Mary’s face flashed through my mind but I pushed it away. Mary was under guard. She couldn’t exactly be sending threatening texts from her house arrest.
Could she?
I shook off the thought as we pulled up to the pack house. My tired brain was making me paranoid. I needed food and sleep and to stop thinking about mysterious messages for five minutes.
Then I noticed the unfamiliar car parked out front.
Huh.
I didn’t recognize the vehicle. It was nice, expensive-looking, with out-of-state plates that I couldn’t quite make out in the fading light. We weren’t expecting visitors as far as I knew.
“Whose car is that?” Hunt asked, voicing my own confusion.
“No idea.”
We climbed out and the twins immediately attached themselves to Hunt, one hanging off each of his arms as he walked. He didn’t seem to mind, flexing dramatically and lifting them off the ground with each step while they shrieked with laughter.
I pushed open the front door and called out, “I’m home!”
The words died in my throat as unfamiliar scents hit me. Wolves. Wolves I didn’t know. In my house. With my family.
Every protective instinct I’d developed over the past year snapped to attention. I grabbed the baseball bat we kept by the door, the one Knox had wanted to replace with a bigger gun even though he always said he’d be there to protect me, and stepped inside with my weapon raised.
My muscles were tense and my heart was racing as I rounded the corner into the living room, ready to face whatever threat had invaded my home.
Knox’s parents sat on one of the sofas, looking perfectly relaxed. Across from them sat a man and woman I’d never seen before, both of them well dressed and clearly wealthy based on the jewelry glittering on the woman’s wrists.
Right.
The Cranes.
I lowered the baseball bat, feeling slightly ridiculous. Knox’s mother had mentioned they were coming. I’d just forgotten in the chaos of the day.
The twins went running past me toward their grandparents, throwing themselves at Serena and Marcus with the enthusiasm only small children could muster. Serena’s face softened as she caught Thea, pressing kisses to her granddaughter’s cheeks.
“Lina, dear,” Serena said, looking up at me with a smile. “Come meet the Cranes. William and Margaret, this is our son’s mate. Lina.”
I set the baseball bat aside and walked forward to shake hands, doing my best to look welcoming rather than suspicious. William Crane had a firm handshake and a politician’s smile. Margaret looked me up and down with the practiced assessment of a woman who’d spent her life judging other women.
“Lovely to meet you,” Margaret said, though her tone suggested she hadn’t actually decided if it was lovely or not.
“You too. Sorry about the bat. We’ve had some... incidents.”
“Understandable,” William said smoothly. “A Luna must always be vigilant.”
I noticed the slight emphasis on Luna, the way his eyes flicked to my pregnant belly. Judging. Assessing. Wondering, probably, how a human had ended up mated to one of the most powerful alphas in the region.
“Knox, Noah, and Isabella are in the kitchen,” Serena told me. “Isabella was just dying to catch up with the boys.”
That was odd. Knox always came to greet me when I got home. Always. Even if he was in the middle of something, even if he was busy with pack business, he’d drop everything to meet me at thedoor and kiss me hello. The fact that he was in the kitchen with some woman instead of here with me sent alarm bells ringing in my head.
I shared a look with Hunt. He raised his eyebrows slightly, clearly thinking the same thing.
“I’ll just go say hi then,” I said, keeping my voice light.
Hunt fell into step behind me as I walked toward the kitchen. The twins had already abandoned their grandparents in favor of showing the Cranes their drawings, which gave me cover to slip away without seeming rude.
The kitchen door was closed.
