Frown knitting her brow, she continued to stare at Hadley. “Thank you?”
“I would also like to mention, while we’re chatting, that I will never, under any circumstances, grant you the same permission where my mate is concerned.” Hadley took Midas’s hand and unfurled his cramped fingers from the fists he had been making. “I would also really appreciate it if you guys could stop talking about him as if he were produce, let alone a bargain bin find.”
“You’re his mate?” Claudia sucked on her teeth. “Tisdale is wilier than a coyote.”
There was value in allowing Claudia to believe theirs was an arranged mating, and Hadley must have clued in to it too. She didn’t contradict Claudia, just let her make her own assumptions. His mother would cackle over them later, but rumors of negotiating such a match would boost her reputation in the eyes of the Knoxville pack.
“I need a drink.” Claudia grabbed Hadley by the wrist. “Come with me?”
“It depends.” Hadley shot Midas an uncertain glance. “Are you trying to get me alone to murder me so you can claim my mate for yourself?”
The deep belly laugh was too large for Claudia’s thin frame, and it sounded more genuine than she had ever been with him.
“Murder you?” She yanked Hadley to her side. “Girl, I want to learn from you.” Sliding her arm through Hadley’s, she started dragging her away. “You landed the Prince of Atlanta. How did you do it?”
The women left, arm in arm, her pack trailing them, and Midas could guess which bar they would end up visiting. Claudia and her pack were banned from all but three, so it wasn’t hard to divine their options.
Whistling low, Ford wiped a hand over his mouth. “That went better than expected.”
“I’m confused.”
“Women,” Ford said in agreement. “They do that to a man.”
“Claudia sounded ready to give Mom all the credit, but she changed her tune fast.”
“Ah. That’s one mystery I can solve for you.”
Angling his head toward Ford, Midas waited to be enlightened.
“The political alliance aspect would have held water up until Claudia saw you and Hadley together.” Ford smiled. “Hadley’s not possessive of you so much as she’s protective of you. The former makes sense, if your union is a gambit. The latter, not so much. She would only care if she, well, cared.”
“Guys are so cute when they have no idea what they’re talking about,” Ares said from behind them.
Midas realized then exactly who had tipped off Hadley and sent her to his rescue. “What do you mean?”
“Hadley was throwing I will chew off your arm and beat you to death with it if you touch my man vibes.”
“Huh.” Ford rubbed his jaw. “I didn’t get that.”
“You’re used to it.” Ares rolled her eyes. “It’s not like she pulls it out for special occasions. She’s always rocking that vibe when it comes to Midas. She is protective of him, but you’re nuts if you think she’s not possessive of him too.”
For some reason, that insight bolstered Midas’s mood, and he was tempted to track Hadley down and make sure Claudia understood the feeling was mutual. Last night hadn’t gone as planned, but he could try again. Or…he could use her momentary distraction to set a plan of his own into motion.
Yeah.
This impromptu girls’ night out might just work in his favor.
The Knoxville pack’s visit complicated things, as he was expected to mingle with his mother’s guests. Hadley’s family would eat up blocks of their time too, but this was life, and no life was perfect. They would always exist in stolen moments stuffed between the cracks of their responsibilities, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t pry those cracks wider.
Pulling his thoughts back on task, he asked Ford, “Claudia is why you texted?”
“Yes and no. I wanted to give you a heads-up the pack was here, and their alpha was waiting for you, but Captain Gray left a voicemail for me. The cause of the fire has been determined.”
“Arson?”
“Magical in nature,” he confirmed. “The cleaners are running tests to check the incendiary compounds against the various coven samples they have on file to see if they’re a match.”
Ares shifted her weight and folded her arms across her chest. “Who else could it be?”
“They’ve been targeting Hadley hard,” Ford growled. “I don’t expect this to prove otherwise.”
The coven had hoped to add her to their collection so that a witchborn fae could wear her skin and seize control of Atlanta. That was the tune their elder sang when they fought on the outskirts of town just last week, but the notes rang false in his ears then and now. Had she truly been their primary target, they would have struck her down when they first arrived in the city.
Before Linus knew what happened, she would have been gone, and Midas never would have known her. The brutal attack on local shifters had united them, both Midas and Hadley, pack and OPA, against a common enemy. It was the one good thing to come from this tragedy. But grateful as he was for Hadley, none of it would have happened if the elder had been telling them the whole truth.
“Any word on Chef Daaé’s last-known whereabouts?”
“The assistant on duty yesterday said he left the chef in the kitchen prepping for your date.” Ford ruffled his hair. “Daaé’s clan says the same, that he left for work on time but hasn’t come home.”
“I’ll touch base with Hadley,” Midas exhaled. “Let her know what we’ve learned.”
“Remind her it’s a two-way street.” Ford pointed a finger at him. “Information flows both ways.”
The OPA was more connected than the pack. They had contacts within every major faction in the city. But he didn’t have to ask. If Hadley gleaned information critical to the pack’s safety, she would tell him.
“Until we know for certain which of you was targeted,” Ford continued, “we
