“Did you hear any of that?”
Saffy shook her head. “Couldn’t really make out much. Was the woman crying?”
“Yeah,” Ramon said. “It was Maria, my sister. She’s pretty upset. She said someone just threw a brick through the window of her store. I should go… but…”
“But what?” She shook her head and gave him a shove. “Of course you should go. I’m not going to vanish in a sulk. You sister needs you.”
Ramon dipped his chin in relief and pulled on his shirt.
“Of course. Did she see anyone?” Saffy asked.
Ramon shook his head and grimaced. “No. But she said when she got outside, she could smell a male cat shifter.”
Saffy closed her eyes and massaged her temple. “It was my damn brother, wasn’t it?”
Ramon sighed. “Well, we don’t know that for sure…”
“We know,” she said. “Jesus Christ. When is my brother going to grow the hell up? It’s not only the cost of the damage, but someone could have been hurt.” Her eyes snapped up to meet Ramon’s. “No onewashurt, were they?”
“No. But Maria said there was a human woman in the store at the time with her young son. The brick landed right at his feet.”
Saffy retrieved her purse then pulled out her cellphone.
“Who are you calling?” Ramon asked.
“A cab. I’m gonna head home to see what my brother has to say about this. He’s taken his stupid vendetta too far this time and hopefully, my father will agree with me.”
Ramon wished he could be a fly on the wall for that conversation.
“Program my number into your phone and give me a call when you’re done. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“My brother might be a jackass, but he wouldn’t hurt me,” Saffy said.
“Maybe not, but just humor me, okay? Please?”
“Give me your number,” she said.
Ramon breathed a sigh of relief and gave her his number. No-one had warned him having a mate would mean being in a constant state of panic.
Chapter Six
Saffy
Saffy let herself into the house and strode into the living room to find her brother lounged out in front of the television, nursing a beer. It was highly unusual to see him at home this early on a Friday night, instead of out drinking and causing trouble with Leon and Jason, and that in and of itself was suspicious. She threw her purse down onto the coffee table and glanced at the TV.
“You stay in tonight?” she asked nonchalantly.
“Nah, I just got home,” Mason said.
Bingo.
She turned to face her brother. She’d never really gotten along with him. They’d argued when they were young, like all kids, but it had only gotten worse as they got older. The whole pride seemed oblivious to it, but it was like he’d never grown up. He refused to take any of his responsibilities seriously, and he always took advantage of their parents, leveraging his role in the pride and as their eldest son to get whatever he wanted. The thought of him one day leading the pride would be laughable, if it wasn’t so terrifying. And that wasn’t even taking into consideration the way he treated people.
But tonight, he’d reached an all-time low tonight. Although for all she knew, he could have been doing things like this all the time, and this was the first time she’d found out about it. The thought was a depressing one. Just how many people had he terrorized over the years? One, two, dozens—more?
She turned to face him. “Did you throw a brick through the window of Maria Miguel’s store just now?”
Mason paused with the beer bottle halfway to his mouth. “How do you know about that?”
