Page 38

Mack

They didn’t get it.

Kieran was about to walk out the door, Tor emerging from the bedroom with his phone to his ear, Harper coming out not long afterwards.

She was wearing Tor’s shirt as a nightgown, and some primal part of me wanted to tear it off and replace it with my own.

Not yet, I told the wolf, trying to keep him down.

Walking away from Harper last night took everything I had.

Only the very vivid memories of what my family was capable of had him moving.

“I’ve gotta go,” Kieran told Harper, which was exactly the wrong thing to say. “The dads… Our work site…” He shot me a sidelong look, then focussed back on our mate. “Looks like Mack’s brother hit it, destroying a lot of the work we’d done.”

Of course, that had everyone looking at me, no doubt wondering how the fuck I was related to such a dickhead. Just lucky, I wanted to tell them.

“I’ll be back,” Kieran started to say.

“Don’t.” Now everyone was looking at me again. Probably because I was the one who said that. I shook my head, stroking the gun strap that rested diagonally across my chest. “Kieran, let your dads sort this out. We need to stay here.”

“Kieran’s dads might have apprentices that can deal with the mess.” Tor’s frown deepened. “But my parents don’t.”

“Something happened to them?” Harper rushed forward. “Are your parents OK?”

“Shaken up.” Tor’s shoulders drooped. “The restaurant has been vandalised. No major damage.” Turns out even Dax was wary of fucking with a whole extended family of tiger shifters.

Unlike us wolves or the bears, the females took fur too and could be the most vicious if cornered. “But I need to get over there.”

No, he didn’t.

“This is what he wants.”

I didn’t want to say anything. Let them leave, let them find out exactly what my brother is capable of, I thought, even as I knew I could never let that happen.

Part of what made our pack work was the fact they had no idea the brutality Harris males could stoop to.

Harper didn’t need three battle scarred mates with intimacy issues.

It was bad enough she had to deal with one.

I shook my head and forged on.

“Divide and conquer,” I told the lot of them. “Pretty standard tactics, and that’s what Dax is doing right now. I know it's hard?—”

“Hard?” Tor stared at me. “Hard knowing someone came around to my fucking parents’ place and staged an attack? Are you fucking with me right now? Bloody hell, what if he’s gone after some of my other family members?”

He wasn’t listening. Instead, he scrolled through his contacts, shooting off texts, then calling one of his sisters.

“I have to go and make this right with the dads,” Kieran insisted. No, he really did not. “They’re mad as hell about all this.” He leant down and pressed a soft kiss to Harper’s forehead. “I’ll be back before you know it. Just sit tight with Mack.”

Don’t go, I wanted to snap. Get you fucking arse back here and help me defend our territory, but of course, I kept my mouth shut.

The wolf was too close to the surface, his growl rattling in my ears as he threatened to take matters into his own hands.

I hadn’t slept a damn wink last night, and that meant the barrier between us was thinner than ever.

“Nanna…” Harper grabbed her own phone and made a call.

“Hey.” My ears strained to hear the conversation.

“Yeah, it's me, Harper. Um… about that. Dinner isn’t going to happen tonight. There’s some drama going down.

Yes, I promise to bring them around as soon as things settle, just…

Stay safe. Don’t go outside the retirement home.

Yep, I know you don’t often. Look, I can’t give you too many details?—”

“We’ll be back.” Tor came to stand in front of me. “Once the community hears about this, they’ll get a working bee going to sort out the worst of the mess. I just need to check in with everyone, let them know about the threat.”

So ring them, I wanted to insist. Don’t go anywhere. Just call them. But the two of them headed for the door despite my silent pleas. The sound of the security system beeping, registering their presence, then the clunk of the deadbolts shifting had me moving towards the front door.

“Get back here as soon as you can,” I said, not even able to look the two guys in the eye.

This was exactly the wrong thing to do. They were falling into the same trap everyone did with Dax.

They assumed my brother made sense, operated on some kind of logic, when really, all that motivated him was hate and pain.

“You got it.”

I locked the door behind them, tweaked the security system settings before striding back into the living room. Harper was there, staring at her phone.

“I need to ring Mum,” she insisted. “Shit, and Daria!”

I plucked the phone from her grip, then shoved it into my pocket.

“Grab some food,” I said. “Something to drink as well.” Moving towards the pantry, I started stripping the shelves of things she might like. “Because I’m going to show you another part of the house.”

“What?”

All interest in her phone evaporated as she frowned before following me, coffee mug in hand. Not many Australian houses had a basement, but mine did. One that was purpose built for exactly this moment.

“Through here,” I said as the solid steel door swung open.

“Um… no.” She peered over my shoulder warily. “I do not want to go into the strange underground room with you.”

“It’s a safe room,” I explained. “We should’ve come in here last night, but I needed to do an inspection, make sure everything was OK. The two of us will hole up here, watch some reruns, and…”

Relax, that’s what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t.

Not until the situation with Dax was resolved.

He’d sent his message to the others, so it was only a matter of time before he did the same to me.

I swallowed. Every time I tried to close my eyes last night, I saw my mother.

The look on her face, shock and then nothing.

Her sliding down my father’s body, as limp and broken as an old doll.

But now it was Harper’s face I saw on that body.

I couldn’t let the life in those fiery brown eyes fade.

My fingers flexed, claws forming and receding before I took a step closer.

“Please, Harper.” I was never one to wear my heart on my sleeve, and Harper’s look of shock confirmed it.

She heard the pain, the need there. “Look, I know I said if you run, I’d chase and I will.

Wherever the hell you go today, I’ll be on you like white on rice.

Hanging over your shoulder as you serve those dickheads at the cafe.

” Her lips twitched. “Fuck it, they can try to put the hard word on me over their morning coffee and bacon and egg sandwich if they like.”

“You know, I’m trying to see you in the uniform.” She wagged a finger in my direction. “I’m not seeing it, though you could be cute in a skirt.” Her eyes ran down my body. “You do have killer legs.”

“I will wear the women’s clothing of your choice if you get in here, Harper,” I said. “Please. I’m not above begging.”

“OK, now that has me thinking about a very different scenario.” I barely registered what she was saying because she walked past me and into the safe room.

The door was shut and the security sequence punched in the moment she reached the stairs.

“One where you play the naughty school girl and I’m like your teacher, maybe? ”

“Yes, Miss…” I sighed, running down the stairs.

The fridge had been turned on, cleaned, and smelled of vanilla now.

With a click of the remote, I had the TV on.

Placed in her hands, Harper flopped down on the couch and started scrolling.

I looked at the food we’d collected and realised it wasn’t the greatest combination, so instead I made up a snack charcuterie board and put it before her.

She snagged a pretzel and crunched on it, then looked over at me.

“Wanna talk about it?” The idea was laughable. Trauma dumping was rarely sexy, but what was going on with me was next level. Instead, I just shook my head. “Yeah, me neither.” I watched her take a sip of her coffee. “So, should we watch Friends ?”

I couldn’t think of anything worse than watching some shitty old sitcom, complete with canned laughter, but if it kept Harper safe, I would.

“Sure,” I said, settling against the couch. “Sounds great.”