Vincenzo

I was pouring my third glass of scotch when there was banging on my door. “What?” I shouted but didn’t even bother to face the direction.

“Open the fucking door, Enzo.” Lorenzo was on the other side, and he sounded pissed.

I couldn’t bring myself to care. I finished pouring and then carried my glass to the door to greet my brother. “Do you need something?”

He pushed his way in and went straight to my bar to pour himself a glass. Like me, he inhaled the first shot and then refilled it before heading to one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace. “We need to talk.”

I bit back a groan and sat down in the chair next to him. I sipped my scotch, the sharp taste dulling my senses. “What about?” Please, for fuck’s sake, if he rehashed our earlier meeting, I was gonna lose my shit.

“What the hell is wrong with you lately?”

“What?” I’d been a little cranky since Eric disappeared, but I didn’t want to make a big deal about it because I didn’t want him on anyone’s radar.

Coming home to find my omega had suddenly quit had been a blow to my ego. I’d mourned the loss for sure. I’d spent nearly two days holed up in my room, feigning sickness so I could drown my sorrows in solace.

As hard as it was, I didn’t ask Dominic for any more details or try to look into where he went. I assumed that Eric would contact me if he wanted me to know where he was.

But as time went on, and days had turned to weeks and now months, I’d begun to wonder if there was more to it than that.

Dominic had assured me that he was trying to reach Eric and was sure he was safe, but that just brought up even more questions for me. Like, why the hell would Eric leave without telling me when things had been going so well?

I’d been traveling more than usual around that time, but Eric never complained. He never even mentioned having a problem with my travel schedule. Most nights, I was home with him, so that didn’t seem like a reasonable reason to take off without a word.

“You know what.” Lorenzo took a sip and then sat back in his seat. “You’ve been a nightmare for the past two months. It’s getting old. What the fuck’s going on?”

I was surprised that Dominic hadn’t filled him in, but I assumed it was to protect Eric.

My primary interest was to protect Eric too, but as a very close second, I really just wanted him back. I hadn’t been eating well or sleeping well or…doing just about anything well. My mind was always replaying those last moments I had with him, trying to find some terrible misdeed that occurred that could possibly justify his abandonment and breach of contract.

But I came up blank. “It’s about Eric.”

“Your pack omega? What about him? I know you liked him, but really? That’s why you’ve been such a fucking tool all this time?”

I could have reminded him how he’d been when his own omega had disappeared on him. Instead, I shrugged and couldn’t look my brother in the eye. “I miss him. I… I love him.” I hadn’t meant to say the words. Had never said them out loud before now, but it was the truth.

All the air in the room seemed to evaporate as we both sat there, frozen and waiting for the other to react. After several minutes, Lorenzo took another drink and then heaved out a sigh. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“What good would it do? It’s not like we can be together, and…he’s gone now. If I made a big deal about it, you’d insist on finding him.”

“Well, yeah. We can still find him.”

“I know. But…” I closed my eyes and forced out the words that I’d been worried about but hadn’t acknowledged. “I need you to trust me on this, Lorenzo. Brother to brother. Not head of the family to second-in-command, all right?”

Lorenzo nodded. His eyes filled with concern for his brother, not our business. In that moment, I knew I could trust him with anything.

I took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “I think Eric left because he’s pregnant.”

Lorenzo threw his head back. “Fuck, Lou. You should’ve said something.”

“Honestly, I figured Dominic told you. And, admittedly, I only just connected the dots.”

His eyes narrowed. “Dominic knows about this?”

Great, now I was getting everybody in trouble with me. “He’s protecting his friend. I don’t know if he knows where Eric is, but they were close, so I’m sure he knows why Eric felt like he had to leave.”

It seemed like understanding had finally dawned on Lorenzo as he got up and started pacing opposite me. “So you think he wants to keep the baby, and he knows he can’t if he stays here?”

The hair on the back of my neck stood up and my gaze hardened on my brother. “No one’s touching my kid. Not even you, Brother. I only told you becau–”

Lorenzo held up his hands, looking both offended and…hurt. “Of course not. Why would you even think that?”

Air rushed out of me as I slumped down into the armchair. “What other option is there? He had to leave or lose the baby. That’s how we do things.” I looked right at him. “Isn’t it?” I never paid a lot of attention to the inner workings of the pack omegas, but I knew the rules. I wasn’t sure if we’d ever had to actually take care of any pregnant omegas, and I really didn’t want to find out the hard way that we were strict about enforcing that particular rule.

Lorenzo finally sat down in the chair again and took another drink. After a while, he spoke up, surprising both of us. “You said you love him. Does that mean…he’s the one? You want him as your mate and husband?”

Only in my wildest dreams. “What if I say yes?”

“Then we go find him and bring him back.” As if it was as simple as that.

I scoffed. “And that’s it? He’ll just be allowed to leave the pack and be my mate?”

Lorenzo shrugged. “Yeah, why not?”

“Then what? Every omega in the pack now has an incentive to get knocked up and tie down whichever alpha they have their eye on?”

“Not necessarily.” Lorenzo looked into the fire and stared at the dancing flames. “But I guess we could change those rules a bit. We can do better testing to make sure the suppressants are working, and if a pregnancy slips through, we can let the alpha decide. If they want to release the omega from the pack and get married, they can. If not, we let the omega decide. They can keep the baby and leave or…what we usually do.”

That sounded pretty good. We should have been doing that all along. “Yeah, okay. You think Dad will be okay with it?”

Lorenzo hated when we second-guessed his decisions by bringing up our father. “I’m in charge now. If he doesn’t like it, that’s his problem. I also think we should ask Dominic what his thoughts are. He and Eric were handling the management of the omegas. Surely, they have a better idea than we do on what would work.”

I looked at my brother with brand-new eyes. I hadn’t given him the credit he deserved for the changes he was making. “You know, you’re not doing half bad at this head-of-the-family thing.”

He punched me in the shoulder. “Thanks, Brother.” He stood up and slammed back the last of his drink before putting the glass on the table. “Now, let’s go find your family.”

I didn’t realize how important it was to get his approval, but once I had it, everything changed. I followed him back to his suite and found Dominic playing a game on the couch. His phone resting on his belly.

I went straight to him. “Do you know where Eric is?”

He put his phone down and looked right at me for a few seconds before glancing at his husband. “Why do you ask?” His gaze bounced between me and Lorenzo. Each movement of his eyes drew his shoulders up tighter around his neck.

Thankfully, Lorenzo spoke up. “That’s a yes. You need to tell us where he’s at. We’re bringing him back.”

Dominic was on his feet faster than I’d seen him move in months and was begging Lorenzo to be reasonable. “Please, alpha. He just wants to be left alone. I know there are rules, but he means us no harm. He wants this baby. Just let him be. He has money, and he won’t bother us. Please don’t do this.”

I could see the hurt in my brother’s eyes as he looked down at his mate. “Do you think we’re bringing him back to hurt him or his baby?”

Dominic looked from me to him. “Aren’t you?”

“No, sweetheart. Vincenzo figured out there had to be a baby all on his own. You confirmed it. Now Vincenzo just wants to find his family so they can be together. For real.”

“Really?” Dominic turned to face me before looking at his husband. “That’s okay? I thought that wasn’t allowed.”

Lorenzo pulled Dominic to his chest. “I’ve decided it’s allowed. We’re gonna make some changes around here, starting with this.”

Dominic threw his arms around his husband and kissed him hard. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I miss him so much. And I know he’s really lonely. I’m sure he’s doing fine. He sent me a note, but that’s all I’ve heard from him.” He turned to face me, resting his head on Lorenzo’s shoulder. “He really misses you, Vincenzo.”

“Not for long. Tell me where he’s at.”