by Peyton Bogue
Rhys nods encouragingly when he sees Sage’s outfit, still looking a little guilty, and Sage smiles at him softly, moving to his nightstand so he can place his gun and holster onto his waistband, then grabs his badge out and clips it onto his belt. He walks to the other side of their bed, leans down to press a kiss to Rhys’s lips, and pulls back with a grin.
“I’ll see you later, Ree. Go back to sleep,” he says.
“Mmm,” Rhys hums tiredly in response, bringing his hand up so that he can stroke along Sage’s cheekbone, giving him a private smile. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Sage mumbles back, pressing another kiss to Rhys’s lips.
“Don’t forget your wolfsbane,” Rhys reminds him gently, and Sage nods, trying not to roll his eyes. “Keep me updated. Call me if anything happens. I mean it, Sage.”
“I know, Ree. I will,” Sage tells him. He knows that Rhys won’t feel comfortable letting him back out into the public until this omega is gone, when he doesn’t feel threatened by another werewolf in his territory.
“Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay home?” Rhys asks, a frown creasing his forehead. He’s turned more serious now, slipping back into his normal brooding expression, even though he still looks incredibly tired. “I don’t want you to leave.”
“I’m going to be fine, Rhys. I promise you’ll be the first one to know if anything happens, even though I highly doubt that Kai and I are going to be doing anything else today besides paperwork,” Sage says, and Rhys makes a sound in his throat, as if he’s displeased but knows that he can’t argue with Sage, not when he’s trying not to come across as overbearing and controlling.
“I’m being too overprotective again, aren’t I?” he mumbles, his frown deepening.
“A little,” Sage replies, but he chuckles, leaning forward so he can kiss Rhys’s lips again, “but I’m beyond used to it now.”
Rhys grins, moving his hand up to tangle his fingers into Sage’s hair and pull him closer. They both get lost in the feel of their mouths against each other’s for a few minutes, and when Sage pulls back, his breathing is heavy, and he knows a blush is working its way across his cheeks.
When Rhys catches sight of his flush, he growls, giving Sage another kiss before he pulls away, whispering against Sage's lips, “You better leave now, Sage, before I throw you back into this bed and never let you leave.”
His words send heat pooling between Sage’s thighs, and Sage's blush deepens on his cheeks. He tries to laugh it off, so that he doesn’t get too affected, but it comes out breathless.
He can’t help but to picture Rhys leaning up so that he can pick Sage up and lay him back onto their bed, and his mind helpfully flashes back to yesterday morning, when Rhys had pressed him into the mattress and couldn’t stop himself from attacking Sage’s neck in love bites. The bruises on his neck suddenly throb, and a fresh wave of heat travels down his spine.
“Rhys. . .” he mumbles lowly, and Rhys growls again, pulling their mouths together once more.
Rhys pulls back, even though Sage can tell that he’s incredibly reluctant to do so, and huffs deeply. “Seriously, if I don’t let you go now, I’m not going to, Sage.”
“Okay, Ree,” Sage replies, smiling, and pulls away from him, his eyes bright.
“Be safe, please,” Rhys says, and he’s turned serious again as his teasing tone disappears and he looks into Sage’s eyes as his own harden.
“I always am,” Sage tells him softly, giving him a small grin. “I’ll see you later tonight, okay? Go back to sleep.”
Rhys gives him a sleepy frown as he pulls Sage forward so he can kiss his forehead, and mumbles, “Have a good day, baby.”
“You, too, grumpy. I’ll see you later,” Sage repeats, and Rhys lets him go with a mock roll of his eyes, and Sage gives him a wide grin, then disappears out of their bedroom door a second later.
Sage's mind drifts as he drives into work, the wolfsbane he’d promised Rhys that he’d keep with him tucked securely into one of his briefcase pockets. If he and Kai do end up actually leaving the precinct today for detective related incidents, Sage will probably have to sneak it out and put it into his pocket or something just to appease Rhys when he eventually asks if Sage kept it on him all day.
Sage knows that Rhys is out of his mind with worry right now, that the only thing that’s bringing him any sort of calmness is that Sage has a way to defend himself, even though he’s highly dissatisfied with the fact that Sage even entertains the idea of going anywhere alone by himself when they have no idea who this werewolf is. Sage knows that if Rhys had his way, he’d be glued to Sage’s side if he so much as set foot outside their brownstone, following him around like a brooding and stoic bodyguard and growling at anyone who looked at him for too long.
Sage supposes that’s kind of how Rhys acts anyway, but Rhys is feeling threatened right now, and he’s just trying to protect the person that he loves. Sage understands that, more than words can say. It’d be hypocritical of him to disagree.
The thing is, though, if Rhys thought that he could get away with it, and that Sage wouldn’t get angry at him over it, he’d probably try his best to keep Sage safe in their brownstone until he’d located the werewolf himself and eliminated the threat on his own, his promise to Sage about finding the omega together be damned.
Which is why they really need to sit down together and discuss what they're going to do about this omega problem, but the thought doesn’t even occur to Sage until he’s pulling into the precinct parking lot, having already arrived at work and left Rhys alone for the day.
Realistically, Sage knows that Rhys won’t go off and do something reckless without first consulting Sage on what he wants to do. Contrary to Sage’s belief that he’s the rational one in their relationship, he knows that Rhys thinks about his actions in a logical way and wouldn’t put Sage in a position of fear because Rhys charging headfirst into danger isn’t something Sage would ever feel comfortable with without discussing it first.
The problem, he knows, is that the part of Sage that constantly worries about Rhys and Rhys’s safety, similar to how Rhys constantly worries about Sage’s everything, knows that Rhys isn’t completely in control of himself right now. Sage knows that Rhys is the strongest being on earth and knows that Rhys can undoubtedly handle himself against a werewolf that isn't even half as strong as he is, but if Rhys is so certain that this omega is going to do something to hurt Sage in order to influence Rhys, all of Rhys’s rational and logical reasoning will completely leave him in his haste to keep Sage safe. No matter how physically strong Rhys is, Sage makes Rhys vulnerable. Which means he could just as easily get hurt like Sage can.
They need to figure out how to get this omega to leave as peacefully as possible. Rhys may be completely fine with risking himself and actually physically fighting this werewolf, but Sage is not. The thought of Rhys getting hurt isn’t something he can handle, despite knowing that Rhys has supernatural healing. He doesn’t want Rhys to ever get hurt.
They need to come up with a plan, and they need to do it fast.
He also knows that he needs to speak with Mikalina about how the FBI is going to prosecute Jack Newsom, and what all he’d told her when she interrogated him. It’s got to lead back to Sirin somehow, and Sage is sure that the closing of this case will present all of the tools they need to start dismantling the entire Sirin corporation.
Even though he, Rhys, and Kai are dealing with an uninvited guest, Sage still has actual work to do, and he’ll be damned if he lets this werewolf interfere with his job, too.
Which is where he is now, sitting at his desk as he impatiently waits for Kai so they can both ambush Mikalina together.
Sage knows that any conversation he and Rhys have about getting the omega to leave needs to involve Kai, too. Now that he knows that he and Kai are a part of Rhys’s pack, it’s incredibly important that Kai is kept up to date about the situation they’re all in. He’s just as involved in this werewo
lf stuff as Sage and Rhys are, and Sage already knows that he’d hate it if they’d tried to keep him out of it. Sage learned his lesson about keeping things from Kai way back in high school, when he’d neglected to tell him that he’d signed on to join the Army. Kai had been furious with him. He still holds it against Sage to this day. After he’d calmed down from his anger, he’d made Sage promise that they’d stop keeping secrets from each other, and they’ve both upheld that promise ever since.
Sage couldn’t keep information like this away from Kai even if he wanted to. Not after he’d lied about Rhys being a werewolf for months until Kai had found out on his own. He won’t keep anything away from Kai again.
When Kai does eventually stroll through the precinct doors ten minutes later, he’s looking relaxed and well rested, a content expression on his face as he gives Sage a bright smile.
Sage grins back at him, chuckling when Kai sits down and exhales a long, over exaggerated, satisfied sigh as he kicks his legs up and onto his desk.
“I had the best day off yesterday,” Kai says with a big smile.
Sage chuckles, swatting at his feet. “Get your feet off of your desk, Kai. This is a place of business.”
Kai ignores him, chuckling. “How was your day, Sage? How’s the shoulder?”
“It doesn’t even hurt,” Sage tells him, moving his shoulder to prove his point. The movement shifts his collar out of the way, however, and Kai’s eyes track its movement, then he gasps loudly.
“Sage! Oh my, God! Your neck!” Kai says, and his eyes are wide as he moves to pull down Sage’s collar. When he sees more of the marks on Sage’s neck, his eyes practically bug out of his head, and he gasps again. “Jesus, man.”
“Stop it,” Sage says, panicked as he tries to shove Kai away from him.
“Place of business, my ass,” Kai snorts, but allows Sage to push him away, crossing his arms as he raises an expectant brow. “You look like you got into a fight with a vacuum and the vacuum won.”
Sage rolls his eyes, pulling the collar back into its place. “Rhys got a little. . .carried away. We both did!” he says defensively when Kai begins to smirk.
“Do you not know how to cover a hickey? Have I taught you nothing over the years that we’ve known each other?” Kai asks him, shaking his head in mock exasperation. “So, I take it you did have a good day off yesterday then, huh?”
“Malakai,” Sage says exasperatedly, running a hand through his hair.
“Hey, man, I’m not making fun. More power to you. What you and Rhys get up to is none of my business,” Kai replies, grinning as he raises his hands in surrender. Sage moves to punch him on the shoulder, but Kai flinches away from him, his grin widening. “I cannot believe you came into work with hickies on your neck like some lovesick teenager.”
Sage groans. “Stop it.”
“I’m just messing with you, Sage,” Kai says, dropping his teasing tone. “Rhys didn’t seriously mean to do that, though, right? You look like you got mauled.”
It’s Sage’s turn to raise an eyebrow at him, and Kai just gives him a sheepish smile, shrugging his shoulders. “Leave my bruises alone. You want to get into the nitty gritty stuff? Don’t think I haven’t forgotten that you’re seeing someone and keeping it from me,” Sage replies, crossing his arms.
Kai looks away from him quickly, his eyes darting around the precinct as his cheeks begin to flush. Sage tries to hold back a knowing smile, and Kai turns to him, giving him a look.
“We’re really going to talk about this right now?”
“Hey,” Sage says, mock offended. “I’m just trying not to feel hurt by you hiding something from me.”
He’s only mildly joking, but Kai just eyes him apologetically, moving to rub his hand against the back of his neck in embarrassment.
“I want to tell you, man. You know I do. It’s just. . .” he trails off, his eyes glancing around the precinct again.
“Kai, it’s fine. I was just joking with you. If you don’t want to tell me who it is, I’m not going to pressure you. We just don’t really keep things like that away from each other—not that I’m accusing you of anything,” Sage adds hastily when Kai opens his mouth. Kai snaps his mouth shut with a nod after a moment, running his hand over his chin contemplatively, and motions for Sage to continue. “I know you’ll tell me when you’re ready. I’ll get over it, I promise.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, Sage.” Kai shakes his head. “I don’t want to keep it from you. It’s just really. . .new. And I don’t know how people would react to it.”
“You’d think that I’d judge you for who you decided to be with?” Sage asks, and this time he does feel a little hurt, however unintentional Kai’s words had been.
Immediately, Kai shakes his head again. “No, Sage. No. I don’t think that at all. In fact, you’d probably be the only one here who’d support us, if I’m being honest.”
“Kai, that’s not true,” Sage argues.
“Yeah, I think it is, Sage. At least for the time being,” Kai replies, and he sounds strained when he says it, as if knowing that their colleagues wouldn’t support him and a person he’s entered a relationship with is something he’s had to resign himself to.
“I know that feeling,” Sage tells him gently. He actually understands a little too well. Sage doesn’t hide his relationship, and he wasn’t lying to Rhys when he’d told him that everyone in the precinct knows that Sage is in a serious relationship with a man. He knows exactly what Kai is referring to—having their colleagues judge them because of who they decide to be with. “Anyone else’s opinion of who you’re with isn’t important,” he continues resolutely. “What is important is whether or not this person makes you happy, Kai.”
“She does,” Kai says softly, a tiny grin tugging at his lips.
Sage feels himself grin at Kai’s words, and he brings a hand up to gently squeeze at Kai’s shoulder. “Then that’s the only thing that matters.”
Kai gives him a winning smile, his eyes bright as he chuckles a little, groaning mockingly, “You’re going to weasel it out of me, aren't you?”
Sage just gives him a grin, shrugging. “You’ll tell me when you’re ready,” he repeats.
“If I didn’t think that she’d kill me for telling you, I’d tell you right now,” Kai says, laughing, but Sage looks at him confusedly, tilting his head.
“How would she know?” he asks, narrowing his eyes. “Is it someone we work with?”
Kai looks at him, surprised. He opens his mouth, but before he can reply, Sage hears, “Kaelan! Tate!,” and he and Kai both turn their heads over to the other side of the precinct, where Mikalina is leaning out of her office, her eyes sharp as she watches them, before she shakes her head, then nods towards the inside of her office. “Come here.”
They both glance at each other, and Kai shrugs a little, a sheepish look settling over his face again, and stands. Sage follows him, glancing at Kai with a quizzical look before he sighs. Kai will have to tell him who he’s seeing later.
When they enter Mikalina’s office, Sage can tell that she isn’t as relaxed as usual as she eyes them both with a hard curl to her mouth. She looks tense and disarrayed. It’s startling to Sage to see her so stiff. Mikalina is normally expertly polished when they’re at work, perfectly put together and poised. Seeing her like this—frustratedly running her fingers through her fiery red hair—puts Sage on edge.
“What took you both so long before you demanded to know how the interrogation went?” Mikalina asks them, raising an eyebrow expectantly.
“I was waiting for Kai to get in before we ambushed you, Lieutenant,” Sage admits, crossing his arms. “You don’t look like you’ve got any good news.”
“Technically, I don’t really have news,” Mikalina sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Newsom helped us flush out some gunrunners.”
“We know that,” Kai says, his eyes pinching as he narrows them at her.
Mikalina sighs again, moving
to sit down at her desk. “He confessed to the murder of Steven Aldridge, only after I’d threatened him with some obscure legal charges for bribery and fraud.”
“And is that confession corroborated with the evidence?” Sage asks, moving to sit down on the spare chair in front of her desk. Kai perches himself on Mikalina’s sofa.
“His saliva and prints were all over the beer bottle used to obscure Aldridge’s tattoo,” Mikalina confirms, nodding. “He confessed to bringing the guns out to the cabin. When Aldridge got a look at the guns, though, he knew they’d been stolen from the military. According to Newsom, Aldridge offered to return all of the guns for him anonymously, but Newsom was looking to sell his cargo. He shot Aldridge to keep him silent.”
“And then wrapped his body in a shower curtain and halved him,” Kai finishes for her, shaking his head.
Mikalina nods again, but then her jaw clenches. “He wouldn’t tell us who gave him the driving job. Most of the individuals Aldridge and Newsom had served with moved on to become contractors with Sirin, so Grayson and I know that it’s likely that someone from Sirin offered him the job.”
“Sirin is already implicated, Mik,” Sage reminds her. “We just don’t know how far up that ladder goes.”
“He wouldn’t tell us,” Mikalina replies coldly, shaking her head. “I told him that I’d help him if he testified in court about who gave him the job, and that I would get the D.A. to shave a few years off of his sentence.”
“And he didn’t agree to that?” Kai scoffs.
“Said he wanted immunity before he’d testify. This was a violent crime. He’s the one who almost put those guns out on the street. There was no way I was letting him off that easy. I refused his request, but he got what he wanted anyway.”
“What?” Kai practically hisses.
“Grayson pulled rank,” Mikalina says, clenching her jaw again. “He said that if Newsom could give the FBI names and all of his contacts, and it turned out to be something substantial, he’d get off completely.”