Page 51 of Gold Sector
“Yet Rio apparently let Alpha Keegan remain there for fires know how long,” I point out.
When Keegan told me about the arrangement yesterday, I originally assumed Riordan allowed him to stay there because he wanted Keegan to spy on Obsidian Sector.
What if it was all prearranged?I wonder now.What if Rio’s hatred for Basalt was a front for something else entirely?
Impossible, I think in the next beat.I would have sensed?—
“You’re assuming Alpha Keegan is telling you the truth,” my brother says, interrupting my mental debate regarding Rio’s motives.
“I do have a knack for sniffing out lies,” I remind him coolly.
“But is your ability working properly right now?” he counters, making my eyes narrow.
“What are you implying?” I ask, wanting him to lay all his cards on the table. “If you’re going to insult me, at least be thorough.”
He grunts at that and collapses into his favorite chair across from me. “You let an unknown Omega into your quarters, brother. Yet you’ve never let any other Omega up there, including the ones you’ve knotted through several heats.”
My jaw ticks. He’s not wrong. But I don’t like what he’s suggesting. “My ability is working just fine.” Although, my senses are arguably occupied by Taliana’s perfume.
However, lies always smell like burnt rubber.
That stench would absolutely override her alluring scent.
“Is it?” he presses, referring back to my claim regardingmy talent for distinguishing truth from fiction. “Tell me what you smell right now.”
“I’m not trying to scent lies at the moment.”
“Not the point.”
I sigh and swipe my hand through the air, clearing my desk of the translucent screens so I can catch and hold my brother’s stare. “Can I smell her right now? Yes. But she’s literally above my head.”
“Yet all I smell is her residual claim on your skin and nothing more,” he tells me, his hand moving in a way that suggests he just made his point. “She’s captivated your senses, Oros. At least acknowledge that. Then we can discuss what cause Keegan has to lie. Her, too.”
I swallow, not liking the trajectory of this conversation. “You’re suggesting she’s here as a distraction from whatever Basalt is up to. And you’re insinuating that Rio might be in on it. Except you also said you don’t think he let them through Gibraltar.”
“Because I don’t think Rio is in on anything,” he says. “But I don’t think Keegan and his daughter are here by error. The timing is too suspicious, as is your sudden infatuation with her.”
I frown at him. “Keegan said he was old friends with Riordan.”
“And you believe him,” my brother replies. “I don’t.”
My brow furrows even more. “Why?”
“Because it’s too convenient. And, returning to your question regarding coincidences, no, I don’t find it to be a coincidence at all. I think Keegan and his daughter are here as a distraction, just like you insinuated. And now we’re finding out why the distraction was needed.”
“To keep us from reacting to Basalt’s movements,” I say.
Onyx nods, his silver hair flickering in the earlymorning rays of the sun streaming in from the balcony. “He probably thought you would be too deep into knotting the little Omega to see or hear reason.” My brother leans forward. “He severely underestimated your control.”
“Or you’re wrong and this really is a coincidence.”
He lifts a shoulder. “I guess we’ll find out when Riordan returns my call.”
I consider him and my hidden screens once more. “He never replied to my message.” Which I already decided was strange, but now… now I’m even more concerned. “I asked about his pet spy.”
“So you might have offended him,” my brother translates.
“Maybe.” I settle back into my chair again. “But it wouldn’t be the first time. And he loves to prove me wrong. Why not use this opportunity to do so?”
