Page 117 of Three of a Kind

They didn’t specifically say they were going to watch the dress shop, but leaving a few hours before the time I was told to be there did seem suspicious.

“Did something happen at the dress shop?” I ask.

Soren snorts. It’s a very condescending sound that has my head whipping in his direction. “Something happened, all right. I’m sure if we give it an hour or two, we’ll be able to watch it play out on the evening news.”

Ranger steps around the sofa, taking a seat on the opposite end from where Gunner now sits. “Would you like to tell her, or should I?”

Noble growls, sounding feral and intimidating. “It doesn’t matter, because we were never going to let you anywhere near that place.”

“Well, someone fill in the rest of the class.” Locke leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Bless and Stacia didn’t show up,” Ranger says.

“So, Ranger and I got to play the happy packmates, looking for a store to send our omega to,” Noble says. “We went in and looked around. Met the sweet old lady running the store. There’s no way she was in on it?—”

Ranger takes over again, saying, “None of the sales associates were, either. I distracted them while Noble snuck the necessary equipment into their surveillance system, and we got the hell out of there.”

“Ranger and Noble left the building,” Soren clarifies. “We stuck around in the SUV while Noble monitored for trouble.”

Noble’s sadness fills the bond, and it startles me enough that I turn into his chest while trying to focus on releasing soothing pheromones.

“It’s not unusual for some systems to have a processing delay, especially the older ones.” Noble sighs. “This one was three minutes. By the time I saw the thugs enter on my screen…”

“We made it back to the building, but it was doused in accelerants and beginning to burn.” Ranger shrugs. “You win some, you lose some. If they’d come in the front, we would have seen them from our location down the street. Since Bless and Stacia failed to arrive, we had no second vehicle to monitor the rear.”

Soren gestures at me. “He really wanted you dead. The team was extremely efficient. Three minutes is pushing it for five kills. It would have been seven if you and the girl were?—”

“Seriously?” Locke growls. “How about you censor the conversation, like you’d do for your own omega?”

It’s kind of him to try to stick up for me, but honestly, I want to hear this. I trusted them when they said Avan wanted me dead. It’s not even hard to believe, but now, I’m at the point where I want to hear these things.

Ranger nods. “Locke is better at determining what’s reasonable to share than I am.”

Soren bows his head. “My apologies. However, you don’t need to worry. We caught up with them attempting to get into their car several blocks away.”

“And they said it was Barrett who hired them?” Gunner asks.

“Avan himself.” Ranger nods.

“In the world of organized crime, men are given more leeway than women,” Soren says. “However, when inheritance and things like lines of succession come into play with two powerful houses, there are often set terms. I’ve seen marriage contracts with swift penalties if either party has children outside of the marital union. There’s every possibility that Avan’s upcoming contract has something similar. If Libby was discovered after the fact, there could be unfavorable penalties that he would have to honor.”

“So, it’s easier to kill us?” I scoff.

“From his point of view?” Ranger quirks an eyebrow. “Yes.”

My system finally spits out soothing pheromones, but I don’t know if it worked to soothe me or the still-anxious Noble.

“Thank you for being honest with me,” I finally choke out. “I think I’m going to go snuggle my kid while you guys continue talking about whatever else you need to.”

I’m not sure what to do with myself. Five people died today because Avan wants me and Libby dead. The guilt is so thick it threatens to consume me, but what I really need is to hold my daughter.

“I’ll come too,” Noble says, standing with me in his hold.

“Send Maverick out,” Ranger commands. “We’re going to start planning the siege.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Gunner

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