Chapter 13
Maxim
We pull up in front of a squat gray house, halfway along a quiet street. My gorgeous mate is beside me, and my beast is bounding in scrabbling in anticipation.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Can’t wait!” She leaps out of the car and grabs my hand.
We walk along the pathway. The front door opens and a familiar, tall, broad-shouldered figure steps out.
“Maxim!” A grin spreads across his face.
“Travis!” I yell at the same moment. We fall into each other’s arms, and hug and growl and slap each other’s backs, like the two beasts we are.
I draw back and look into the face I haven’t seen for five years. He’s been through a lot, probably more than I know, but he looks the same as ever. My happy-go-lucky kid brother, with his unfortunate habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Am I glad to see you,” he says. He turns to Emory. “And you’re the one who got me out of jail. I owe you my life.”
“I had a little bit of help,” she says modestly.
He goes to shake her hand, but then he pulls her into a hug instead.
My beast stays calm. He’s my brother and I can see the claiming mark sitting up high on the back of her neck, showing every shifter in the world that she’s mine.
We go inside and start catching up on the years, and I fill Travis in on everything that’s happened this last couple of weeks.
Later in the evening, one of the agents brings us beer and pizza, and the conversation turns to our plans for the future.
We get loud and excitable, and I can tell that Travis and Emory like each other a lot.
“She’s amazing,” he says as we head off to bed at last. “You’re lucky to have her, big guy.”
“Oh, I know,” I tell him.
The next evening, I leave Emory in the care of Travis, and the agents who are guarding the property, and Swede, of course—who is set up with a sniper rifle on the roof of the house opposite—and I go to run an errand.
I’ve learned that another condition that Emory demanded from the FBI was that her father would be sent to a shifter prison—ironically enough, the prison where Travis had been held.
She’s so darn smart. She got all her father’s resourcefulness and quick thinking, with none of his evil.
This means he won’t have a single ally in there, and it should guarantee her safety, but I just want to be real sure.
When I arrive, Manzoni is already there, shackled to a metal desk. He blinks at me from behind a thick glass partition.
“Who are you… Didn’t you work for me once?”
“I was your bodyguard,” I confirm. “Then you fired me. Because I was making your daughter’s life more bearable. Isn’t that right?”
Recognition passes across his sharp features, followed by a cruel look. “Sounds about right.”
My beast swells inside me. I long to rip his nasty head off.
He frowns. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I came to ask for your blessing.”
“My blessing? What?”
“Emory and I are together. She’s mine. My wife,” I tell him since he doesn’t understand the concept of mates.
His face transforms with fury. “No. She was meant for someone else.”
I slouch back in my chair. “One of your criminal associates, right?”
He curls his lip.
“Well, don’t you worry. I’ll be taking good care of her. I’m gonna make sure every day of her life is filled with as much happiness as she can stand. All the happiness she missed out on when she was a child.”
He snarls. “Is that why you came here? To gloat about deflowering my daughter?”
A smile tugs at my lips. “No, actually. I came to warn you.”
“Warn me what?” He’s leaning forward now, handcuffs clanking as he crunches his knuckles.
I sit closer, until my face is practically touching the glass, and I stare deep into his eyes.
My wolf rises to the surface, and I see him flinch.
He has a hard time looking it in the eye.
“You’re going to prison for the rest of your life.
And it occurred to me that you might try to take it out on Emory in some way.
But if you ever do that, if anything happens to her, I have associates at the prison who will destroy you.
Eat you alive.” My wolf’s canines are pushing through.
I let them come, and I snap my jaws at him.
“And I don’t mean that figuratively. You know what kind of place you’re going to be kept in?
It’s a shifter prison. Full of hungry beasts.
“This is not an idle threat, Manzoni. You understand me?”
His face contorts. He’s still not used to taking orders. But he’ll learn.
“Let me hear you say it.”
He snarls. “I won’t do anything to hurt Emory.”
“Or anyone she’s connected with.”
“Or anyone she’s connected with,” he spits.
“You should be very proud of your daughter. She’s an incredible woman,” I say. “Enjoy the rest of your life.” I get up and leave him still sitting at the table, trembling with impotent rage.
Then I push the speed limit all the way back to my beautiful mate, excited to give her the news: for the first time in her life, she’s free. She can do whatever the hell she wants.
As long as that involves spending every day of her life with me.