Targeted By Love (Between the Greys #1)

20. Maynard

20

MAYNARD

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

Rhodes gave me a “What the fuck?” look. He glanced around. “Are you referring to me being a prisoner? Third time lucky, I guess.”

“I hope that’s sarcasm.” Shifters were more direct, and I often needed to figure what humans were really saying.

Maybe you need an interpreter , my wolf offered.

“First your brothers held me captive, then Germaine’s bear bozos, and now my mate, the alpha who marked me and said I mean more to him than anyone.”

Wow! That was a lot.

“How am I doing? Did I miss any kidnappings?” He rummaged through the pile of soft sensuous sofa cushions. “Who knew I needed a map to find my way through the cushions? I feel like I’m on an expedition.” He held up his phone and shouted. “Success!”

But his face dropped. “Damn it, I can’t remember what I was talking about.”

“How often you’d been kidnapped.”

“Right.” Rhodes got up and walked to the window overlooking the street below. “You have two cars down there, guys in the lobby, cameras outside the apartment, and probably someone lurking in the stairwell.” He put up his hands. “If I looked in the complex trash cans, would I find someone hiding in them?”

“Perhaps. I’ve got to check with Ezra.”

My mate fell back onto the couch. “I was kidding.”

“Your security is no joke, babe.”

He hugged a cushion and leaned his chin on the upper edge. “It’s fine for now, but I can’t breathe with all these people around me.” He waved his arms around. “You didn’t have security before you met me.”

Mmmm, but while my wolf hated the comparison, I was cat-like. I glided rather than walked or stomped, I noted the slightest difference in my surroundings, including the scents and sounds, I was comfortable in the shadows, waiting to pounce, and I was able to slip away from the situation without humans being aware.

I help you escape .

You do . I wouldn’t have been as successful if not for my wolf.

“I promise we’ll cut back on the security. But not today.”

“Fine.”

He huffed and grabbed his computer, ready to start his workday. We’d designated one of the spare bedrooms as his office, and he worked there sometimes, others he was on our bed, and some, like today, he was in our huge living room. He might grumble about having men hovering around, concerned about his safety, but he enjoyed the perks of working from home in a modern spacious apartment.

“So.” He held my hand. “This is a bad guy, right? Promise? No more revenge killings?”

“Promise.” I’d hired Ezra, and he dealt with the bookings and did in-depth research on each potential target. More than I could by using the normal search engines. I didn’t ask him where he went during these searches, and he refused to tell me. It was better he didn’t.

Lake and Thiago complained that Ezra was my favorite. Gods, I couldn’t do anything in this family without someone moaning about it. But I had an idea for a new business where I could employ these two whiners, along with Riggs. For now it was a concept.

Boaz would never give up his Beta position because he had his sights on being the next Alpha, even if he had to expel his opponents to achieve it.

“Did you eat breakfast?” Rhodes was sipping tea when he usually drank a pot of coffee each morning. And he accompanied his brew with toast or a danish or croissant. But not this morning.

I now had the local bakery deliver every day. The owner brought the goods himself, hoping to see Boaz, and was usually disappointed. But I tipped him well. My brother was sleeping with him, and I was tempted to say it was just sex and he wasn’t Boaz’s mate, but decided why puncture his happiness. Let him enjoy what they had between the sheets for as long as my brother allowed. I suspected the baker would substitute salt for sugar in the danish when they broke up.

“Hmmm, are you the breakfast police? Please tell me you don’t have an app where you record what and when I eat?”

I didn’t. “That’s a great idea.”

My mate tossed one of the many cushions at my head and told me to get going.

I skedaddled because I’d intended to be out of the apartment twenty minutes ago and I had a drive ahead of me. My target lived by the beach and jogged every evening, just before sunset. It never dawned on my targets, being the assholes they were, that someone would try to take them out.

Instead, they were obsessed with running, cycling, parachuting, or piloting, all in remote locations. Fools, but it made my job easier.

We were in a holding pattern regarding Seb. Alpha and the other pack and den leaders had all the information and it was out of our hands, though Germaine had mysteriously been replaced as Alpha and had been banished. Or that was what we’d been told.

My mate’s safety was still a priority. It always would be as long as I lived, and while I didn’t think there’d be another attempt on his life, I couldn’t take a chance. As for me? I’d be fine because me and my wolf were always on alert.

I’d been forced to have the mating conversation with Alpha, one on one. Boaz wasn’t present and neither were the other Betas. He didn’t react as my brothers did, his age giving him a perspective they lacked. He agreed the mating instinct took precedence above all else.

As was my habit, I parked a long distance from the beach, stripped off my clothes in a secluded wooded area, and my wolf carried the pack with my belongings in his mouth. He ran for thirty minutes, before arriving at a remote headland that overlooked a secluded patch of coastline.

Not bothering to get dressed—I hadn’t left the clothes in the car in case of an emergency resulting in a change of plans—I lay on my belly on a plastic sheet, allowing the sun, sliding over the horizon, to drape my body in its gentle glow.

When I was done, I would remove the plastic, and my wolf would scratch the sandy soil and roll in it so law enforcement would discover his DNA. As yet, there was no DNA registry that matched a shifter’s beast with his human. It would happen, but until then, I had my own built-in security.

There was no one on the beach since the rocks and rough waves made it unsuitable for families and swimming. I removed the Glock from the pack and waited. This was when I was most focused and yet my mind stilled. It was similar to how humans described meditation.

Since mating with Rhodes, this was when I sensed his emotions, if his pulse spiked, or when he was sleeping. But today, the sensations were muddled. Rhodes’s body was signaling that… that…

My body tensed because there was someone with him, and I was ready to abandon the hit.

There’s no danger , my wolf insisted. This is good .

How?

It’s not someone separate from Rhodes but part of him .

Huh? Other than a shifter’s beast, my brain couldn’t compute how that was possible.

He’s pregnant!

Forgetting where I was, I opened my mouth, a scream ready to erupt. But remembering I was on a job, I sealed my lips as my body spasmed with joy.

I’m going to be a dad!

There was no time to tell Rhodes because a flicker of movement at the far end of the beach alerted me the target was on the move. He always ran in the shallow water rather than on the wet sand, and I thanked him for it. The tide was coming in, and his body would be washed out to sea. But if not, there would be no evidence I was here.

The target was in deeper water than I’d expected, making the aftermath easier. And as he pumped his arms, he took his last breath before I put a bullet in his brain. He collapsed into the shallow water, and I was done.

I checked again for anyone else on the beach, and once I was satisfied, I placed the gun in the pack and shifted.

There was an urgency in my wolf’s thudding through the forest, though Rhodes would be asleep when I arrived home in the middle of the night.

You can make a loud noise and wake him . My wolf’s intention was informing Rhodes about the baby, not that he’d have broken sleep.

It can wait until morning . I would lie by his side until he opened his eyes

I was careful not to break the speed limit, but when I turned off the street, heading into our parking garage, Boaz emerged from the shadows before I punched in the code.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he shrugged. “Ezra told me you were away all day, and I was checking security guys were doing their job.”

Boaz had been the last of my brothers to accept Rhodes. Perhaps because he was so invested in becoming number one in the pack and he witnessed how finding my fated had changed my life.

“Coming in?” It was late for a visit, but I was used to my family’s comings and goings.

“Nah. Got a date with a baker.”

What? Bakers got up at like three in the morning, but when I checked my watch it was two AM. Boaz was about to get early morning delight.

“Go, and stop leading the baker on.”

“You know nothing. He’s married, and I’m his side piece.” He waggled his butt and took off.

Humans! Nothing could break my bond with Rhodes, and I nodded at the guards as I made my way up to the apartment.

But when the lock scanned my retina and I tiptoed in, a lamp was on and my mate was waiting on the couch.

“I’ve got something to tell you.” He grinned.