Page 158 of Captive Omega

His smile is mischievous. “Unless you did that.”

“So this is a part of Lucas Security headquarters I should stay out of?” I ask.

“Maybe.”

So that’s a yes then. Better not let Garrison find me here.

He nods at my notebook. “Homework again?”

“Kind of.” I’m not sure I’m ready to tell anyone about my list yet. Right now, it’s a mishmash of things I remember or only half-remember. I want to know—need to be sure—that the finger I point is at the right people. “Lex said you wanted to see me.”

“I did.” He twists the familiar black handgun in his hand. Bessy his Beretta if I’m right. And he offers it to me, handle side first. “Thought you might like to learn another way to protect yourself.”

Every time I turn around, I swear someone wants to teach me a new way of taking someone out. And because I will never turn down an opportunity like that, I place my notebook on a small black table beside the door, hoping I remember it when this lesson is over as I eagerly reach for the gun.

At the last second, Vaughn yanks it out of reach.

I glare at him. “Hey!”

“Uh, not so fast. Garrison might not appreciate me handing you a weapon without teaching you how to use it first.” He tucks it in the waistband of his jeans instead of placing it on the table.

“But you handed me a knife before.” My first night here when I was too afraid to grab it from him. Now here I am, eagerly trying to snatch a gun out of his hands without knowing the first thing about shooting. Who am I?

“Yeah, but that was different.”

“How?”

“Just was.” He gives me a long, searching look. “I thought I could tell you a bit about why Blaine is the way he is.”

“Why would you do that?” I ask.

“It might help you learn more about us.”

“And why would I want to know more about you?” I recall the pink flamingo that my curiosity drove me to ask Lex about. He shook his head and told me it wasn’t his story to tell.

Not his story to tell. If only he knew how close I came to shaking the answer out of him.

“Just thought you might be interested.”

“But why?” I press.

“It might help you decide if you want to stay,” he says.

As I study him, I realize I need to be careful.

I want to go home. My life with Henry is gone now, but as exciting as it is to learn all these new skills and work on cases, this isn’t my life.

I have one waiting for me to return to.

“We had a case,” Vaughn says when I don’t respond. He retrieves the gun from his waistband and turns it onto its side.

I should turn around and walk out of here before I learn more about Pack Lucas to interest me, but now Vaughn has started, I know I won’t.

“It was a straightforward corporate espionage case that involved watching an alpha’s home to find out if he was handing over company secrets. At least, that’s what the alpha CEO of the company hired us to do. The sort of boring surveillance work that paid well, and we thought was perfect for Violet’s first on the field job after she’d spent the last three months nagging us.”

Something about his bent head, and the careful way he’s checking his gun makes me think it wasn’t simple at all. “Vaughn, you don’t have to?—”

“I do.” He lifts his head, and for the first time, I read his frustration. “We don’t talk about it, but we all think it. Over and over. I’d like to talk about it.”

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