Chapter 6 #3
"Fair enough." I gesture toward the seating area. "This conversation is going to take a while. Might as well be comfortable while we wait."
She takes a breath, recalibrating everything she thought she knew. "So you're a double agent working both sides."
"The brotherhood aren't heroes. We're killers with a code who eliminate threats to supernatural communities.
We break laws. We destroy evidence. We make people disappear.
" I let her see the truth without flinching.
"But we don't traffic people. We don't enslave the vulnerable.
We don't sell cursed artifacts for genocide.
So comparatively? Yes. I work for the lesser evil while wearing the face of the greater one. "
"And now your cover's blown." She says it calmly, already analyzing the new situation. "You saved me. You killed their assassins. The syndicate will come for you." She pauses. "And you transformed in front of a human. The brotherhood might come for you too."
She's already thinking tactically despite everything she's learned tonight.
"Yes. Which means you need the brotherhood's protection. I need to bring you into the fold officially. The brotherhood will make the decisions about what happens next."
"What are the options?" She asks directly, no hesitation.
"Memory alteration. Someone with that ability could erase tonight from your mind. Make you forget you saw anything supernatural. Send you back to investigating regular crimes while we handle the syndicate."
"No." Her rejection is immediate. "I'd rather die remembering truth than live in comfortable lies."
Something primal in me responds to that steel in her voice. My tiger chose well, even if I'm not ready to acknowledge what that means.
"Second option: kill you. Eliminate the witness.
Protect the brotherhood by removing the threat.
" I let the words hang between us, brutal and honest. "I've killed for less.
So have we all. Brotherhood law is absolute—our survival depends on secrecy.
One outsider knowing what we are puts thousands of supernatural lives at risk. "
She doesn't flinch. Just watches me steadily. "Is that what you're planning?"
"I'm considering it. The brotherhood might decide it's necessary.
Our survival takes priority over individual lives.
Including yours. Including mine. If they order your death, someone in that room will try to carry it out.
They'll have to go through me first. I'm not saying they couldn't do it, I'm just saying it would cost them. "
"Third option?" Her voice carries steel beneath the fear.
"Protection. We bring you in. We give you full knowledge and keep you alive while we dismantle the syndicate's operations. You become an asset instead of a liability."
"An asset." She repeats slowly. "What does that mean practically?"
"It means you'd work with us. You'd provide law enforcement perspective and resources we lack. You'd help coordinate against the syndicate using both legal and extralegal methods. You'd become part of the fight instead of collateral damage in wars you didn't know existed."
Recognition hits her. I can see it in the way her shoulders drop slightly. "You're offering me a partnership. Not protection like I'm helpless. Actual collaboration where my skills have value."
"Your tactical training, legal knowledge, and investigative abilities are exactly what we need. The brotherhood specializes in supernatural threats. You specialize in criminal enterprises. Combined, we might actually take down an operation that's been running unchecked for years."
She studies me with intensity that feels like physical touch, evaluating and calculating, making decisions that will shape both our futures.
"I've seen what you are," she says finally.
"I've touched you in both forms. I know shifters exist. I know there's a hidden world I didn't know about until tonight.
" She straightens her shoulders. "And if crimes are being committed in that world, if people are being hurt, then I want to stop it. Badge or no badge."
The refusal to back down even facing certain death makes something primal rise in me. The word mate echoes through my bones like thunder, but I shove it down before it can take root.
"The brotherhood will have questions. They'll test you. And there's no going back once you're brought in officially."
"I crossed that line the moment I saw you shift." She straightens, squaring her shoulders. "So call the brotherhood. Let's have this conversation with everyone who needs to be involved."
I pull out my phone and type quickly:
Warehouse. Emergency. Bring backup. Human witness—alive, needs protection.
The response comes almost immediately.
On our way. Soon. Keep her there.
"They're coming," I tell her. "Last chance to run."
"I'm not running." She moves to lean against the kitchen island, positioning herself where she can see both me and the door.
She's still tactical, still thinking like a cop even surrounded by predators.
"I'm preparing to meet your supernatural crime-fighting brotherhood.
And hoping they're not all as terrifying as you. "
"They're worse." I don't soften the warning.
"The brotherhood decides together—five equal voices weighing your life against operational security.
Declan's calculating and pragmatic, the kind who'll argue for elimination if he thinks you're a liability.
Grayson will back that assessment if the tactical math supports it—they've fought together too long for sentiment to cloud judgment.
Rafe's got connections that could make you disappear before questions get asked, and he won't hesitate to use them if the vote goes that way.
" I pause. "Jax has been burned by trusting the wrong people.
He'll push hardest for your death. Finn's ancient, powerful, and impossible to predict—he could argue for mercy or execution with equal conviction. "
"Wonderful." Dry sarcasm cuts through the tension. "Meeting the family."
It's dark humor in the face of death. Everything about her calls to the predator in me, and that's going to be a problem if the brotherhood decides wrong.
Minutes crawl past—longer than I expected.
The abbey is at least fifteen minutes away, even at the speeds Declan's trucks can manage.
But finally, the sound of approaching engines filters through the loft windows.
I hear multiple vehicles approaching with a heavy presence.
The brotherhood is arriving in force to judge the human who now knows our deepest secrets—and decide whether she lives or dies.
Catriona stands straighter, cop mask sliding into place. But I catch it—the tremor in her hands before she folds them behind her back, the accelerated breathing, the fear she's trying to control.
"They won't hurt you," I tell her quietly. "Not while I'm standing."
"Bold promise from someone who just admitted the brotherhood might decide killing me is necessary."
"They'd have to kill me first."
The declaration surprises us both. It's too protective and too possessive, too close to claiming behavior my tiger wants but my human logic knows would complicate everything beyond repair.
The warehouse door below clangs open. Footsteps echo on metal stairs.
Declan enters the loft first, his presence filling the space with the kind of authority that demands attention.
Grayson follows, massive and solid as stone, cataloging threats.
Rafe materializes from shadows near the entrance, having likely scouted the perimeter before entering.
Jax prowls behind them all, scarred and dangerous, watching Catriona with focus that makes my tiger snarl warning.
"So," Declan says, his gaze moving between me and the human standing defiant in the center of my loft.
"You violated the most sacred rule our predecessors agreed to centuries ago.
You transformed in front of a human. You revealed our existence.
Give me one good reason why we shouldn't put you down right now for compromising all of us. "
Catriona steps forward before I can respond.
I reach for her arm to pull her back, but she sidesteps my grip without breaking stride.
"Because he saved my life. Because the syndicate you're fighting sent assassins after a police chief investigating their operations.
And because killing him would make you no better than the criminals he's been gathering intelligence against."
The room goes utterly silent.
Every shifter present stares at the human who just challenged Declan without flinching. Who placed herself between his threat and my survival despite knowing exactly how deadly we all are.
Declan's lips curve. It's not a warning this time but something closer to approval.
His gaze slides from Catriona to me, reading something in my posture that makes his expression change.
It's not quite approval and not quite warning, but recognition—the kind that comes when an alpha sees another predator preparing to protect what's his.
"Oh, I like her." The words carry amusement and something sharper. "This just became significantly more complicated."
The brotherhood will decide what happens next. I already know what I'll do if they decide wrong.