“Here. Let me put him to bed.” Marc reached for his son, and I handed the baby off to him carefully. He tilted his head to the side, clearly listening to something, then glanced toward the front of the house. “They’re here. I’ll let themin.”
“Thanks.” Faythe turned back to us as her husband left with the baby. “Okay, then we need to fight Robert Taylor’s appointment to the tribunal. And the question now becomes whether or not we ask for a total redraw. If we do, we could lose Di Carlo’s friendlyvote.”
“But we could gain another friendly one, couldn’t we?” Justusasked.
I shrugged. “It could go eitherway.”
Footsteps clomped up the porch steps, and from the hall came the whisper of the front door being opened. “Come on in,” Marc said softly from the hallway. “They’re in the office. And both boys are asleep, soshhh…”
“It’d be starting from scratch,” Faythe said. “With all the risks and benefits of the original tribunal draw, minus the chance of drawing Blackwell. May God have mercy on his withered oldsoul.”
“So, what’s the procedure?” I sank onto the couch next to Justus and took his hand. “Who decides whether or not to ask for aredraw?”
“It’s a full-council vote. Simple majority. I think we have the votes forthat—”
“No,” a new voice said, and we turned as one. Titus Alexander stood in the office doorway, with Robyn looking over his shoulder from the hallway. “Noredraw.”
“Titus!” Faythe stood and pulled him into a hug. “It’s good to see you again! Though I am sorry for thecircumstances.”
He shrugged and gave her back a pat. “From what I’ve learned so far, everything’s an emergency when you have a whole Pride torun.”
“True.” She let him go and moved on to greet Robyn while Titus turned to his brother andme.
Justus stood and tugged me up, and my heart seemed to be beating its way out of my chest. I’d only met the stray Alpha once, about a year before, and I hadn’t given him much thought. He was hot, in an older-guy kind of way, but he was all business and I’d still been very dedicated to going out every weekend with any human guy who caught my eye—my way of waving my middle finger at every tomcat asshole who’d called me a man-eater behind my back. And, in retrospect, my way of reassuring myself thatsomeonewantedme.
But now Titus was my…brother in law. Whether or not he knewit.
He pulled Justus into a hug, and I could hear the emotion in his voice when he scolded his brother. “I said ‘don’t do anything stupid.’” He let Justus go and looked into gray eyes so much like his own it must have been like looking into a younger mirror. “What the hell were youthinking?”
I couldn’t tell whether Justus was being scolded for trying to flee the country or for marrying me, and my groom didn’t seem sure either. “Later,” hegrumbled.
Titus nodded and turned to me. “You must beKaci.”
“We’ve actually met before,” I said, and it took actual effort to project volume. It wasn’t Titus’s status as Alpha that was making me nervous. It was the fact that he was the only family Justus had left, and I desperately wanted him to like me. Or at least not hate his brother for marryingme.
Or me for marrying hisbrother.
“Of course. I remember.” He shook my right hand, then held onto it for a second. “You were still in highschool.”
“Titus!” Robyn snapped at him. “Don’t be anasshole!”
Justus groaned. “Leave heralone.”
“It wasn’t an insult.” He clapped his brother on the arm. “Just making sure I have the facts right here. Though I do reserve the right to be insulted that my own brother—my only living relative—didn’t invite me to his wedding.” Titus lifted my left hand and studied the rings on my finger. “Quite the occasion that must havebeen.”
“I’m afraid none of us were invited,” Faythe gave me a sympathetic look, but made no effort to bail me out. Her message was clear. If I was old enough to get married, I was old enough to deal with my in-laws—er, my one in-law—on myown.
Fairenough.
“It was kind of a last-minute…event,” I told him, my chin held high. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell anyone. Like,reallysorry.” Almost as sorry as I was that I couldn’t remember the event myself. Though I had hope that it, like my proposal, would eventually come back to me. “Maybe we could have a reception or something. Here, at the ranch? We could do the cake-cutting thing and throw a bouquet, and I could probably be convinced to put on a dress. Faythe didn’t want much fuss for her wedding, so Karen kind of felt cheated out of a big party. She’d probably help us plan something.” I smiled, kind of excited by the idea, but Titus only stared atme.
“That sounds great.” Justus slid his arm around me and kissed my neck. I fought the urge to cling to him. I hadn’t been this on-edge when Jared’s car had flipped with me insideit.
And still his brotherstared.
“Titus, we think we have a good chance at getting a more favorable tribunal, now that Blackwell is out of the picture.” Faythe crossed her arms over her blouse and sat on the edge of her desk. “Isaac Wade would be a best-casescenario.”
“That’s Jace’s brother-in-law,” I whispered toJustus.
