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Even Finn had put his glasses on and fetched his medical bag with raised eyebrows, daring Jay to even suggest their medical expert in prenatal care and Broken Bond Syndrome be left behind.

That left Leo standing in the living room with a sad frown, trying to figure out how he could be indispensable too, and yet, he was the only person who Jay actively recruited to this crazy crusade.

Leo had always been his rock in tough times, and he felt he might need that sort of tempering, patience, and strength in this endeavor. Rowan had also added, in an attempt to be supportive, “Who would Lauren yell at if she called?”

Ha-fucking-ha,as Leo likes to say.

Only Rowan, the self-declared “introvert’s introvert,” had offered to stay home with the pets.

He hadn’t meant it, as he was filling his pockets with snacks from the cupboard already, but Gideon intervened.

He stated that they couldn’t leave Rowan home alone.

No one mentioned the last time that Rowan had been home alone for over twenty-four hours, he’d drunk twenty-five energy drinks just to prove that he could, before passing out naked on a video call with Jay. Riordan had broken in, called an ambulance, pumped his stomach, andthengiven Jay the lecture.

Aside from Lauren’s support with transport (no small feat for eight men), Finn had taken on most of the logistics of planning their accommodations. It’s a task he and Leo often share, as they both have analytical minds and are planners by nature.

Jay is, too, he supposes—but he always has the big picture on his mind, whereas they focus on the details.

Together, they all make a good team, connected like gears in a well-oiledmachine.

Jay sighs and takes his chair next to Finn, who smiles, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. Finn isn’t a fan of flying either, though mostly because of the small, confined spaces, rather than heights, like his two mates in the back.

“Ready?” Jay murmurs, and his voice cracks with how dry his mouth is and how his throat aches a bit.

Jay wishes it had been because of the pleasure he’d given Rowan yesterday afternoon—shit, was that yesterday already—but it’s definitely because of the yelling.

It hadn’t been about Gideon sneaking around, to his mate’s evident surprise, but about who was going to end Patrick Carnell.

Jay can’t believe he is once again having to argue about his right as Pack Alpha to bring justice for his pack, to protect them from danger and the consequences. Yes, it’s high-handed; no, he fucking doesn’t care. He is Pack Alpha, and while he doesn’t throw his weight around often, in this, he will.

Jay understands why Gideon argued that it should be his job—his duty.

He has felt only the slightest glimmer of that feeling himself, back when he’d learned how his parents had deceived him and how the following nine years had subsequently been torture for his beloved.

Jay can’t say he would be past some kind of physical reaction if he came across his parents in person.

But Carnell is a different matter entirely.

There are too many moving pieces of Carnell’s plan in play here.

While Gideon had been out skulking in bars, greasing palms, and threatening small-time players, Jay hadn’t been idle. How could he be, when his family’s safety is at risk? Gideon should know that is one point Jay has never made more clear.

So Jay had spent long hours calling in quiet favors in the industry—favors from people who ran in the same elite circles, attended the same social functions, and knew the same officials as Patrick Carnell. Thankfully, they’d been happy to offer what they could and point Jay in the right direction, especially since Carnell did not inspire loyalty in those same circles.

Gideon’s sire had burned quite a few bridges, and in the light of those burning bridges, Jay had discovered that Carnell’s tentacles of insidious evil reach deep into Ripley Records—and therefore right up to Jay’s back door.

Ew…no, okay, that sounds weird.He chuckles at how fucking awful that sounds.

Finn clenches his hand tighter. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. It’s just, my brain won’t shut off. You know?”

“Come on, distract me. This tiny tin can is taking off, and I need a laugh.”

“Okay, I was thinking about Carnell’s connections at Ripley, how even there, he’s been working behind the scenes to affect our pack. Blackmailing members of the Board or blocking promotional stuff. I wish I knew why. Called them his tentacles of insidious evil in my head, and thought that they reached into my back door.”

Gideon snorts from the back corner as Jay feels the landing gear retract.