"Wait." Luca's brow flickered. "If you kidnapped this Erik guy, then why weren't you banished?"
"I'm still kind of trying to figure that out." He wasn't sure he ever would. "Alpha Rob said I could stay, but I still have to pay Jeb restitution for what I did."
"How much does he want?" Luca turned and walked back over behind his desk. He bent over and started typing something on the keyboard of his laptop. "I don't have a lot of liquid cash, but I can get some. Maybe he'd agree to take payments."
Randal's heart swelled with emotion. "I can't let you do that."
"You're my mate, Randal. Your debt is my debt."
"I don't think he wants money, Luca." Jeb didn't seem like a materialistic type of guy.
Luca glanced up. "Then what does he want?"
"I don't know."
"Well, he can't have you. You belong to me."
Luca's words warmed Randal down deep inside in a place he never showed to anyone. He'd known they were true mates the first time he'd met Luca, and somehow Luca had known, too. Being forced to not acknowledge that bond was the hardest thing Randal had ever done.
"Alpha Rob said we could be together as long as you joined the clan and accepted his rule." He wanted to put that out there, even if he didn't know how Luca would take it.
"Do you think he's telling the truth?"
Randal frowned as he thought about it. Did Alpha Rob mean it? Would he and Luca be allowed to claim each other and live in the clan? Randal considered everything the alpha had said to him and everything he'd done since he arrived in Silver Lake, and then nodded. "Yeah, I think he is."
Luca stepped away from the laptop and up to Randal. "Then how do we do this?"
Randal's eyebrows lifted. "You want to do this now?"
"I want to do it before he changes his mind."
Randal was all for that. There was just one problem. "We might want to let Alpha Rob know. He's waiting out in reception for us, remember?"
"Oh, right." Luca drew in a deep breath. "Okay, new game plan. We inform your alpha that we're claiming each other, I join the clan, and then I'll cancel all of my appointments for the rest of the day so I can take you back to my place and we can claim each other."
Randal liked this plan.
"Unless you want to go back to your place."
Randal vehemently shook his head. "I'd rather not."
Luca frowned.
"I don't like the place where I grew up. Too many bad memories."
Luca smiled and caressed the side of Randal's face again. "How about once we claim each other, we go and pack up your stuff and move you in with me? My place upstairs isn't huge, but I think it's big enough for the two of us."
"Really? You want me to move in with you?" Randal had never dreamed that he'd actually be having this conversation with Luca so he'd never allowed himself to hope, but now it was all he could think about.
"Mates live together, don't they?"
Randal nodded enthusiastically.
Luca cocked an eyebrow. "Well? Aren't we mates?"
Randal nodded again.
"Then we should live together."
