Page 53 of Never Bet Against A Hockey Player

“That’s Conrad Flynn.”

“No shit,” Brax said, letting out a laugh. “Sometimes it was still hard to wrap my mind around my brother being a famous hockey player and knowing other famous hockey players.”

“Our pack, actually,” I admitted. “August, our other delta, is here, too. He’s our third pack member.”

“Holy shit,” Brax said, practically giddy at the thought.

I rolled my eyes.

“Back to the matter at hand,” I said, reminding him that we had a purpose here.

“Yeah, these are not guys you want to fuck with,” he said. “I don’t want to give in to stereotypes,” he hedged, “but we’re talking loan sharks, the kind of guys who beat you up when you don’t give them their money. Gambling rings, too, and probably way more than I can dig up in a few days.”

“What was she doing there?” August asked.

“She was the entertainment, if I had to guess. It almost looks like she’s in heat, but there’s no shame here. I’ve seen more of her mom than I ever cared to. They fucked her right in front of clients, which was wild. Now, why exactly am I looking into this woman?”

“She’s my omega’s mom. She’s holding custody of her younger brother over her head. The authorities have been involved and failed them, and Dhara’s been stuck there for years, just trying to make sure he’s safe.”

“Oh, fuck,” Braxton said. “Let me write down times and locations. If you’re going to use this in court, you’re going to need the proper surveillance videos, the kind a lawyer can subpoena, not whatever copies I can get my hands on. I don’t want you losing because of something I did.”

“Thank you, Brax. We’ll take everything you’ve got. We already have a lawyer in mind. Or August does, rather.”

“I’ll work on this before I touch anything else,” he vowed.

My brother was a good person, but I knew this was personal for him.

His pack’s omega had been through the system. She’d been a single mom, and I didn’t have all the details, but from what I understood, she hadn’t gotten pregnant by choice. She’d had to fight for custody because the father was the kind of man who had too much money and influence and used every bit of it against her.

His pack had fought hard for her, and he was about to fight just as hard for us.

August blew out a breath.

“Your brother means business. I’m glad he’s on our side.”

“We just have to convince Dhara that this is a fight worth having.”

“When it comes to Gavin, she won’t stop at anything to make sure he’s safe. If we lay out everything we have and show her we’ve got a solid case, I feel like she’d be more than willing to move forward with us. But I think she’s going to have to file for emergency custody first.”

“In order to do that, we have to wait for her mom to slip up, right?” August asked. “We can’t just claim emergency custody because she’s hanging around the wrong people.”

“Abandoning her son for days isn’t going to look great, but it probably isn’t enough for an emergency order,” Conrad said. “He isn’t in imminent danger, and technically, he was left with another trusted adult.”

He was thinking logically, but right now his words made me want to punch something.

“This means Dhara has to tell us when things are happening,” I said. “I think it’s time to sit down with our omega and tell her everything we’ve done.”

“That could either go really bad or really well.”

“We need to put some faith in our omega, August. She’s already come a long way, and her mom is still gone for a few days. This is the perfect time.”

“We can go to the diner tomorrow,” I said. “Our flight arrives around the time she’ll be wrapping up her morning shift. We go in, sit her down, have the conversation, and hope for the fucking best.”

We just wanted our omega to be able to thrive and put herself first for once in her life.

Chapter

Fifteen