Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Malachy
Moretti handles returning Vanessa to her family while we get stuck with two injured alphas I want no part of getting to know.
I appreciate how they helped Charlotte when she needed it, but that doesn’t mean I want them anywhere near my bonded mate.
Unfortunately, Charlotte assures them that they’ll be coming home with us.
Dr. Davis comes by to check the men over, and we give them one of the guest rooms on the first floor.
The next morning, Patrick takes point on dealing with them, and that’s a good thing. Charlotte and I haven’t been bonded long enough for the connection to fully heal my mind.
Miles and Steve are alphas. My system not only views them as competition, but I hate knowing they had a prior relationship with Charlotte. They were there when Lukas was born. If it wouldn’t have upset Charlotte, I would have put them on a flight back home last night.
Cormac gets out of having to share space with them, solely because he has to dispose of his workshop guest, then clean the space thoroughly, and do it all over again.
The lucky bastard.
I should have offered to help.
I reach an entirely different level of rabid as I watch the dead-men-walking playing with Lukas on the floor in the living room. My instincts don’t think they should be anywhere close to my boy.
Charlotte is mine.
That makes Lukas mine.
He doesn’t even remember them.
When Charlotte spots me glaring, she pushes herself out of the chair, swaying her way over to where I stand in the doorway. She plants her hands on my chest, pushing me out into the hallway.
I wouldn’t let Lukas out of my sight, but Miriam is on the couch, watching her afternoon shows. She’ll keep an eye on those guys and our boy.
“You are jealous on a whole different level than Cormac and Patrick,” she whispers, stretching up on her tiptoes. Her cold hands dig into the back of my neck, and I dip my head. “Do you know what I realized?”
“What’s that?” I grunt.
“I love seeing you all possessive and protective growly alpha.” She smiles and kisses me.
I growl and dig my hand into her ass, lifting her.
“You should be prepared because you’re going to get a lot of that in the future,” I tell her between deep sensual kisses. My cock throbs, and I can’t fuck her in the hallway, but a quickie does sound nice. It would be a great way to return her to the living room thoroughly smelling like me.
I stomp us down the hallway and take the corner to head to Patrick’s office.
I suck on Charlotte’s lower lip, teasing over Cormac’s claiming bite.
It sends a nice little thrill through the bond to tease any of our bites, but it’s more intense when it’s our own.
Tossing open the door, I stop in my tracks.
Wilder also freezes. “Ahh, Charlotte, good to see you. Lacey will be happy to know I saw you with my own two eyes and that you’re in one piece.”
Charlotte squeaks.
I chuckle.
Patrick spots my hand on her ass and quirks an eyebrow, sending his interest through the bond.
“How is Lacey?” Charlotte asks.
Wilder smiles. “She’s doing well. We’ll be at the New Year’s Eve party, but don’t worry, we’ll be leaving before the claiming.”
Aww, shit.
I forgot all about that bullshit custom, and I’m sure Charlotte doesn’t know the first thing about how mafia families do a public claiming ceremony.
Wilder exits quickly upon realizing he royally stepped in it. I’m even more annoyed when Charlotte stretches her legs, asking to be put down. This is not what I had planned for what we would do in Patrick’s office, and I’m about three seconds away from pouting.
“So, there’s a party on New Year’s Eve that was supposed to be your engagement announcement with Vanessa,” Charlotte says, planting her hands on her hips.
“Technically speaking, it’s just a party,” Patrick hedges. “But everyone has likely made the assumption it was for our engagement announcement to Vanessa.”
I wrap an arm around Charlotte’s middle, pulling her back to my chest. “According to what Moretti said, it’s made the rounds that we won’t be fulfilling the contract.”
“You most certainly will not.” Charlotte spins in my hold, jabbing a finger at my chest. “Now someone tell me what the claiming thing Wilder mentioned is. Is that what I think it is?”
“It’s old-school,” I tell her, shrugging. “We don’t even have to do it if you don’t want to.”
Patrick cuts in, saying, “We don’t strictly have to, but it is customary.”
Charlotte’s brow wrinkles. “And what is it?”
“It marks you as off-limits to any of the other families, declaring you as ours,” I say, trying to find a way to make it sound less scandalous.
“At the end of the party, all the guests leave except for the other family heads,” Patrick says calmly. “We claim you as ours. They witness it to validate the claiming, and we all go home and pretend it never happened.”
“They watch while we have sex?” Charlotte asks, turning to face Patrick.
I slide my hands over her hips, keeping contact so she can’t run. “No recording devices are allowed. It’s carefully locked down.”
“It really only needs to be one of us.” Patrick shrugs. “But if you want to put on a show, you can take all three of us and really set the bar for whoever has their claiming ceremony next.”
Charlotte leans back against my chest and laughs. “And you were going to warn me about this when?”
“We’ve had a lot going on,” Patrick says.
“I actually discussed the possibility of canceling the party with Wilder. That’s why he was here.
He reminded me how important it is that we make some kind of announcement about breaking the contract with the Chapmans.
It’ll also be the perfect opportunity for us to introduce our fiancée. ”
“That’s you,” I tell her, bending to kiss her temple from behind.
Charlotte snorts. “No way, I never would have guessed. Well, I guess you gentlemen better get to asking. I haven’t said yes yet.” With that, she pulls out of my hold and walks to the door. “I need to check on my kid.”
“Our kid,” I call out after her.
“Yep, just as soon as there’s a ring on my finger.” She holds up her empty left hand, laughs, and leaves Patrick’s office.
I scratch my beard, turning back to Patrick. “That went better than I was expecting.”
He snorts. “You poor, dumb bastard.”
“What am I missing?” I ask, baffled.
“You came in here to get laid. Not one of us is getting our dick wet.” He laughs. “We need a monster-sized rock. I want everyone’s jaws to drop when they spot her engagement ring.”
That makes two of us.
Well, I guess it’s time to start ring shopping.
The warehouse the Boston families use for parties is considered neutral ground. On occasion, someone will choose to host at their home, but I’m not big on having enemies in my safe space.
Fine, they’re not all strictly adversaries.
Though, I’d be hard-pressed to call them friends.
The word warehouse is a bit of a misnomer.
It’s been completely renovated inside with an entryway with coat closets and weapon storage lockers.
Once the guests stow what they need to, they’re ushered through the metal detectors, patted down, and gone over with the wands.
The security at the entrance is handled by a neutral third party that has allegiance to no one outside of Wilder. They give everyone the same treatment.
Once the guests step into the ballroom, the host family’s security takes over. So it’s our responsibility to stock the ballroom with enough of our guys to ensure any problems are quickly squashed.
In the same vein, all the decorations and event planning is left up to the host. While the facilities always remain the same, there are changes in decor and layout that happen with every party.
Since we won’t be serving more than snacks and appetizers, the dining room just past the ballroom has been converted into the space where the claiming ceremony itself will take place.
It has a stage against the back wall where speeches are given, and we’ve opted to have the bed placed on it rather than removing the tables and chairs from the dining room floor.
This will allow the viewers to have an unobstructed view, but it will also put some much-needed space between us and them.
I can’t believe my fathers went through this twice. Once is enough to give me an ulcer. Trying to find ways to strategically cover Charlotte without risking invalidating the claiming is about to send me over the edge.
Patrick spends most of the next few days at the venue, ensuring everything is set up to his specifications.
Cormac and I prep the men on what to expect and who will be allowed to stay for the claiming itself.
The latter is a balancing act. We need men we trust to be present for safety reasons and to scan the crowd to make sure there are no recording devices or anyone doing anything disgusting.
At the same time, I hate the thought of any of our guys seeing Charlotte that way.
We just have to make it through tonight, and we can finally get started with our lives. Steve and Miles flew out yesterday, and I couldn’t have been more ecstatic.
Only, we then got roped into a final meeting with Vanessa’s brothers and Wilder. It was boring but necessary. They have sixty days to remit payment or propose some type of payment plan. Either way, that’s a problem for the future.
They could end up making a scene tonight, but if they know what’s good for them, they’ll keep their mouths shut and enjoy the free alcohol. My patience with everyone is running thin.
I want our ring on Charlotte’s finger and for everyone to leave us the fuck alone so we can finally focus on settling into our bond.