“Evan Winters, let him go,” Quinn demands through clenched teeth, her hands planted on her hips.
I release the bear immediately—one of the joys of the mate bond is that my bear actually listens to her—but I make sure to place myself between him and Quinn. I feel her hand on my arm as she tries to push past me to get closer to the kid. I growl, and it sounds a lot more menacing than the young bear’s attempt.
“What’s wrong with you?” the girl hisses at the boy while stealing glances at me, probably to make sure I’m not going to attack her. She’s not in any danger from me. “What were you thinking?”
“I heard what you said about the tithe. I would never let that happen.” The boy lets the blood flow freely from his arm and reaches for the girl. He puts himself between her and me, even though he knows I could rip through him without much thought. I tilt my head to the side, examining him.
“Somebody better start talking,” I command.
“Oh shit, that’s a lot of blood.” I feel Quinn’s hand wrap around my bicep. She doesn’t seem bothered that my arms are still furry. My bear likes her touching us. “Should I call a doctor?”
“He’ll be fine,” I tell her, and then to the kids, I add, “I’m going to need an explanation as to why you stormed into my mate’s office growling?”
“Your mate?” the girl says just above a whisper as she glances at Quinn. She reaches over and slaps the boy’s shoulder. “He could have killed you, you idiot!”
The kid lowers his head, like a decent male who’s getting railed by his mate. There may be some hope left for him yet. “I wasn’t thinking. I can’t stand imagining what could have happened to you if I hadn’t found you.”
“You mean if I hadn’t found you,” she retorts sassily as she peels back the sleeve of his T-shirt. The wounds are still seeping blood, though it’s much slower. She winces.
I cross my arms over my chest as my bear recedes, taking my claws and fur with it as I realize there’s no real threat here, not even to Quinn. “It’s obvious there’s been some sort of misunderstanding, but that kind of behavior isn’t acceptable.” My tone is firm, but it’s lacking the harshness that was present moments ago. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Jack,” he answers without hesitation.
“It seems I might have overreacted, Jack,” I remark. It’s about as close to an apology as he’s going to get from me. Even if Quinn wasn’t mine, what he did was wrong. Heaven help him if it would have been Griffin who caught him sneaking around and rushing into her office snarling. I peer over at Quinn. Griff wouldn’t have used the same restraint I did. He would have killed the kid and asked for forgiveness later, or maybe not.
“Sorry, Mr. Winters. I’ll get it under control,” Jack replies. I can’t be too mad, I just had a similar reaction. Hearing a female talk about tithes would push a lot of shifters over the edge. I can tell by their mingled scents they’ve already bonded, so his reaction is understandable.
“You better!” the girl mumbles, her jaw clenched.
“Why don’t you go get that cleaned up?” I nod to the boy’s wounds. His shirt is ruined, but the cuts should heal soon.
“Sorry about the floor.” The girl twists her lips in a grimace while glancing at Quinn and half shoving Jack out the door.
“Sorry about the floor,” Quinn mimics once the kids are gone. She spins on her heel and gives me a pointed glare. “What just happened?”
Chapter 2
Quinn
Evan drops his arms from barring his chest and reaches for my hand. “Do you have any more appointments today? I can call down to get this cleaned up,” he offers instead of answering me.
I shake my head slowly, astonished he’s pretending like everything is normal and the pool of blood on my carpet is something so easily addressed. “We’ll get to the carpet. What the hell was that?” I point to the door.
“That was a cub who got a little too big for his britches.”
I blink several times in response and decide to try again. “What are tithes, and why did it piss him off so badly?” Maybe if I ask direct questions, he’ll answer. Evan winces and looks over to the left. It seems he doesn’t want to respond. I’m torn between telling him to forget I asked and needing to know. If he expects me to be with him and Griffin, I think I should know these things. Especially when it’s clear it has something to do with supernaturals.
Evan uses my hand to guide me over to the chair, making it clear he wants me to have a seat. Once I’m settled, he releases my hand and walks back to the door, closing it with a soft snap. “Geez, you’re making me think I might not want to know.” I let out a deep, nervous chuckle.
“Oh, you don’t want to know, I can promise you that, but I’m not going to leave you in the dark.” I turn to face him fully as he takes the other chair, watching as he scrubs his hand over his face. I can tell when he’s ready to explain from the expression on his face, it’s half reluctant, half determined. “Tithes…” He says the word with equal parts disgust and anger, but he pauses for a few moments. “Tithes are what some packs require from unmated females to be a part of the pack.”
“Like they have to pay?” I ask. The only thing that comes to mind is when my old church requested a tithe. They wanted money, a monthly commitment from regular parishioners. Ten percent of your income was encouraged, but not required, at the church my family attended.
“Not with money.” Evan stares at me with his chin tipped down. It’s like he’s begging me to understand so he doesn’t have to say it.
“What else…” I shake my head at the possibility that just occurred to me. I can’t be right, but Jack’s reaction… He got so upset just hearing the word. I suck in a harsh breath. “You’ve got to be kidding me?” I didn’t judge the arranged matings, but I can’t let this go.
“Not many packs do it anymore,” Evan hedges, but his tone tells me he’s not defending the few that still do.
