Page 74 of Pack Baby for the Silver Foxes

“Did you hear me?”

“Yes. We’re letting you have your rant while you eat.”

“Is that normal?”

“I don’t know.”

She stared at me for a moment before she picked up a piece of chicken and nibbled it. That shouldn’t have felt like victory, but it did.

“Tell us about your family,” Hudson said. “About Maeve.”

Mary’s face changed, and strangely the guarded look returned. Something trained.

“My sister lives in Surrey with her pack and children. They’re Russian Bratva.”

Hudson choked. “Fuck. No way. Should you be telling us that?”

She smiled. “They’re lovely. And…” Her eyes met mine and then Hudson’s. “My father is worse.”

Hudson smiled. “Worse than Bratva?”

She pressed her fork into a cherry on the top of the cake. “My father isn’t a good man.”

That wasn’t the whole truth, but it might have been the only truth she could give.

Hudson understood too. He didn’t press. “Does he know you’re pregnant?”

“No.”

“Will he try to use it if he finds out?”

The cherry slid off the cake and Mary stabbed her fork into it to stop it escaping. “He uses everything.”

My hands curled into a fist beneath the table.

“We can keep you safe from him,” I said.

Her laugh was quiet and empty. “That’s very alpha of you.”

“It’s very true of me.”

She looked at me then. I held her gaze as the urge to reach for her nearly put me out of my skin.

Instead, I stayed where I was and watched her.

Mary noticed. Then the color drained from her face, and she set the fork down and pressed two fingers to her lips.

I was on my feet before I decided to move.

“Bathroom,” she whispered.

Hudson stood too. “This way.”

We didn’t touch her. Not in the middle of the restaurant. Not while she looked mortified enough to combust. We made a corridor with our bodies instead, Hudson leading, and me behind her, shielding her from every curious glance as she walked quickly toward the back.

She barely made it.

I stood outside the bathroom door with my hands shoved into my pockets and wanted to punch something because now I knew Mary was Marli for a reason. A reason Damien knew nothing of.