all pissed off that she had somehow overcome Sanka's magic and stolen one of our people out from under our noses. What else was she capable of?

I had been over the weapons and tools inventory at least a dozen times, but here I stood in the middle of the training room staring at the array of tools at our disposal. When we finally did move—either against the vampires or the emperor—everything would be in perfect working order. Robin had long since put me in charge of these things, and given me free range to buy, trade, or steal whatever I thought we might need. I grinned at the idea of finally eliminating the vampire coven. Whenever we finally went to war with the vampires, we would go in with enough firepower—mundane and magical—to level their precious cathedral, the home of all my darkest memories.

The problem was, all had been silent. There were no demands from Acacia. Robin's few scattered unaligned spies had nothing to report. It seemed it was business as usual at the vampire nest, as far as they could tell from the outside, with no word of any new additions to the queen's menagerie or the cells. If the intel could be trusted, which was always a gamble.

It was maddening to sit here and wait. I wanted to hunt. To kill. To bleed the fucking vampires dry. But the longer we went without any confirmation of Josh's whereabouts, the more I got the sinking feeling that I wasn't going to get to take Acacia's head just yet. And if I was disappointed, then snake-boy was downright stir-crazy. He and Robin were keeping to opposite sides of the building for the safety and sanity of everyone around them. I was an alpha myself, and the two powerful shifter auras were giving me a headache. I couldn't imagine how the rest of the non-alpha members of the court must be feeling, buffeted constantly by alpha rage.

I picked up a knife and started sharpening and shining, even though the damned thing was already in perfect condition. Thankfully, we had Ruya around to soften the edges of everyone's frustration. If it hadn't already been apparent that omegas served an important purpose in the hierarchy of things, it certainly was now. She could calm an entire room with just her presence. And her aura called out to us all without her making much effort, grounding and anchoring the alphas, gammas, and betas around her.

The trouble was, she had to split her time between Robin and Sadavir, and yes, even me, since we couldn't all be in the same room for long without the two most dominant alphas wanting to kill each other and me itching to join in the fun. Since there was only one of Ruya and three of us, that meant when one was calm, the others were at loose ends and ready to blow a gasket.

And, speaking of… I sensed another strong alpha aura approaching moments before Sadavir entered the room. He was a tall, broad guy, well-muscled but not bulky, probably trained in basic fighting skills back when he was a prince among his own people. If you knew what to look for, you could see it in the way he moved. But since Josh's disappearance, it became even more obvious. He paced into the room with a powerful grace that said he was poised to tear someone a new hole at a moment's notice.

We all knew the human was more to the naga than a friend or an attendant. It was natural that losing him would trigger the alpha rage, but it had to be a hundred times worse than usual for Sadavir, since he wasn't part of the court. He and his boy-toy were surrounded by strangers. Relying on the rebel court for shelter and protection had to be hard for his alpha pride to accept in the first place, and now he had to rely on us to help get Josh back.

It was a wonder he was still in human form, even if his eyes were a little snake-like and his movements a bit too quick now and then. The man was exhibiting an amazing amount of control.

"Did you need something?" I asked, making sure to face him as I continued polishing the knife in my hand. "Or… is there news?"

He waved a hand in an impatient, dismissive gesture and went to prowl around the perimeter of the room, inspecting all the weapons, tools, and fun little toys I had laid out. He paused at the table of explosives and gave a satisfied nod.

I shook my head and put the knife away, going to look over the guns for the millionth time.

I tensed when, a moment later, I felt the big alpha move closer. I reminded myself that his simmering rage wasn't directed at me, and banked my own alpha instincts as I turned to face him. Thankfully, because of my history, my alpha urges were a bit less dominant. It made it easier to actually think before I reacted. Something other alphas seemed to struggle with. He signed for me, one dark eyebrow raised. "You are in charge of all of this?"

I nodded. "I am. And if the others put their dirty paws on my inventory, they know I'll murder them."

He huffed a laugh. "I've never seen a more competent weapons master."

I smirked at him. "If you're buttering me up for something, you're doing a good job. But if you're hitting on me, you're barking up the wrong tree."

He shook his head, and made a pained face. "I sensed you prefer women. But even if I was looking to have my genitals removed by propositioning you, today would not be the day."

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