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THIRTY-NINE

Emma

NANA ALLEN LOOKED older than I remembered. Which was a stupid thing to think. Shewasolder. But she looked frailer. More delicate. Like one good knock would shatter her into pieces. It made something twist unpleasantly in my stomach.

“Good heavens, girl!” she said. “What have you done to your hair?”

My hand jerked up toward the short, bleached-platinum strands before I could stop myself. I knew my natural dark mahogany was starting to show through at the roots. I’d have to decide soon if I wanted to keep the color or go in a different direction.

“I cut it and b-bleached it,” I said, forcing my voice even. “Because I needed to make it as hard as p-possible for Uncle Tommy and the rest of the family to find me.”

Her wrinkled face screwed up. “Your stutter is back.”

I squared my shoulders. “Yeah? Well, I’ve b-been under a b-bit of stress lately, to put it mildly.”

I was aware of Curran and Elijah watching the exchange, but if I thought too hard about what it must sound like to them, I wouldn’t be able to get words out at all.

Nana’s posture softened slightly. “Your alpha attack dog said something about you being in trouble. He wouldn’t give me any details.”

I wasn’t sure whether to thank Curran for that or curse him, since it meant I’d have to tell her myself. I licked my lips and swallowed, trying to plan the words before I spoke them.

“Uncle Tommy tracked me d-down in New York somehow,” I began. “I think he must’ve used his influence to b-blackball me in the modeling industry, because my career fell off a c-cliff. He manipulated me into taking a gig on a yacht to keep the bills paid, but he and C-Cade were waiting for me. It was a human trafficking scheme. He sold Elijah and me—” I gestured to Elijah. “—to the highest b-bidder. We were just lucky the highest bidder happened to be a man who was trying to b-bust up the trafficking ring. He g-got us both out safe and b-brought us here.”

Heavy silence fell over the room. I wasn’t about to add the part where I’d cheerfully fucked my rescuer and his two bodyguards through my unplanned heat. Or the part where I was seriously considering staying with them as part of their pack rather than pulling up my roots and running again.

My gran’s jaw dropped as I spoke and hung open in her apparent shock. As I watched, she snapped it shut with a click of dentures.

“I’ll have both his kneecaps blown off,” she said, her soft cheeks glowing an angry red. “I’ll have that whelp Cade buried upside-down in cement.Alive.”

I was pretty sure she didn’t have the wherewithal to make either of those things happen, but I appreciated the sentiment.

Curran grunted. “I’m in. You need a henchman, or have you already got one on the payroll?”

I opened my mouth to tell Curran he couldn’t go around burying people in cement while Gabriel was trying to build alegal case against them, but a low growl from the hallway cut me off.

“Curran!” Gabriel strode in, Onyx trailing sheepishly behind him. “What thehelldo you think you’re—”

He came to an abrupt stop in the doorway, noticing his uninvited guest. “Excuse me, madam—but who are you, and why are you in my house?”

Nana Allen bristled, but Curran got in before her.

“Heya, boss. Sorry about going AWOL. I should introduce Mrs. Clarabelle Allen, Emma’s maternal grandmother. Her daughter was married to Jimmy Huntwell, which is a name I’m sure you’ll recognize.”

Gabriel froze. I could practically see the gears turning inside his head as Nana Allen regarded him with a pointedly raised eyebrow. After a long beat, he seemed to wrench himself free of his paralysis, and he cleared his throat.

“Gabriel Rosencranz,” he introduced himself. “Forgive my discourtesy. I thought I’d mislaid an employee. However, it appears I’ve gained a guest instead.” He shot Curran a dark look.

“Would’ve told you what was going on, boss,” Curran said unapologetically, “but you’d’ve just spent ages overthinking the whole thing.”

“I’ve just b-been telling Nana Allen about what happened on the yacht,” I said, hoping to move the conversation back on track.

Onyx had taken the opportunity to slip into the kitchen behind Gabriel. I wondered if they were on his shit list too for having kept what Curran was doing quiet.

“Did she tell you the part where Tommy Huntwell had someone break into Emma’s cabin and throw all her heat blockers overboard?” There was a simmering anger behind the words that I wasn’t used to hearing from the usually laid-backOnyx. “He would have tossed her to the wolves in the middle of an unplanned heat and let them eat her for dinner.”

Nana Allen sucked in a sharp breath, her nostrils flaring. “Hewhat?”

I’d only encountered that tone on a handful of occasions during my adolescence. It had never boded well.