Page 62 of Thrown into the Mob

“If Evander is operating under flight law, he could justify keeping me alive until I give birth. Then he’d get rid of me, mate Madd, and claim the baby as his.”

“He’d get everything he wanted, which is me, you out of the way, and a baby as a bonus.” Madd’s eyes had clouded with tears.

I wanted to take that pain from him and bury it somewhere he couldn’t find it. But I only had words, and they soothed but they couldn’t remove trauma. I was the perfect example of that.

And here we were sitting in this room with people who were only just understanding what we were up against.

“So what do we do?” Hunter asked. “We’re not going to let that happen, so let’s come up with solutions.”

“We stop waiting,” Flint and I said at the same time.

He put his hands on the table. “We agree to that meeting Evander wants. But with both families present and witnesses. If Evander wants to talk, he does it in the open.”

Evander didn’t have any family except me.

“He won't agree to witnesses.” That was Ranger.

“He will if the alternative is no meeting at all.” I looked around the table. “My brother wants to negotiate. That's leverage because he isn't ready for a war.”

"And if it's a trap?" Hunter asked.

“Then we prepare for that too.”

Flint nodded. He looked at Madd whose tears hadn't fallen because my mate was too stubborn to cry in a room full of wolves. “Are you okay with this?”

“I want this to end. We can’t live our lives walking on this tightrope with no safety net.” Madd cleared his throat and sniffed. “I’m tired of him dictating the terms of our lives.”

Madd and I were the last to leave the meeting. He was still holding my hand and neither of us seemed able to let go.

“We have to tell the family about the baby.” We were walking back to our room. “Before Evander broadcasts it on network TV.”

That was a slight exaggeration, but I agreed.

Madd had spoken to his folks last night, and they were overjoyed at the news. We hadn’t shared what was going on here though because their family was not part of the pack. They didn’t want to know who was being threatened or if Arnie had put a bullet in a man’s head.

Madd’s eyes were red, and I loved his loyalty, stubbornness, and his ability to love without limits.

“He doesn't get our baby or you. And he doesn't get me.” He put his hand on my stomach with his palm flat against my skin and spread his fingers. “This life is ours and the baby you’re carrying is ours too.”

“You’re right, and we get to savor every tiny morsel of it.” We kissed in the corridor, and my hope was that my brother would see reason and not destroy us, though his behavior since we left was the opposite of that.

We told Arnie, and he flung his arms around both of us. Treyton and his mate and little girl joined us, and we toasted with sparkling water. Lua was excited about the baby, thinking she’d have a new playmate.

“I’d better start knitting,” Arnie said.

THIRTY

MADD

The club, which was named after the pack, looked the same as it always had from the outside. The black cladding shielded the clientele at night and long into early hours of the morning. It was shuttered during the day, and most people would have walked past without giving it a second glance.

Flint had been specific about the meeting. Firstly he wanted it in the city and in an enclosed space. Evander would never risk shifting and not only destroying the building but announcing that shifters existed to the human population.

The meeting would take place at the club, though Flint didn’t mention which part of the building. Evander had agreed because apparently he wanted to meet badly enough. But Conrad couldn’t figure out why.

We arrived an hour early. Flint and his brothers, Conrad and me, plus six pack members who positioned themselves at the exits and along the street. Inside, the club was dim and quiet and smelled of luxury, with its marble bar and polished concrete flooring.

Hunter led us downstairs, and Conrad stopped at the top of the stairs. He’d never been here before, and yet he was the one who suggested the location to Flint when we were throwing around ideas, saying it would be perfect for dragons.