Fated to the Warrior Wolf (The Hunted Omegas #3)

45. Gael

FORTY-FIVE

Gael

I stood outside Leigh’s door, patiently waiting for her to answer my knock, but it had been several minutes and the answer hadn’t come. I shifted to my other foot, worry starting to edge out my patience. Should I poke my head in? What if she was sick again?

“She’s not in there,” Lucien said, startling me from my concentration.

“Damn, you people are jumpy this morning. Leigh did the same thing when I told her good morning. Must be in the air.” He took a long sip of his coffee, and I resisted the urge to punch him for knowing where Leigh was when I didn’t.

I must have growled, because he took a pointed step back.

“Where is she?”

“Looked like she was heading to work out. Have you seen that sports bra? Hot damn.” He bobbed his head with that last line, and I saw red.

My hand was around his throat and his back was against the wall before I thought it through.

“Keep your hands to your own fucking self, or I’ll remove them.” My wolf was testing my limits, my nails turning to claws, eyes aglow as I let my dominance flatten him.

“Whoa, buddy, you’ve got it wrong— I told you I wouldn’t mess with her again, and I kept my word. Besides, I don’t put my hands on any female who doesn’t ask first, capisce? All I did was tell her good morning and walk on by. Let me down. You made me spill my coffee.”

I blinked twice, better judgment hitting me as coffee dripped onto my boots. But still, I couldn’t let it go despite his flippant attitude.

No, because of his flippant attitude. He wasn’t getting the hint.

“I don’t even want to hear her name in your mouth, you hear me? She’s my mate, she’s pregnant with my child, and you’re a fuckboy. Stay clear, or else next time, it won’t be your coffee that gets spilled.”

He snorted. “Duly noted, boss man. I was being friendly, but I’ll tone down the flirting. I’ll treat her like a nun.”

I growled. “You’ve fucked a nun in her habit , if the rumors are true, so you’ll treat her like your sister, or you’ll regret it.”

He laughed. The fucker was laughing at me.

“Wow. Kane told me you had it bad, but this is next-level caveman shit.”

He patted me on the shoulder, not even remotely as concerned as he should be. I was dead serious. I’d remove any part of him that touched her.

“I’ll treat her like my baby sister, man, I promise. I’m just jerking your chain.”

Finally, my wolf eased up, and I let him go. He swore as he dropped the cup, coffee splattering everywhere on the pristine marble and his own fancy, dove-gray suit pants. My black cargos wouldn’t show it, so I didn’t care. “Barbarian fucker,” he muttered as he shook his head. “I’m sending you a bill for my dry cleaning. ”

I ignored him as he walked off to get cleaned up and went back to studying Leigh’s door. Her credit card had come in, which I was trying to give her. If she wasn’t in, should I leave it on her nightstand? The message I’d left last night was gone, which was good. Or bad. She could have thrown it straight in the trash.

I’d check the knob. If it was locked, I’d come back. If not, I’d leave the credit card on her bedside table.

The knob spun freely, and I pushed the door open, walking in before I could talk myself out of it.

A tiny, not at all threatening hiss led me to Nugget, who was curled up on the foot of her bed.

“It’s me, little dude. I have something for your mommy.” I waved the unlimited black credit card, not that plastic meant anything to a cat. “I’m going to leave it for her with a note and be out of your hair. Fur. Whatever,” I muttered to myself as I crossed the space, feeling a little bit like a crazy person for talking to a kitten.

I had solid control before I met Leigh. Not Reed levels, but solid. I certainly didn’t lose my shit and shove people against the wall in a red haze because they’d spoken to someone. Not ever. And here I’d done it to Lucien more than once. He had a reputation, sure, but I needed to get a grip.

I dropped the card with her name on it on the nightstand and pulled out the next note, hesitating. I didn’t want to violate her space, but if I was already in here to leave the credit card, did a note hurt or help? Screw it. I tucked the note beneath the card and made for the door.

If she was mad about it, she could yell at me. I’d welcome anything that meant she was actually going to communicate at this point. Silence from her was way more unnerving than her usual happy chatter. She never stopped talking, and while that might bug some people, I liked it. I always knew what was on her mind, and her voice made my wolf happy .

This silence, the cold shoulder… I hated every fucking minute. I snuck a scratch behind Nugget’s ears and then carefully shut the door behind me, heading to Kane’s suite for our meeting.

Lucien had beaten me in there, and he glared as I leaned against the wall opposite the seat he’d taken near the window.

Kane let the tension lie, giving us both a cocked eyebrow and nothing more as he poured his own cup of coffee from the lavish tray his staff had brought up for the meeting. Reed and Dirge walked in as he took his first sip.

“Is Brielle joining us?” Reed asked, casting an eye at the unmade bed on the other side of the suite.

Dirge snorted. “No, she’s asleep in my bed next to Shay. I got booted out because ‘somebody woke her up before the sun and Jesus,’” he said drily.

Kane laughed, and I smirked at the idea of the musclebound alpha being ousted from his mate’s bed before dawn by the tiny little omega. It cheered me up more than anything had since Celeste showed up and ruined everything.

“Laugh all you want. I’ll return the favor and sic Shay on you tomorrow.”

“Utterly terrifying,” Reed said as he kicked back and crossed one ankle over his knee. “What’s on the docket for today? One of my restaurants in New York lost the GM, and I need to get on a call in less than half an hour to put out a fire.”

“We’ll keep it brief,” Kane said. “Lucien, what’s the fallout?”

Lucien shook his head. “They’re not happy. The council called an emergency meeting for ten a.m., and it’s an all hands. The brief didn’t say much, other than multiple complaints have been filed by the Hungarian pack and, slightly more surprisingly, one of the Indian packs. Apparently, there were more traitors among your father’s allies than we knew.”

“Nice of them to out themselves for us,” Dirge said .

“Indeed. I’ll keep notes and let you know any names on the complaints.”

“I appreciate that. But I’m not too concerned. Tribunals are pack law, and they don’t have a leg to stand on. By rights, I could have executed him simply for refusing to pledge his loyalty and submit to questioning.”

Dirge spoke up. “You did the right thing going the extra mile with the proof. His own pack turned on him. That has weight. People will see you as fair and thorough, not the inexperienced pup he was trying to write you off as.”

Kane nodded thoughtfully, clenching and unclenching his jaw. “Well, it’s done now. All we can do is go forward. Any word on the investigation into the ODL?” He directed the question to Lucien.

“Not a thing, but we’re supposed to get news next week. Any more thoughts about how we’ll handle it in the event they find no wrongdoing?”

“A follow-up petition, obviously,” Reed interjected. “But we need to be ready with what specifically we want to ask for. The likelihood of them doing away with the law up front is next to nothing. It might take years of bargaining to get the kill order removed.”

Lucien winced, clearly not pleased about years of his life spent in a council seat.

I stepped forward off the wall, raking a hand through my hair. “We should wait for the women and have a larger discussion. It directly affects three of them.”

Everyone fell silent at the reminder of how much our pack was screwed if we couldn’t work this out inside the law. Bri was an omega, both Leigh and Olivia were branded with an omega seal, and our unborn daughter was the next omega. But Lucien just looked confused. Granted, he still didn’t know why it was so personal to Pack Blackwater, but it impacted all wolves.

We could not afford to fuck this up .

Kane nodded his agreement. “Let’s regroup after Lucien gets out of the emergency session with everyone. I’m sure we can come up with a game plan.”

We all broke up to go our separate ways, but even as I headed to do my morning rounds of the pack’s security, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were about to get bent over a barrel by the Interspecies Governing Council.

Call it a sixth sense, call it a gut feeling. A shitstorm was headed our way, and I didn’t want to be caught without an umbrella.