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“I hear you,” he said quietly. After an awkward moment, he cleared his throat. “What are we going to do about the Ol’ Ladies and kids?”
Top sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Well, I figure we can take them to the diner and have them make their own pizzas for lunch, or we can hang in the main room of the clubhouse during church.”
“I don’t think Axle will want them sitting around the large windows of the diner.”
After a nod, Top replied, “Clubhouse it is. I’ll order pizza. Are we pulling kids from school?”
“Axle didn’t mention that. I figure they’re safe there for now. If we need to, we’ll grab the passenger van and round ’em up.”
Ginger nodded her agreement. “When schools start letting out for the day, I’ll go pick them up. I’ll send texts to the kids to let them know not to get on buses.” She stood and headed out of the room, pulling her phone from her pocket as she went.
When Ginger was out of sight, Top tossed a throw pillow at Rex. “What’s going on with you and the doc?”
“A lot, but she’s… she’s a woman of science, Top. She doesn’t just jump. She wants to know all the whys and hows. She weighs everything out. I highly doubt I’ll get her to agree to a mating for a while.”
Top tilted his head from side to side as if to say,Maybe, maybe not.“Our animals are rarely wrong. Never, actually. Sometimes we’re mated to bad people, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a good match to us.”
“She doesn’t know anything about mates. I have to explain it. Then she’ll have a ton of questions. After that, she’ll want to marinate in the information for a while before she agrees to anything.”
After a shrug, Top said, “So tell her about mates and answer her questions. Get that out of the way so you can get to the good part.” He stared at Rex for a long moment. “Besides the fact that she’s your mate, you like her, don’t ya?”
Rex dropped his head back to the chair and chuckled. “I love everything about her. She tests me, pushes me, orders me around… and I fucking love it. Yeah, sexually, we fit, but she’s… smart and compassionate and funny.”
Top grinned. “She’s it, even without the mate connection.”
“She’s it,” Rex confirmed with a nod.
After reaching over, Top patted Rex on the knee. “Happy for ya, brother.”
Seventeen
Jolene
AssoonasJolenewas done with her next patient, which just happened to be Mama Hen and her Yorkie, Maxie, Jolene snatched her phone and keys from her desk and headed out the back door of the clinic. Her schedule had just said it was a last-minute appointment. When she mentioned to Mama Hen that she received a concerning text from Rex, she told Jolene she’d wait in the parking lot because she wanted to know what was going on. Jolene wasn’t sure she’d be able to share, but whatever. Mama Hen did what Mama Hen wanted to do at all times.
Not sure where the conversation was going to take them, Jolene slid into the driver’s seat of her SUV and dialed his number.
He answered immediately. “Doc.”
“What’s wrong?”
She heard his brief chuckle, then he said, “A few of our members, including myself, have been followed. We’re trying to find out who it is and what they want, but until then, Pres is calling in all the Ol’ Ladies and children. I need you to come stay at the compound with me for a night or two.”
“Wait.” She shook her head, hoping to shake the random pieces of information he gave her into some logical order. “What does that have to do with me? And… Ol’ Ladies?”
Rex sighed. “I will explain all of it, but the fact of the matter is you are my woman, and that means you might be in danger.”
“I can take care of myself, Rex.” Jolene thought about all the times in her life that she had been in life-threatening circumstances and had to fight her way out. She couldn’t tell Rex about all of that, though, because the kind of NDAs that she signed were for life. Little did he know, he was in just as much danger from her enemies if they ever found her.
“Doc, listen, I know you are capable of taking care of yourself, but it would eat me up inside if you were put in danger because someone was trying to get to me.”
She sighed and glanced around the lot. There weren’t any suspicious vehicles or people, just Mama Hen and Maxie watching from her car. “What about Beast?”
“You can bring him. There will be some kids around. Maybe the kids will make him more comfortable.”
She thought about how Beast would react to a large group of strangers. Considering a large number of them were shifters, she suspected that it wouldn’t go over well. Her eyes moved back to Mama Hen. “I could probably see if Mama Hen would take him for a couple days.”
“That’s a good idea,” he agreed. “So, you’ll come to the compound after you get off work?”
