Page 77 of Brandon’s Mate

“Not really,” she said. “My mom told me once that he almost couldn’t join the crew because even Flynn can’t control Monster Wolf. But it wanted to be with my mom, and so it chose to submit to Flynn so they could be together.”

Brandon realized then what she was scared of. “But you think your version won’t submit to me.”

He wasn’t strong enough. He was a broken mess.

“It’s not that,” she said. “I just don’t think it cares enough about anyone to want to stay with them.”

Like that was better.

She turned to him. “What happens if I get into another life-and-death situation? What happens if I can’t control it—if none of us can? What happens if it thinks the only way to survive is to sacrifice someone I care about, and I can’t stop it?”

She put her head down on her knees so he couldn’t see her face, but he could hear the tears in her voice. Kitty never let people see her cry.

He held her close to him. “If we’re meant to be together, then there has to be a way. We’ll deal with Monster Wolf. I promise you.”

But as he held her close to him, he could tell she didn’t believe him.

Chapter 32

They spent the night in the truck, making love and watching the stars, only falling asleep near dawn. Brandon’s cell phone woke them. It was Remy. Brandon put it on speaker so Kitty could hear.

“We got a message from Raines,” Remy said. “Through Jax.”

“Did he agree to the meet?” Brandon asked. If he had, then this was the break they’d been waiting for. His shot to finally get within striking distance of Nick’s killer.

To put all this behind him, so he could concentrate on the future. Kitty. Colt. Remy.

“Yeah,” Remy said. “Saturday night. Eleven o’clock. They’ll send us the location once we agree.”

“Any conditions?”

“Uh-huh. Just you and your Second. No other crew members.”

“As far as they know, he’s only got one other crew member,” Kitty said. “Me. But of course they wouldn’t include the little woman. All that penis-people stuff might make my tiny brain overload.”

“Not all panther men are total fucks,” Brandon said.

“Well, okay, you.” She kissed his bicep. “But you only treat me right because you’re scared of my mom.”

“Totally true,” Colt said in the background. “We’re all scared of your mom. I think even Flynn is a little scared of her.”

“Can you people focus?” Brandon said. “Remy, message them back and say we’ll be there. Is this supposed to be an equal meeting? Just Raines and Jax to talk to me and Colt?”

“That’s what he claims. He says it’s ‘a gesture of trust and good faith’.”

They all snorted at that. “Good thing we don’t trust anyone.” Brandon wrapped his arm around Kitty’s neck and kissed her temple. “As soon as we have the location, we’ll set up contingencies. It’ll likely be remote, so Remy, we’ll get you and Kitty out there early for surveillance and countermeasures, in case it’s a trap or an ambush. You can do overwatch for us.”

“Roger that,” Remy said.

Colt added, “Shouldn’t we let Callie know? She might overhear some intel in the bar that would give us an advantage.”

“Good idea,” Brandon said. “Give her the deets and ask her to keep her ears open.”

Colt added, “Once we get Raines taken care of, we need to do something for her. Like make Caleb fucking disappear.”

Brandon said, “I promised her I would, if she helped us out. But one thing at a time, okay? We can’t split our focus.”

“Sure,” Colt said, but he didn’t sound happy about it.