Page 13 of Bliss & Her Idols

I roll my eyes.

Chase has played that trick ever since Piper was seven years old and upset that we couldn’t afford to go on the rides at the annual carnival like the other kids.

Chase invented a whole host of ways that he could give both Piper and me mock thrills for free.

Can I blame that for turning us both into adrenaline junkie Omegas?

Piper is laughing now, as Chase dumps him unceremoniously back onto the counter.

Then Chase checks over the tray. “This can stay hot for a bit, yeah?”

Piper nods.

I reach and grasp Chase’s hand. “I need to do this mission.” Of everyone, Chase should understand. He risked his life by taking on the mafia underworld and saved his bonded pack, the Ferals. “It’s important.”

“You’ve only been going on about it for…how many months…or is it years…?”

“Decades,” Piper draws out the word.

“Hey,” I narrow my eyes, “don’t gang up, Wolf Brothers.”

Chase ducks under the gap in the counter without bothering to lift it like he’s weaving in one of his fights.

I eep, as he backs me against the wall. He cages me with his arm casually resting above my head.

I swallow. “If I go undercover, I’ll be careful.”

Chase’s midnight green eyes become icy. “You won’t. I know you, Little Wolf. You’re as reckless and impulsive as I am.”

“I see that as one of our best family traits, along with our sass.”

Chase bares his canines and looks as deadly as he is: A killer with a heart of gold. “So do I. Along with our banter.”

What?

I tilt my head. “So, you’re not trying to talk me out of this…?”

“Why would I? It’s about time that there was an Omega agent out in the field. Plus, you’re thirty today. As I said, I know you. If you don’t have some kind of adventure like this, the big 3-0 will trigger you to battle for something even more ambitious like becoming the first Omega in space, transforming America into an Omegaocracy that you rule as the first Omega Queen, or even bonding with a Traditional pack.”

I shudder. “The first two would be fun, but if I ever have a crisis and attempt the third one, you have permission to burn all my Jin merch.”

Chase whistles. “You don’t mess around.”

“You’re awesome, bro. See, Bliss?” Piper beams. “He always has our backs.”

Piper has grown up hero-worshiping Chase. But he doesn’t remember our dads. Chase needed to be big brother and parent rolled into one, when he was barely more than a kid himself.

Whereas, there’s only three years between Chase and me. I know my brother’s flaws. I witnessed how much he struggled and hurt, while we were both able to hide the harshest realities from our little brother.

I know the type of things that happened to teenage Alphas who were desperate for money on the streets.

Being taken under the wing of an ex-Seal to be trained as a cage fighter may have saved all of us, but it also condemned Chase to hell for over a decade.

Chase eases back from me, smoothing down his silky locks to tame them again.

“So, you were out on the Harley again?” I tap Chase on his leathered chest.

He flushes, before sighing like he’s remembering a happy but filthy memory.

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