Cassian's jaw tightened. He told himself to calm down, rein in some sense of control before he reached across the table and slam Lucien's face into the table. Quite a pity since it was an attractive face.
"Oh, Mr Suits," a soft voice cut in.
Lisa smiled faintly as she approached the counter, ordering a matcha latte before glancing back and offering him a wave like they were old friends. Cassian raised a brow hen surprised himself when he realized his hand was in the air. He caught Lucien gaze on him and scowled deeper.
The recessive alpha leaned back in his seat, eyes gleaming with cool amusement. "So. Omegas now?" His tone was sharp. "That's unlike you."
Cassian didn't even blink. "Fuck off, Lucien."
For a fraction of a second, there was something pained and annoyed in his expression before settling into the cool mask, but Cassian had known him too long not to notice.
"You didn't ask me here to needle me," Cassian continued, leaning forward. "What do you want?"
Lucien sat up. "It's simple. I need equipment moved through your territory. Medical grade. Fragile. I don't trust anyone else."
Cassian's brows furrowed. "That's it? No scheme? No payoff waiting on the other end?"
Lucien's eyes locked onto his, unflinching. "It's for my clinic. For my patients. Nothing more."
The words should have landed as truth, but with Lucien, every truth felt like a lie.
Cassian leaned back in his chair, studying him, the years they'd shared pressing uninvited into the space between them. "And you came to me? After everything?"
Lucien's lips twitched, the closest he came to a smirk. "Because you're reliable. Arrogant, perhaps, but reliable."
Cassian almost laughed. Almost. Instead, he tilted his head. "Are you still with that beta?"
There was a pause, but it felt like minutes not second. Lucien exhaled softly, tilting his chin. "I'm surprised you'd be interested in my personal affairs after you told me, in no uncertain terms, to fuck off."
The words were steady, but Cassian saw it. The hurt. The shadow in Lucien's eyes spoke of wounds left raw. Cassian's chest pulled tight. Against his will, a memory surfaced. Lucien, years younger, his hands steady as he stitched Cassian's shoulder after a gunfight, the quiet warmth of his presence more healing than the bandages.
He forced the memory down. Why does he get to look hurt when he was the one who ruined what they had?
"You should've stayed away from me," Cassian muttered, pushing up from his chair.
Lucien's voice followed him, low and almost pleading. "Our paths would have crossed sooner or later, Cassian. Thank you."
Cassian stopped. For one dangerous heartbeat, he considered turning back. But the ache in his chest only sharpened, and he shoved the impulse aside, storming out into the cool air.
He took a deep breath, ready to leave and not return to the café in a long time. He turned, expecting the annoying grating sound that belonged to Nico, and caught sight of him through the café glass doors, leaning against the counter like he owned the place, grinning at Elias while the baristas and the customers eyed him warily.
Cassian was ready to let him rot there when the air shifted.
"Hey!"
Before he could react, a hand yanked him by the arm, dragging him sideways just as the air split with a deafening crack. The gunshot ripped through the street. Glass splintered as the café's doorframe exploded where Cassian had been standing seconds before.
The world stilled.
Then his hand was already at his holster, gun out, eyes scanning for the shooter. Who the hell was bold enough to fire at him in daylight on his turf?
Cassian's gun was already raised when the second crack split the air. His bullet met its mark, and a man dropped to the pavement in a twist of limbs. Screams erupted from civilians scattered across the road and others bolting out of Bean & Bark, spilling into the street.
"Down!" Cassian barked, voice cutting through the panic. But half the idiots didn't listen.
He caught movement by his side. Nico drew his gun lazily, and fired into the crowd of armed men with unerring precision.
"You're welcome!" Nico shouted over the chaos, ducking only when glass exploded inches from his head.
Cassian cursed under his breath. He didn't have time to yell at Nico.
Another shot whizzed past. He pivoted, dropped the shooter with a clean shot to the temple, then scanned for the source of another. He found him; across the street, half-hidden behind a delivery van. Cassian shifted to line up his shot when motion flickered in the corner of his vision.
Lisa.
For fuck's sake.
Instead of hiding inside where it was safe, she'd come back out, crouching low with her matcha still in hand as though she could simply sip her drink through a goddamn gunfight. Her wide eyes locked on Cassian, stubborn fire in her expression as if daring him to tell her what to do.
"Lisa, get the fuck inside!" Cassian snapped.
She shook her head, raising her voice over the gunfire. "I'm not leaving you out here!"
Another bullet clipped the curb near her feet, showering sparks. She flinched, finally dropping the drink, but instead of retreating, she scrambled closer toward him.
Cassian's heart dropped in his stomach. Every instinct screamed to abandon his position, drag her back, but he couldn't. The armed men were fanning out, three of them circling to flank his side. If he moved wrong...
Nico laughed, feral and delighted, spinning into Cassian's line of fire just to steal the kill from under his nose. The man reloaded his gun in quick succession, "What's the matter, Cass? Losing your touch?"
Cassian snarled. "Stay on your side, Nico."
"Can't help it," Nico sang out, unloading two more rounds into the advancing men. "They like me better."
Cassian tuned him out, switching focus back to Lisa. She was too far now, trying to help an injured high school kid. Once he noticed one of the armed men spotting her, Cassian saw the shift of his shoulders, the tilt of the barrel—
"Lisa!"
He dove sideways, firing even as he threw his weight forward. The gunman collapsed, but Cassian was already moving, sliding across asphalt, bullets grazing the space where his chest had been a heartbeat before. He reached her, one arm hooking around her waist, yanking her down just as another volley chewed up the wall behind them. She gasped, clutching at him, her pulse wild against his hand.
"Stay. Down." His voice was low, lethal, no room for argument.
For once, Lisa nodded.
He caught sight of a rather familiar man and growled; of course, this was Larsen's doing. He was kill that bastard. Beside him, Nico ducked behind an overturned table, then vaulted it just to plant a knife in a man's throat before firing point-blank at another.
"Keep up, Cass!" Nico shouted, his teeth flashing in a wild grin. "I'd hate to leave all the fun to myself!"
Cassian ignored him. He had eyes only for Larsen's lieutenant, the bastard slipping through the chaos, barking orders, moving toward a black SUV parked at the far end of the street. If he escaped, if Larsen got word that Cassian had been caught flat-footed on his own turf...
Cassian advanced, weaving through cover, shots ringing out in measured bursts. One man down. Another. His muscles sang with controlled fury. The lieutenant was right in his line of sight-
"Help!"
Cassian whirled, just in time to see Lisa pinned against a shattered doorway, two of Larsen's men closing in. She had a shard of glass in her hand, pale but defiant, glaring like she could fend them off.
Fucking idiot.
He cursed under his breath, torn. The lieutenant was climbing into the SUV, driver revving the engine. This was his chance. His one shot to gut Larsen's operation before it spiraled further.
But then, he could simply let the girl die. He told multiple fucking times...
His chest tightened. "Fuck," Cassian hissed.
He pivoted. Shot the first man advancing on her. The second lunged, grabbing Lisa by the wrist, yanking her into the open. She screamed, struggling, glass shard slipping from her fingers.
Cassian's world narrowed to a tunnel. He raised his gun, squeezed off a shot, clean through the bastard's shoulder. Lisa stumbled free, collapsing to her knees, gasping.
In that same moment, the SUV peeled away. The lieutenant was gone.
Cassian stood in the wreckage, gun still raised, fury and frustration roiling. He could feel Nico's gaze from across the street, sharp and amused.
"You had him in sight" Nico called, wiping blood off his blade before tucking it away. "You could have just let them have her."
Cassian didn't answer. He holstered his gun, crossed to Lisa, and hauled her upright. She was trembling but unhurt, glaring up at him like she had the right to be angry.
"I told you to stay down," he said, voice low, dangerous.
"You're welcome," she shot back, breathless.
Cassian tightened his grip on her arm, jaw clenching. Behind him, sirens wailed in the distance. The chaos was over, but the damage was done. Larsen's man had slipped away. Because of her. Cassian wasn't sure if he wanted to throttle Lisa…or himself. Cassian stalked toward his car, dragging Lisa by the arm. His knuckles still ached from firing, his wolf pacing inside his skin with a restless, angry rhythm.
"You cost me a kill tonight," he muttered, shoving her into the back seat. "You don't get to act like a hero when you can't even follow orders and get yourself killed."
Lisa scowled, chin lifted despite the tremor still in her shoulders. "Sorry for not hiding under a table trying to help people while people were being shot at. Some of us aren't cowards."
Cassian froze, nostrils flaring. He leaned in, voice a low growl, "You don't know a damn thing about me, sweetheart. Don't test how far my patience stretches."
"She's prettier in person," Nico drawled before the girl could fire back. "Mouthy too" He tilted his head, his grin turning into one more predatory. "How do we get rid of her? We would have sent Larsen a gift for the trouble he caused us."
Cassian slammed the door shut and rounded on him. "Shut the hell up, Nico. Gather the men-"
Before Nico could taunt him again, a sharp metallic clang echoed from the street. Both men turned. And there, not twenty feet away, the café omega was in the middle of the wreckage, wielding a dented frying pan.
"Stay down, you asshole!" Elias shouted, whacking one of Larsen's stragglers over the head again. The thug crumpled to the pavement with a groan.
Elias stood panting, wild-eyed, frying pan raised, then froze when he noticed Cassian and Nico staring at him.
"…What?" Elias demanded, chest heaving. "He came at me, I panicked! Don't look at me like that!"
Cassian blinked. Nico burst into laughter.