Of course, it wouldn’t work because this was the modern era, and Pen had agency. This was not a society that employed a bride price, as far as Bobby understood.
No, this was a power play. Lionel was throwing his dick around, having a temper tantrum because, in the mind of a bitter old man who has everything, Jimmy Boudreaux had gained a daughter. Lionel had lost a daughter instead of deciding he had gained a son in Ashton.
Bobby turned his head before the officers roughly led him through the doorway. His beautiful girl, loyal to a fault, was standing in the great room watching everything. His New Orleans Saints jersey hung like a dress on her, almost down to her mid-thigh. If she didn’t look so terrified, it would be sexy beyond reason.
“Baby, it’s gonna be OK. It’s just Lionel being a dick.”
“I’ll call Rosie!”
“Don’t, she’s on her honeymoon…”
“Mr. Jordan, I’m going to remind you that anything you say can and will be held against you in court…”
Pen stepped toward. “He didn’t do anything wrong. Lionel was in on it! Please!”
“Ma’am, this is your last warning,” the bigger officer spat out.
Pen bit her lip as she watched Bobby go. He hated that she had to see him like this.
Their first day as a real couple—with everything out in the open and no more barriers between them—was not supposed to end like this.
The last thing he saw before the cops pushed him down into the patrol car was Pen standing in the window on the landing, her fierce eyes boring into his and her mouthing the words “I love you.”
Those three words gave him hope. Bobby had never had much hope in life until today.
Today was not going to end well, but tomorrow would be better.
He and Pen would be together, this much he knew, to live together as the mates they were fated to be.
Chapter Thirteen
Pen
Few men escape a brush with an angry Lionel and leave with their balls still intact. Thank god Pen knew who to call right away.
In comparison to Lionel, that brush with the cops was nothing.
The Boudreaux family lawyer arrived at the jailhouse along with Jimmy Boudreaux, who looked like he was still nursing a hangover, days after his son’s wedding. He still had the wherewithal to pick up a box of his special recipe chicken for the jailbird Bobby.
“I’m so sorry, Uncle Jimmy,” Bobby said. The four talked over their legal strategies while Pen and Bobby, who were starving, fought over the fried chicken gizzards. Bobby explained everything about the plot to kidnap Lionel DuChamp and how he had threatened him at the wedding.
“Son,” Jimmy said to Bobby, “Be glad you didn’t wolf out and snap that mean old fart’s neck. I’ll take care of it.”
Pen shook her head and spoke through a mouthful of chicken. Around Normals, she exhibited impeccable manners. Around her found family, she was as messy and wolfy as the rest of them. “You can’t settle out of court. He’s got more money than god already.”
Jimmy nodded. “I know that. But trust me when I tell you, he’ll be distracted by grandbabies soon enough.”
Pen and Bobby looked at one another. “How do you know that, Uncle Jimmy?”
Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at the sky. “You know, I remember introducing Ashton to our little high priestess friend Lucy on Bourbon Street about 20 years ago. Ashton’s not the only one tricking people with Lucy’s wares. I might have sent those two lovebirds off on their honeymoon with some extra special champagne, and that’s all I’ll say about that.”
Pen and Bobby looked at each other. “Uncle Jimmy! Did you spike Ash’s champagne with baby-making magic?”
Jimmy held up his hands in surrender and gestured for the lawyer to follow him as he walked away.
“One sure way to help someone get over their feelings about another shifter clan is to present him with his own flesh and blood that carries both bloodlines. Don’t you worry about a thing. You two are next.”
Pen nearly choked on her chicken gizzards.
Bobby reached into the box and snatched out the last one. “Serves you right for hogging all of them,” he said with a smirk.
As the sun rose over the horizon, Pen could already feel the rise of the humidity in the air. The last place on earth she expected to receive a blessing was in the county jail parking lot, but there they were.
“Imagine. A wolf sitting in jail,” she said. “Who does Lionel think he is?”
Bobby snorted in agreement.
Wolves in jail, she thought. If everyone was partnered up now, Sam also deserved some company. Suddenly, flush with ideas, she reached over and slapped the fried chicken out of Bobby’s hand.
“Hey!”
She hopped down off the hood of her car and told Bobby to get in. “We’re going for a drive.”
She started up the car and peeled out of the jail parking lot, aware that Bobby was staring at her as if she were certifiable.
“Where are we going?”
“Animal Control,” she said.
Epilogue
Bobby
And just like that, he was back where he belonged.
In his bed, waking up with the feel of a warm, wet woman straddling him and stroking his chest.
“What are you doing, sassy pants?” Bobby croaked.
Less than a month after the wedding, Jimmy’s prediction came true. Ash and Rosemary had announced they were pregnant, and Lionel had dropped all charges against the wolf clan.
And now it was six months later, and his Pen was round with Bobby’s twin cubs in her tummy.
“I think you know exactly what I’m doing,” she said, whipping off her pajama top to reveal her breasts. “I’m giving you your birthday present.”
Bossy Pen made Bobby instantly hard. God, he loved this woman.
He gently palmed her round tummy as she massaged his chest and shoulders. “You should be resting, wife,” he said.
Pen whispered, “Just lie still and let me do the work
