Faith & the Dead End Devils (Sweet Omegaverse, #8)(73)

Out of the corner of my eye, Faith stretched on Chance's lap, trying to get a peek into the bag. I grinned at her, arching an eyebrow. Would she ask to see it, or wait for me to share it with her?

She rose from Chance's lap and stepped between my knees, leaning forward onto my thighs. Little minx. She crossed her arms over my hips, and I reminded myself I was a grown-ass man, not a teenage boy who needed to get hard at every provocation. But my body didn't listen as she rested her chin down on her arms and waggled those delicate brown eyebrows at me.

"Do I have to earn my present first?"

Tempting, but the news about the Wasted lingered in the back of my mind, and the laundromat wasn't that private. "You more than have already, Butterfly," I said, propping myself up on an elbow and pushing the bag her way. "Go on."

Faith grinned, grabbing the bag and flopping it down onto my chest, drawing out a grunt from me. Chance laughed and turned on the bench to watch. As soon as she tipped the bag over and looked inside, that giddy smile went slack and her breath caught.

"It's too much," Faith whispered, staring at the box inside, a laptop computer displayed on its side.

"You needed it," I said, shrugging.

Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip, and that thread between us was tangling and twisting up with too many emotions at once. "I don't even know if I could set the server up by myself. I'm not as good as Adam."

Chance rose from the bench, stepping in behind her, his hands resting lightly on Faith's shoulders. "King had a computer, but I guarantee it has some kind of virus on it. He's constantly bitching about getting spam emails and pop-up ads."

"And I only really use my phone," I said, studying her face and what I could find in that partial bond between us. She was relieved and scared, grateful and embarrassed. Nothing bad that wouldn't pass. "We figured you needed something fresh and more powerful than the cheap shit we've got lying around here."

"We?" Faith asked, looking back up at me, eyes growing glossy.

"Group effort, birdy," Chance said, kissing her temple.

"Was actually King's idea," I admitted, catching her gaze. "Not that he deserves extra credit."

"He also happens to have the best internet signal in his office," Chance pointed out.

Faith glanced between us. "Is this a set-up?"

Chance's lips twitched, but I didn't flinch. "Was it a set-up when you walked into his office in the final throes of your heat?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fair enough. But…" I sat up as she hesitated. Did she regret drawing King in? They'd been tightly tangled up together in the nest when I'd gotten home the night before, but maybe that was at his insistence. Faith was tucked between us now, and she sighed and blinked up at me. "I don't want to push him anymore. Never mind how much you've all already done for me, and the risks he's been willing to take to keep me here—I just don't want to…bully him into accepting a bond."

"He's being an idiot, bothering to resist," Chance muttered.

"But he is resisting, and it's past time for me to accept that," Faith said.

I was silent, staring at her, eyes reading her face like a written page, catching the little notes of emotion I could gather. She was reluctant and determined at the same time. Reluctant to give King up, I suspected, and determined to give him his choice. He didn't deserve her. Or maybe he did, and she was right. I had a feeling that if she backed off, it would spook him into chasing after her, but I didn't want to make her think I was still calculating the pair of them.

"Okay. I'll quit goading him too. Although I'm not sure that plan will work out the way you expect. Now, you gonna take this thing for a spin or not?" I asked, patting the box.

Faith rose up on her toes and I bent, lips meeting hers for a soft kiss that tasted like sugar and blue raspberry slurpee. Chance pushed her freshly shorn hair aside and kissed the back of her neck, and Faith shivered between us.

"Thank you," she whispered, smiling at me as we parted. "Yes. But I'm serious when I say I don't know if I'll make it work."

I shrugged. "Gotta try, Butterfly. Now, I need to talk to King, and I think you should be there too. No set-up, just news."





The news did not go over well.

"It's Omikron," Faith whispered, eyes wide and all the color in her features washing away.

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't known how much even her posture had changed over the weeks, but it made me sick to watch her crumple in on herself again.

"Butterfly, it's gonna—" I reached for her shoulder, a tentative touch, but she immediately dove into my arms. I let out a sigh as she burrowed into my chest, happy to draw her closer, pull her legs over mine. Chance slid across King's office couch, staying close, and one of Faith's hands reached for him, gripping tight. This was pack—this settling sensation in my chest as we huddled together, Chance and I offering whatever support we could to our omega.

I glanced up and King was there watching us with an almost wild stare, his hands tight on his knees.

He felt it too, or at least he was struggling not to throw himself forward. An easy purr rose from my chest, a sound to soothe the shaking woman in my arms, and King joined me a moment later, brow furrowed with concentration.