Kick Back - Susi Hawke Page 0,7

you are so uninformed that you don't know who Saul Everly is. Seriously, I'd be surprised if you know even half the names of Darius's family."

Gib discreetly flipped me off while Darius looked around in confusion. "But how would anyone put it together? Father Clarence runs this tiny little parish in the poorest part of the kingdom. Saul's intended going missing shouldn't link back to the underground, let alone to him. I’m sure rumors exist but nobody has proof of the underground railroad or they’d have stopped us long ago."

My brother slipped an arm around Darius's waist, rubbing his cheek against his mate's bicep. "Oh, you sweet summer child. Of course people know there’s an underground railroad or you’d never get word of omegas to save. Hon, any of your guards who you trusted with the secret could've been bribed. You had to let others in on your underground, right? You never would've been able to load your planes without at least one guard's knowledge."

I broke my silence and picked up where Gib left off after he got distracted by comforting his mate. "Sorry, but that's all it takes. Loose lips sink ships… and also get priests killed."

Father Clarence met my gaze, his eyes imploring me before he ever said a word. "Do what you must with me, but you must promise to see these omegas to safety."

I snorted, rolling my eyes. "Obviously. Did you miss the part where we aren't fulfilling the contract? Besides, it's not like I'm going to kill my own mate. Even if we can't ever really be together, I could never hurt you so I still have to save you, don't I?"

Gib forgot all about his worried mate as he spun to stare at me. "I'm sorry… what now? Did I hear the word ‘mate’ come out of your mouth? Yeah, I'm gonna need to hear more about this one, Dearil."

Father Clarence ignored my brother, his attention still completely focused on me. "I'm Anglican, not Catholic. I'm allowed to marry. Even if I weren't, nothing would keep me from my true mate. You are the purest and best gift God could give me. Also, I might have already mentioned that I'm retired as of today?"

Oh. Well, that put a new spin on things. I thought he meant he was retired from this parish, not the ministry completely. Huh.

As much as I wanted to stay and get to know my mate, we had things to do first. Mainly, figure out a way to save his life. We made plans to meet him tonight to help the omegas escape before heading back to the palace. I hated to leave him, but I couldn't allow myself to be distracted by the mating pull until I got him to safety. The only reason I was able to leave was because Nash stayed behind to keep him company. Mostly to guard him, but it sounded nicer to say my brother was there to lend a hand.

We sat in a small private courtyard that my brother and Darius said was the only place where we could safely talk without being overheard. Something about the acoustics and it not being favored by most of the royal family because it had no view other than brick walls behind all the flowers and trees. I didn't care why the courtyard was ideal, I was simply happy to have a place where we could talk.

My gut said that tonight was our one shot of getting Father Clarence to safety along with the omegas he was protecting. With that in mind, I didn't bother teasing my brother about not remembering who Saul Everly was. Normally, Gib was the one brother who knew everything about anything that came up. But he'd been distracted lately by Darius and their son Sacha. Understandably so.

I smiled gratefully when Darius poured me a cup of tea before I looked back at my brother. "I know I gave you shit before, but Saul Everly was just voted in last month. The previous leader, Titus Goldman, died and Saul took his place."

Gib studied me over the rim of his teacup. "Interesting. And no worries on messing with me, I would've done the same to you. Hmm. Do we know how Titus died?"

Darius frowned. "You think that's important?"

Gib shrugged as he carefully set his cup on the saucer. "Maybe, maybe not. But the timing is enough to give me pause. This Saul person takes over the council and almost immediately arranges for a contracted