Page 9

9

BOAZ

“We should go.”

Keane was still in bed, the sheets wrapped seductively around his hips, the mating mark visible on his shoulder.

He tilted his head. “I’d rather come.”

A fierce heat erupted from my center and rippled over my skin. This mate of mine, this cat shifter, had tamed me. I no longer preferred to be at Alpha’s beck and call but in bed, naked, with my beloved.

I kneeled on the mattress and whispered in his ear. “Me too, but you need to get checked out.”

Keane rolled onto his belly. “But the bad guys might be after you.” He’d voiced his fears that if the shifters who spiked the drinks were aware he’d survived, they could come after him too because he was a witness.

I doubted that, because the staff, who weren’t drinking and who were weaving between the tables and around the dance floor, would be more likely to remember who was sober than a customer who’d consumed alcohol and been drugged.

But if I was a target, I didn’t want to have to both defend my mate and fend off attackers. Keane would be safer at the family home, and that was what I’d told Maynard this morning when he called.

“There’s a family-slash-pack meeting at our place later, so we have to get going. But doctor first.” I held up clothes that had been left in the cabin by one of our family for him to wear.

Keane threw off the sheets. He and his naked butt sashayed to the bathroom. He paused in the doorway and said over his shoulder, “I’d like to play doctor with you.” He wiggled his hips and disappeared, leaving me dripping with sweat and my cock painfully hard.

I was tempted to follow him, but I gripped the nightstand, repeating in my head that duty came first, both to my mate and to my family and pack.

While I drove to the doctor’s, Keane clamped his hand on my thigh. My flesh tingled, and I gritted my teeth, determined to continue driving and not pull over, yank down my mate’s pants, and plow into him.

“Do you know what you're doing to me?”

My mate stared straight ahead, but he couldn’t hide his grin. “I do.”

But when I pulled up outside the doctor’s office, my sassy mate vanished and was replaced with Keane who sported cheeks drained of color and a quivering lower lip.

“What if there’s permanent damage?”

“Firstly, don’t let your mind go to the worst conclusion, and secondly, if there’s a problem, we will find a way to solve it.” I took his hand and squeezed, and he returned it with a wan smile.

But the doctor was all smiles when he told us the tests came up negative. “There’s no longer any traces of Duskthorn in your blood. It’s possible that you had an accidental dosing, possibly an unwashed contaminated glass, and that your small beast skewed the testing results. But whatever the case, it’s all gone now.”

Keane flung himself into my arms, and we kissed, and he even stuck his tongue down my throat. I considered shoving the doctor out of the examination room and getting naked, but Maynard would be peeved if we were late.

“Seems there’s been a new development since we last met,” the doctor observed.

“Well, yes. I’m no longer stuck in my fur,” my mate muttered. He hadn’t forgiven the guy for thinking he was an addict, though he didn’t have the same misgivings about me.

“Do I have to meet all your brothers? Can’t we do it one by one?”

I’d forgotten he hadn’t officially met them as Keane, the man, and I would have arranged a more informal introduction, but both my older brother and Alpha texted, telling me to hurry.

“Sorry, my love. With Alpha present, they’ll behave.”

He shot me a glance as I steered the car around a corner. “And if Alpha wasn’t there, what would they be doing? Hanging from the chandeliers?”

“We don’t have chandeliers.”

My mate side-eyed me. “ That’s what you got from what I said?”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.” He patted my thigh, but my cock was so engorged, I worried I’d greet my brothers with a huge boner.

Keane nibbled a nail. “I should be more nervous about meeting your Alpha because of what you told me about Maynard and his mate.”

I batted away his worry with one hand. “That was because my brother-in-law was human,” I clarified. “Not that we don’t like humans, but it was complicated by Maynard having to reveal he was a hitman.

“He’s a hitman!” We’d pulled up outside our house, and Keane’s voice boomed across the street.

“Ummm, yeah.” Probably should have mentioned that before we arrived. “But the good kind.”

Keane smushed his face with both hands. “So when I meet him, should I duck? Or yell, ‘Don’t shoot?’”

I grabbed both his hands. “My darling, look at me and breathe in and out.”

“I have done that every second since I was born, Boaz. You don’t need to tell me how to breathe.” His voice rose so by the end of the sentence, he was screeching.

My mate walked away and waved me off when I tried to approach him. “Just let me be.”

I stood back, wishing I could take him in my arms and smother him with kisses, but I respected his demand that I leave him alone.

I shuffled my feet on the driveway as the curtains in the living room twitched. Two, then three, four, and finally five faces appeared. I ignored them because Alpha’s car wasn’t parked on the street, so he must have been running late.

When my mate strolled over to me, he apologized, saying though we were mafia, and he hadn’t had a problem with that, having a hit man in the family, someone he’d share a meal with and celebrate with, was a bigger deal.

“He takes down bad guys.” I kept the information to myself—for the moment—that he was supposed to kill his mate. That was a detailed discussion for another day.

Keane took a deep breath. “Better get this over with.” He tucked his arm in mine, and the curtain twitchers vanished. “Looks like we have a welcoming committee.”

“Oh, you saw that?” I laughed. “No need for introductions.”

Like the last time I was here, the door was wrenched open, but only by Lake, our baby brother. The other four were nonchalantly sitting on various sofas, pretending to read—did they know how to read?—or watching TV.

“Hello, I’m Lake, the youngest and most sane of the brothers.” He hugged Keane, and my mate melted into his arms. Lake was the easiest-going of my siblings, though he could handle himself in a fight, and his wolf was fierce.

“And we have chips and dips if you’re hungry.”

One by one my remaining brothers came over, and I introduced them. Maynard, being the eldest, was last.

“We’re so glad the effects of the drug have worn off, and we’d love to welcome you to the family properly, but we have new information of what happened to you and the others at the club.”

A car pulled up outside. Alpha! As the pack Beta, I opened the door and introduced him to my mate. Alpha was more circumspect than my brothers and probably came across as gruff, but I’d warned Keane.

He didn’t wait until everyone was seated, and I’d barely closed the door when he stated, “We have confirmation that the Ironclaw pack from out of state was behind the poisoning.”

Ezra held up his computer. “I tracked their messages that they thought were encrypted.” He grinned. “But they were wrong.”

“Let me guess. They want to muscle in on our territory.” Thiago punched a sofa cushion.

“They weren’t explicit in their messages, but that was what we gathered,” Alpha added. He glanced at Ezra who nodded.

Everyone in the room bristled, and Riggs was on the edge of his seat. I half expected him to race out the door, yelling, “Now we go after them.”

I wished Keane’s introduction to the family could have been more relaxing, with everyone getting to know one another over dinner. My brothers would all talk at once, my mate would forget who said what, and we’d all laugh and argue about which TV program to watch.

But Keane’s presence in my life was because of his near-death experience and the deliberate killing of our kin. This had to be addressed, and there was only one way to do it.

Alpha’s expression, which was always… dour… became more serious. His brow wrinkled.

“So the drugging wasn’t accidental, they intended to kill shifters and send a message to our pack.” Thiago got up and paced the floor.

“Exactly. If we don’t deal with the Ironclaw shifters, they’ll keep killing us.” Alpha sank into an armchair.

“We have to go to war, don’t we?” Lake’s expression was serious, but there was no fear in his eyes. He’d killed before and was one of our best fighters.

“Yes,” the rest of them, except for Keane, said in unison.

“I want to be involved too.” My mate stood up.

Now everyone’s mouths gaped, and everyone looked at Keane and then at me. They expected me to say what they were all thinking because I was the one who always stated the obvious.

But I was Keane’s mate, and I hated to hurt his feelings.

While I hesitated, Maynard spoke up. “But Keane, you’re a cat!”