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I sagged against him, loving the feel of his hot, sweat-slick skin against mine. The salty, musky smell of him. He folded his arms around me, cradling me to him, and kissed myforehead.
“And any time you need another demonstration...” hesaid.
I laughed and hugged him tightly. I still wasn’t sure I was ready for whatever waited for us up ahead, but at least I’d be facing it with mymates.
Chapter 13
Ren
I’d already donethe arriving at an alpha’s estate thing twice now. I shouldn’t have felt so nervous. But as the private jet touched down on the fringes of the feline kin property just south of Miami, my stomach balled into one hugeknot.
It wasn’t just the new kin group I had to meet. It was the traitor we already knew was lurking among the prominent families. And maybe there was more than one. Orion hadn’t been all that involved with the rogues. There had to be plenty they hadn’t let him inon.
Marco had called a few of his estate’s security people ahead of time to meet us at the airfield. “They’ll give us the all clear when they’ve taken a thorough look around the perimeter,” hesaid.
West leaned back in his chair, his shoulders tensed. “And you’re sure we can trustthem?”
Marco narrowed his eyes at the wolf shifter, but he smiled at the same time. “I trust that they’re notalltraitors, and the ones who aren’t will catch anything that needscatching.”
My phone’s ringtone started playing, so unexpectedly I flinched in my seat. My mates all shot curious glances my way. No one had this number other than Kylie. I fumbled for the phone and answered it as quickly as Icould.
“Kylie, what’s up? Is somethingwrong?”
“Not at all!” her cheerful voice rang out on the other end. “Everything is spectacular. Especially because I just touched down in Miami. So how exactly do I get from the airport to this shifter estate ofyours?”
I blinked, my mind going momentarily blank. “Um,what?”
“I flew down to see you! You said you were going to be near Miami, and there was a sale going on—the flight wassocheap. I couldn’tresist.”
I opened and closed my mouth a few times before I managed to produce more words. “Okay. Okay. Oh my God. Let me just... talk to theguys.”
Who were all still watching me. Marco looked amused, Aaron curious, Nate concerned, and West—well, it was pretty hard to read West’s expression at certain moments. I’d go with “grim” this timearound.
Marco was the man to deal with logistics here, I guessed. I muffled the phone with my palm. “Kylie, uh, flew herself down here. She’s at the Miami airport. Can we... bring her here? She wants tovisit.”
“I’m not sure now is the best time for that,” Aaron pointedout.
Oh. Right. In my shock, I’d completely forgotten that even we weren’t necessarily safe on the estate. And Kylie didn’t have any shifter super powers to call on if the situation went south. A chill trickled through me. “She’s already here. I don’t know if she can even afford to change her ticket to go rightback.”
Marco was already waving his hand dismissively. “Don’t even think about that. We can cover whatever youneed.”
I got back on the phone. “Actually, Kylie... We’re in kind of a bad place right now. We found out that one of Marco’s people has been helping the rogues, and it sounds like they’re planning an attack while we’re here. I don’t want you getting hurt again, even though I do really, really want to seeyou.”
There was a pause. “You’re worried I’ll be in the way,” Kylie said. Sounding truly downcast was outside her vocal range, but I could hear her disappointment in the flattening of herenthusiasm.
“No!” I said. “I just know, if there’s fighting or something, you can’t defend yourself the sameway.”
Kylie sucked in a breath. “What if I’m okay with that?” she said. “I’ve survived a long time around people a lot bigger and tougher than me. I’m not going to be a liability, Ren. Maybe I’ll even help! I found that first clue of your mom’s for you.” She paused again. “Unless you just don’t want me there atall.”
My heart wrenched. I did want to have her with me, to talk to her face to face instead of via a phone screen, so badly. Kyliehadsurvived an awful lot in the city during the years we’d been on the streets. Maybe I was underestimating just how strong—and resourceful—a non-shifter couldbe.
“I do,” I said quickly. “Believe me, I do. You’re right. I’ll get Marco to send somebody. When I know what the plan is, I’ll text you any details you’llneed.”
As I hung up, Marco arched his eyebrow at me. I sagged in my seat. “She made a very compelling argument. And Kylie is the toughest person I know, even if she doesn’t lookit.”
“It’s up to you, princess,” Marco said. “I can sendsomeone.”
I waited for one of the other alphas—probably West—to argue, but no one did. “Okay. When you send them off, let me know where Kylie should meetthem.”
