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“Those of you who have scented your mate, what would you do?” There was a low rumble of agreement, though not from Foley, as he hadn’t mated. “Tony scented me and was ready to do anything to find me.”
“I would have killed if someone got in my way,” Horace, a council member, announced.
Most of the pack nodded and some yelled at Foley to stop stirring up trouble.
“I understand some of you have questions about our kind mating with outsiders, but at the next council meeting, we will listen to submissions about whether our law should be changed.”
“That’s not for months,” Foley sneered.
“Correct. And for the rest of today, I intend to be with my mate. Undisturbed.”
Grumbles mingled with gasps and knowing smiles. Chairs scraped back as we walked toward the door. Tony said nothing, his expression blank as he repeated the words mate and pack.
Many pack members congratulated us, and some older folks remembered Anthony and spoke of him warmly. My mate mumbled thank you. But I was also concerned about the small group, huddled around Foley in the middle of the room, gesturing toward us, their faces contorted into grimaces.
The elevator may have been traveling at its normal speed, but I was tempted to wrench open the doors and shimmy down the cables to get us out of the building.
Once in the car, we traveled home as we had come, with my security detail fronting and tailing us. But I let out a deep breathwhen I parked and the garage door closed, the darkness pooling around us.
Tony collapsed on the sofa and hugged a cushion after we entered the house. His head must’ve been exploding, and I longed for the snarky questions he would hurl at me.
“I don’t understand.” He stared at the ceiling. “None of it. Mates, mafia law, and what happened in the car?” He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands. “Did you inject me with something? Is this a form of brainwashing?” He sat up, the cushion forgotten. “You’re breaking me down before you build me back up as one of you.”
“No. We don’t do that. We are born into this life.”
He flopped back on the couch. “And why did they laugh when I said you’d kidnapped me?” He slapped a hand on his brow and leaped up again. I was getting dizzy with the frantic up-and-down movements.
I wished to take him in my arms and massage the confusion away. My wolf urged me to, but I ignored him.
“I have a question. Why didn’t you walk out and take your freedom?”
Tony scrambled off the sofa.. “Are you kidding me? You were there. Some of them wanted me strung up.” He shoved past me toward the basement entrance. “I want to be alone. Open the door.”
“Answer me first.”
“I hate you.” His nostrils flared, and I thought he was going to pummel my chest again. I would have welcomed it. “I was scared. I was expecting gun-toting men in expensive suits and wearing gold jewelry.”
He’d kinda described me. Maybe I was a cliché, but I didn’t give a fuck.
“But they were all kind of ordinary.” He jiggled the handle.
“You’re free to go.”
What? No, he can’t leave. What are you saying?My wolf clambered to get out.
Until I said it, I hadn’t considered setting him free. I couldn’t expect him to return my feelings. But he would never truly be my mate if I kept him here. It might break me, and I’d never be the Flint or the Alpha I was before.
“This is a trick, right? I’m going to get halfway down the drive and boom.” He mimed shooting a gun.
“No, you’ll be driven home. Anthony was a man of his word, as am I.”
His head shot up when I mentioned his father. If he left and never returned, I would mourn him every day, but I couldn’t keep him locked up waiting for him to return my affection.
“My dad never really knew him, did he?” He yanked at the front door and glowered at me when it wouldn’t open. “What made you change your mind?”
“You. Your strength and determination even in the face of fear. I admire that.”
“But aren’t you the same? Always looking over your shoulder for someone who might put a bullet in your head. Like that ass today?”
