Page 51 of Nest Of Lies

“FUCK OFF!” she howls.

I smack him over the back of the head. “If you can’t control yourself and stop being a dick, I’m banning you from going in there.”

“You can’t do that.” Zaden shoves me.

“Fucking watch me. You might be the prez, but we both know when it comes down to it, that your crazy can’t match mine, and that is my omega.”

“No, she isn’t,” Zaden snaps.

“Yes, she is!” Ianto says in a deep, cold voice.

Zaden whips towards him and stares. “Really? After everything I showed you?”

“She’s ours, Zaden,” Ianto says in a low voice. “Stop being so fucking scared to be happy.”

“She is, she always has been,” I hiss. “Get your ridiculous head out of your ass and-”

“Do you remember how my mother died?” Zaden asks us with a cold seriousness that turns the air around us brittle.

I pause, my anger sliding away. “We won’t let that happen to her.”

“Shot in her own home. My father was out on a raid. No one could do anything. She died in fear, alone in her own home when she was too young. Shot in the fucking chest nine times. In the middle of a club room. That is Lia’s future if she stays here.”

“The past, brother. You can’t just hang onto this forever. We can protect her.”

“And look where we’re heading. Another turf dispute. One of ours taken in broad daylight and left for dead. We could protect him, too, couldn’t we?”

“Zaden, I love you. You are my brother and my lover, but you are letting fear poison you, and it’s going to eat you up alive.” I sigh heavily. “You have a week to get your shit together. I’m not losing my chance at happiness.”

“I forbid it.”

“You’re gonna have to kill me then, Prez.” I spread my arms wide. “Nothing but God is going to keep me from what is mine. And I don’t care what that fucking email says you forwarded to us. She is ours.”

Zaden flinches and turns accusing eyes on Ianto. He just shrugs, unrepentant. Zaden returns his furious stare to me as I back into the room, spinning with a grin at the omega.

My omega curled up on the bed. She is glorious. I forget Zaden in the blink of an eye.

She’s an omega. That thought melts my freaking brain. I could drop to my knees and worship her for eternity with my tongue. And anything else that made her happy.

Lia casts a furious and wet-eyed glare at me.

“I brought gifts.”

“I don’t want gifts.”

“You want this one.” I kneel on the bed and sit down. I start opening containers and watch her attention turn to me.

“You went to Cindy’s?”

“I did. I have ribs, wings, potato salad, pasta, nachos, chili, and-”

“Lava cakes?”

“In three flavours!”

She lets out a squeal and leans over the food to kiss me. I turn my head, and her lips press against mine.

She freezes, and then kisses me again, softer, before she pulls back.

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