My tail thumps the bench seat. I like this. I like it a lot. “That sounds perfect. I’ll do the same for first names, and we can swap.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
We smile at each other like idiots for a long minute.
Julia shifts in her seat. “I should probably get home. Richard’s coming back from his work trip today, and I need to get the house ready.”
“Okay,” I say reflexively, even though a growl is winding up in my chest at the mention of my rival.
He’snotmy rival. He already won her. I should want him to love and support her, to care forher when I can’t. But I don’t quite have the generous heart I should have in this situation. I should try harder on that front.
“I’m sure you’ll be glad to have him back,” I add, trying to get in the spirit.
Her eyes dart away, avoiding mine. “Um, yeah. He just likes things a certain way. I get a little sloppy about it when he’s gone, so I have to go clean up after myself so he doesn’t see my mess.”
That perks my ears, and not in a good way. “What happens if he sees?”
She shakes her head and blows out a breath. “Nothing. It’s not a big deal. Stuff I need to do anyway. But I should probably tell him about…you know.”
The pregnancy. “Yeah.”
“He doesn’t want to know details, but I don’t think this is a detail, do you?” She scrunches her nose. It’s so adorable, and I wish I could kiss her. “What do you think I should say?”
“I don’t know if I can help you with this,” I say carefully. She clearly walks on eggshells around this guy, and I don’t want to steer her wrong. But she’s also asking me for support, and I want to give her as much as I can, any way I can. “If you’d like, we can tell him together.”
Her eyes go wide and panicked as she clutches her coffee. “Nooo! You can’t, Ian. He won’t react well. The less he knows about you, the better.”
“Okay, okay!” I hold up my hands in surrender, even as my heart gives a sick thud. Who is she married to? “I’m not trying to get in a fistfight with the guy. I just…want to be by your side if you need me. If you need protection.”
She shoots me a half-smile, one corner of her mouth turned up. “I know. Thank you. I just don’t want to cause strife. Don’t worry about me, though. He’s not dangerous or anything.”
“He’s dangerous,” Ben says when he stops by my cabin the next day.
“What?” I shout, shutting off the splitter so I can hear him better. It sputters to a halt, coughs, and quits. Might be time for a tune up on the old beast.
“Richard Norman. He’s one-hundred-percent a bad dude.”
“You ran a background check on her husband?!” I yelp, appalled.
“On your mate,” he clarifies, like that’s better. “On them both, obviously. I needed to knowwhat kind of people they are. Before you give me an ethics lecture, did you hear what I said? He’s involved in all kinds of shady shit.”
“So are you,” I point out, feeling slightly numb to what the background check revealed. Ben has always been overprotective of our family, but he really should have asked me before he did that.
His hackles go up, making him look even more menacing than usual. “Not like this. Dude is indeep. Does business with mafia types. Keeps money offshore. Buys politicians so his deals can skirt local laws. He has a mistress all set up in a penthouse in Pittsburgh, too. Spends more time there than he does here. He’s not a good person in any aspect of his life, as far as I can tell. He hangs out with dangerous people, too. How did she get mixed up with this guy?”
“I think they met in college.” My fingertips start to tingle, and my ears ring. It’s panic, I realize. Panic that Julia is tied to him, and there’s nothing I can change about it. I suck in some deep breaths, and the feelings subside enough for me to croak, “What am I supposed to do? How can I keep her safe? She’s pregnant, Ben.”
“Already?! Shit, you work fast,” he says with a tone of admiration.
I have to grin. “Yup. One and done, it’s the Lyall way.”
He fist-bumps me, laughing, but then his expression turns pensive. “With pups involved, you should definitely let a Fate intervene. Claim your mating rights to keep her with you while she’s carrying. If you had any qualms about upsetting her life, this is your sign not to. He doesn’t deserve her. He’s a danger to her. Get her the fuck out,” he says grimly.
“What if she doesn’t want out?” That’s my biggest fear: that deep down, she loves her husband. That she tolerates his control and criticism—and maybe his criminality—because her heart belongs to him.
He hands me a large manila envelope. “Then you show her this file. There’s enough in here on Mr. Norman to put him in prison for life. All you have to do is drop it in the mail to the FBI, and he’s toast. If she wants him to stay out of jail, she’ll have to agree to whatever you ask of her.”
