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I grit my teeth, nodding. “The pack needs closure.”
Lo’s hand finds mine, her fingers weaving between my own and giving a little squeeze of support. I turn my head to glance over at her and a wave of calm washes over me as soon as our eyes meet. It’s like she’s lending me her strength through our bond, shoring up my own, and by the time I turn back to Reid, the lump in my throat has dissipated.
“We’ll help get you what you need for the burial, then,” he states.
I slide an arm around Lo’s shoulders, pulling her in closer. “I appreciate that.”
Ares looks around the room. “So should we do beers now, or…?”
Archer turns to his brother, landing a hard punch on his bicep. “Time and place, dude,” he admonishes.
“What?” Ares protests, rubbing at his arm with a wince. “We could all use a drink after this shitstorm of a day, right?”
“I agree,” Brock grumbles, speaking up for the first time since I entered the room. He rises to his feet, boots clomping against the floor as he strides over to me. I’m not easily intimidated, but his hard look and surly demeanor has me holding my breath, on pins and needles as I wait to see what he’s going to do.
He comes to a stop in front of me, staring into my eyes as he sticks out a hand. “Welcome to the six-pack, kid.”
37
“Logan India Anderson!” my mom shouts as I follow my brother through the front door of the Westfield packhouse, stuttering a step at the sound of her voice.
Iver cringes, tossing me a look over his shoulder as if to say ‘good luck’, and I grit my teeth in a wince as I peer past him to see my mother stomping in our direction. I wasn’t expecting to run into her since she lives next door now, butof courseshe just happens to be here today, of all days.
“Why did I have to hear about you finding your fated mate through your Aunt Brooke?!” she demands as she rapidly closes the distance between us.
I pause in the doorway, shaking my head. “Sorry, I…”
“No, I don’t even want to hear it,” she huffs, holding up a hand. “Honestly, honey, I thought we had the kind of relationshipwhere you could tell me anything! And now I have to find out from someone else that you met your fated mateweeksago, and I’m justnowhearing about it?”
I swallow thickly, stepping forward and moving aside to allow Javi to enter the packhouse behind me, and as soon as my mom’s gaze lands on him, her attitude shifts on a dime. The scowl on her face is instantly gone, replaced with a bright, friendly smile.
The way she can go from meat cleaver to June Cleaver in the blink of an eye is a little unnerving.
“Oh my gosh, is this him?!” she gushes, her mouth falling agape and her hazel eyes sparkling.
Javi’s lips spread into a goofy grin as he nudges the door closed behind him. “Uh, hi, Mrs. Anderson.”
“Call me Quinn, please,” Mom scoffs, waving a hand. “Come here, let me get a look at you!”
I swear the man actually blushes as he steps forward and my mom reaches out to cup his face in her hands, her smile growing even brighter as she locks eyes with him. “Well aren’t you handsome,” she declares, stepping back to give him an assessing once-over. Then she leans toward me, elbowing me in the ribs and murmuring, “Well done, Lo,” under her breath.
My cheeks burn as I elbow her back, rolling my eyes. “Mom.”
“What?” she asks, batting her lashes innocently as she swings her gaze back to Javi. “I just call it like it is!”
I roll my eyes again, heaving a sigh as I lift a hand to gesture between them. “Javi, this is my super embarrassing mom. Mom, this is my mate, Javi.”
“Well now I know where Lo gets her beauty from,” Javi drawls, turning the whole slick and charming thing up to eleven and totally schmoozing my mom.
It works better on her than it did on me. She blushes, giggling softly as she waves him away bashfully. “Oh stop…”
“Yeah,stop,” I grit out, grabbing for his hand and tugging him away.
“Are you two sticking around for a while?” Mom asks, her curious eyes pinging back and forth between us. “I’ll call your dad to come over, I know he’s dying to meet the guy who stole his daughter’s heart!”
“Actually, we’re about to head back over to the motel,” I reply quickly, shooting my mate a side-eyed glance. “Javi needs to let his pack know what’s going on. We were just dropping Iver off and came in so I can grab a shirt to change into.”
Mom glances down at the small droplets of blood staining the collar of my t-shirt, her eyes rounding in concern as they lift to meet mine. “Are you hurt? What happened?”
