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Nothing comes above my mate—not even my brother.
She’s strong, and beautiful, and I’m already in love with her.
We just need to convince her to stick around and let us prove that we can be what she needs.
“I think before we discuss anything for the future, we need to discuss the past,” my mum says gently, and she emits her luna energy to try and soothe my mate. It doesn’t seem to work too much, though, because although Maia calms, she eyes my mum with distrust.
“She should not be soothing our mate,” I snarl, and Max laughs.
“You’re the one needing to calm down now, human,” Max says. He’s not wrong, even if it pisses me off.
But Maia is mine, and it’s my job to soothe her upset, and calm her fears.
My mother is stealing that job from me and doing a terrible job at it.
I am the protector of our family.
Not Topher, not Seb, and not Ben. Me. That’s my job as the second. If anything ever happened, Topher has the pack, and my priority is to protect our mate and children.
“Your daughter is a rogue wolf, Maia,” my mum continues, and I have to hold in my growls.
“My daughter is not a fucking rogue,” Max snarls, and I look away from the group as I try to get him under control. “She’s a babe—my babe.”
“I know, Max, I know. She’ll never be targeted or treated as such.”
“She is a born female wolf,” he roars, and I take a few deep breaths, trying to rein the shift in. He’s so angry and so close to taking over. “She deserves to be protected and treated like a princess.”
“I know,” I agree, gently. “We’ll give her everything she could ever want in life and make sure she knows how to protect herself. We won’t ever leave her to struggle, Max.”
“Her biological father may have died, but we’re alive and she’s ours,” he hisses along the bond.
“And so, we need to start identifying Phoebe’s lineage and fast, in case her rightful birth pack comes knocking,” my mum finishes.
My nails shift into claws, and I draw blood from my hands. The wolves in the room notice—and probably my father, too—but nobody says anything because Maia doesn’t notice.
Thank Artemis for that small blessing.
“And her birth pack is the one Ryan belonged to?” Maia asks, and when she’s not angry, her voice is as smooth as butter. It’s sweet and lovely. Her voice is my new favourite melody. “Then tell me what you need to know because that’s never happening.”
“Everything,” my mum says softly. “We need to know everything about Ryan.”
Maia nods, and there’s a brief flash of uncertainty across her face. I inch forward, wanting to soothe that pain away, but I can’t.
“I met Ryan in my first year of university?—”
“What is your degree in?” Ben asks eagerly, cutting her off.
“Business,” she says a little curtly. My brother doesn’t seem to care, but both Topher and I notice the uncomfortable air she has with our youngest brother. What on Earth has Ben done to upset her?
“An educated woman to teach our pups.” Max is beaming with pride.
“And do you use your degree now?” my mum asks, raising one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. I give her a dirty look, holding in my anger the best I can. She’s already pointed out that my mate doesn’t work, so what the fuck is she poking at her like this for?
Family is important, Alex.
I fucking hate when my brain mocks me this way.
Yeah, well, we’ve already cut out more than half of it—what’s another few more?
