Page 91 of Alpha Brock
“Why don’t you two have a seat?” Cole asks, gesturing to the array of couches situated around the room. “We could use your input on this.”
That’s my brother- always straight to business.
Everyone acquiesces, making their way to the furniture and sinking down onto it. Brock flops down on a vacant sofa and pulls me onto his lap, and though I did last time we were in here together, this time, I don’t resist. I lean back and settle in as he wraps his arms tightly around me, hooking his chin over my shoulder and nuzzling into my neck.
“Okay, is nobody gonna say it?” Theo pipes up after a beat, looking around to the others with wide eyes.
I turn over my shoulder to Brock, who’s shooting Theo a glare.
Theo throws up his hands. “Come on, after all the shit he gave us?!” Brooke slaps his chest with the back of her hand, rolling her eyes.
“You did give us a lot of shit,” Jax smirks at Brock, throwing his arm over Quinn’s shoulders and settling back into the cushions of the couch beside ours. “And now look at you, all loved up like the rest of us.”
“The irony,” Gray chuckles, shaking his head.
Reid’s the only one who doesn’t speak up- probably because he’s the only one of the five who’s yet to find his mate. I wonder if I should tell him that I’ve seen she’s on her way.
Nah. I glance up at Brock over my shoulder again, and I can’t help but smile. Finding him has been life’s best surprise- who am I to take that away from Reid?
“Knock it off,” Brock grumbles, rolling his eyes at his friends. He wraps his arms around me tighter, his open palm splayed against my belly.
Shay, one of the squad members from the six-pack, strolls into the room, flopping down on the couch beside Sam and curling into his outstretched arm. He grins brightly at her in greeting, pulling her in and dropping a kiss on her forehead.
Over my shoulder, I watch as Brock looks from Sam to Shay, his brow raised in question.
“Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that?” I ask, grinning smugly.
The night of my rescue, Sam and Reid were tasked with rounding up a team of reinforcements that were positioned along the perimeter of the warehouse district where I was being held. The team was made up of a mix of squad fighters and Denver soldiers, and it turns out that Shay was one of them. Her and Sam ran into each other under the full moon that night, the bond between them snapped in, and they’ve been inseparable since.
I thought I might feel a little jealousy seeing them together given my history with Sam, but I’m honestly just happy for them. It’s wild that Sam and I found our mates during the same moon, but in hindsight, it really couldn’t have worked out better. There’s no bitterness or resentment, just genuine happiness for one another. I already feel like the awkwardness is lifting and things between us are more like they used to be.
“So where were we?” Cole asks in an effort to refocus everyone’s attention.
“We were trying to pinpoint when the next attack on Denver will be,” Gray offers, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees.
“Right,” Cole barks, turning to Rico, who has a laptop positioned on his lap as always. “Has IT been able to find any indication of a timeline yet?”
“They aren’t planning an attack on Denver,” I interject, and I swear every eye in the room flies to me at the same time. I swallow hard, feeling the weight of the attention focused on me. Brock rubs soothing little circles on my belly with his fingertips in support as I take a deep breath and go on. “They, uh, shifted their focus,” I say quietly, tucking my hair behind my ears. “Xavier is pissed about the six-pack getting involved to help Denver, so he’s got a personal vendetta against them now.”
“Fuck,” Theo mumbles, shooting up from the couch. He starts pacing in front of it as Brooke reaches out for him and tries to pull him back in.
“How do you know?” Jax asks, his blue eyes wide.
“Don’t fucking ask her how she knows,” Brock growls at Jax. “She was in there for days.”
Gray scrubs a hand over his face. “How does he even know about the six-pack?”
“Chris,” Cole mutters, his expression one of pure disgust.
I nod in agreement. “He told them everything to save his own skin. Didn’t help him in the end, though…” I trail off, shuddering at the memory of Chris’ hot blood spraying the side of my face; of him bleeding out on the floor beside me.
“They killed him?” Sam asks, his eyes narrowing on me.
I nod slowly, my body tensing up in Brock’s grip. “Right next to me…” my voice comes out as a hoarse squeak.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Brock barks, pulling me even tighter to his chest and rubbing his hands over me soothingly. “Astrid’s been through enough, she doesn’t need to rehash it all over again.”
“I know she has, but she’s our best source of information on them,” Cole argues, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.