Page 61 of Deadly Sweet

“Where is she?” Walker asks, looking behind them, but no one else walks into the room.

“She’s using the bathroom,” Caleb says. “Giving us a second to talk.”

“Everything okay?” I ask, raising a brow.

Caleb lays his hands flat against the table and leans over. “She’s our mate. I’m not giving her up, no matter what. You would have to put a bullet in my chest and bury me six feet under, and I’d still claw my way to the top and find her. And I’m going to speak for Jake and tell you he feels the same way.” I look over to Jake, who stands there, arms crossed. He says nothing, so I’m going to assume Caleb is right in how he feels. “I know she’s not what we would have expected our Omega to be. If anything, I think she’s even better. She’s smart, funny, strong, and—”

“A killer,” Walker grunts.

“So?” Caleb raises a brow. “I’ve killed people before. So has Leroy.”

“It comes with the job,” Walker huffs. “Killing is her job. There’s a difference.”

“So... it’s a deal breaker for you?” Caleb leans back to his full height, crossing his arms.

“No,” Walker sighs heavily, running a hand through his hair. “We talked last night, and ultimately, we’ve decided that as long as Athena is safe and Savannah doesn’t pose a risk to her, we want to see where this goes. I still haven’t wrapped my head around all of this, but Leroy pointed out a lot of important things. We’re Alphas, she’s our scent match. Things work differently for us. I think we’re just so used to living our lives as bachelor Alphas that we forgot what it could be like when we found our mate.”

“Ah, you guys were bachelors. I have never touched another person sexually in my life and never planned on it, unless that person was Savannah,” Jake chimes in.

Caleb holds his hands up. “My whoring around days are over. I’m only a slut for my Omega.” He turns his gaze to Walker. “What about you? We know how you feel about Omegas, can you look past that for her?”

“Yes,” he says.

“And you?” Caleb looks down at me. “You're not in our shoes. You're not driven by hormones and pheromones.”

“Partly true.” I lean back in my seat. “Her scent does get to me, though.” As in it makes my cock so damn hard. It might not drive me as wild as it does these guys, but it’s pretty damn close. I’m not blind, Savannah is gorgeous. I’d be a fool not to feel something when I look at her.

But attraction is only a small part of what makes a relationship work. Who knows what will happen when we spend time together.

“One day at a time. That's how we take this. We get to know her. Let her go at her own pace. We’re not dealing with just anyone, okay? Savannah has been through trauma beyond belief. We won’t know how to navigate that until we know more about her.”

Hurt flashes on Jake’s face before he scrubs his hands down it.

My heart hurts for my friend. He’s spent five long years looking for his Omega. He’s never once given up. I’ve seen the toll it’s taken on him, and there's never been a day I didn’t hate seeing him hurting.

A scream has us all jumping to our feet. We look around at one another with wild eyes. “Athena,” Walker growls, and we’re all taking off out of the room, storming up the steps.

We stumble to a halt as we take in the scene. “Fuck,” I hiss, heart pounding.

Savannah has a knife pressed against Ashley’s throat. Her wide, fear-filled eyes meet us. “Help. Please. This crazy woman is trying to kill me.”

Savannah snorts out a laugh. “Trying? Baby girl, if I really wanted you dead, you’d be bleeding out on the floor right now.”

“Savannah,” I say with caution. I’m not sure what’s going on and why she felt the need to hold Ashley at knife point, but I know if I don’t handle this right, things could end very badly.

“Who is she?” Savannah growls. “Why is there a woman here? With my mates.”

“They’re not your mates,” Ashley cries out, and I groan inwardly. She’s going to make this worse.

“Yes, they fucking are.”

“Savvy, baby,” Caleb tries to soothe, and Savannah's wild eyes dart over to him. “Can you do me a favor and let the Beta go?”

“Not until you tell me why the fuck she’s here. Who is she? Is she your mate?”

“Fuck no.” Caleb snorts out a laugh. “Ashley is the nanny. That's all. You're our mate. You’re our Omega. She doesn’t mean anything to us, not in that way. She helps out with Athena, that’s it.”

Not a complete lie. What he’s not telling her is that Ashley is also the surrogate who carried and gave birth to our daughter. We didn’t use Ashley’s egg, but used an anonymous donor.

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