Kick Back - Susi Hawke Page 0,1

I mean. He's definitely doing good work if he's helping save all those omegas from forced matings."

Thinking back to the story Darius had shared just hours ago at the dinner table had my stomach churning. To think that the rumors were true and the SPTA—Shifter Purity Trumps All—was more than just a small group of ignorant people was mind blowing. I thought it was an urban legend that omegas caught dating humans were punished by their parents selling them under the guise of brokering an arranged mating.

And all to keep purity within the species. I thought of my brother-in-law, Nick. He’d met Clay when my brother was hired to assassinate his father—the president of the United States. They’d turned out to be true mates and nobody had been more shocked than Clay himself when Nick had shifted after their mating, becoming a puma like us after getting the claiming bite. Now the dude was a pregnant omega and loving his new life.

Why would anyone want to keep their child from that kind of happiness? And how was a bitten shifter any less pure than one born into the lineage if they could become an omega from the claiming bite?

While many shifters didn’t know that what happened to Clay and Nick was possible, or that a human could be fated to one of us, they did know that true mates exist. How could any shifter force their child into a loveless relationship?

And even worse, how did King Richard of Aurelia—Darius's father—look at himself in the mirror or ever get a peaceful night's sleep? When Darius had told me that his father received fifteen percent from every "dowry" from the arranged mating in their country, all while looking the other way as citizens from his country were sold and sent to other parts of the world, I'd started running assassination schemes in my head.

I mean, aside from Darius possibly hating me or what would happen if I were caught, would killing the king really be so bad? The only thing stopping me from perfecting any of my plans into something workable was the part where Darius had said it was their culture. Meaning, whoever took the king's place would most likely allow it to continue. And if I worked my way through the entire royal family, my brother would kill me because his mate would eventually have to take the throne.

And while Darius would make a pretty cool king, my brother would not be happy if he had to spend the next couple centuries living as a royal. It would definitely put a crimp in his job as an assassin. Not that I thought Gib would stick it out much longer anyway. Not now that he had a mate and an eight-year-old stepson to raise. He was currently taking a leave of absence, but my brothers and I were betting it wouldn't end anytime soon.

At least not while Sacha was still living at home. And if no other babies came along in the meantime. Yeah… I would definitely be surprised if Gib came back to work anytime soon. My mind wandered some more until I came back to the priest. Obviously a member of the clergy was probably a do-gooder, but the man was taking a big risk as Aurelia's conductor on the underground omega railroad.

I glanced back at Darius. "Tell me more about this Father Clarence. You said he's an alpha, right? What's his deal? Like, why would he take such a risk with his own life?"

Darius sighed as he leaned back in his seat. "This contract on him is curious. Usually, he would be imprisoned if found interfering with a legally arranged mating. It’s a crime against the crown that is only supposed to carry a ten-year sentence—not death."

"Hmm." I drummed my fingers against my leg. "We need to find out who wants him dead. Someone was angry enough to pay for a kill contract rather than letting him face prison. I find that interesting, don't you?"

Nash glanced up from his book. "Already on it. I couldn't get the information out of Morty when I accepted the contract. You know his spiel. He's our broker and the middleman for a reason. The client doesn't know who took the job and we don't get to know who hired us. That doesn't mean Dan can't do a little digging. And yes, he is already on it."

That made me feel better. Dan wasn't a bad hacker and was probably our best bet at