Page 28 of Alpha's Second Chance

“You better live through this,” I muttered to myself. After days of wading through our messy relationship, I was too close to having everything I wanted. I refused to let anyone -- even Bull -- screw this up for me.

Owen

Hiding in the woods, watching Eve use herself as bait? Fucking torture. Why had I agreed to this? No Alpha let his omega put herself in danger. Was she my omega? Maybe not in the way I wanted. But she was close enough.

My bear insisted. She’s yours. Go get her.

I crept to the edge of the porch. “Eve. Come on. We don’t have to do this. He’s on his way.”

“Owen,” she hissed.

“Come out here. Let me and my guys handle it.” Her being up there on the porch, out in the open, didn’t make a lick of sense.

Her eyes flashed. For the first time ever, she growled at me. “I am not moving. And if you try to make me, you will regret it.”

I had no doubt about that. It was true, I had promised her I’d stick with the plan and let her dangle herself as bait in front of a psychopathic shifter. My bear had not made any such promises. “The second something goes fucking sideways, my bear is showing up, with or without my permission. Just so you know.”

“You agreed to this plan,” she said. She slashed her arm through the air. “Stick to it.”

I gripped the handle of my sharpest knife. “We’ll see.”

Eve leaned forward to stare at me. Fury seethed from her eyes, all of it directed right at me. “You are driving me crazy,” she said.

“Somehow, I know exactly what that feels like.” I gave her one last look. “Be careful.”

I went back to my station and adjusted my gear.

The plan was for Eve to let herself be captured. It had been her idea, based on the fact that Bull wanted her alive, to have her as one of his mates. Eve came up with the plan, and the rest of my team had agreed with her.

I was the only one who protested. But because I was on thin ice with Eve, I gave in.

I never gave in. I was the Alpha. I wasn’t supposed to. Unless Eve was involved, apparently.

My team thought that once Bull felt he had won, and succeeded in getting the omega who had bested him, that he’d be distracted, let his guard down, and we could make our move.

Our intel said he was only traveling with two guards. Overpowering the three of them should have been no challenge for my team; but as we all knew, during a mission, things could go south in a split second.

We’d run through possible scenarios a few times, including ones where Bull had more than two guards, they had more weapons, or they showed up with law enforcement officers that had been bribed into aiding criminals. We talked through each one and argued about solutions.

All that prep didn’t matter. I didn’t feel any better about letting Eve put herself in the line of fire.

Not that I waslettingher do anything. I could feel the scowl that had become part of my face today.

I was supposed to stand here and let Bull Payne put his disgusting hands on Eve.

My comm buzzed. “He’s here.”

My team was right, there he was. Bull melted out of the shadow of the woods. He came forward, taking deliberate steps. He didn’t look around. He didn’t look behind him. His eyes were anchored to Eve. The two guards he had with him stayed hidden in the woods.

“Eve Johnson. Hello again,” Bull said.

Eve’s heart rate shot up, but outwardly, she looked just as composed as ever. Bull would be able to hear her heart pounding too.

“Bull Payne,” Eve said. She glanced up at him and then went back to her legal pad. Her writing never paused. “Looks like Denver County Jail fell down on its job.”

“You don’t seem surprised to see me,” he drawled.

“I’ve tried a lot of cases in a big city.” Eve gave a half shrug. “Not much surprises me now.”

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