Page 60 of The Gift
Being woken up in the middle of the night happens more than it should in this house. If it’s not an alliance issue, it’s one of the other packs asking for assistance, or it’s a medical emergency I need to help Reno with, but I’ve never woken up with my fingers wrapped around the throat of one of my house members.
“Koda, it’s me,” Reno’s voice is barely above a whisper.
A deep noise of warning rumbles through the room, and I’m shocked when Bailey rubs my chest, making the noise stop.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, keeping her eyes closed.
“Reno’s here.”
“What?” Bailey bolts upright, tugging on my t-shirt.
“I’ve got to take Koda, sorry. Something’s come up,” Reno talks softly.
“What’s happened?” she asks, straight back, already more alert than needs be.
“Not sure yet, but one of the guys we work with called it in and we need to go.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Go back to sleep. We’ll pick up breakfast on our way home,” I say as I tug on some jeans.
“Hmm, or we could have breakfast in bed. I volunteer as tribute, okay?”
“Bailey, you don’t say that sort of shit when we need to go. Honestly,” Reno whispers.
“Why? I’m horny, and want you and Koda. You remember the deal, right?”
“Yes,” he grits. I can hear the way he’s talking through his teeth.
“Good, hurry up and get back here.” She flops back down on my bed, giggling. Her eyes all sleepy again.
While I finish getting dressed, Reno leans over and peppers her face with kisses, making her either whine or laugh softly. Stomping my shoes on, I fill the space he vacated, sitting on the bed next to her and running my fingers over her face. “The external alarm is on and when we leave, a perimeter zone engages. Henley and Ashton are down past the kitchen. If you don’t feel safe, you go there.”
“Thank you. I do know how to sleep by myself,” she murmurs back, her eyes closed still, her voice slowing down as she gets ready to sleep.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to anymore,” I add softly.
A small smile stays on her face. I know because I walk backwards and watch until I’m out the door before swinging around to chase after Reno.
“You did tell them?”
“Yes.” He snaps. I would too, I was being an overprotective cock.
“Was she serious about breakfast?”
“What do you think, Reno? Of course she was.”
“Fuck. We need to hurry then.”
“Good plan, man.” I shove at him as he states the obvious, making him smack my hands away. A bit of roughhousing on the way to the door alleviates the smallest frustration from leaving her in bed, sleepy and horny.
We get further away from her, and we both snap into work mode. “What have we got?” I ask as we gather what we need from the locked closet. It was a smart install by Henley, containing our cache of weapons and tactical gear along with anything else we need when we’re out in the field.
“Lloyd and Gus have been watching our latest omega.” Reno grabs one of his medical bags.
“The one in Second Valley? Vanessa, right?”
“Yeah. They went and grabbed some food; she wasn’t there when they got back. I gave them clearance to enter. Doesn’t look like anything has been touched, except Vanessa hasn’t showed up again yet.”
