Thankfully, there’s a small part of my brain that locks on to a part of what he said, and it intertwines with Matteo’s reminder that I need to get to work. Also, I need space away from them to figure out how to beat this pack in their sneaky games.
Digging my phone out to book an Uber, I quickly hit a snag—I have no idea where I am. Of course, Pack De Luca is already one step ahead of me.
Dante clears his throat. He does that a lot. I swing around to face him.
“I figured the least I could do was sort out a ride for you.”
“An Uber,” I correct.
He nods, but already, I can see I walked into another trick.
“Ridesharing is actually quite profitable, when run right. Makes sense we’d have a fleet of drivers on our books—well, not our books per se, but being community-minded individuals and all, we invested and have found people we trust to run it for us. Your driver is Ahmed. His family needs all the help he can get, since Baby Anush recently had a bad earache, and the ENTspecialist appointment is next week. He’ll wait for you to finish too.”
“He can’t wait!”
“He will. Plus, just leave him a good tip, and he’ll be able to afford to pay for the doctor’s visit, and then his wife will be happy. His life will be good.” Dante keeps his hands buried in his suit pants, making the muscles on his arm bunch. My face feels like I’ve been in the sun too long, especially when he catches me staring at them. “You have enough money, right?”
“You can’t drag a family man into neutral territory.”
“He is a family man, not a Made Man. He is loyal to my pack. And, right now, he’s waiting downstairs for you.”
They’re being too accommodating, making this too easy, but I’m down with that. No doubt, we’ll be arguing about something else soon enough, and I’ll be able to use this—how they’re acting today, trusting me so much—as a baseline. Managing to extract my fingers from Valentine’s hoodie, I slice the bank-issue denomination band, so the smaller stacks of hundred-dollar bills fall to the bottom of the bag, before I sling the duffel over my shoulder.
“I’m not sure what time I’ll be finished,” I say, aiming for appearing unfazed, instead of completely freaking thrown by the last few hours. I need to keep things casual and easy, or I’m sure they’ll twist our agreement again. “Do I just get Ahmed to beep the horn when I get back to let you know I’m here, or is there a card I need to get in?”
“We’ll be up, waiting,” Matteo says.
He accompanies me back down the elevator and walks me to the Uber. Of course, he’s a gentleman, opening the door for me before shutting it and watching us drive away.
The drive back is over before it starts. Ahmed likes to chat, and I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but without prompting, he talks about his family and how expensive life canbe sometimes. When he asks if I want him to wait, of course, I say yes.
Instead of going to my room to pack, I head straight up to Jana’s place, and Tomas welcomes me inside with a big hug. Never once has Tomas, or any of Jana’s Alphas, made me feel lesser; they’ve also never used their ability to push or influence me, and walking through their home reinforces that I’m doing exactly the right thing with both them and Pack De Luca.
Jana is vibrating in excitement, making her collection of silver bracelets jingle, “You have news!”
“How do you know that?” I ask, walking straight into her arms for a cuddle.
“I see good things for you, honey. Your horizon is full of harmony and wedding bells,” she says confidently.
I stop hugging Jana and side-eye her nervously. “Have you been eating magic mushrooms?”
She ignores my question. “Have you been bathing in espresso?”
“Don’t ask.”
Of course she does, and without spilling too many specifics, I give her enough information for her to happily push me out of their home, telling me to go pack before I head to work.
And like the amazing person Jana is, she also tells me more than a few times that my job is always here if I ever want it back. Same with the room. Of course, she also insists I go back to the apartment with enough food to feed an army, while slipping extra money into my bags.
9
Valentine
It was hard letting Layne walk out of our home, and the only reason we let her leave without any of us was because of Ahmed’s presence. Along with his small team of people, all trained in tactical and hand-to-hand combat and highly skilled at blending in, so no one would notice.
They offer some of the best in personal detail on the market, but I still have a clawing in my chest. As pack Alpha, I made the call that meant she walked out of our home by herself, so if anything happens, the responsibility of that rests on my shoulders alone.
Logic tells me she’s fine. The trackers planted in the bag and the ring mean I can see where she is and even how many steps she’s taken. To a degree, seeing the evidence for myself and knowing Ahmed and his team are watching eases my stress. But part of me is caught up in the reason she recently showed up from out of nowhere.
