I feel Mom gripping my hand in the kind of death grip only moms can do. Maybe she can see how I’m practically itching to jump between them.
But for the life of me, I don’t know whether that’s because I want to protect my dad or because I don’t want to see my alphas hurt.
Wait.
Myalphas?
When thefuckdid they becomemyalphas?
“So, my daughter tells me you’re the Northside pack who’s going to buy my family a fucking Northside house in exchange for her?” My dad growls. His hands are loose at his sides, but that doesn’t fool me one bit. One wrong answer or one bad move from Theo and Killian, and my dad is slamming his fists into their faces.
“Not in exchange for her,” Killian says slowly, sounding surprisingly, stupidly calm, considering the situation. “In exchange for her cooperation in a case we’re building against the players involved in the Southside omega trafficking rings.”
“In exchange for her cooperation my fucking ass,” Dad growls. “I see the fucking way you’re looking at her. And one of you was her ‘client’ too?”
“Dad! Please! Theo didn’t touch me, I promise!” I yell. “Stop it, they’re our only chance of getting out of here alive!”
“Which one of you is Theo?” Dad asks, letting out a menacing-sounding chuckle.
I curse under my breath. Fuck, I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Sure, I’m fucking pissed at Theo for lying to me, but I also don’t want to see his gorgeous face scraped across the sidewalk.
“I’m Theo,” Theo says stupidly, giving my Dad a nod. “And I know you have no reason to trust us, but we’re truly just trying to help. I was going in as an undercover client at the club Reyna was working at on Saturdays, but I never touched her. We were just trying to gather information on her.”
“What kind of fucking information were you trying to gather about my daughter?” Dad makes a show of cracking his knuckles.
“We’d identified her as a possible key witness in our case,” Killian said. “But it turns out, she’s an even bigger asset than weoriginally thought. Without Reyna, we never would’ve been able to save one of our pack members, and that’s a debt we can never repay.”
“Asset, huh?” Dad growls. “So you’re gonna go after the Southside omega trafficking rings and take her to the Northside where she’ll be registered and basically trafficked there?”
“No,” Killian says, quickly. “I know you must have plenty of reason to lack faith in the Northside, but we recently voted on a bill that relaxes the stringent requirements for omega registration. It will be made public on Monday. Your daughter won’t have to register until she decides to bond with a pack.”
Surprise washes over me. I’ve heard whispers of changes to the omega registration process, but I didn’t realize they were happening already.
“So, if you guys are buying my family a house, can Reyna stay with us?” Dad narrows his eyes.
“No,” Killian sighs.
“I don’t fuckin’ like the sound of that,” Dad warns.
“I can understand why you don’t, Mr. Carver, but since Reyna will be a key witness, she will need round-the-clock protection,” Killian says. “It would be easier for you and the rest of your family to live on a separate property, that way your younger children can still continue to live their normal lives with minimal disruptions.”
“Sounds awful convenient considering you guys wanna ‘court’ her,” Dad huffs.
“We do.” Theo nods. “Your daughter is special. We want to be able to see where things go, but we promise we’ll be respectful.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes at Theo’s words. Respectful, my ass. Respectful would’ve been not lying to me and pretending like we had something in the club and turning around and blowing my fucking life up.
I turn back and give my mom a tight-lipped smile, pulling my hand away from hers.
I make my way over to the posturing alphas, getting between them and holding my hands up.
“We don’t have time for this, Dad. This is what has to happen.”
His brows draw down in concern. “But are you okay with it?”
“Yes.”
As okay with it as I can be, considering the circumstances.