Chapter 33
“Mate is upset,” Jamie’s wolf said as they drove.
“His phoenix wants out after being cooped up so long. I know the feeling,” Jamie replied silently.
Within minutes, they were pulling into Iris’s driveway. The ranch home had been damaged by the fire set by Leah’s brother, but Beau had known some contractors who were able to repair it quickly. The same contractors were slow-rolling the work on Mac and Heath’s home so they had the perfect excuse to stay at Ted and Annie’s place with Amber. Having Ted and his wolf as an additional layer of protection for the baby phoenix helped allay some of Mac’s worries.
Aiden shut off the engine and pulled out his phone.
“Who’re you calling?” Jamie asked.
“I was just going to call Iris so she knew we were here.”
“I can do it if you want,” Jamie said. He pointed to his head. “You know.”
Aiden gave him a lop-sided smile and lowered his phone. “Sure, thanks.”
“Iris, Aiden and I are out front. Can you let us in?” Jamie asked her telepathically.
“What? Why aren’t you at the bakery? What’s wrong? Are you guys OK?”
“Yes, there was an attempted break-in, but we’re fine. Deacon and Jasper are there working the scene. Can you let us in?”
“Sure, I’ll be there in a minute. I’m almost decent.”
He turned to a frowning Aiden. “Everything’s OK. We can head up. She’s just getting dressed. She’ll let us in.”
“She good?” Aiden asked.
“Yeah, seems to be.”
“How about you?” Aiden asked. “The break-in? Are you freaked out? You don’t seem to be, but I wanted to check.”
He shook his head. “Unfortunately, I’m getting used to bad things happening.”
Aiden frowned and remained silent.
They exited the truck, and Aiden walked around to meet Jamie, grabbed his hand, and pulled him in for a hug. He drew Jamie’s head down into his neck as he pressed himself against his mate. Jamie nuzzled in, breathing Aiden’s scent.
Aiden’s breath was hot on his skin. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you again. I won’t let it,” he drawled. He kissed his cheek and broke the embrace a little too soon for Jamie’s liking. He grabbed Jamie’s hand and led the way to the front door.
Aiden lifted his free hand to knock, but Iris opened the door before he could.
She was wearing a gray GLPD hoodie of Deacon’s, a pair of black yoga pants, and bright pink fuzzy slippers. Her long dark hair was loose and wild like it had been when she was a little kid. His heart panged, thinking of how carefree life had been back then. He looked at his mate and noticed him staring at Iris’s feet, a smile on his face.
“Morning,” she mumbled, her eyes half open and a hand covering a yawn. “Come on in.” She stepped back to let them in but froze when she saw Aiden’s grin. “What are you smiling at this early in the morning? I just woke up.”
“It’s the slippers. Very cute,” he said.
“Hmpf, they’re comfy,” Iris muttered and walked back inside, leaving them to follow.
Jamie caught up to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “No, what your brother meant to say was that you look adorable this morning. How are you and my future godchild doing?”
Iris returned his smile. “We’re feeling fine, thank you for asking.” She wrapped an arm around Jamie’s waist. She looked back at Aiden and flashed him a smile before turning back to Jamie. “You always were my favorite,” she crowed.
“Now, now, don’t you two go ganging up on me,” Aiden said.
“Let’s go get some breakfast, and you can tell me what’s happened,” Iris said, leading the way with Jamie.
Jamie insisted on cooking a pancake and sausage breakfast for them while Aiden filled in Iris on the attempted break-in.
“Why can’t he just leave us alone?” Iris lamented. “Doesn’t he realize we could have been killed? He was never a good father, but actually wanting his own children and grandchild dead”—she rubbed her still small belly protectively—“is a whole other level of horror.”
“We don’t know for sure it was him or his men,” Jamie said.
Aiden and Iris stared at him with almost identical expressions of disbelief. They didn’t look that much alike as half-siblings, but there were times Jamie caught the resemblance.
“OK, OK. Well, even if it was him or someone breaking in for him, we don’t know what they wanted,” Jamie said.
Iris scowled. “I’m sure it was nothing good. Probably trying to get in before we did to lie in wait for us.”
Aiden’s eyes flashed bright orange before returning to a blue hue. “He doesn’t care about anyone but himself,” Aiden answered. “We have to be ready to take him out permanently. Can you live with that?”
Iris sat up straighter. “After what he did to Jamie and the people in this town, yes. So much of what has happened to the people here was done on his orders, including the fires that almost killed me and my baby. So yes, Aiden, I can see him dead.”
Aiden glanced at Jamie, who raised an eyebrow before answering, “You won’t get any arguments from me. That’s for sure.”
“Good.” Aiden glanced at the clock on the wall. “Deacon has about twenty minutes before I’m done waiting for his call. If I don’t hear from him or Heath by then, I’m just going to go out back and shift, get some flying practice in.”
“Finish everything on that plate first,” Jamies said, staring pointedly at Aiden’s not quite empty plate.
Aiden groaned. “I don’t remember you being this bossy before moving to Grey Lake.”
“I have to be now. I finally got you. I can’t lose you.”
“Oh,” Iris said. She smiled dreamily at them. “You two are so cute. I can’t believe I didn’t see you two as a couple.”
Aiden snorted. “Me either.”
Jamie ignored them. “And before you take to the skies, let’s make sure Piper’s spell is still working. We don’t want any reports of a phoenix flying above Grey Lake,” Jamie added.
Ring, ring, ring!
“Finally,” Aiden exclaimed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen. “It’s Deacon.” He accepted the call. “What’s the plan?”
“And he says I’m bossy,” Jamie whispered to Iris, making her giggle.
“What? Shit! Did they take her?”
Jamie’s stomach sank. What now?
“Oh, good. OK. Wait, what? No, no. I don’t want him involved. What? I said no.”
Jamie and Iris shared confused looks as Aiden was silent, presumably listening to Deacon plead his case for something.
“Alright, fine. But if anything happens to him… Yeah. We’ll bring her with us. Yeah. She’s right here. She’s OK. OK, bye.” Aiden ended the call. He placed his phone face down on the kitchen table and closed his eyes.
“Well?” Iris asked.
“About an hour ago, someone, or I should say two someones, broke in to Ted and Annie’s place. They tried to take the baby,” Aiden said.
“What? Oh no!” Iris cried.
“They took her?” Jamie asked.
“Tried to take her. Heath was out on patrol, but Mac was there with Ted and Annie. Mac had the baby’s bassinet next to her side of the bed. She either heard someone or sensed someone in the room, woke up, screamed, and shifted. Ted came running in and ripped one of the would-be-kidnappers to shreds.”
“One of them?” Iris asked.
“What happened to the other one?” Jamie asked.
Aiden grimaced. “Ted injured him pretty badly, but Mac stopped him before he killed him. She’s healed him enough for questioning.”
“OK, then what’s the problem? Why are you so mad?” Iris asked. “You don’t want who involved?”
Jamie had a good idea of what Deacon had asked Aiden. They needed him to use his telepathy. “Me, right? They need me to question him,” he answered Iris. “I can do it. I’m happy to. Let’s go before something else happens.”