"No." He replied gruffly, "I apologize for wasting your time, Mafia King." He reluctantly rose to his feet.
Lance followed suit, "The apology from the High Council will be in order as well. We’ll take our leav-"
"Can I have a private word with Miss Cassia?" Chris interrupted their awkward concluding words, attracting the attention of everyone, including the Omega in question.
"Try again." Asher said coldly, giving him a chance to back away.
Chris knew he should take the way out that was given to him but he didn’t feel right leaving her in the clutches of a dangerous Mafia King.
He would take full responsibility if he had to but he would have a difficult time sleeping at night if he ignored the hidden terror in her eyes.
"I merely want to ask a couple of harmless questions, Miss Cassia is free to leave whenever she wants-"
Jael stepped right in front of Asher then, which was great forward-thinking because the Alpha had been out to pull out a gun.
"Five minutes," Jael accepted, "We’ll leave the office to you."
So he said, but getting Asher to leave was almost impossible.
Jael had to physically drag him out, locking his jaw at the terrified look on Caspian’s face as they left him behind.
He had no choice though, they needed to dissuade the High Council enough for them to back away completely from the matter.
If it was just the acting Alpha of Moonstone they had to deal with, it would be far easier than the High Council.
"What the fuck do you think you’re doing?" Lance bit out at his partner.
"Are you trying to get us fucking killed?" Platt, the third representative joined the conversation.
They were huddled together, whispering quietly enough so that Caspian couldn’t hear.
"Are you really going to leave her with a Mafia King?" Chris fired back, not backing down.
"Can you fucking hear yourself? Why don’t you pull out your head from where it’s stuck up so far up your ass..." Platt started to rant.
"Look," Lance cut in quietly, "You can’t save every pretty woman you see." He tried being logical about it.
"It’s not about her looks," Chris defended.
"Right," Lance said flatly, not believing him. "This is the one woman you can’t save, do you understand me?"
Chris looked at Cassia who sat stiffly on the chair Mafia King Asher had just vacated, her glassy blue eyes wide as she stared back at him.
"Fuck." He cursed for the first time, "Can we really not do anything?"
"Maybe get ourselves killed because you’re trying really hard to do that right now," Platt said brashly, not caring if he was overheard.
"We’re not going to be killed," Chris said bluntly, "You’re just a wimp-"
"Enough," Lance broke up the rapidly escalating conversation, "If you can get her to willingly come with you, we’ll take her." He decided.
Platt gaped at this, "You can’t be fucking serious."
Chris had already gotten past that, and with the go-ahead from Lance he stepped forward.
"Hey," He gave the shivering Omega a tentative smile. "As I said before, we’re with the High Council, and we can give you a brand new life far from Haines," He explained slowly.
The Omega just stared blankly at him, full lips glossy.
"So just say the word and we’ll rescue you. You don’t need to worry about Mafia King Asher." He went right on, relieved that his partners had at least decided to stop arguing.
Caspian looked from the High Council representative talking to him to the other two, missing the warmth of Asher’s body.
"And as I said earlier, no, thank you." He said steadily, rising to his feet. "If that will be all..." He added, starting for the door.
After all, Chris had been the one to say that he could leave whenever he wanted.
"Wait," Chris caught his wrist and held on, "I really want you to think this through-"
"There’s nothing to think about. Let go of me-" He barely got the words out before the door was getting kicked down by a pissed-off Mafia King.
That was the cue for Chris to quickly let go of him and back away, Platt glaring daggers at his annoying partner.
Asher walked right past Caspian, anger rolling off him in waves.
Jael didn’t even try to stop him this time, walking to Caspian’s side in case he needed to get the Omega out of harm’s way.
Asher grabbed Chris by the collar of his pristine suit, "Do you want to know what I do to people who get handsy with what’s mine?"
Lance stepped in before Chris said something stupid, and actually got himself killed despite his claims.
"Chris fancies himself a hero, he was trying to rescue your bought Omega over th-"
The sound of a gunshot shut Lance the fuck up, his ears ringing.
The bullet had been fired close enough to burn his ear, Mafia King Asher could have taken his head off right then.
"You speak when you’re spoken to, got it?"
Lance nodded tightly, backing up. He wasn’t about to take the fall for Chris who didn’t know when to back away when it involved a gorgeous woman.
It was the idiot’s one weakness and he wouldn’t have allowed him on the mission if he knew that things were going to turn out .
But the thing was that, there wasn’t supposed to be a woman in the scenario, much more one that would make Chris actually go up against a Mafia King.
Platt had immediately reached for his gun the moment Mafia King Asher did but the sight of his second-in-command aiming a gun right between his eyes was enough to stop him.
"Can’t you see she’s terrified of you?" Chris doubled down, glaring up at the Mafia King.
That made Asher falter but not for the reason Chris thought. He dropped the representative and put away his gun.
"Leave." He ordered frigidly.
Lance slapped a hand over Chris’ mouth when it looked like he was about to get mouthy again, dragging the Alpha out.