Targeted By Love (Between the Greys #1)

7. Maynard

7

MAYNARD

I’d called a family meeting but hadn’t let on what it was about.

My five siblings were in my apartment. Six tall, dark-haired alphas in one room.

Three were splayed on various couches and armchairs, one was channel surfing and admiring my new TV, and another was raiding my pantry and complaining he expected salt-and-vinegar chips and I only had spicy and barbecue.

“I’ll send a list next time and you can check off what you’d like.”

But my youngest brother, Lake, didn’t pick up on my sarcasm and replied, “Cool. Thanks, big bro.”

I strode in front of the TV, arms folded, waiting for Thiago to turn it off. Instead, he bobbed his head one way and the other, trying to see the screen. But I could control the new-fangled devices from my phone, and he yelled when the screen went dark.

“I was enjoying that.”

“Watch TV at home. I need your advice.”

A collective, “Whoa!” echoed around the room. That got their attention.

As the eldest, my brothers had looked up to me. I was the first to leave home for boarding school and then to college. No one in my family had ever attended university before me. My folks’ and brothers’ lives were deeply embedded in the mafia. And while I was my own boss, I was technically part of the family business, and when I received a call from the mafia Alpha, I answered it and did as asked. He considered me a freelancer.

Boaz, who I was closest to, as he was eighteen months younger than me, was one of the Alpha’s Betas and tipped to take over when the big boss died or retired.

As the tallest of the six boys and ten years older than Lake, the youngest, they looked up to me, and maybe growing up I took advantage of that, daring them to perform pranks and dangerous tasks that had a high risk of failure.

So for me to be asking their opinion about something was different, and they all looked at one another, some shrugging, one whose cheeks paled, and another who steepled his hands.

“I met someone.”

Judging by their expressions, they’d expected me to talk about work. Yes, they were aware I ran a hedge fund, and no, I had never revealed my other job. No matter how much I trusted my brothers, letting them in on that secret might endanger my life and theirs. Secrets were best kept… secret.

“And you mated?” Ezra tossed the sofa cushions on the floor. “Where is he? Hiding in a closet?”

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Thiago raced into the bedrooms and opened the closets, cursing and banging each door when he didn’t find my mate.

“Why is this door locked?” He jiggled the office door handle.

“So my nosy brothers don’t access confidential financial information.” I was already annoyed with my siblings. Perhaps I’d made a mistake.

As I left the wedding reception, I’d called my cousin and asked him and his brother to watch over Rhodes. I sent them a pic and told them where he was. They didn’t ask questions. Being in the mafia, they understood everything was on a need-to-know basis.

“Brothers Grey, I need your help. Now sit down, shut up, and listen.”

I rolled my eyes as they saluted in unison. Asshats, all of them.

“I met my mate, but we didn’t mate.”

Ezra gasped. “Oh no. Did the universe fuck up and mate you with someone already mated?”

That did happen when one shifter didn’t find their fated and mated someone else for whatever reason. It was tragic for those people, and sometimes the result was all three had their hearts broken.

“No.” I took a deep breath because my siblings would be in an uproar when they heard what I was about to say. “I was on a job.”

“A job,” Riggs whispered. He was aware, as were all my brothers, that I couldn’t and wouldn’t tell them more than that.

“It’s someone I went to boarding school with.” Another experience that separated my brothers and me. But when a scholarship comes knocking, offering you the future of your dreams, you take it. “You don’t know him.”

Boaz threw his hands in the air. “So what’s the problem?” He grumbled he’d had to cancel time with a friend to be here, which was code for a fuck-buddy session.

“He’s not part of the mafia.” I steeled myself as their faces registered horror. Thiago clutched a cushion to his chest while Boaz stood, trying to take command.

“That can’t happen, Bro. You know the rules.”

Ha! If they thought that was bad, wait till they heard the rest of it.

“He’s human!” I blurted out and almost enjoyed their reaction. Eyes bulging, fists clenching, and them swapping their gaze for their beast’s.

They yelled over one another, and my wolf asked if he could take his fur and lash out at them. No matter our jobs in the mafia world, my wolf was numero uno in our family group.

No. It won’t solve anything .

Boaz told me that mating a human would threaten my role in the pack. That was true if I mated for any reason other than the human was my fate. But the law of fated mates was sacrosanct in shifters’ lives.

My brothers quietened because they weren’t solving the problem and perhaps they expected gossip.

“I can’t live without him.”

That stunned them into absolute silence until Boaz added, “We have to protect the mafia and shifter way of life. No humans can be allowed to disrupt that.”

Six heads swung toward the door as a thump alerted us someone was listening, and my phone buzzed. I sniffed the air. Gods, no, it was Rhodes. How had he found me?

Forget that. Your brothers and their beasts are going to tear the guy apart .

Shit. The message was from my cousin saying Rhodes was at my place. Damn! I strode toward the door but was intercepted by a wall of my five siblings.

“Please tell me that’s not who I think it is.” Thiago lifted his head and sniffed. “Definitely human.”

“And he may have heard our discussion,” Riggs added.

The word mafia to a human would send warning bells, though he wouldn’t have figured out the shifter reference.

Boaz flung open the door. Rhodes was on the other side, his fist raised, ready to knock. He squeaked at the five enraged faces before him.

I lowered my voice. “Don’t hurt him.” Rhodes wouldn’t have picked up what I’d said, though his eyes were on me, as I stood behind my siblings.

“Do you make it a habit of listening in at people’s doors?” Boaz demanded.

“I… I…” Poor Rhodes couldn’t form a sentence. “Fur… teeth…”

Shoot. Had he seen one of my cousins in his fur? Boaz was so damned aggressive. Rhodes was my mate, and I’d give my life for his. My wolf was furious and threatened to shift if my brothers didn’t show Rhodes some respect. I attempted to push past my siblings, but four of them shoved me back while Boaz confronted Rhodes.

“Rhodes, I—” Riggs slapped a hand over my mouth, and my wolf glared at him through my eyes. I was in a quandary, wanting to lash out at my brothers and rescue Rhodes. But that would result in fur flying, fangs and claws, and whatever my mate had heard was nothing compared to him witnessing our shift.

“You’d better come with me.” Boaz led my mate down the hall.

“If you touch a hair on his head, you’ll regret it,” I shouted, but my brother didn’t respond.

“It’s okay, Maynard. Don’t worry. I got this.” Tears glistened in his eyes. “They shaved you and colored your hair. It’ll be okay.” My mate was in protective mode, thinking I was what? Being held prisoner. I should be looking after him. What sort of alpha and mate was I that I allowed him to be manhandled?

A door slammed and Boaz returned, swinging a key in his hand. He’d put my mate in a bedroom, one where the key was in a dresser drawer. Shame I’d told my brothers the bedrooms and the office were lockable.

“What the fuck, Bro?” No one in our family or pack would treat a mate like that. Boaz would answer not only to me but to our Alpha. And though Alpha may be old-fashioned when it came to mating, he wouldn’t tolerate the disrespect my siblings had shown to my mate.

“He overheard what we were saying. You know the rule if outsiders stumble upon our business.” Boaz wasn’t backing down.

“He’s human. He probably didn’t hear a word.”

Fur rippled over my arms, and it took all my strength to have my beast pull back. Five beasts growled at mine, telling him to stand down. I could choose to fight, my wolf was the strongest, but I couldn’t win against five opponents, especially when they were aware of my wolf’s tactics and his weaknesses.

I’d be no use to Rhodes bleeding out on the living room floor.

“Let me go to him.”

Boaz dangled the key. “Unless you plan on your wolf breaking down the door, he’s staying where he is.”

It was against our law to show our wolves to humans. But Rhodes was my mate, and he’d have to meet the one nestled inside me eventually.

“It’s a stop-gap measure. We need to figure this out. I promise, we’re not doing this to hurt either of you.” Boaz had the decency to sound like he meant it. “I understand he’s your fate, but we have rules.”

My wolf still wasn’t impressed, but he also sensed that our mate was safe. Recognizing my mate after all these years wasn’t supposed to go like this. Why couldn’t we have met again while standing in line at a café or something equally boring?

“I’m going to sit outside the door,” I snarled over my shoulder. What I wanted to do was fight my brothers and escape with Rhodes far away from all this bullshit. But Boaz was right, as much as I hated it. “If that’s okay with you all.”

Rhodes had access to a bathroom, and there were bottles of water in the room. But with no food, they’d have to let him out soonish or I’d smash it down and to heck with the consequences.

I placed my ear to the door and picked up his rapid breathing. Boaz had taken Rhodes’s phone, so he must be terrified. Sliding down onto the thick carpet, I placed my hand against the thick wooden door and whispered, “Please forgive me.”