Asher’s hazel eyes were aflame, not taking the green branch Davian held out. "Would that be worth it? You think Angelo would accept you losing everything?"
Nikolai sat forward in his seat, a snarling expression on his face. "Keep his name out your mouth. You know nothing about anything."
Asher knew he had hit a sore spot, but he didn’t back down. Nikolai and Silvia might have a valid reason for why they were doing what they were doing, but neither of them were thinking about how Angelo would take this.
Davian was on the sidelines, completely lost on what was going on. But even while being confused, he knew things wouldn’t end well if he let them go on.
"I don’t have to know anything," Asher leaned back, he might be taking Silvia’s request a little too seriously, but he considered Nikolai almost a friend. "And it seems he doesn’t know anything either."
"Asher." Davian cut in tersely, his voice stopping Nikolai from lunging across the table like he was about to. He rose to his feet and grabbed Asher by his fur coat, pulling the other Alpha to his feet as well.
"We’ll be back if the High Council continues its assault on your turf." Davian concluded. "You might not like it, but there has to be an alternative way to get what you want."
With that, he turned and left, dragging Asher out with him. The mouthy Alpha seemed primed to say more, and Davian would rather they didn’t come to blows while things were already so dicey.
He didn’t say anything until they were back in their car and on their way back to Asher’s club. He had left his car over there, so he needed to go back to retrieve it.
"Is there something I need to know? He asked dryly. Asher had pilfered an entire bottle of booze off Nikolai, taking it with him despite the explosive exit they had.
Asher hadn’t mentioned the reason why Nikolai was going after Luis Caddel, and that was because he didn’t know enough about it. Even though he had spoken so confidently to Nikolai, he had merely been taking shots in the dark - and every one of those shots had hit their mark.
"Hardly," He snorted, fighting the urge to knock back the entire bottle of whiskey. "Silvia is tight-lipped about the matter, just as tight-lipped as Nikolai."
Davian looked thoughtful, seeing the situation in a new light, he had thought that the High Council’s executioner had crossed Nikolai in some way, which was so fucking stupid, it was almost unbelievable.
But if the Mafia King was doing it for someone else, it would explain why he was hell-bent on doing things his way. It only explained that, however, it didn’t explain why Nikolai would be going through all that trouble for anyone.
"Who’s Angelo?" He had to ask, curiosity eating away at him.
"A male Omega," Asher said the very last words he expected to hear. "I don’t know what connection he has with Nikolai, but he’s Silvia’s kid."
Davian was unimpressed, "You’re fucking with me."
"A little," Asher sighed, leaning back into the leather seat. "He’s not her kid, but he might as well be. He’s just as important to Silvia as he seems to Nikolai. The two of them wouldn’t hesitate to blow up everything they have for him from the looks of things."
All Asher’s words did was give Davian more questions than answers. Who exactly was the male Omega, and why had he never heard of him before this?
"And what does this male Omega have to do with the High Council’s executioner?" He asked gravely.
Asher gave in and drank out of his whiskey bottle. "Fuck if I know."
Davian laid off the questions, knowing that if Asher knew, the other Mafia King would have told him first thing. At Nikolai’s confident words, he had been a little resentful that he had come all the way back to Haines only to find out that things weren’t as dire as he thought.
But it might even be far worse than he thought, and it was already pretty bad to begin with. With a pregnant mate, he knew exactly how destructive he would get if anything threatened his mate’s safety. So he knew that Nikolai would be a live wire, far dangerous than what they knew.
"Things are going to get worse before they get better," He muttered darkly. They had returned to Asher’s club by then, and the Mafia King kept at the bottle of whiskey in his hand, no doubt to keep his anger at bay.
Jael had joined them, the Beta quickly filled in about what had happened. He had also joined Asher to have a drink, and Davian was really considering having some for himself.
He couldn’t return just yet because he knew that his mate would go to Asher’s mansion for lunch, and he didn’t want to interrupt their time together.
Jael’s expression was grim, "They might remain pretty bad for a while."
At Asher’s mansion, the atmosphere was the complete opposite. Lake had just arrived, and Caspian was standing on the stairs with the brightest grin, beyond excited to see his friend.
Rosie had come along, but she didn’t stick around, immediately heading inside to seek out Patty and her favorite chef. After spending a few weeks at the mansion, she was a pretty familiar face, and she knew her way around.
Caspian hopped into Lake’s open arms, hugging the other Omega carefully because of his rounded tummy he could feel poking against him.
He had seen Lake the night before, but the other Omega had been in a bit of a hurry, so they had only exchanged pleasantries before he had to leave.
"The baby is so big now!" He exclaimed with wide eyes, placing gentle hands on Lake’s midsection. "They grew so much in just three weeks," He praised, his eyes glistening.
Lake let him fuss over his baby bump as much as he wanted, he couldn’t say if he was happy about the time going by so fast or not. Part of him was apprehensive about the rapidly approaching and unavoidable birth, and another part of him couldn’t wait for his baby to be born.