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“As if I’d evenlookat another woman when I’ve got the sexiest one alive,” he growls in response, setting a hand on her thigh and giving it a possessive squeeze.
Liv darts him a devilish smirk, then turns her gaze back on me, heaving a sigh. “You’re not considering a career change anytime soon, are you Lo? Maeve’s pretty fun to hang out with all day…”
“Hard pass,” I reply with a wince. “I’d have no idea how to take care of a baby.”
“I’ll let you in on a secret, neither does any new parent,” Logan winks.
I laugh softly, shaking my head. “As tempting as that sounds, the squad needs me right now. I’ve been buried in work at the IT unit.”
“Oh yeah, how’s that going?” Olivia questions as she sits up straighter, her interest piqued. “Your mom said you’ve been working on ID’ing people from the new pack to make sure their backgrounds are clear.”
I heave a sigh, combing my fingers through my hair. “Yeah, but I keep hitting dead ends. I spent the whole day running photos through a facial recognition database, and I only got two matches. It’s like most of these people don’t even exist.”
“Hm. Mind if I take a look?” she asks.
Olivia spent so many years running missions for the security squad that she’s always eager to slip back into detective mode. This is exactly the sort of stuff she lives for.
“Be my guest,” I say, lifting my ass from the couch and pulling my phone out of my back pocket. I’ve got my files linked, so it doesn’t take me long to pull up the catalog of images and open the first one.
I hand my phone over to Olivia and she starts swiping through the photos, shaking her head. “Yeah, I don’t recognize any of these people,” she grumbles. “Not from when I was younger, or our time on the road, or…” she abruptly stops swiping, the color draining from her face as she stares down at the image on the screen. “Oh my god…”
“What?!” I ask eagerly, shuffling closer to look down at the picture. It’s a dark-haired woman in her forties, and though she looks harmless, something about her clearly has Olivia spooked.
“That’s Delilah,” Liv whispers hauntingly, eyes glazing over as she continues staring at the photo.
I scrunch my nose in confusion, looking up from my phone to her face. “Who?”
“Delilah. She was a diehard shadow pack loyalist. She…” Olivia trails off, furrowing her brow as her eyes dart up to meet mine. “Where did you get this? Are you sure she’s part of this pack?”
“Pretty sure,” I say, swallowing past the growing lump in my throat. “We had our scouts take these photos.”
Liv shakes her head numbly, looking like she’s just seen a ghost. “I thought she died. I haven’t seen or heard of her in years, and the shadow pack splinter groups that Logi and I worked to takeout didn’t have anything on her. I mean, I guess she could’ve turned her life around, but… shit, what about the baby?”
My heart pounds harder. “What baby?”
Olivia chews on her lower lip nervously, handing my phone back with a trembling hand. “She was pregnant the last time I saw her. When everything went down with the six-pack.”
Logan wraps his arms around his mate, pulling her up into his lap and holding her close. Seeing that picture obviously triggered something for Liv, because she suddenly looks like she’s going to be sick. “Hey, you alright?” he murmurs, tucking her hair behind her ear and pressing a kiss to her forehead.
I lower my phone in my lap, staring down at the photo while my heart beats a riot in my chest.
I didn’t notice it before, but now that Liv mentioned a baby, I can’t un-see the resemblance between this woman and the man I love. I scramble to do the math in my head, my mouth going dry at the realization that he’s the right age.
But if this is Javi’s mom, then…
No. Like Liv said, she must’ve turned her life around at some point. And Javi can’t possibly know about his mother’s connection to the shadow pack. If he did, he wouldn’t have come here, of all places, to the very alliance that took them out.
Unless…
No.
Noway. I know Javi, and he’s a good person. He wouldn’t come here with nefarious intentions. He wouldn’t make me fall in lovewith him, only to turn around and try to hurt everyone I care about.
That’s not him.
… is it?
26
