Kick Back - Susi Hawke Page 0,12

me and Dear with interest. Nash settled across the aisle with the three omegas.

As the plane began to move down the runway, Darius nodded toward my charges. "Any problems getting them here? I'm sorry if I worried you by asking you to ride as guests rather than hiding in the cargo area. But I want you to know that I trust my pilot implicitly. He was hired by me rather than the palace and only works when I'm the one using the plane."

Nash chuckled. "Don't worry, Darius. I had him checked out before we ever boarded. And no, there were no problems. Father Clarence was just telling me about how he got involved with the underground. I think it's a miracle that he made it twenty-eight years before he got caught."

My mate bristled and I didn't hesitate to take his hand, smiling when he seemed to calm almost immediately. I glanced at Nash. "Miracle is probably the right word for it. I firmly believe that I've had angels watching over me while I did my work. I almost got caught once, but that turned out to be a blessing because that's how Darius came to be involved."

Darius started laughing. "Oh, man. To think your nearly perfect record was only marred by my drunken need to take a leak." When he saw that he had everyone's attention, Darius was only too happy to explain. "I'd just left my yacht after spending a couple months cruising around the Mediterranean. My father had summoned me home and I wasn't at all happy about it. Did I mention that I was drunk when I arrived? So yeah, there I am. I'm stumbling up the ramp from the dock and decide to take a leak. It was night and I figured nobody would be watching. Just as I get a good flow going, I hear a familiar voice cry out and then Clarence here comes crawling out from under the place where I was standing."

I shuddered at the memory. "Yes. So if you ever hear Darius joke about taking a piss on a friend, just know that he means it literally. There’s a perfect hiding spot just below the head of the ramp he mentioned. I was hiding there with two omegas, waiting for everyone to clear out so I could get them aboard the boat waiting to take them to safety. I still can’t believe I was stupid enough to cry out. So what if he pissed on my shoulder and it splashed in my ear? I should’ve known better after eighteen years in the underground at that point to stay quiet no matter what. But it came out before I could stop it. And then Darius jumped down to apologize to me. When he saw the omegas I was with, he recognized one of them."

"Recognized? Shit. Natalie was the daughter of my mother's best friend. Of course I had to ask what my friend the priest was doing with her and another young omega. Especially when they were hiding under the dock in the middle of the night. I was horrified and ready to call the guards, friend or no friend."

Despite the terror of that night, I couldn't help but smile at the memory because that's when I found proof that there was a responsible man with a good heart hidden behind the image my friend projected to the rest of the world as Prince Partypants.

Still smiling, I continued the story. "I had no choice but to risk everything and tell him the truth. If I were caught, the omegas I was trying to save would've been forced to complete their contracts and the underground would've been revealed. Maybe. Who knows? But I couldn't risk the palace believing that I was working alone. Trusting Darius turned out to be the best decision. Not only did he walk away and allow me to finish my job that night, but he turned up at my door the next day when he was sober and insisted on working with me."

Darius grinned at me. "Tell them the truth, I blackmailed you. I swore that if you didn't let me work with you, I would tell my father everything. Although, for the record, I never would've done that."

"I know that. If you were willing to turn me in, you would've done it when you caught me red-handed. I knew you were bluffing but I also knew that you were tenacious enough to keep pestering me until I brought