Eric

Dinner was delivered to us, courtesy of Davy. He’d run out to the local diner to grab our takeout.

Last I checked, Miss Marley was whooping their ass in a game of poker. She looked incredibly comfortable at a table playing cards with two alphas. Even the sheriff stopped by to make sure everything was above the bar.

Of course, he had heard about the three alphas who showed up and had taken me away from work.

I was beginning to think there wasn’t a whole lot that happened in this town that others didn’t know about. It was nice when you were the one being protected, but as the person who had been trying to be invisible, it was a bit stifling.

Vincenzo explained that it was the sheriff who had called him, as I suspected. But the sheriff refused to give them any real information until they assured him they meant no harm to me or my baby.

I appreciated that. Even if he had been the one to eventually spill the information about me.

Miss Marley was kind enough to let everyone crash there for the night, mostly to buy me some additional time.

Vincenzo had let Lorenzo know that we wouldn’t be returning home that evening.

We could have made the drive if we needed to. It wasn’t that long. But it was kinda nice to have time with Vincenzo away from the family home. Things would be different when we returned there, but I still wanted to enjoy our little bubble of peace for as long as possible.

When we returned, I would officially be Vincenzo’s mate, not a random omega from the harem. There would be a new role for me within the house and family, but I didn’t know what the role would entail…and that was worrisome.

But that was tomorrow’s problem. Tonight, we had each other, and I wanted to make the most of it.

The next morning, when I awoke with Vincenzo at my side, our reality started to set in.

“You up, Eric?” Vincenzo was awake and obviously had been for a while. I wasn’t sure how long he had been staring at me.

I sighed and forced my eyes open. “Yeah, is everything okay?”

“I'd like to take you home, sweetheart. We’ll move all your things into my room and you’ll live with me.” His hand closed gently over mine. “We can have a wedding like what Dominic and Lorenzo had.”

I grinned and glanced at him. “Rushed, with only your brothers in attendance?”

Vincenzo laughed and tickled my side. “No, smartass.”

I missed my friend and my home. “How is Dominic?"

"Great. Here." Vincenzo pulled out his phone and swiped until he pulled up some pictures of Dominic and Lorenzo.

I gasped when I saw just how large Dominic had gotten. I’d missed so much. I hadn’t even spoken with my best friend since coming here. I’d only sent the one lousy message to let him know I was safe, and then I thought I’d be able to distance myself. That was dumb. “I miss him. I should be with him so he has a friend right now.”

"Eh, he's a strong omega, like you. He understands why you left, and he stood up to his own husband to defend you.”

He was a good man. “I’m glad I’ll be back for the birth at least.”

Vincenzo tightened his hold on me. The two of us hadn’t bothered to get out of bed yet. “Yeah, it’ll be nice once that’s done. As far as I can tell though, newborns just sleep, poop, and eat."

I laughed. "Hate to tell you this, buddy, but that's all ours is gonna do for the first couple months also."

"I know, and I'm gonna love every minute of it," he assured me. "Like I said, I want to take you home. Do you need to put in notice at your job? Does Miss Marley need rent money for a while? Do you want to come home with me?"

"Yes, of course I do. We can–"

"Boss,” Davy's voice boomed through the closed door. “We've had a situation."

With that, Vincenzo was up quickly. He pulled on his jeans, sans underwear, and pulled a t-shirt over his head. He grabbed his gun from the holster he had put on the chair. The man had just rolled out of bed and within seconds he looked like a killer. Terrifying thought, except he was on my side. My alpha was no threat to me.

“Stay here,” he commanded.

“Like hell.” I was already out of bed and pulling on my own clothes. I needed underwear, though. I tugged on my stretchy pants that came high over my baby bump.

He shot me a look. “Eric, you can’t put yourself and our child in danger.”

“You shouldn’t put yourself in danger either.” Even as I said the words I knew how silly it sounded. Of course Vincenzo would be in danger sometimes. It was the nature of his work.

I stayed behind, but he left the door open a crack so I could see down the hall. I had a good view of the front entry. “Can you climb out your window if things go sideways?” he asked.

I nodded. Fuck, I hoped the didn’t have to, though. Not with Miss Marley out there. Though the only people I could see were Davy and Vincenzo.

“Two of Dombruso’s men are on their way,” Davy informed Vincenzo. “They rolled into town a moment ago, and they are coming here.”

“Do we know what for? Did they tail us, or do they know about Eric?”

“Likely just us.” Davy stood against the wall, looking like he was totally at ease, but I knew he was ready for whatever Dombruso’s men had in mind.

My heart beat rapidly. I knew what Vincenzo did was dangerous. He had told me stories before, but I’d never seen it firsthand.

The bell chimed and two alphas walked in. There was still no sign of Trev or Miss Marley.

“State your business.” Vincenzo stood in front of the desk. His casual attire aside, he looked every bit the mafia boss I knew him to be. I shouldn’t have found his voice to be so damn sexy, yet it sent a shiver down my spine. This was my alpha. Protecting me and our child.

The first alpha sneered. “This is a boarding house, isn’t it? I came to get a room.”

“All booked up. Be on your way.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” the second one said. “We came to send a message.”

“Oh yeah?” Vincenzo’s back was to me, so I couldn't see his face, but I could imagine the arrogant, bored look he gave them. “And pray tell, what sort of message do scum like you have for this little town?”

The alpha moved too fast for me to register his drawing a gun and aiming it at Vincenzo. “Tell your brother we mean bus–”

The front window smashed, drawing everyone’s attention. Then Miss Marley and Trev were coming through the front door. Miss Marley held a gun that was way too big for her small frame, but based on her stance, she knew what she was doing.

The alpha that had the gun pulled on Vincenzo whirled around. That gave Vincenzo enough time to draw his own weapon and fire. Once in the alpha’s gut, another to his chest.

Davy shot the other one.

Both dropped to the floor like flies.

“That was some message,” Trev said.

I ran out the door and leapt into Vincenzo’s waiting arms.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked.

He shrugged. “They wanted to send a message. I think ours was the one that got through, though.”

“Pretty bold of them to essentially send an assassin for you. They had to know this was a suicide mission.” Trev dug through the dead man’s pockets and took their weapons. Davy was on his phone, probably informing someone that they just killed two men.

“Dombruso’s feeling us out. He wants to see what we’ll do next or if we’ll just sit back and take it. We have no choice now but to act,” Vincenzo said. “I need to talk with Lorenzo and Orsino soon.”

“This wasn’t acting?” I gestured to the two dead guys.

Vincenzo pulled me into his arms, and I found that I was shaking. I buried my face in his neck so I didn’t have to look at the bodies on the ground.

“This was Vince flexing his muscles. We’ll take care of this. Santiagos aren’t gonna put up with his games any longer.”

Miss Marley snorted. “Vince Dombruso’s always been an arrogant SOB. Your brother’s gonna have his hands full dealing with him.”

“Great,” Vincenzo said. “Sorry about your home, ma’am. We’ll have a team here to clean this up. Let’s hope the sheriff doesn’t mind looking the other way.”

“You make good on your promises to Eric and I’ll forgive you.” Miss Marley winked at me.

Vincenzo pulled me closer to him. “I intend to.”