Page 150 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“Are you guys sure you’re going to be safe?” I asked, my voice tight and strained. “You’ll be careful?”

He brushed his knuckles gently across my cheek and looked into my eyes. “We’ll be fine. I promise.”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat, then lunged forward and hugged him tightly. “Please be careful,” I muttered.

“I will,” he said, running a hand up and down my back.

“Ashton’s already in danger. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you, too.”

Cole lifted my chin and kissed me long and hard. I didn’t care that the others were watching. I kissed him back, worrying that it might be the last time. Our breath mixed until we were breathing each other in and out, becoming one. When he finally pulled away, my heart thudded like a war drum.

“I’ll be fine. Trust me,” he said.

Langston and Porter got up and headed toward the door, but before Cole could join them, Stormy burst in, looking harried.

“Are you okay?” she asked, slightly breathless. “I came as soon as I could. Had to wait for Mom to get home from the store to watch Shiloh.”

“I’m okay,” I said.

As she strode across the floor, I caught Langston sweeping his eyes across her body in a way he probably thought was surreptitious but was obvious to me and everyone else.

Porter tapped his watch impatiently. “We gotta go. The rest of the guys are gonna think we aren’t coming.”

“I know,” Cole said. “We’re not going until I’m sure this place is secure.” He glanced at Trent at Zayde. “Do you guys have protection?”

“You mean other than my inch-long canines when I shift?” Trent asked.

“You know what I mean,” Cole said.

Trent smirked and lifted his shirt, revealing a semi-auto pistol tucked into his waistband. “All good, my man.”

“And you?” Cole said, turning his attention to Zayde.

The man cocked an eyebrow and slid his hand into his laptop bag, pulling out a snub-nosed revolver. “We good,” Zayde said with a quick grin.

“Okay, then,” Cole said.

He looked focused and locked in. Commanding and driven in a way I hadn’t seen in a while. It was a relief to know his head was fully back in the game.

“You two just keep your eyes peeled,” Langston said. “I don’t know what kind of strategist Kyle is, but he may assume we’ve got our crosshairs on him. If that’s the case, he could try something stupid.” Shrugging, he gestured around at the house. “Like coming here to cause trouble.”

“I’ll be making sweeps every fifteen minutes,” Trent said. “Like back in the Congo that one time? You remember?”

Langston grinned and chuckled. “I remember you getting jumpy and damn near blowing away some poor chimpanzee instead of the terrorists we were hunting.That’swhat I remember.”

Trent made a disgusted sound and waved a hand at him. “Fuck, it was dark. You’d have done the same thing.”

Langston glanced back at Stormy. The lust and desire I’d seen in his eyes a few moments before transformed into concern.

“Miss… uh… Stormy? Are you sure you want to be here during all this?”

“Why wouldn’t she be here?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Langston sighed and glanced at Cole, who only held his hands up in surrender. “You’re on your own with this one,” Cole said to Langston.

Turning back to us, Langston said, “This is going to be dangerous. You don’t need to be involved if you don’t want to be. You’ve got a child, you aren’t part of Cole’s pack, and your mother is home alone, watching your daughter. I’m trying to look out for you and make sure there’s as little collateral damage as possible.”

I frowned. How the hell did Langston know Stormy’s mom was all alone? Stormy’s father had died of cancer back when she was twelve, but I’d never mentioned that to Langston. It made me think that he’d looked into her a bit more after meeting her. Was that because he wanted to clear her as a possible threat, or because he was more interested in her than I’d thought?

---