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M ina glared at her daddy and put her hands on her hips. “I said no.”

“You’ve pushed away every wolf I’ve stuck under your nose for as long as I can remember, but you’ve been worse since you stayed with the Steel Riders for a day. What the hell did they do to you?”

Fucked me, claimed me, and then ran out on me.

Not that she could say that to her doting daddy, who was doing his damnedest to set her up with eligible wolves in the pack and surrounding areas.

It had only been three weeks, but she knew something he didn’t about her time with the Steel Riders.

She hadn’t just been fucked well by Spark; he’d left a little something behind.

When her heat cycle had ended later that day, she’d known she was pregnant.

She just wasn’t sure how to tell her daddy that little tidbit. Or about her mating.

“What’s wrong with Bone?”

She snorted. “You mean besides that ridiculous name? He sweats too much, belches about every half hour, and his farts will chase anyone out of a room. Not to mention, I’ve told you repeatedly, I don’t want a mate.”

“Every she-wolf wants a mate.”

“Fine. I want a mate I can’t have. Happy now?”

Shadow glowered at her. “Respect me, young lady. Now tell me who the lucky wolf is.”

“He’s not a wolf,” she muttered.

Her father’s face darkened. “Steel Riders?”

“That’s where I met him. He saved me from Striker. If it weren’t for Spark, I’d have been force-mated.”

“I don’t remember seeing a Spark there when I picked you up. If he saved you, why wasn’t he guarding you when I arrived?”

She blushed and looked away.

“Mina.”

She recognized the warning tone in her father’s voice, but she stubbornly looked anywhere but at him. She knew she’d have to tell him sooner or later about the baby, and the fact she was already mated, but she had hoped the moment would be right, that he’d be in an excellent mood.

“Mina, you’re going to tell me what’s going on. There’s something more to the story than you having a crush on some shifter you met once.”

Shadow got a peculiar look on his face, and before she could react, he yanked her top to the side. Thankfully, it was the wrong side. He frowned, studied her a moment, then jerked her shirt the other direction. A low growl rumbled in his chest and his eyes flashed the golden color of his wolf.

“You’re mated?” He bared his fangs. “You fucking mated that rat without my permission?”

“Now, Daddy, you know you never would have agreed, and in Spark’s defense, he did try to push me away.

But didn’t you tell me I should go after what I want?

Well, I wanted Spark, so I went after him.

He told me repeatedly that it was a bad idea, that even though we knew we were true-mates, we shouldn’t succumb to our instincts. Daddy, I want to be with Spark.”

“It’s not like I can undo a mating,” he said gruffly. “But I wish you’d asked first. You don’t know, I might like the boy. If he’s what makes you happy, I’m sure I wouldn’t have given him too hard a time.”

She smiled and hugged him, then stepped back and nibbled her bottom lip. “There’s just one more thing.”

“Christ, girl. You’ve thrown a mating at me before I’ve even had my morning coffee, and now you have another surprise for me? What? Is he hiding in your bedroom?”

She shook her head.

“You’re running away and moving in with him?”

“I don’t think he wants me anymore, Daddy. He ran away after he claimed me, and then you came and picked me up. He hasn’t tried to call me once. And…and it’s important that he’s in my life. Because we’re going to have a cub to raise pretty soon.”

Her father stared at her, dropped his gaze to her stomach, and then looked her in the eyes again. “So what are you waiting for? If the jackass won’t come to you, hadn’t you better go to him? I thought you had more backbone than that.”

“Does that mean I have your permission to live with my mate?” she asked.

“Would it do me any good to tell you no?”

She smiled broadly. “Not in the least.”

“Then go get your mate.” Shadow grunted. “But I’d better be invited to meet him sometime soon. A man ought to know his son-in-law.”

“I have a better idea. Why don’t you go with me to the Steel Riders?”

Shadow rubbed his jaw. “Well, I suppose the V.P. could handle things for a day or two. And I have to admit, it would be fun to see the stark look of terror on your mate’s face when he thinks I’m coming there to take him apart for marking you.”

“Daddy!”

“What? I have to get my fun somewhere.”

Mina folded her arms over her chest. “Everyone thinks you’re this hard ass biker when really you’re a sneaky little boy stuck in a grown man’s body.”

“Hell. I’m forty-five. Not dead.”

“You won’t tell my brothers, will you? You know they’ll want to come too, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, much less the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. You might scare him off.”

Shadow snorted. “Sounds like you scared him off already. Otherwise, I’d have met him when I came to pick you up. A real man would have met me face to face and admitted to having claimed you, would have fought for you if need be.”

“Are you calling my mate a wuss?”

Shadow shrugged.

“I don’t think he was worried so much about what you’d do to him.

I think he worried that you would take it out on his club and they would exile him.

They’re all he has. He told me he grew up without a father and with an alcoholic mother.

He started prospecting for the Steel Riders when he was just fifteen. Can you imagine?”

“So your boy’s had a hard life. It means he’ll appreciate the things he has—like you. I can understand him worrying about losing the only family he has, but now that he’s mated my baby girl, he has a whole new family. The moment he put his mark on you, he became an honorary Silver Skull.”

“Can you be in two clubs at once?”

“I said honorary. He doesn’t have voting rights, and I would only call on him in an emergency. He is family after all. Boy might not see it that way, but he will soon enough.”

Mina frowned at her father. “What are you plotting?”

“Don’t you worry about it. Just follow my lead when we get there, and remember, I have your best interests at heart.”

Mina wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

She knew her dad could be wily, and a bit of a hard ass when it came to his kids.

Spark had run from her to save his place within his club, and the last thing she wanted was for him to feel like he was going to lose his family, even if her father was just playing.

She’d seen him make grown men cry, and a blubbering Spark was not something she ever cared to see.

She followed her father into the house and went to her room.

The closet was so full the doors wouldn’t shut, and her dresser was full to bursting as well.

Then there were the mementos and pictures she would want to take to her new home.

As she looked around the room she’d called home all her life, she realized that she had no idea if Spark even had a home or if he lived at the clubhouse.

Maybe she should just take one suitcase and have her father bring the rest of her things at another time.

It didn’t take her long to pack and she found her father waiting by the front door.

Since she planned to start a new life with Spark, she took her car and followed behind Shadow’s motorcycle.

It was nightfall by the time they reached the clubhouse of the Steel Riders, and Mina knew her father would prefer that she not enter the building.

He’d sheltered her as much as possible from the MC life, but if she was going to make changes, she might as well start now.

She left her bag in her car, brushed past her father, and pushed through the doors.

Music pulsed through the room. Nearly naked women plastered themselves to the shifters in the room, while alcohol flowed freely.

Mina waved her hand trying to dispel the smoke in the room.

She knew it wasn’t good for a pregnant woman to be around cigarette smoke, and she was fairly certain she detected the scent of marijuana.

Her gaze skimmed the crowd as she searched for Spark.

She wasn’t certain what she’d do if one of those skanks had her tongue down his throat.

Mina finally found him in the back corner, a slut on his lap, her bare breasts bobbing in his face.

Her temper sparked, despite the bored look on his face.

Mina pushed her way through the crowd, not stopping until she reached her mate.

The girl in his lap looked her up and down, but Mina didn’t give her a chance to say anything.

She reached out, grabbed a handful of overly teased hair, yanked her off Spark’s lap then shoved her in the floor.

“You bitch!” the woman shrieked.

“Shut it, Jeanine,” Spark said, his gaze locked on Mina.

“Who the hell is she to throw me in the floor like trash?” Jeanine demanded.

Mina snorted. “You are trash, you over-dyed, under-educated slattern.”

“What did you call me?” The woman looked truly baffled.

“She’s my mate,” Spark said. “Make yourself scarce, Jeanine.”

She didn’t look happy about it, but she wandered off.

Probably looking for someone else to fuck for the night.

It made Mina wonder just how far Spark had been willing to go.

Would he have slept with her? Or was she merely a decoration so everyone in the club would think all was right in his world?

He looked haunted. There were shadows under his eyes and he looked thinner than he had last time she’d seen him.

It had only been a few weeks, but the days without her had obviously taken their toll.

“It’s good to see you,” he said, standing to pull a chair out for her. “Why don’t you sit down?”