Page 41 of The Mafia's Omega Queen

As I return to my seat at the table, Hunter watches me with a mischievous grin and winks before shifting his attention to Vinny.

Oh, no, no, no. It’s one thing to do this shit over text message, but now to do it in person? Ahh, fuck.

I slowly start backing my way toward the door leading into the main area of the house, but I don’t make it fast enough.

Hunter jumps to his feet as Vinny turns around to go back to the table and pulls out his knife, pointing it right at him. “Keep your hands where I can see them, Boss. No touchy touchy the knotty knotty.”

Gavin snorts mid-drink, and his orange juice flies out of his nose, all over the table, soaking the papers laid out across it. Arden, sitting next to Gavin, barely gets his tablet out of the spray zone, saving his precious technology.

A growl rips from Vinny’s throat, and his eyes, the eyes of a predator sizing up his prey, shift to me and narrow as I try to keep a straight face. Which I fail miserably at. A giggle slips out as I continue my backward trajectory.

“Stop.” Vinny’s one-word alpha bark filters through my senses, and I feel the pull to obey, but it’s nowhere near as strong as it’s been before. Still inching back, my lips tilt into a smirk as I realize there’s no pain in defying his command.

Holy shit. It’s working. It’s actually fucking working.

I’m so freaking ecstatic that I forget about Vinny wanting to punish me, and I fly forward, dropping my mug on the ground, and leap into Vinny’s arms. His large hands grip my ass as my legs wrap around his torso. I smash my lips to his, the mug shattering on contact with the ground, almost sounding like fireworks going off, as I push all my excitement into him with my mouth.

Pulling away, I cup his face, staring intently into hazel orbs. “It works.”

His eyebrows come together in confusion for a moment before it’s like a lightbulb goes off, and he squeezes me tighter to him. “It works.”

“It fucking works! I felt the need to do as you told me to, but I didn’t have to, and it didn’t hurt. There was literally no pain.”

“Baby girl?” Gavin asks, a cute, confused tone in his voice.

I peek over my shoulder to see Gavin, Hunter, and Arden watching me, wondering what happened. “The pills. They work. Vinny commanded me to stop, and I didn’t have to. Gav, do you know what this means?”

“Holy shit.” He jumps up and rounds the table, ripping me from Vinny’s arms and clutching me to his chest. “It’s the answer to everything, baby girl. Fuck, I’m so happy for you. We’ll have to call Dad later and tell him.”

My heart melts at hearing him call my father Dad so easily. From what I’m told, the only father figure he even had in his life was Big Andoneli while he was alive. Other than that, he really hadn’t had the love of a father, and his mother passed away when he was young. My parents love him more than anything, and just remembering the bet Dad had with Byron tells me that they care about him as if he were one of their own.

Hunter and Arden murmur their agreements as they join us in a huddle, locking me in a four-way embrace. My eyes find Vinny over Gavin’s shoulder, and I raise a brow, tilting my chin to get him to join in. He shakes his head, garnering Hunter’s attention.

“Nope. Come on, Boss. Get in the puppy cuddle.”

“Nah, I’m good. We should really get down to business. We have a counter-attack to plan, after all.”

“There’s always time for cuddles.” Hunter’s arm shoots out and snags Vinny’s suit by the sleeve and drags him into our pile. Vinny huffs and rolls his eyes but locks his arms around Hunter and Gavin, a small smile playing on his lips.

This is the first time he’s been included in anything to do with our relationship—or well, the already established part of our relationship. He’s going to have to get used to this kind of shit if he plans on sticking around.

“Damn it, Hunter. Stop touching my butt,” Vinny growls out, extracting himself from our huddle quickly, a shudder wracking his body.

“Figured you could use some kind of action since you aren’t allowed to milk your knot,” Hunter murmurs, waggling his eyebrows.

Our group breaks apart as we all crack up laughing, Gavin placing me steadily on my feet.

“Just you wait, princess. I plan to punish you for this.” Vinny shakes his head and resumes his spot at the front of the table, now dry from Gavin’s OJ explosion earlier. “All right.” Vinny claps his hands. “Let’s get this shit squared away. I plan to hit him hard and fast.” He bends over the table, checking out the building plans Arden was able to get his hands on. “But before we do, Gavin, I want you to cozy up to Trevor when he comes in tomorrow.”

Gavin starts to protest, but Vinny holds his hand up, stopping him.

“I know you don’t normally handle traitors, but you’re the least bit assuming between you and Hunter. If Hunter started being social with him, he’d know we were onto him. Take him into the den and ply him with a couple of drinks. Lie to him if you have to; I don’t give a shit. Come up with a reason for it to look like a thank you for his many years of service.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Gavin nods.

“We’ll need to knock him out to get him into Hunter’s room, or he’ll kick up a fuss, and we’ll have a fight on our hands,” I murmur, adding in my two cents. “Gav, do you think you can pull that off, or should I come in and refill your drinks at some point and slip something into his?”

Four rumbling growls greet my words. I know they would prefer to keep me out of this, but these silly men should know better by now. I’m already deep in the thick of this—I’m the one they’re coming for, after all—and I should pull my weight, too. Not leave it up to them to take care of shit for me.

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