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“I’ve heard enough, Gideon, and I don’t want to hear it again. You are loved beyond reason and valued as a member of this pack. Don’t talk shit about yourself again in front of me.”

He points a long, elegant finger at Gideon’s shocked expression.

“I am fucking serious,” he growls.

The enigma is stunning in his rare show of anger, and Jay’s earlier thought that he looks like a warrior isn’t far off even sitting at the table.

No one says anything for a minute, the exotic basil-vanilla swirling around them in a thick wave. Nix has his mouth open a bit, huffing in mouthfuls like he wants more. His fingers are digging into Jay’s thighs, the tiny pinpricksof his claws kneading in and out like a cat. Jay regretfully pulls them out before he’s ruined another pair of pants.

Pushing his hair off his forehead, Gideon swallows the words he was going to say and carefully chooses others.

“Fine. I used my connections to find out who your families, co-workers, and friends were. Find out who could hurt you. Just in case.”

“Just in case? In case of what? What did you find?” Leo asks.

Gideon sighs.

“Aside from Luca’s dad? A friend of Gray’s who was stealing his art, a nurse at the hospital who had a gambling problem, and Jaybird’s parents. Nothing to worry about.”

“Stealing my art?” Grayson exclaims, surprise replacing his simmering anger.

“Well, not anymore,” Gideon says with a shrug.

“Who?”

“That poser, Sven. You know the guy who kept wanting you to bring him to the den?”

Grayson squints at the memory. “Yeah, he was a toad. Hard-press flirting. What did you do?”

Gideon laughs, turning to start what is obviously a story, but Leo interrupts.

“While this will no doubt be hilarious, maybe you could get on to thenothing to worry aboutpart? You said you didn’t know about my mom being a super spy.”

“Ha. No. Lauren is good. Although to be fair, she is next level, so I can’t be blamed for the info not making my file. Right?”

“Gideon, I think you are missing the point. Are you still doing it?” Nix asks.

“Kitten…”

“That’s a yes, then? The staff at Phoenix? My dad’s law firm?” Leo asks.

The only sound in the room is Gideon audibly gritting his teeth.

“What about the Long Road Home team?” Rowan asks, before shoveling the last of his breakfast into his mouth. Ice-cold, no doubt.

“Nothing my guy caught.” Gideon shakes his head with regret.

“Tell me about my parents.” Jay interrupts what is sure to be a snowball of his mates’ line of inquiry.

“Your dad is an asshole. I knew that much, even from those brief phone conversations or video calls—three, four times now. You’d shared enough, and that kind of asshole-ry doesn’t limit itself to abusing their kid or belittling your mate.”

Luca flinches in Finn’s arms, and Jay is flooded with old regret. James Rhodes Senior was as ignorant and rude as he was unkind.

“I figured he had to have some skeletons in his closet. Truthfully, I had only known he was bilking those charities and the tax system for a few days when our Kitten came back. And then I lost track until that day in the Peds ward. My call to DIFS was anonymous, and I sent them what my guy had.Easy.”

Easy?Hardly.

“And the money-laundering? Did you know about that?”