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It was a long time since Rocco had been overpowered by magic, but three of the MC’s leadership working together definitely did it.

If they’d come to kill him, he would’ve fought harder.

Probably would’ve taken out at least one of them with him.

They hadn’t used lethal force, though. They hadn’t even used painful force.

Which suggested they wanted to talk. Or at least delay the torture.

He was trussed so tightly in containment magic, he couldn’t see where they were heading to get a clue.

They didn’t drive far, so they were obviously somewhere near the MC’s clubhouse and businesses. His back was thankful for the short ride because being magically hogtied and slung over the bitch seat of a motorbike was not his preferred method of travel.

When he finally stopped moving and the magic screening the world around him from view dissipated, he found himself zip-tied to a chair at the leadership’s conclave table.

Blaze and Storm were at their usual seats along with the club’s Secretary, Ash, their Road Captain, Quake, and their Head Enforcer, Rip .

It was the Road Captain’s earth magic that he’d sensed at the bridge, touching his husband.

Quake was powerful, but not usually much use for small magics.

They were lucky he hadn’t brought the bridge down on them with an inadvertent earthquake like the one he was named for.

Rocco glared daggers at him as he straightened where he sat. No one restrained his husband but him.

Quake shot him a smirk. “Relax, Rocco. He’s already free. I even kept my magic from touching his skin for you.”

“That’s the only reason I’ll let you keep your feet,” Rocco snarled.

“Enough!” Blaze snapped. “You might’ve married a wolf, but you don’t get to act the animal here. Especially when you haven’t answered a single fucking text or call for days.”

Rocco turned toward his president and did his best to swallow down his rage. “You didn’t seem interested in hearing what I had to say when I saved the lot of you from death by toxic smoke inhalation, so I didn’t see the point.”

“You swore a fucking oath. You don’t get to just dip out when the club needs answers,” Storm snapped.

“Would you have stuck around?”

Storm didn’t get a chance to answer because Rip checked her phone and swore a blue streak that had everyone turning to her.

“Thirteen wolf shifters incoming,” she said.

Blaze huffed out a breath of frustration, and the bonds tying Rocco’s hands behind his back flared with heat before snapping.

“Call your fucking Alpha-in-law and tell him you’re not in trouble before this turns into a bloodbath,” Blaze said, sliding his phone across the table to him.

“Would I be lying?” Rocco asked.

“For fuck’s sake. Look around you. Brand isn’t at the table. I’m sure you can guess why. Call Marco and tell him and Emilio they can come listen. They probably need to hear this, anyway.”

Rocco made the call and then sat rubbing the marks on his wrists where the zip ties had cut into his skin as they waited.

“You need to contain your husband when he gets here,” Blaze ordered.

Rocco smirked. “Worried you can’t take him?”

Blaze glared at him before shaking his head and letting his lips twitch up in a smile. “Stop being an asshole before I change my mind about promoting you.”

“Wait. What?” Rocco asked.

Before Blaze could answer, the door slammed open, and a blur of angry shifter sped into the room. Using his magic to grab Emmy by the scruff, Rocco shoved himself away from the table and hurried to his mate’s side, crouching down to wrap his arms around his wolf’s strong neck.

“Emmy, you can’t take on five witches inside their lair. Shift back already,” Marco said, voice calm as he strolled inside wearing only a pair of the ubiquitous pack sweatpants.

Five pairs of witch eyes locked onto his muscled chest, and Rocco hid his grin in Emmy’s fur.

“When you lot are finished drooling over Mr Tall, Dark, and Alpha over there, could someone grab something for my husband to wear?” Rocco said.

Emmy waited until a pair of sweatpants that weren’t too terrible a fit materialised before shifting in a swirl of shifter power that he probably had no idea the witches around the table could sense. It was like a breath of fresh, angry, primal air had swept through the room, and Rocco loved it.

“What the fuck are you doing with my mate?” Emmy growled at Blaze as soon as he was human.

Blaze and Storm swore softly as the other three witches looked shocked at what Emmy had revealed about their relationship .

“We probably should’ve guessed that from how the two of you were acting. I just thought it was Rocco’s usual bullshit,” Storm said.

Rocco kept a tight grip on Emmy, so he didn’t go do something sexy, like eviscerate his VP for not answering the question. He pulled him onto his lap on the chair he’d vacated, so there was the extra barrier of the table between Emmy and everyone else.

“Blaze. Give us answers. Now,” Marco said.

“Our treasurer, Brand, disappeared in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. He only called me once he was outside the city’s bounds,” Blaze said.

“And?” Emmy asked. “The guy’s rotten. He had it in for Rocco.”

Blaze shook his head. “You’re right that he never got on with Rocco, but he wasn’t a traitor.

Just a damned idiot. He admitted to planting Rocco’s glove outside the Police Chief’s house for us to find.

Said he was worried about his position on the conclave with such a powerful witch coming into the club, but he never would have let the Chief find it.

“When that didn’t work to get Rocco kicked out, he took up with Andy, Rocco’s ex, hoping to provoke him into a fight.

Only, he didn’t count on how obsessed Rocco would become with Emilio, or how distracted Andy would make him.

The evening before the fire, Brand overheard you and Emilio talking.

He left and told Andy that the pack was looking into their relationship.

They fell asleep, and Brand woke up to find Andy missing.

He didn’t realise Andy had taken his security key to the clubhouse until he tried to blackmail him with the fact he could frame him for the fire. ”

“And now Brand’s left instead of fronting up to his mistakes. Not the actions of an innocent man,” Emilio growled.

“No. Now he’s chasing Andy’s trail so he can drag him back here to answer for what he did. Andy ran as soon as he realised Brand was gunning for him.”

“You think Andy’s associated with the D-2S?” Marco asked.

Blaze nodded. “I can’t imagine someone going so far as to attack the clubhouse over revenge for Rocco’s stalking, especially given he’d consented to it until they broke up.

I think his relationship with Rocco was his first attempt at getting access to the club as a spy, and Brand was just next on the list. He panicked when he realised he might be discovered and overcompensated using a weapon he could only have access to from the arms dealers you just shut down. ”

Rocco frowned in thought. “Is his dad involved? It would explain the recent spate of police raids that shouldn’t be happening.”

“I don’t know, but we’ll be keeping a much closer eye on the Police Chief now for sure,” Blaze said.

“So, why did you restrain me and kidnap my mate if all you wanted to do was explain this?” Emmy asked.

“Because he swore a fucking oath to this club, and he was needed. He’s lucky this is the only punishment he’s going to get,” Rip said.

Blaze smirked. “To be fair, I think he might see his promotion as a punishment as well.”

Rocco looked between them, waiting for someone to tell him what the fuck was going on.

He’d almost forgotten the whole promotion thing after Blaze’s revelations about his ex.

His instincts had warned him that something was up with Andy.

It was why he’d broken things off in the first place.

At the time, it had been nothing more than a feeling.

Now, looking back, he realised the thing that made him wary was Andy’s overt interest in the club—its members, their powers, how it functioned.

Information he’d been careful never to give away .

“Is someone going to let me in on the surprise?” Rocco asked.

“We’re creating a new position for you on the conclave.

On paper, you’ll be the secretary, and Ash will take over the accounting, but none of us wants you in charge of records.

Your real role will be as our formal liaison with the Lunetti Pack.

This threat is only getting worse, and I don’t like that the weapons supply was coming down through Kyan’s territory.

I’m hoping if I flutter my lashes real nice at Marco over there, he’ll let you in on the pack’s leadership meetings as well, so you can make sure both our families know what’s going on with each other in real time,” Blaze said.

“I won’t betray their secrets to you. Emilio is mine , which makes them my family,” Rocco warned.

Blaze nodded. “I understand. So long as you keep your oath and don’t betray any secrets of ours that they don’t need to know, either.”

“You’d trust me like that?” Rocco asked, surprised.

“Of course.”

Rocco’s forehead fell to Emmy’s shoulder briefly as he took a deep breath, processing the acceptance he’d craved but hadn’t realised he already had.

“What do you think, Alpha?” Emmy asked.

Marco nodded sharply. “It’s a smart move. Done.”

It was 3 a.m. when they stepped out of the MC Clubhouse and watched Marco and his wolves fade into the surrounding shadows as they made their way back to their vehicles and home.

Someone had brought Rocco’s bike back to the club when they grabbed him, but Emmy’s was missing. Likely still back at the bridge .