Page 102 of Fallen Omega

“No, I’m one of them.” But her jab rolls off me. She likes to poke us. Me more than the other two, probably because I’m not a psychopath, or the one who just might have the veto power to kick someone out. “And numero uno hasn’t been asked? Numero…er…two…is never interested.”

“Fine, get that ass kicked out,” she says, trying not to grin.

There’s only been one person kicked out on their ass, and that was Ghost. Another alpha. I take a swallow of my wine and glance at Mason. I check the time. “It’s a little early. Couldn’t keep away from me?”

I try to squash the uneasy thought he turned up to see Liz.

Not that I’d blame Mason, a delta. Liz’s a fucking vision, but y’know, hands off and all that. She’s ours. Mine, Reaper’s, and whether he wants to admit it or not, Dante’s. For as long as we keep her.

I know my thoughts on that, but the other two?

“Got a delivery? Booze?” Mason asks. “And I need to set up upstairs, but Dante’s got some Council woman there. Not to mention the fuckwits in the day entrance foyer.”

I smile. “Send the delivery guys down, through that door and not the service one, and if they step on or get too close to a Council asshole…it’s?—”

“An accident?” Mason asks.

I nod. “Or a business hazard.”

“Obviously,” the bartender says. “I’ll unpack and restock?—”

“No,” I cut him off. Liz is dancing in my head. “I’ll do it. Darcy, take the order into the wine distributor. Mason? When you’re done with the booze delivery, take care of this floor….”

“Who’s going to unpack and stock?” Mason asks me.

I pick up the tablet—it’s open to the delivery slip—and I grin. “I will.”

With a little help.

The last bottles are delivered to the correct floor. Dante finished with the meeting and the place is footloose and Council free. I grab the bottle I opened earlier and two regular low-ball glasses, since I figure I need a little celebration for the menial labor of doing the unpacking, counting, checking and delivering.

Liz helped.

I know I’m playing with fire here, but the way her eyes lit up with the happiness of being useful was worth it. Still is.

And she’s good.

She’s sharp, hardworking, and she helped get the job done in a fraction of the time. She also stayed down in the storage room, seemingly happy with the status quo, and the fact Dante wanted her out of the way.

I like how she’s pliant in the right ways, subversive in others. Oh, I don’t mean subversive in a sexual manner, but I can see that, too. No, she’s able to look at things and subvert the submissive parts in her into staying small and out of the way to learn what she can.

I felt that down in the storeroom. Because the moment sheworked out I wasn’t about to get on her case with doing the job, she did it better, faster, and different to me.

Is that why she’s still there, I wonder. Apart from making herself useful? To stay away from Dante?

I would.

But he’s not about to venture out and change his version of hellfire over things.

He’s locked up in his office so I don’t disturb him. So she doesn’t. No doubt he’s dissected the entire visit and watched the video feeds of it over and over. No doubt he’s going over numbers and surveillance of trouble spots in our other places, like always.

Nothing is going on with those, I know, but I marked the places for him to look at as usual in the files I sent before the Council arrived. We check everything. People are jerks. People are easily bought, so anything suspicious is examined.

Or after this visit here, everything checked out, rechecked and checked again.

And the length of time he’s taking, he’s got his magnifying glass and fine-toothed comb out.

Normally if something pans out to trouble, Reaper moves in and…

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