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“Yes, you’re fully stocked with all of your favorite things, including two apple pies and one coconut meringue. I didn’t even know you liked that.” How he was going to eat three pies was a mystery to me. I secretly hoped that I might take one of them home for me.
His eyes sparkled. “I didn’t know I liked it either. But you have got to try Miss Murray’s pie. It’s fantastic.”
I laughed. “You really have set up a beautiful den here, Brother. You should be proud.”
“Thanks, Corey. That means the world to me. Let’s get inside. I have much to talk about.”
My stomach dropped. I could do this. I could. There wasn’t another choice.
“Me as well,” I said.
Once we were inside, he set his duffel in the laundry room. I noticed that he didn’t unpack it and start the laundry like I thought he was going to. Instead, he dished himself up a piece of the apple pie and then one for me.
“I have a meeting with my Betas later. But I suspect if there was anything too important they needed to tell me, they’d have done so already.” He was making small talk, so why did it feel like he saw me, saw how his Beta and I broke our words. “I did hear from Zane that you’re getting ahead on all the books.”
“Yes, financially the businesses are doing great.” The bookkeeping? Yeah, that was a hot mess. “Well, the diner could use a little bit of additional income, but the mechanic shop and the others are doing just fine.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about Zane.”
Aydan moaned around his fork. “Oh, this is good stuff. Did you try yours?”
Was he even listening to me?
“Yes, I did. But—”
“Did I tell you that tomorrow, the alpha Griff and his three omega brothers are coming here? They’re from the den I was just at. Griff is the alpha I’d like you to consider mating with. It will go along way in establishing our alliance.”
Consider. At least he was open to me turning it down. He wasn’t going to like it, but still…
“Right, about that—”
“You don’t need to be worried. He’s a kind alpha.”
He needed to stop cutting me off or I was never going to get this out.
“I’m sure he is—”
Aydan’s phone rang. He sighed. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
I shoved a bit of the pie into my mouth. If I wasn’t going to be able to use it to tell him what he needed to know, eating pie sounded like the next best thing.
Chapter 12
Zane
Normally, my apartment above the shop was my refuge, my place where I could sit and relax without a care in the world. I could shut off my mind and not worry about the business, the den, or what I needed to get done. Except now, my home, my safe haven, was with Corey. And Corey wasn’t here.
He was alone in his house, sitting directly next to his brother’s home where I couldn’t go without arousing any suspicions. Sure, I could go stay with Aydan, technically I lived in his house, but my bear wouldn’t tolerate being that close to Corey without actually being able to be with him. And my acting skills? Yeah, they couldn’t get me through a town play, much less fooling the person who knew me best, second only to his brother.
I knew that the conversation with his brother didn’t go the way that Corey had wanted it to. It wasn’t because Aydan took it poorly. Aydan was so busy, so charged up worrying about building this partnership with the other den that there was nothing else that you could talk to him about. And just when my mate thought he was going to be able to—the phone rang.
And I got it. Ayden was playing catch-up from being gone for so long and seeing his brother for the first time in a long while. His head was probably spinning, and when he got like that, he moved from one thing to the next to the next, conquering his internal to-do list like a boss. It was how he was made.
Ayden also needed to make his rounds to see our den members. They had been fine with him being gone, but their beasts? They needed the reassurance that their Alpha was here. That was what he’d spent the majority of his day doing. And that was good. It was great for the den.
It was the best for everyone except Corey and me. We needed to talk to him, especially with our guests about to come.
