“They can. She’s claiming I’m violent. That if I’d attack my own sire I’m just as likely to attack my own sister. She has her Alpha convinced I’m on the cusp of going rogue just like—”
“Bullshit!” I roar, slamming my fist against the locker. “You’re no more at risk of going rogue than I am.” Antonio did what he had to do to keep us safe. He only laid Raul out because he attacked me first. He was defendingme.
“I know. Doesn’t matter though. That’s not how they see it.”
“Fuck.” I start to pace. “What are we going to do? How do we fix this?” There has to be a way. Letting our mom take Sofia is not an option, I’ll run with her if I have to. I know Antonio will too. My mind strays to Joaninha and César. Shit. I can’t take my sister and run. I have my own kid to think about too. Goddammit. What a mess. We need our Pack. We need Rafe’s dad on our side to put a stop to this. He knew Raul. Knew what he was capable of and he knows Antonio is nothing like him.
“Roberto is on his way. I called him before calling you. He put in a request to return to the Southwest Pack when I told him about César. Our Alpha approved it.”
“But for how long? We can’t count on him to—”
“We’ll figure it out, okay? We have to.”
I grind my teeth together and nod, not that he can see it. I don’t have a lot of faith in our eldest brother, but if he can stick around long enough for us to figure this shit out, that’ll be enough. Then he can crawl back to whatever Pack he left us for and go back to pretending his family doesn’t exist, just like our mother did. Until now.
“So, what do we do in the meantime?”
“You get your ass home. We need to show the South Atlantic Pack—the Pack she left us for—that we’re a stable, loving, family. That we can provide the type of environment Sofia needs to thrive in. They’re sending a representative tomorrow to interview us. I need—”
“I’ll be there.”
He lets out a relieved breath. “Thank you.”
I snort. “You don’t have to thank me. She’s my baby sister too.”
“I know.” He sighs. “But you’ve got your own kid now and—”
“And nothing. I’ll let Joaninha know I’ll be busy for a little while with Pack business. She’s bringing César to school now, so I’ll still get to see him every day. We’ll figure it out.”
“You still need to bring him home sometime. I want to meet my nephew.”
“I know, I will—”
“Only maybe after we get all of this figured out. We don’t want to scare her off.”
Sounds good to me.
The sound of voices approaching lets me know the guys must have finished up with training. “I gotta go, but I’ll be by in half an hour. An hour max. Okay?”
“Okay. See you soon.”
I hang up and shove my phone back into my bag before peeling off my sweat-soaked shirt. I need a quick shower before the rest of the Pack uses all the hot water, and then I need to haul ass home. I consider calling Joaninha to let her know what happened, but I never told her about Raul in the first place. Better to leave well enough alone. She doesn’t know much about our kind. Does she know what it means for a shifter to go rogue? If she knows my sire went rogue, will she worry that I will? Will she worry about me being around César?
I’ll just tell her I can’t come by this week because of Pack stuff. She’ll understand.
Right?
66
Jo
When Jae said he’d grab some of my things from my mom’s, I didn’t realize he’d meant all of my things. My room back home wasn’t very large to begin with, so I didn’t have a ton of stuff, but all of my clothes now hang in the guest room closet and six large boxes filled with César’s clothes and toys lay against one wall. Jae even packed my books and knickknacks.
A playpen is set up beside the bed, and it looks like my makeup and toothbrush are sitting on the nightstand. I can’t believe he thought to grab them from my bathroom.
“Did you leave anything behind?” I joke, though somewhat serious, because this makes the move feel permanent and that can’t be what he has in mind. Right? I mean, no. Of course, this is temporary. A few weeks. Maybe a couple of months at most.
He rubs the back of his neck, his expression sheepish. “I mean, I didn’t bring the bed. Or the crib. But we can go back for it if you’d like.”
