Page 80 of Knot Your Pawn

My eyes are drawn to Caleb, who’s standing next to the door, his focus on each of us, making sure we’re safe, making sure we’re all okay, before he does anything.

He meets my gaze, giving me a soft smile and a nod that let me breathe a little easier, that let me relax just a fraction more than before.

Years of being together, years of trusting him, are easy to tap into in stressful situations. It might not be rational, but as long as Caleb is there, I feel like we can overcome any situation.

“Here.” Luca slides my laptop in front of me, his voice is quiet, nervous, and I take his hand before he can pull away.

“Are you okay?”

He nods, but his eyes keep shooting all over the place, his movements are jerky. He’s trying, but this is definitely freaking him out.

The rest of us are used to dangerous and unexpected situations, we’ve all been living lives where we’ve had to get used to them quickly. But Luca hasn’t, this is all brand new to him.

“Let’s go somewhere a little quieter.” All the loud noises, the strong and alarmed pheromones and everything else going on must be wrecking havoc on his mind.

I turn around, give Mathew a quick kiss, and then slide from his lap. I pull Luca to the storage room we’ve converted into a quiet space.

It’s not exactly a nest, and it’s definitely not big enough for our whole pack to fit into comfortably all together, but it’s a quiet space attached to the office that lets us calm down without having to be away from our mates.

4

Caleb

My heart calms while I watch my pack for a couple of minutes as they settle down, as much as they can. Mathew behind his computer, Riley and Jorge on the couch and Vera and Luca in the storage-room-turned-quiet-space. Everyone is doing what they can to get a grip on the situation.

The moment I turn to join Derrick, Timothy and Eli in the hallway, Milo slips past me, taking up my spot near the door to keep an eye on everyone.

It’s not like much can happen when everyone is in the office, the whole building is well-protected, but having him stand guard still feels safer.

“Any obvious threats that have shown up yet?” I look at Timothy, who’s frowning at his phone.

“Not yet. We should keep all the usual suspects in mind, competing organisations, people who’ve got issues with Mathew personally, maybe even people after you, Vera, Jorge or Riley. But no clear leads yet.” New notifications pop up on his phone like a stream, mostly from the tech team.

That’s good to hear. While I don’t think this will just blow over, having some time to prepare what to do next is good.

“What happened at the meeting?” I now focus on Derrick so Timothy can deal with his team.

“There were a lot of people waiting outside. It looked suspicious. Mathew made the right call to keep driving. At the same time, Timothy got a message about the first of the articles. We decided that going straight home was our best bet. There’s a lot going on right now. Powers moving. Organisations needing to rethink their plans.”

Eli lets out a sound that’s almost a laugh, but not quite. “They’re probably most upset with the fact that an Omega was their superior in business for the last decade. I think we’re going to see some interesting moves when the blaming game starts.”

He sneers. “When they start arguing who’s at fault for Mathew’s organisation being so dominant in his line of work, because ‘an Omega can’t do that on his own’.”

Eli mostly keeps to himself, happy to be in the background, mostly taking on an observing position, but times like these make it clear why all three men of Derrick’s pack are so close to Mathew.

He’s shrewd and he knows a lot about how the Hearts and other organisations work. He’s very aware of social structures, and that makes him invaluable in situations where social status and things like that are important.

There’s one other thing on my mind. “What about the staff and the teams? Is there a chance we might need to worry about them?”

“I’ll keep a close eye on the kitchen staff and check the rest of the house staff, but I don’t think any of them will be an issue. Everyone here has always been aware that Mathew is an Omega. But this news can create issues for their family and friends or other people who are aware they work here. So we need to stay on top of the situation.”

“Any food or other deliveries?” I don’t think anyone would try to sneak in poison, but you never know.

Eli grins, like I’m asking obvious questions. “Already taken care of. Luckily, we got a big grocery delivery in yesterday, so we should be good. Plus, we’ve always got extras for situations like this. We can last two weeks in full lockdown without any issues.”

“Always prepared, my smart Omega.” Derrick pulls Eli close, giving him a long and soft kiss, their clove and lavender pheromones mixing. When he pulls back, his eyes go wide. “That reminds me. I should probably go pick the kids up and let their teachers know they probably won’t be in for a while.”

“There’s already a team at the school, keeping an eye on things. They left as soon as we heard something was up.” Eli leans against Derrick, his face troubled. “I didn’t want to wait in case stuff was going to kick off there. But also didn’t want to pull them out of class unless I was sure there was no way around it.”