Pete jolted awake when his phone rang. None of his clients would call at five-thirty in the morning, not even the most obnoxious, demanding, and wealthy of his clients. The only person who would call would be Marshal Cooper.

Coincidentally, Cooper was the only person who had that particular ringtone. Pete supposed he could probably forgive himself for not recognizing the tone when Keegan was trying to suffocate his phone with a pillow.

Pete swatted lightly at Keegan’s bare arm. “Babe. It’s mine. For me.”

Keegan blinked blearily at him. His eyes were red and confused. It was downright adorable. “Oh. I have the same ringtone for my parents.”

Pete didn’t have time to address that right now. “We need to talk about that later.” He answered the phone. “Marshal Cooper. Good morning." He yawned into the mouthpiece, something he’d normally try to mask. At this hour, he felt it was justified.

Cooper was not having a good morning. “Don’t you sit there and good morning me. Where the hell are you?

“I’m standing right here in the middle of your apartment. There’s plenty of stuff. Plenty of plans for buildings. There’s no Pete, and no phone.”

Pete yawned. “It’s five-thirty on a Sunday morning, Marshal. Why are you in my apartment?”

Keegan sat up beside Pete. He no longer looked bleary-eyed or confused. On the contrary, his gray eyes were clear and hard as steel. Pete’s pulse sped up.

Cooper cleared his throat. “Not for any reasons I’m about to discuss over the phone. What’s your location? I’m coming to get you. Are you with that Cunningham peacock?”

Pete glanced over at Keegan, who nodded. “I am. Give us time to shower.”

“No horseplay, Pete. We don’t have time for that.” Cooper hung up.

Pete looked over at Keegan. His stomach had twisted itself into knots. “That was the US Marshal I’ve been working with.” He swallowed hard. “For witness protection, I mean.”

Keegan rubbed at his face. “I know,” he said in a quiet voice. “You accidentally hit speaker when you answered the phone. It’s probably force of habit.”

He flopped back down onto the pillows for a second. “I’m tempted to climb on top of you and start getting into ‘horseplay,’ just because the bastard specifically said not to, but getting a call from a witness protector is somehow the biggest boner killer ever.”

“Right?” Pete sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed. When he’d picked the bed out, he hadn’t thought he’d be the one who got to sleep in it. Who would be the next one?

He had no illusions about the future once he was gone. Keegan was too amazing to stay single for long. “Keegan, if he’s breaking into my house at five-thirty on a Sunday morning, it can’t be good. You get that, right?”

Keegan fell quiet for a moment. “Yeah,” he said then. “I get that." Then he sat up. “You know what else I get?”

Pete looked over at him. He looked so soft and loving, leaning there among the pillows, it was all Pete could do to not lie back down and rest his head on Keegan’s chest.

Keegan offered comfort. Keegan offered everything Pete wanted. He wasn’t ready to just pick up and flee to wherever. He wanted to stay here with Keegan, and let Keegan protect him.

“I get that the marshals have one way of doing things. Which is fine for them, honestly. I’m sure it works, in the majority of their cases.

“But if they can’t avoid repeatedly picking you up and dragging you around the country, I mean, that’s not keeping you safe, that’s staying half a step ahead. That’s not viable in the long term.”

Keegan straightened up. “I want to talk to this guy. And I want to see if we can’t work out an alternative.”

Pete stood up and headed for the bathroom. “Keegan, I appreciate the thought. I do.

“But honey, these guys help people to stay safe all the time. They’re professionals. This is their whole job. What do you really think you can do that they haven’t already tried, only to blow up in their face?”

Keegan slid off the edge of the bed and came around to put his hands on Pete’s hips. Pete couldn’t help but respond to his touch, even though they didn’t have time to do anything about it. “I’m not sure yet. I have a few ideas, and they’re damn good ideas, if I do say so myself.

“But you know what? We won’t know until we talk to him, right?” He winked. “Let’s go get cleaned up. We reek of sex. You don’t want to stink the poor guy out of Gramercy Park, do you?”

They showered and brushed their teeth. They didn’t make time to fool around, although Pete, at least, found holding off to be extremely challenging.

He’d always heard pregnancy took away a person’s libido, but his seemed to have doubled. Having Keegan right here, hot and soapy and naked, did things to him he didn’t even have words for.

Behaving himself paid dividends, in that there was time for Keegan to call down to the doorman and let him know that Cooper would be arriving before Cooper actually got there. They even had time to make a pot of coffee, and to have it ready and waiting, before Cooper was hammering on the door.

Keegan let him in with a smile. “You must be Marshal Cooper. I’m Keegan Cunningham. Welcome to my home.” He gestured to the living room. “Please, have a seat.”

“There is no time to have a seat. My witness needs to be on a plane to Bozeman, Montana, two hours ago.” Cooper folded his arms across his chest and scowled. He planted his feet shoulder width apart and met Keegan’s eyes squarely. His message was clear enough. There was no way in hell he was going to budge.

“Well, let’s talk about that, shall we?” Keegan sat down on one of the armchairs, leaned forward, and poured himself a cup of black coffee. “Do you take anything in your coffee, Marshal? Cream, milk, sugar, whiskey?”

“US Marshals do not drink whiskey on the job, not even in their coffee. And we certainly don’t sit around drinking coffee with people who seduce our witnesses and try to lure them out of safety.”

His lip curled. “Oh I know all about you, Keegan Cunningham. Did you honestly think some snobbish fop was going to be able to come in here and charm me out of a job?

“No. Hell no. This witness is in grave danger. And he’s coming with me, right the hell now.”

Pete didn’t bother to hide the tears that dripped from his eyes. “Goodbye, Keegan. It was nice while it lasted.” He dragged his feet as he moved toward the door.

“Hang on just a minute." Keegan’s voice was unhurried, almost a drawl. “We all know you’re not actually going to Bozeman, and you wouldn’t be going commercial no matter where you’re going, so why don’t you sit down and talk with me? There’s time.

“I get that Pete’s ex-husband is coming to New York, but he won’t be here yet. He’s a danger, but not the kind of danger you have to deal with right this second. We have options. We should discuss them.”

Pete gaped at Keegan. He knew he looked like a fish, because Cooper was doing the exact same thing, and he looked like a fish too.

“What the hell do you know about Pete’s ex husband?” Cooper demanded, sinking into the other armchair. He didn’t look relaxed yet. He looked concerned.

Keegan poured him a cup of coffee. He added a shot of whiskey from a small decanter on the tray he’d brought out. He poured a cup for Pete, too, although he left the booze out of it.

“You got a call from an ‘anonymous source’ about Dmitry’s intention to come to New York, right?” When Cooper nodded, Keegan sipped from his coffee. “The source was my brother, Ty. Ty’s firm was handling the civil case Dmitry filed against Pete, when he suspected Pete was the one having him surveilled.”

Pete gasped and clutched at his chest. “You talked to your brother about me? I thought I could trust you!” The betrayal was a physical pain. “And wait — Dmitry filed a civil case against me? For what?”

Cooper jumped to his feet. “That was a stupid move, Cunningham. You’ve put Pete and your baby in terrible danger.”

Keegan rolled his eyes and gestured to the chair where Cooper had been sitting. “Jesus Christ, I should have given you two shots. Have you had your blood pressure checked? You really should. I think it would be good for you.

“Seriously, give it some thought. And no, I didn’t talk to Ty about you, Pete. Once I suspected you were hiding from someone, I kept my mouth shut. He doesn’t even know I’m dating someone. Which — I mean, it feels kind of gross to leer at people when I’m only thinking of you, but I’ll take that hit for the team.”

“Aren’t you a saint?” Cooper sat back down and took a gulp from his coffee. “So how do you know your brother was the informant, if even I don’t know your brother was the informant?”

Keegan pressed a hand to his chest. “I’m smart, Marshal. Plus, I presented a dilemma to Ty in the context of a tenant fleeing an abusive spouse, as someone in a property my brother and I jointly own. That way, it wouldn’t surprise him, and he’d have an interest in getting me an answer about the legalities of the situation quickly.

“It prompted him, unasked, to share details about a civil case he’d just finished. It wasn’t affected by attorney-client privilege, because he wasn’t sharing privileged information, and the firm has opted not to represent Dmitry in any criminal proceedings that might come up. Apparently, the bastards do have some standards; who knew?

“They learned some things about everyone’s favorite dirtbag while working the civil trial and would prefer not to be further associated with him.” Keegan over-pronounced the last phrase, pursing his lips to mimic the prissy tone of a lawyer.

“So anyway, that’s how the subject came up. He volunteered that he’d dropped a dime to you guys. I figured you’d have updated Pete long before now, or else I’d have told you, Pete, about the whole thing.”

Pete frowned, even though his heart rate was returning to normal. “I’d have appreciated the heads up, but I guess I can understand where you’d have figured it was their job to tell me.”

“Not so much their job.” Keegan held his hand up. “It’s always going to be my job to keep you safe. I figured they’d have more information than I would, because that’s kind of their thing.

“I suppose I was wrong, which brings us to why we’re here today. Doesn’t it, Marshal?”

He smiled over at Cooper. Someone who didn’t know Keegan might have mistaken the smile for bland.

Cooper returned the smile right back, fangs and all. “Okay, so you had one extra piece of information. One you shouldn’t have had. That doesn’t qualify you to keep Pete safe.

“Dmitry is dangerous, Cunningham. He’s a convicted racketeer, but he’s worse than that. These aren’t your friendly New York mobsters, who play by rules and wear nice, dapper suits.

“This is the Russian mob. They’ll torture him just for kicks, and they won’t give even half a fuck that he’s carrying your baby.”

“I’m aware.” Keegan glanced over at Pete. It was the only indication that Cooper’s words affected him. For Pete, it was enough.

“Here’s the thing, though. You can pick him up and move him to Bozeman, or San Juan —”

Cooper jumped. “How the hell did you know?”

“I’m very, very smart, Marshal.” Keegan poured himself another cup of coffee. “You don’t think I built up this much money from a trust fund and luck, do you? Plus, there’s a Hellion Club in every major city in the country. And we have a finger in every pie.

“Moving on. You can keep moving Pete around from place to place, but that doesn’t solve the problem. Pete isn’t substantially safer than he was in the last place you hid him away, he’s just half a step ahead of Dmitry again.

“Eventually, Dmitry will figure it out. He’ll be waiting. More likely, he’ll have someone else waiting, so he’s got plausible deniability. Then you’ve got no witness, and Dmitry walks on appeal. And you’ve got no proof he did the job on Pete.”

“We’ve got ways of making sure that doesn’t happen.” Cooper’s words were tough, and his tone was firm. He wouldn’t meet Pete’s eyes, though. “Look, we keep our witnesses very safe. No one has ever been killed while under active protection.”

“Active protection ends when their testimony ends.” Pete folded his hands in his lap. “When our testimony ends. Then we just check in, like I’ve been doing.”

He looked down. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Marshal, because I do. I just — I’m scared.

“If Dmitry’s already tracked me down in New York, there’s no way he’s not going to track me down in San Juan. I don’t even speak Spanish. He’ll track me down in Bozeman. He’ll track me down in Arizona or in Maine. Keegan’s right. He’ll find me, no matter where I go.”

“So what’s your solution?” Cooper reached out for the decanter. He let his hand hover for a moment, then grabbed it and added more whiskey to his cup. Pete didn’t blame him one bit.

“We can’t risk Pete getting killed. Not only is he our star witness, but Dmitry won’t make it pleasant or quick, and I kind of like the guy. I’m not willing to play games with his life or safety.”

Keegan gave Cooper a fleeting, but genuine grin. “Neither am I, Marshal. Neither am I. You already know I’m an officer in the Hellion Club here.”

Cooper narrowed his eyes. “I know you’re a member. I didn’t realize you were particularly highly placed. We don’t have a lot of contacts in that organization.”

Keegan snorted. “You have more than you think, but they’re in the higher ranks. It’s frowned on to out people, so I’ll keep my trap shut.

“That’s not my point, though. Because I’m an officer, I have access to the membership roster. Dmitry is a member of the Hellion Club, too.”

He glanced at Pete. “I wasn’t hiding that gem, I promise you that. I just found that one out yesterday.”

“How in the hell does a piece of crap like Dmitry manage to join a snooty club like the Hellions?” Cooper stomped his foot.

“Same way everyone else does. Money. There are two membership requirements right now: You have to be an alpha, and you have to be filthy rich. There’s no requirement that you be a decent person. Some of us are working to fix that.”

He grimaced and rubbed at the back of his neck. “With varying degrees of success, I suppose. Anyway, the first place any Hellion goes when he gets to a new city is the local Hellion Club. It’s just what we do. It’s like a compulsion, like going to see your mom or some other unconscious ritual.”

“And we nab him once he’s there. Got it.” Cooper’s eyes gleamed, and he sat up straighter.

“No, Marshal, you don’t just nab him once he’s there. He’s going to be looking for marshals, and there’s no way the Club’s going to let marshals mix in with the general membership. It’s just not happening.

“They’d stand out, anyway. They wouldn’t carry themselves right, they’d be obviously shocked at some of the goings-on — it’d just be a mess." Keegan shook his head and put his cup down.

“What we can do is set up a meeting with him and a ‘neutral’ third party, off-site, to talk about a deal. Or even on-site — I can make the other members let marshals in for a specific occasion, like to make an arrest. They’ll tolerate that, but not guys hanging around and waiting.”

“What’s going on in there, that they won’t let law enforcement inside?” Cooper crossed his arms over his chest.

“Honestly, it’s mostly a bunch of old alphas trying to grope young omegas and drinking too much. But they don’t want anyone to see; that’s the problem.”

Keegan chuckled. “It’s the principle of the thing. It gets back to the days when we had to hide being alphas and omegas in the first place, which weren’t that long ago, if you think about it. Does this seem like a workable option to you?”

Pete held his breath. He liked the idea of not having to always watch his back. He wanted to believe. He didn’t know if he dared, but he wanted to believe.

Cooper tilted his head. “I have one big concern. What about Pete’s safety while we wait?”

“The apartment across the way, the other penthouse, is vacant. It’s his if he wants it. You can keep him safe that way, and even put one of your guys on the front desk with the doorman. He won’t mind, as long as you don’t rat him out for playing online games when there’s no action.”

Cooper laughed out loud. “It’s a deal.”

Pete threw his arms around Keegan. “I can’t believe you thought of a better solution.”

Keegan blushed. “It hasn’t worked yet,” he muttered.

The marshals left a guy at the doorman’s station, just as Keegan had suggested. They moved Pete into the other penthouse, too. Pete ordered a bunch of furniture in Keegan’s name, which the Agency paid for, and Keegan charged it as a business expense for “staging.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie. They just weren’t staging the place to sell it.

Keegan didn’t see a moral problem with this. Neither did Cooper, which Keegan found surprising. Pete did, a little bit, but not enough to slam the brakes on it. “It is lying,” he pointed out. “You do have to admit that it’s lying.”

“Not so much, really.” Keegan shrugged. “We are staging it, under the assumption that someone could break in and view it. And since I’m doing it for government-related reasons, mostly, it’s not exactly absurd to see it as a tax write-off.

“It’s better, in fact, because someone who’s watching very closely might notice there was no expenditure on my part otherwise. This way, everything looks entirely above board, and you’re still close by. Close enough, in fact, to just kind of stop on by for a cup of sugar or something.” He grinned and reached out to Pete.

Pete took his hand and let Keegan pull him in. Keegan had just tugged Pete onto his lap when Marshal Cooper, who was actually pretty hot in a homicidal kind of way, cleared his throat loudly. “Still right here, guys. On the clock and everything.”

Pete blushed. Keegan just rolled his eyes. “You remind me a little bit of my brother,” he told Cooper. “Just, bigger, and Black, and with more guns.”

Cooper knit his eyebrows together as he tried to figure out what he thought about that one. “I don’t know if I want to see what Tyler Cunningham would do with a gun,” he said after a long moment. “From what I hear, he wouldn’t need one. A plaintiff took a swing at him once, when he won a case for a defendant.”

“What?” Keegan almost dropped Pete in his rush to his feet. “Who was it? Because I swear to God I’ll rip him limb from limb.”

“Easy there, Alpha Boy.” Cooper’s lip twitched. “From what I hear — I wasn’t there, but my buddy was — he knocked the guy out cold with one punch.

“When the plaintiff woke up, he’d lost six teeth, was in handcuffs, and was the target of six lawsuits for infliction of emotional distress. One for each tooth your brother knocked out, and all of which had just been filed by your brother. It was impressive.”

Keegan ducked his head, feeling a little sheepish and proud all at the same time. “Okay, yeah, that sounds about right for Ty. Don’t tell him I said so, though. It’ll go right to his head, and believe me, no one wants that.” He looked around his apartment. “All right, then. If we’re all set, let’s settle in and make sure we’re all good.”

“Not so fast, hot shot.” Cooper put his hand on Keegan’s shoulder, then pulled it back. “Er, is that suit contagious?”

“Only if fantastic fashion sense is contagious, my armored friend.” Keegan gave Cooper a huge, cheesy grin. He’d chosen a flame-print suit for today’s shenanigans, with sequins for extra depth. He had yet to meet the person who didn’t find it off-putting.

He was going to have to find some new terrible clothes once the baby was born, clothes that didn’t have things the baby could tear off and choke on. It created an interesting practical exercise.

“Excellent. Very good. How about if I leave Agent Thorpe with Pete here, and you and I do a little bit of food shopping?

“I’m sure you want Pete to eat right, yeah? You don’t want the baby to get sick or anything. Not that you wouldn’t be allowed to go out to dinner or anything, but you should expect to have a third wheel whenever Pete leaves the premises.” Cooper glanced over at Pete.

Was Pete okay with basically being under house arrest? He looked down and away, but shrugged. “It’s part of the game, I guess.” He licked his lips and took a deep breath. “I knew what I was signing up for before I left Dmitry and agreed to testify.”

Keegan puffed up his chest a little bit. “Yeah, but that was before you met me.” He stopped doing his best blowfish impression and squared his shoulders.

Was Cooper about to take on the dad or big brother role? It sure looked that way. Looks could be deceiving, but Keegan would see what came of it all.

Either way, Keegan toned it down. He needed to reassure the marshal he was taking Pete’s safety seriously. “Yeah, we can go out. There’s a little shop not too far away.”

They walked the few blocks to the nearest produce seller. Keegan was guessing where the market was, of course. He had all his food delivered. Fortunately, there was a coffee shop attached to the market, and he led Cooper to the counter there and bought coffee and a pastry for each of them.

Cooper hadn’t dragged Keegan away from Pete to make sure his charge was getting proper prenatal nutrition, after all.

“So,” he said, sitting back in his chair and regarding the marshal. “Let me guess. Hurt him, and they’ll never find my body? It seems fair enough, but you don’t really need to say it.

“I’m not going to hurt him. I’m not going to put him in any danger. I’m going to take the best care of him that I can, and that’s the whole of it.”

Cooper glanced around the coffee shop. This early in the morning, there wasn’t anyone else around, no one who could hear them, anyway. Cooper leaned forward anyway.

“I know you won’t.” His dark eyes were wide and sincere, but his voice carried an undertone of contempt. “You’ll take the best care of him that a civilian possibly can.

“The only problem is that you’re still a civilian, Cunningham. There’s no way you can do what you have to, give him what he needs to stay alive, without a gun and a badge and a whole agency of brothers at your back.

“You want to stand up for him. That’s good, and it’s a natural instinct, but you frankly have no idea what you’re dealing with here.”

Keegan acknowledged this with a dip of his head and sipped from his coffee. The tinny speakers blared some kind of muzak version of an old MC Hammer song. It was awful, the kind of thing that would make anyone cringe. He made a mental note to have a re-creation of MC Hammer’s costume from the “U Can’t Touch This” video made, just in case he had to show up to an event of Ty’s, and moved on.

“I know a little, but on the whole, you’re right. I’m hardly an expert in the ways of the Russian mob. I’ve spent my whole life in this kind of insulated, rich-boy bubble.

“Don’t think for even half a minute I don’t know that. I’ve done what I can to use the position and power that bubble gives me to try to improve the world a little bit, but I realize that in no way, shape, or form means I’m now some anti-terrorism or organized crime expert.”

He huffed out a little laugh. The idea of himself as some kind of secret agent was patently absurd.

Cooper toyed with the little plastic stirrer that had come with his coffee. “So what in the name of all that’s holy makes you think you can step in and tell us how to do our jobs?” He glowered at Keegan.

Keegan sighed. It was a legitimate question, well deserved. It probably should have been asked a long time ago. Keegan had to give Cooper credit for not asking in front of Pete and shaking his confidence.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m guessing that ninety-nine times out of a hundred, your way works.

“I’m also guessing that ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you’re dealing with betas, am I right? You’re dealing with betas, who don’t have the same kind of drives and urges and needs that alphas and omegas do.”

Cooper sniffed and sat back. “So now alphas and omegas are just animals.” He watched Keegan carefully.

“Ooo, putting words in my mouth.” Keegan smirked at his companion. “I like it. You should hang out with Ty sometime. It’s such a lawyerly thing to do, I’m sure you’d get along like a house on fire.

“Anyway, that’s not what I said. Most alphas are law-abiding men, no different from anyone else, and we go about our day simply living our lives, right? Sure, we might have the occasional urge to rip someone’s head off for taking our parking spot or snaking a cab out from under our noses, but we have brains.

“We get that there are consequences to our actions, and just like betas, we don’t act on those urges. Just like, when you all see a pretty person of your preferred gender, you don’t jerk off in public.”

“You’re so colorful.” Cooper made a face. “I can’t imagine why people write you off as a goofball.”

Keegan grinned. “Moving right along. The kind of guy who’s going to go into organized crime has to be in control of his urges most of the time, but the Russian organizations respect brutality.

“So Dmitry — who we already know is an alpha — has a competitive advantage. I don’t know the dude’s background, but he wouldn’t be where he is today if he didn’t spend time in a Russian jail.”

Cooper stilled. “You’re pretty spot on so far.”

“Of course I am. I just look stupid.” Keegan sipped from his coffee again. “So in prison, he has a chance to let that side of him off the leash. He’s not going to be able to put it back in the box, but he can control it.

“He’s pissed off at the disloyalty Pete showed him. He’s also pissed because his omega, a mate he claimed control over, is now outside of his control. If he hasn’t learned how to get over himself yet, he’s going to be downright livid about that. And, of course, for any organized crime leader, it’s a major sign of weakness to let a spouse get away from you like that.”

Cooper licked his lips. “Are you sure you’re just a real estate developer?”

“Positive. Remember, Dmitry is a member. He’s not the only alpha with an interesting employment history on our books, and no, I’m not snitching. Some of them are actually perfect gentlemen. I can get away with dealing with Dmitry this way because he’s already been convicted.”

Keegan grinned, showing all of his teeth. “At the end of the day, you see some corporate types who don’t behave all that differently from some of the crooks, too. Less torture, more red tape, but the principles are the same.”

“I suppose you’re not wrong. So you did the math, because you’re used to working with wealthy, powerful alphas, and you figured you just knew better.” Cooper narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin. “Interesting.”

Keegan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Not what I said at all. I said ninety-nine times out of a hundred, your approach is probably perfectly appropriate.

“This time, it’s not working. One of the reasons it’s not working is because Dmitry is an alpha, a very rich alpha who’s not only never learned how to restrain his impulses, but whose very survival has often depended on following those urges. Another is that Dmitry’s network is obviously extensive.

“He’s coming to New York for a reason, and he felt comfortable sharing that with an attorney. Pete’s not a famous designer, and he wasn’t a famous dancer.

“He told me he’s been avoiding Russian enclaves. That tells me someone must have let intelligence slip out.” He watched Cooper carefully.

Cooper didn’t disappoint. “A mole. In the marshals.” He turned his head. “I don’t want to believe it, but when you lay your case out like that…”

Keegan sighed. “Hey, why not? I’ve got one, and I’m not even a crook. Well, okay, there was that one time I stole a cupcake from the dining hall in middle school —”

Cooper held up a hand. “Not the same thing.”

“I don’t know, man. It was pretty daring stuff for seventh grade.”

“Really wasn’t.” Cooper shuddered. “Cupcakes. Come on, man. Anyhow, who do you think it is?”

Keegan gaped at Cooper. “This isn’t the movies, Marshal. I’m not some kind of international spy.

“I’ve got some connections, sure, but I don’t even know who’s on your team.” He closed his mouth and stopped staring. Maybe it was time to readjust his thinking about the marshals and their intelligence.

Cooper straightened up and adjusted his jacket. “Well, you seemed to have your nose in everything else.

“For what it’s worth, though, I have to agree with you, Cupcake. I’m not sure about who it might be, but I’ve got a couple of ideas. A couple of guys who’ve made big purchases lately.

“I would have thought those purchases were beyond their means, but people save up, they have relatives who kick the bucket — you never know. I’ll have to look into it and get back to you.”

“Please do.”

“What’re you going to do?” Cooper chuckled. “You got a guy down at the Club who’s a federal judge, too?”

“Four,” Keegan said absently, rubbing his knuckles, “but I wasn’t planning to involve them until it was over.”

Cooper stared. “You’re just crazy enough to do it, aren’t you?”

“The guy they’ve endangered is my omega, carrying my child.” Keegan didn’t back down or flinch. “Hell yeah, I’m going to take it out on his ass.

It’s the twenty-first century. We don’t own our omegas. They have choices.

“We don’t cross the country to hunt them down for the unforgivable sin of leaving us after we’ve beaten the crap out of them. That’s gross.

“But I am Pete’s alpha. It’s one hundred percent my job to keep him safe, and to make anyone who even thinks about hurting him live just long enough to regret it. That is one instinct I hope alphas never overcome.

“We can do it smart, and we can be sure of who we’re going after before we do it. I don’t have a problem with that. But I’m going to find out, and I’m going to drop him into the East River when I’m done.”

Cooper considered Keegan’s words, just long enough for Keegan to remember the wisdom (or lack thereof) involved with threatening federal agents. Then Cooper grinned.

“I just might join in the fun, Cupcake. I don’t take kindly to double agents on my team. I’ll keep you posted, you keep me posted, and we’ll take it from there.” He held out a hand. “Are we good?”

“We’re good.” Keegan shook his hand and stood up. “Let’s make sure we bring Pete back some spinach. He’s been craving it lately.”

Cooper nodded sagely. “Make sure his doctor keeps an eye on that. He could be developing anemia, which would be a major risk.” He smiled a little. “My wife got it when she was pregnant. It got a little dicey there for a while, but we made it through.”

The enormity of it all hit Keegan then. The baby was his. He was going to be a father. And if they all survived, he might even be allowed to know his baby. “Do you think I could get away with bringing him some ice cream?”

“Cupcake, it’s basically mandatory,” Cooper laughed.