Page 117 of Believe it or Knot

Normally, his hand on my throat would be enough to make me calm down and capitulate. It would be enough to make me give him whatever he wants, but not this time. Not when Sorrel is in trouble, not when we abandoned her. She would never have been taken if she was with us. If she was still nestled up in our house on the lake with its high-tech security and guards, or at our penthouse.

But we left her, believed the worst about her, and walked away. Leaving her alone in her tiny, poorly protected house, with flimsy locks and too many easily broken windows. We left her alone. It’s our fault she’s in this mess.

I slap his hand away and snarl. “Don’t do that.” Gray’s brows arch, but I don’t let it dissuade me. “You don’t get to use your alpha wiles on me and make me calm, make me give in to you. I need to be there for Sorrel. I need to know she’s okay.”

He sighs. “Liam, sweetheart, we can call you as soon as-”

“No!” I legit stomp my foot, hands fisted at my sides. “No. She’s my fucking beta. My pack. My mate. I’m not leaving her there-”

“No one is leaving her,” he tries to break in, but I’m in a full omega strop at the moment. My heart is beating too fast. My scent is all over the place and I want to hit someone badly.

“I told you what we heard wasn’t the complete story. I told you she wasn’t like Kimber or Janice or Patrick. I told you she’s ours. You didn’t listen. You made me cut her out. You made me hurt her. I will not let you keep me from her again, Gray. I have to be there. I have to let her know that she’s mine. I don’t want her to go one second longer doubting it.”

“Let him come,” Gage says from behind me. Gray’s eyes narrow into slits and I can feel the denial on his tongue. The rage pouring off him. I’d always thought finding pack members was supposed to be easy. Like it felt when I met Gray and Rafe… Sorrel, too. But Gage isn’t easy. I’m not sure either alpha is willing to give in to the other. But I need them too. I need both of them in the pack, Gray because he’s without a doubt my alpha, and Gage because I’m pretty sure I can’t have Sorrel if he isn’t game to at least try to make this work.

Gage continues before Gray can tear into him. “I’m not saying bring him into the raid. Hell, I’d prefer it if you sat out-”

“Same,” Rafe chimes in, making my alpha’s scowl deepen.

“But he can wait with the cars. He can be there when we get her out. She’ll want to see him, need his comfort.”

“What if we had a different job for you?” Maddox Falcone asks, folding his giant arms over his chest.

I frown. “What kind of job?”

The giant shrugs. “You’re America’s sweetheart. You can take everything we’ve accumulated on Apex and their shady dealings to the media. Do an interview, put them on blast. They’ll be struggling to handle the fallout from that when we strike.”

My brows jump. “It’ll split their attention.”

Gray nods. “That’s a good idea. But I’m not sending him alone.” Topher of the Werth pack steps forward, along with Asher.

“We can go with him,” Topher offers.

“Actually,” Luca says, running his fingers over his lips. “It might be a good idea for all of you to go to the media. The entire Cordova pack united against Apex. It’ll make more of an impact.”

My heart clenches. “But then Sorrel will have no one there for her when you get her out.”

“We’ll be there for her,” Swift says at the same time that Gage growls. “I’ll be fucking there for her.”

Maddox shakes his head. “Are you sure she even wants to see any of you? Maybe she would prefer to not face the assholes that tossed her aside like trash right after coming out of a traumatic situation.”

Logan nods. “I agree. It might be better to see her after things have calmed down a bit.”

Everything tells me this is wrong. My omega is shouting at me that I need to get to Sorrel, need to bite her and claim her and make sure my alphas do the same so that I can be sure she’s never lost to us again.

But Gray and Rafe and even Gage are all considering the Falcone pack’s words, letting them sink in. Believing them.

Rafe pins Gage with a look. “You should come with us, too.”

Gray claps the soldier on his shoulder. “It’ll be your first introduction as a member of the Cordova pack.”

The way my prime says the words is like it’s a done deal, like it’s decided that Gage is going to be a pack member. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little thrill at the idea of it. But I suspect it has more to do with Gray understanding that in order for Sorrel to be a pack member, Gage will need to be as well.

She won’t come to us without him.

The growly man shakes his head. “No fucking way. I’m literally trained in hostage extraction. It’s what I did for the country. There is no one better equipped to get our girl out than me.”

My heart warms at him, calling Sorrel our girl. Maybe it won’t be so hard to get him to join us. Maybe he’s realized that the way to have her is to have all of us, too. I won’t even push for him to be physical with me. I respect his boundaries. But he will need to have Gray bite him so he can be a full member of the pack.

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