“You’re good here.” I nod at Patrick, who watches us with his head tilted. “Don’t leave us in suspense, Pat.”
If Cormac had two brain cells to rub together, he’d come take the open seat to prevent her from having other options.
“We know who attacked your friend the other night,” Patrick says, keeping his eyes locked on Charlotte’s. “They aren’t familiar to any of us, but Emory Moretti—he’s another family head—was approached about helping them gain access to Grim. I don’t know how much you know about Lacey’s new pack?—”
“Basically nothing,” Charlotte says, her tone betraying her tension.
“Right,” Patrick hums. “Okay, you have your friend Lacey. Her stepbrother is Wilder. He’s the negotiator for the Boston families. He’s supposed to stay neutral and, for the most part, he does. His left and right hands—essentially his closest enforcers—are Grim and Callum. They’re both bonded to Lacey now.”
“Jesus,” Charlotte whispers. “Well, she’s never coming back to work. It’s part of our contract that we have to stay unbonded.” Her head shakes. “Not that I’ll be able to go back. I panicked and called out for the entire week yesterday, but…”
“She certainly won’t be able to go back to working at the pheromone clinic,” Patrick says with a snort.
Did I know Charlotte works at one of those places Patrick tried to convince me to go to?
If I did, it didn’t fully click.
Butfeck.
I hate the thought of her cuddling up with feral or rabid alphas.
“There’s a possibility you might be able to return to work, but we’ll have to see how things play out.” Patrick smiles dangerously, instantly making me suspicious. “In the meantime, if you’d like to thank us for our generous hospitality, or make amends for the fact that youshotme, Malachy has been medically declared rabid by our private physician. Perhaps he already mentioned that?”
I growl. “No, I hadn’t.”
It’s no one’s goddamn business, and it’s in no way Charlotte’s responsibility to help fix me.Ishould have been the one to tell her if or when I was ready to do so. Not to mention, it’s a real dick move to put pressure on her, using her guilt as leverage.
“Whoa, don’t do that.” Cormac shoves himself off the bookshelf, pointing at Patrick. “God, why do you have to be so manipulative? Try asking like a normal goddamn person.”
“Okay, stalker,” Pat says, chuckling.
I quirk an eyebrow.
Are we really going to go at each other’s faults now?
“It’s nothing to be ashamed about.” Charlotte glances at me over her shoulder, patting my hand on her stomach. “I’m more than happy to spend some time making sure you can soak up my pheromones. Honestly, it’s the least I can do, even if you both were right. He clearly deserved thatgrazefor something.”
“I’m not going to apologize for being who I’ve always been,” Patrick says, laughing. “But we need to get back to the issue at hand. Grim and Callum had the assailants’ wallets—they should be ashamed at this point. Who wouldn’t immediately run a background check?” He sighs. “To be fair, they were focused on getting rid of the bodies and getting back to Wilder’s to end the night balls deep in their omega. Okay, that’s not a factual account of events, but it’s my best assumption. They’re usually much more thorough.”
“Jesus, Patrick,” I mutter while Cormac looks like he’s contemplating how much it would upset Charlotte if he were to stab our middle brother.
“The men who approached Moretti belong to some 1% biker club out of Florida.” Patrick rolls his eyes. “I’ll never understand that. We’ve spent years doing our best to convince the public that organized crime is a thing of the past in Boston. Who would purposely want to announce to the DEA and ATF that they should be paying attention?”
My focus tunnels on Charlotte’s face. Her entire body is rigid, and she’s not even breathing.
“What club?” she chokes out, blinking rapidly. “What city?”
“The Jacksonville Demons,” Pat says. “They have six men in town. Technically speaking, they had nine before Grim murdered three of them. The congregation is led by someone named McCarthy, and let me say, the man doesn’t have the leverage he thinks he has. Wilder’s second-in-command is abeast in the ring. If McCarthy thinks making the fight two-on-one will give them better odds, he couldn’t be any more incorrect. It could be five-to-one, and I’d still put my money on Grim.”
“What does that mean?” Charlotte asks, leaning forward on my lap.
Patrick frowns. “I thought I was clear. McCarthy and his men want to take Grim out for what he did to their MC brothers. Moretti helped negotiate a fight tonight between two of the Jacksonville Demons and Grim.”
“Oh, God,” Charlotte whispers.
It’s my turn to frown as I pull her back to my chest. “There’s no way two guys manage to take out Grim. Your friend will be fine.”
“Unless you have some other concern?” Patrick asks.
