Page 100 of Fated to Her

“Okay, I will have my nephew back, thank you,” he says, standing and holding his hands out for him.

I press my lips in a line.

“What? Babies are chick magnets,” he says, sending me a wink.

“Somehow, I don’t think you have any trouble in that department,” I tell him.

“No one is able to resist my charms. Though I’m having fun watching you squirm, Addie. I bet I could make you scream,” he says, his eyes flickering.

“Latham!” Cyrus says as Latham reaches out to touch my face.

“Your nephew,” Cyrus says.

“Oh, now you have no problem with me taking him,” Latham says.

“He will make you keep your hands to yourself,” Cyrus says with a hint of a smile on his lips.

“Yes, Uncle Lath will show Eason how to pull the ladies,” Latham tells my son.

I roll my eyes at him but hop up and follow him out of the office.

Eli wraps an arm around my waist, tugging me to him. Latham stands next to a pair of double doors. Cyrus pushes them open for him, and I find it is another courtroom. Two men sit up along the front; the chair in the middle is vacant. Latham takes the middle seat, but he never hands my son back as we sit in the front row. Other than the two men and Latham, we are the only people present.

I feel like we’ve sat here for ages, but it’s only about twenty minutes before the doors open again. Pete’s voice rings loudly through the room behind me.

“What is the meaning of this?” he bellows, storming into the room flanked by two men I can tell are not human.

He marches to the front. “Addie?” Pete says, confused, stopping.

He shakes his head, walking to the front, and I know he has no idea why he is here.

“You dare drag me from my city?”

Latham raises his hand, and Pete makes a strangled noise, his feet lifting off the ground while he clutches his neck. I can smell his burning flesh.

“And you dare talk to me like that? Now, sit,” Latham says, flicking his wrist and dumping Pete in the chair that sits in the middle of the room in front of the judges’ stand.

Pete coughs, and I can see burn marks around his neck. He clears his throat before glaring at the three men he is placed before.

“You will be tried today for the illegal growing of drugs and blackmailing the sacred forest pack.”

Pete snorts, shaking his head, but the next words to leave Latham’s lips shock me.

“You will also be tried for the murder of Michael Paisley.”

“Now, just wait a minute. You have no right to try me without proof,” Pete argues, getting out of his seat. Latham nods to the two men standing in the aisle next to me, and they walk forward, shoving him back down.

“We have enough proof for trial, and your blood will be proof enough for the sentence.”

“What proof? Who is your witness?” Pete demands to know.

“I am,” Maverick says, coming into the courtroom.

Pete turns his head, and so do I. Pete pales, and he swallows then faces the front again.

Maverick steps forward, striding past Pete and approaching the bench. “I’ll offer up my blood and take punishment for my own misdoings,” he says, staring at his son.

Eli looks at Latham and nods. Yet I can tell Eli is nervous for his father, making me wonder what he will find.