Page 20 of His Place in the World (Legendary Shifters #9)

Angus scrolled through the data he’d gotten from Colbert’s cloned phone, but it was hard to focus on his work and stop obsessing over Del and how he’d taken his mother’s arrival.

Angus couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to have his mother back.

Of course, she hadn’t abandoned him the way Pamela had abandoned Doyle, Del, and Cora.

Angus’s mother had died, and Angus would be overjoyed if he saw her again.

Unfortunately for him, that wouldn’t happen.

Unfortunately for Del, his mother was back, and no one knew how to deal with that or why she was actually here.

Angus wasn’t sure Del was right about her having a hidden goal, but he also didn’t think Doyle was right to give her a chance.

Her appearance in their life so suddenly and the way she’d managed to find them even though they’d moved in with the Rosewood pack sent alarms blaring in Angus’s mind, and he couldn’t ignore them.

He didn’t want to dismiss that she might actually want a relationship with her family from the get-go, but he also suspected there was much more to this than what she’d said.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to find anything when he’d dug into her past. She’d had a gilded life without children, partying, traveling, and getting married several times.

If that was what she wanted, then it was good she’d left, because she would have made her children’s lives miserable otherwise.

But why was she here if she seemed so happy in the pictures Angus found? Why did she suddenly want a relationship with her children? That was what he couldn’t make sense of, and he was terrified that something bad would happen unless he did.

But something bad would happen if he couldn’t make sense of the data on Colbert’s phone, too, so after taking a sip of his energy drink, he forced himself to focus on his computer screen again.

He was looking over the blueprints of Colbert’s home, trying to find an entry point.

If they were going to rescue Pembroke and whatever other shifter was stuck there, they needed a bulletproof plan, and that started with Angus.

As he worked, he tapped his fingers on the keys, a plan forming in his mind. With Colbert’s phone cloned, Angus had access to the security system that protected the house. He had access to pretty much everything, and luckily for him, that included the passwords.

That meant he could get inside.

He grabbed his phone from the desk and quickly opened the group text where he, Cam, and the others shared information. Need a meeting ASAP.

The reactions weren’t slow to arrive. We’re available now. Just give us time to get there , Ryland answered.

My office is always open. Come whenever you want , Cam texted back.

So Angus went.

His new office was in his home, and it wasn’t much yet.

The house wasn’t exactly comfortable. It wasn’t well insulated, and considering it was winter, it made Angus regret he’d already moved out of Cam and Toby’s home.

But he liked feeling free and like this was the one place where he truly belonged.

No matter how much of a mess the house was, it was his, and that was all he cared about.

Still, he wouldn’t have said no to functional heating and a nice chair for his office.

Del was working in the entrance, sanding the railing of the stairs that led up to the bedrooms. He paused when he saw Angus carrying his messenger bag, then started putting his tools away.

“You don’t have to come with me,” Angus pointed out.

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re going to Cam’s house, right?”

“How do you know?”

“You’re carrying your bag, which means you have your computer. That usually happens when you have meetings.”

He already knew Angus so well. “I asked for a meeting. I think we have everything we need to go forward and get into Colbert’s house.”

Del grimaced. “I definitely need to be there for that.”

“I managed just fine before meeting you,” Angus pointed out.

“It doesn’t mean you have to continue doing so.” Del kissed Angus, tenderly at first, then with more force as he pressed him back against the railing.

Angus wrinkled his nose. He liked that Del smelled of wood, but he didn’t like the sawdust as much. It made him sneeze, and he stepped away with his nose burning.

“Give me a moment to wash up, and I’ll be right with you,” Del promised.

Angus nodded and stayed in the entrance while Del disappeared into the downstairs bathroom.

They’d decided to completely renovate the upstairs bathrooms, so they’d been using the tiny one downstairs, alternating between staying here and in Del’s room at his father’s house. It was good enough, at least for now.

Del was back a few minutes later, and they left the house together. Like every house in pack territory, Cam’s house was so close that it would only take a couple of minutes to get there by foot.

“Have you heard anything from Pamela?” Angus asked as they walked.

The air in the forest was cool and smelled of damp earth. He’d always loved it, but even more so now that he was home.

Del grunted. “She keeps calling me.”

“Have you answered?”

“I don’t want to. I don’t want to talk to her.”

“But you will because of Cora.”

“I have to. I can’t lose her.”

No one wanted to. As soon as Matt had told Cam what was happening, Cam had put things into motion.

He’d hired a pack member who worked as an attorney, and together, they were doing their best to make things as secure as they could so that Pamela wouldn’t be able to get Cora.

The attorney thought Matt had a good chance to keep Del’s sister, even though he wasn’t related to her.

Not only had he raised her as if she were his daughter, but she’d grown up with her brothers, and they were Matt’s sons.

At worst, both Doyle and Del had agreed that one of them would try to get custody.

Still, everyone was on edge, and that included Del and Angus.

“Have you found anything about her?” Del asked.

“Nothing more than I already told you. Maybe Doyle’s right, and we should give her a chance.”

But Del was already shaking his head. “I don’t care what he thinks. He wants to believe she’s back and that she truly wants a relationship with us, but that’s because he’s love-starved.”

“He has Marcus,” Angus pointed out.

“Yeah, but it’s not the same. Marcus is Doyle’s mate, not his mother.” Del sighed. “Doyle is the one suffering the most over this, and I hate Pamela for doing it to him. I never had much of a relationship with her, but he did.”

“I thought she left when you were five.”

“She did, but I was always closer to my father. I guess I realized early on that she couldn’t give me what I needed, but he could.

Doyle kept hoping for more from her, though.

It broke him when she left. Now that she’s back, he can’t see that she has to have a good reason for being here.

Besides, how did she find out we were here?

Doyle doesn’t have social media, and I didn’t make it public when I moved. ”

Angus had been wondering about that, too. “Maybe she hired a PI.”

“Could you look into it?”

Marcus had already asked Angus to do so. He was wary of Pamela, too, and he wanted to keep Doyle safe as much as Angus wanted to keep Del safe. “I’ve already started to. I have to work on it around working on the auctions, though.”

“I’d never ask you to drop that to focus on my mother. I just need to know we’re doing everything we can to find out what she’s up to.”

Angus took Del’s hand. “We are. I promise.”

But they had a lot of work on their hands.

Angus was sure that as soon as he told the others what he’d found on Colbert and his home, they’d start planning to get in.

It wouldn’t take long, maybe a few weeks, and there was no way to know what would happen after they got Pembroke back.

Angus suspected Colbert and his friends wouldn’t take it lying down.

But that was something they’d have to worry about later.

For now, their focus needed to be on getting Pembroke back and finding out why Pamela was here.

Angus would make sure his mate was safe, along with his family and the Rosewood pack.

He’d finally found his place in the world, and he wasn’t putting it in danger for anything or anyone.