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When Lucifer reached her, wearing jeans, a tee, and his Howlers prospect cut, he cupped her face in his hands and gazed into her eyes. Well attuned to her in the weeks since their mating, his eyes were searching, trying to read where she was at emotionally. “Talk to me,” he said, low.
Crush exhaled slowly as she soaked in his strength and support. “Messer is Trick’s mate. Axle is refusing to let me have her until we vote, but he said he knows how the Howlers will vote and Pike confirmed it. They won’t kill Trick’s mate.”
Lucifer nodded. “Yeah.”
“But she’s responsible for Shortcake’s death. We deserve to avenge her.” Crush’s rage rallied and pushed forward again. “He compared her situation to yours, and it’s not the fucking same!”
“You’re right to feel the way you do.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Can I give you some perspective?”
She didn’t like the way he asked that, mostly because it indicated that she wasn’t going to like what he had to say, but she nodded anyway.
“I’m alive because I didn’t kill or hurt anyone in the clubs, but mostly because I’m your mate.”
She nodded.
“Kitten, she didn’t either… and she’s Trick’s mate.”
“But—”
“It’s your grief talking. Listen. Why did your club vote to keep me alive?”
“Because you’re my mate and you didn’t actually kill one of us.”
Lucifer nodded. “Who’s to say I wouldn’t have? If you wouldn’t have shown up when you did and taken out the rest of my club, how do you know I wouldn’t have been put in the position to do that? You don’t.”
Crush cringed at the rightness of his point.
“And she came to us,” he added. “We didn’t have to chase her down.”
Grudgingly, she nodded, hating that his points were valid.
“All I’m saying is I deserved a chance to prove that I could be trusted, and you all gave me that. Maybe she does, too.”
After huffing out a sigh, Crush grumbled, “I don’t like the idea of her being around the kids and the mates.”
“So… don’t let her be.” He shrugged, then a soft smile grew on his face. “My pretty kitty shouldmayberetract her claws.”
Crush rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help the twitch at the corners of her mouth. “You’re an idiot.”
“But I’myoursexy idiot.”
“I didn’t say sexy.”
“It’s okay to be forgetful sometimes.” He chuckled and kissed her lips. “You can take your frustrations out on me later.”
Snorting a laugh, she pulled out of his hold and headed up the stairs.
Crush wasn’t sure how the vote was going to go before her club joined her in the church room, but she probably should have. It went exactly the way Lucifer’s vote went. There were two hold-outs — Ginger and Vixen — who were the same two who voted to take Lucifer’s life. They were overruled by the majority. It was the mate element that held her club back. Many of the members made comments along the lines of not feeling right about taking a shifter’s mate. If Messer had killed Shortcake by her own hand, they would have had a very different conversation.
After ending church, Crush found Lucifer in their apartment and walked into his arms. Holding her tight, he just let her soak him in. She didn’t need his snark or his words. She just needed his support, and he seemed to recognize that. Once again, she thanked the gods for him.
Ten minutes later, he was walking hand in hand with her to the clubhouse. He wouldn’t go into Axle’s office with her, because she needed to do that herself, well, with her sergeant at arms, Nails. Having her mate holding her hand in the meeting would undermine her power, and that was not the leader she wanted to be.
Just inside the doors of the clubhouse, he kissed her lips and promised her he would wait at the bar for her. Crush gave a nod to him, before motioning for Nails, who was waiting at a table, to join her. Together, they made their way down the hallway to Axle’s office door.
Axle
The Howlers voted the way he expected. Rex was the only member not in attendance, but his two best friends were there, and the club trusted them to speak on Rex’s behalf.
