Page 76 of Bonded By Christmas
“Ready to head back to bed? Your bonded alphas will be equally as frantic if they wake to find you missing.” I give her a tired smile. “Come on, beautiful. I won’t be able to sleep without you plastered to my chest.”
“Okay,” she agrees with a nod.
Well, there’s one crisis averted, but I need to check in with Patrick tomorrow to ensure Lacey’s friend won’t be calling to stir up any drama.
The next morning, Lacey wakes with no fever and no symptoms to indicate her heat is on the horizon. It’s not what I was expecting, and I do a fair amount of research on my phone asCallum feeds her breakfast by hand, seated across from me at the table.
At some point, I’d like to get in on that action. It seems to build a type of tender affection between them as she sits on his lap, eating directly from his hand when appropriate and from the fork when the food item is messy.
Grim is missing, but I assume that’s because he’s checking on the kittens. Collins abandoned us as soon as the sausage was fully cooked. He dropped everything on plates and told us toenjoyas he practically ran from the room.
We might have to wrestle the kittens away from him when the time comes to let Lacey in on their existence.
Everything I find during my internet search seems to indicate that it’s normal for omegas to have waves of heat leading up to the actual event. There’s no way to be sure exactly when it’ll hit, but all the sources recommend giving her a safe place to nest and constant access to our pheromones to ease the transition. Considering she’s never had a heat before, the best thing we can do is keep her comfortable and calm.
“I vaguely remember you promising to set me up with Alice so I can procure gifts for you three,” Lacey says, shoving Callum’s hand away as he wipes her mouth with a napkin. “But I’m also feeling much better today. I could probably do my shopping on my own.”
Leaving the house when a wave of heat could pop up at any moment seems like an awful plan. Not to mention, it’s completely at odds with the advice I found while researching.
Callum beats me to it, saying, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Remember what went down at the shop yesterday?”
“Yeah, but you took care of me.” She pokes out her lower lip. “And I feel normal today.”
“You didn’t have much warning then either,” I remind her, smiling softly. My phone buzzes, lighting up with a call fromPatrick O’Connor. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to take this.” Placing my hand over the screen, I attempt to block Lacey from seeing who’s calling as I shove out of my chair.
“Hey, wait, is that about Charlotte?” she asks, trying to push to her feet.
“He’ll have no way of knowing until he answers,” Callum says, and it’s weird to hear him sounding like the voice of reason. He must keep her in place because she doesn’t catch up as I stride toward my downstairs office.
I answer the call to the sounds of Lacey arguing with Callum, with Cal threatening to spank her ass if she doesn’t settle down.
“This is Wilder.”
“Do you want the good news or the questionable variety of information first?” Patrick asks.
“Just speak,” I growl, striding down the hallway and shoving my forearm against the door to my office.
“The omega you asked us to watch knows more than she’s saying.” He hums. “I’d even go as far as to suggest she could deliver a name if she’d simply open her mouth and speak. But alas, I’m not about tormenting obviously terrified women, so that’s going to take some time while we build up a certain level of trust.”
“Was that the good or the bad news?” I ask, kicking the door closed behind me and pacing the room.
“The other piece of information is that I got a call from Emory Moretti this morning.” Patrick laughs, and my proverbial hackles rise. “He was inquiring about how attached you are to your second. If I were you, I’d make itblatantlyclear that Grim isn’t to be fucked with.”
My eyes narrow.
Christ.
The Boston syndicate always has someone looking to break the rules.
This is why we can’t have nice things. The scheming to fuck over another family is never ending… Except, my team and I are supposed to be immune—untouchable, even.
The Morettis have no reason to have it out for Grim.
And with that, it clicks.
“That means someone knows Grim murdered the assholes who attacked Lacey. What are you saying, Pat? That the dead guys’ associates reached out to the Morettis to help them gain access?”
“I mean, he didn’t say it in so many words,” Patrick says. “But yeah, that would be my first guess. Emory knows you have at least three families that would go to war if anyone attacked you. I made sure to remind him of exactly that during our chat. You can thank me later.”
