I’m going with you,” John said firmly. “You need backup in case Viper double crosses you.”

“One, Viper’s not gonna double cross me,” Peter said firmly, checking to make sure his gun was properly locked and loaded for the third time. “Two, the only thing you being there is going to do is distract me.”

“None of them have to know I’m there. I’m a clean shot, I’ll just be there to cover you.”

“It’s too great of a risk, John. This whole thing is about keeping you safe, not putting you in more danger. Besides, sneaking up on a drug lord and sneaking up on philandering husbands is not exactly the same thing.”

“I snuck up on you pretty well, didn’t I?” John challenged.

Peter groaned. “I told you, I let you find me. I’m not saying you’re not good at your job,” he added, taking the beta’s face in his hands to give him an appeasing peck on the lips. “But this is a different ballgame and you need to let me do mine, even if it is for the last time.”

John scowled. They’d been arguing all day and Peter hadn’t budged, but neither had he. The only thing that was beginning to wear him down was the realization that the time was fast approaching for Lake and Viper to meet, and his insistence was becoming a distraction Peter couldn’t afford.

Not that he had any plans of actually letting the Alpha go out on his own. If Peter didn’t know he was there, Lake certainly wouldn’t.

“Fine. The last time,” he agreed. He just hoped it would be the last because Peter made good on his promise, not because it was the last time they’d see each other. His gut told him it wasn’t, which was the only reason he wasn’t completely freaking out. His gut was the only thing that had kept him alive over the years. That and luck. He didn’t want to believe it would let him down now.

Peter kissed him hard and he returned it until they were both breathless. When the Alpha started to pull away, John fisted his shirt and pulled him back for an even deeper kiss.

“What was that for?” the Alpha asked, dazed.

“Just a reminder of what you have waiting for you.”

Peter gave him a lazy grin. “That is pretty damn hard to forget,” he said, slinging his bag full of death over his shoulder. “Be good, Johnny.”

“Be safe,” John muttered, watching him get into his rental and pull out of the driveway. He waited a respectable length of time before going out to the shed and hauling the motor bike he’d found out of storage. It had taken him a few days to get it in working order, but among lock picking, pickpocketing and dislocating his own thumb, hot wiring was one of the many skills he’d picked up as a private eye.

Thank God the Roman boys loved their toys.

John decided it didn’t really matter if Peter found out that he was following him, because in that case, the Alpha would need his help anyway. He caught up with him on the freeway and found himself grateful for California traffic for the first time in his life. Staying back far enough without losing sight of him posed more of a challenge than it did in rural New York. He decided that wherever they settled, it had to be somewhere stalking was easier or he was going to be out of business before he set up shop.

He finally followed the car into a secluded area by the warf that had once been a thriving manufacturing district. He frowned as he watched Peter’s car pull into an empty space, do a three-point turn and come back around.

Shit. The Alpha must have seen him coming. He winced as the car slowed to a stop in front of his bike, but when the tinted window rolled down, Peter wasn’t in the driver’s seat.

John’s temper was boiling over as he recognized the smug, handsome face of none other than Jayce Roman, the Alpha’s eyes dancing in amusement as he peered over a pair of sunglasses that cost as much as John’s apartment. “Hey, there. You know, you’re really not too bad at this whole tailing thing. I lost sight of you for like three blocks there.”

“Where the hell is Peter?” he growled.

“Telling you that isn’t part of the favor he called in,” Jayce said, reaching over to open the passenger door. “Get in, I’m taking you back to the cabin.”

John hesitated before he finally followed the Alpha’s instructions and slammed the door. “I can’t believe him. Don’t you have anything better to do?”

“Sure, but I went on the straight and narrow when I took a mate, so this is the closest I get to reliving the glory days,” he said dryly, pulling back onto the main road.

“You do realize I’m just going to go back as soon as you drop me off, right?”

Jayce glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “You could, but by now, Lake has definitely already shown up and you’ll just expose Peter.”

John gritted his teeth. He knew the Alpha was right. It was too late to do any good. What was going to happen probably already had, and that knowledge was torture. “Does your mate know you keep company with hitmen?”

“My mate knows everything,” Jayce answered nonchalantly, taking the turn back toward the cabin. “But he’s a hacker, so he’s pretty understanding.”

“Of course he is,” John muttered. “Because the only difference between the Roman family and the mafia is a few billion.”

Jayce let a goodnatured laugh as he pulled into the driveway. “You might be right about that. You know, when Peter told me he’d imprinted on a beta, I couldn’t picture it, but after meeting you, I get it. You’re definitely his type.”

“Thanks,” John muttered, getting out of the car. “Guess I’ll be seeing you at the wedding.”

He meant it as a joke, but something about Jayce’s grin told him he didn’t take it that way. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Take care.”

John watched as the car identical to the one Peter had rented pulled away from the cabin. Despite all Peter’s talk of not being able to trust anyone, it seemed he had more than one person looking out for him. The Romans certainly weren’t John’s type of people, but maybe the company the Alpha had been keeping in his absence wasn’t all bad.

He just wished that there was a way to salvage Peter’s relationship with the one other person he loved, whether he would admit it or not. After learning what Peter had been through in his early life, John could understand why he felt the way he did. His was a world of absolutes, of kill or be killed.

Maybe he was right. Hell, if even Dean thought that killing Lake was the only option, maybe it was. Peter just had so few people in his life that he could rely on, and the kind of bond they had once shared wasn’t the kind that just disappeared.

John was the one who had broken it. Not directly, of course, but he blamed himself all the same. If Peter hadn’t imprinted on him, they would have remained brothers rather than the enemies they’d become. Peter himself seemed oblivious to what he stood to lose, but what if he realized that John wasn’t enough? What if he came to regret it five, ten, twenty years down the line, and realized this was a mistake he could never take back?

As John walked back into the house, he felt the dread of what was happening across town weighing down on him. No matter how much he loved Peter, it seemed that everything, from their circumstances to their very biology, was striving to keep them apart.

Was he even more of a fool to think that a mark could change that?

The moment he closed the door, he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye, but before he could turn around, he felt a gloved hand close around his face. The scent of chloroform set his nasal passages on fire as the hand held a soaked cloth firmly to his face and he felt his body go limp.

“Don’t struggle,” the man said in a deep yet surprisingly gentle voice. The soft Russian accent was eerily familiar. John gripped his arms, trying in vain to break his grasp, but he felt his strength draining by the second. “That’s it. Go ahead, sleep.”

He didn’t have a choice.