“Which is a damned good reason never to have kids.” The possibility scared the hell out of her. God, more than possible. They hadn’t used protection once. She hadn’t even thought of it, and she was always extra careful. He gave her his best wanna bet grin and she slapped his arm. “Not funny.”
He sobered. “No. And I was trying to think of a way to protect you that, yes, you wouldn’t have liked. But I knew I’d never follow through. See? I’m dealing with the fear.”
She glared at him, trying to hide the tenderness welling in her throat. “The baby thing is not negotiable.”
He stepped back and looked her up and down, gaze lingering over her stomach. “It could be too late for that kind of negotiation.” Something in his expression made her think he knew more than he was saying, and she refused to ask. It just didn’t seem right that he could smell changes in her body before she felt them.
A commotion in the hall interrupted the conversation. The office door flew open, banged against the wall, and Julian stalked in. He was just as angry, dangerous, and alpha as Anthony had been moments ago. Carlos and Sunny followed him in.
“What’s going on?” Anthony asked, cocking his head to one side. She understood why. It was rare to see Julian on the edge of control. Gia doubted Anthony ever had.
“You let him escape?” His voice shook with fury.
“Not on purpose,” Anthony answered dryly. He took her hand in his, thumb soothing over her knuckles. “We were just going after him.”
“Gia is not. I’ll go.”
“Gia is my mate and a grown woman. She’s made her choice. Neither one of us has to like it, but we do have to live with it.”
Sunny smiled and gave her a thumbs up. The other predator in the room, Carlos, scowled fiercely, but kept his protest to himself. Good. She’d hate to get blood all over her carpet. She wasn’t fighting it anymore. Anthony was hers, and this was her home. She stepped in front of him and glared at Julian.
“He’s right. This is my choice.” From the corner of her eye, she saw Declan slip in. Great. She could deal with both uncles at once.
“Why didn’t you kill him last night?” he demanded of Anthony.
“There were unanswered questions.”
“Dad claims he didn’t kill Mom.” She realized with the slip of the honorific she’d decided she did believe him. Julian looked stunned. Whether at the revelation or her belief in his innocence she couldn’t say.
“That’s crazy. He’s just trying to save his own skin.”
“And you’re just trying to avenge your sister’s death,” Declan said quietly.
Julian spun around to confront him. “You, of course, bought every word of it, didn’t you?”
The werewolf shrugged. “I never believed he did it. You know that.”
“Then why did he escape? Tonight and sixteen years ago. He abandoned his daughter. His brother. His pack.”
Every were in the room was uncomfortable with the question. The tension level shot through the room.
Carlos was the one who answered, and she wondered at the pain she heard in his voice. “It’s a kind of madness to lose your mate. Your mind is never right again. Most weres, no matter their species, don’t survive it.”
“Another bond can be created,” Sunny offered. “We know of cases where that’s happened.” She was referring to a couple in the Appalachian pack. The woman had been mated to someone else. When he died, another wolf claimed her.
“That was not a true mating,” Carlos said. “To lose a true mate is the closest you can get to death yet still live.”
Julian considered that. “Maybe. But that doesn’t excuse his running. Leaving his child.”
She wished he’d quit harping on that. Yeah, it’d been painful. A pain she’d forced herself to live with for years. But she’d been sixteen, old enough to fend for herself with an uncle who loved her to help.
“No, it doesn’t excuse anything. But it’s in the past, and we can’t change it.” She held up her hand to forestall the next complaint. “And no, it doesn’t prove his innocence. Maybe we can satisfy your questions to that when we catch up with him.”
“He’s slick,” he said bitterly. “You think I didn’t try to track him?”
“We’ll find him, Julian. We’ll find your answers,” Anthony said.
Chapter Eight
They tracked him for a week before deciding to regroup. Gia stared at the large map pinned to the wall, the thumbtacks stuck in it. They marked every reported sighting of Arthur, but by the time they got a hunter into position, he’d be long gone.
Ellen rushed into the room, face flushed, almost shoving Gia out of her way. She had a roll of twine in her hand. “Got an idea,” she said in response to Gia’s startled look.
Anthony was still lounging in his chair behind his desk, and the other weres had followed Ellen in. Clint caught her gaze and shrugged. He didn’t know what Ellen was thinking either.
“It looks random, right?” Ellen asked while unraveling the twine. She wrapped it under the base of the first tack, representing where they stood now. But instead of going to each tack in order, she stretched it out in an almost straight line. She stood back and grinned. “He’s trying to make it look like he’s moving randomly, but he has a purpose.”
Gia frowned at the map. It did look like that, but why all the subterfuge? Unless he knew someone else was following him. “Where’s he going?”
Anthony had come from his desk to stand before her. Declan, Asa, and Clint all edged forward to get a better look. “Shit,” Declan muttered.
“Yeah,” Clint agreed.
“What?”
Ellen took pity on her. “If he sticks to this pattern, he’ll end up in Miami. We’re pretty sure that’s where the Society is headquartered.” The Society was made up of rogue wolves, those who’d turned their backs on the rules all weres followed and who looked at
