Page 19 of In the Line of Fire
“Make my brother as happy as this guy makes me, and we can call it even.” She returned my smile, leaning against her mate’s side.
“I’m Trey, aka this guy,” her mate joked. “Otherwise known as Denica’s mate or the head enforcer for the Tigre streak.”
“And as you’ve both already guessed, I’m Soleil. Damien’s mate.” Dang, it felt good to say that aloud.
“Now that we’ve got all of that out of the way, you haven’t answered my original question yet,” Damien grumbled. “What are you doing here?”
Denica’s green eyes narrowed. “I’m pretty sure I gave you my response before you even asked it. We’re here to go to the meeting with you.”
“Denica—”
She lifted her hand in a gesture for him to stop. “Nope. I don’t want to hear it. You have no idea how fast things are going to move. Best-case scenario, we’re there to provide you with some backup. Worst-case scenario, we take a pointless trip where the chance to get to know my sister-in-law is well worth twiddling my thumbs when I have nothing to do. Either way, I’m calling it a win-win.”
It had only been a few minutes, but Denica already lived up to her reputation. I’d been impressed when Damien had told me about her work for the organization formed to eliminate vampire influence in the world. I couldn’t imagine the kinds of things she’d seen over the past eleven years, but I was hoping she could share stories about some of her missions with me. And I wouldn’t mind if she taught me some knife throwing moves since Damien had said she was an expert. “I’d like her to come with us if you don’t think it will cause problems with the council members.”
Trey arched his brow. “Sounds to me like the decision has been made. You might as well give in. It’s three against one now, man.”
Damien grumbled under his breath as he led me back over to the passenger side of the truck, making Denica laugh. “Yeah, the fight was over the second Soleil said we were coming. For all his bad-ass reputation, he’s a big softie when it comes to the people he loves.”
“I still can’t get over that you talk to him like that when he’s the head enforcer for the council,” Trey mock-whispered, earning himself another giggle from his mate.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Damien growled, aiming a glare over his shoulder at them. “If you’re going to keep that shit up for the entire trip, then you can ride with Mom and Dad instead.”
Denica made a zipping motion over her lips before climbing into the back seat of the extended cab, Trey sliding in next to her. I grinned at them over my shoulder while Damien rounded to the driver’s side and climbed in. After he backed out of the garage and down the long driveaway, he dropped his right hand onto my arm. All the nerves along my skin prickled with awareness. My body didn’t care that we were traveling in a vehicle with his sister and her mate behind us on our way to ask powerful people who were strangers to me for help. He still pulled a reaction from me whenever we touched. I was depending on the power of our connection to get me through whatever we faced during the council meeting, along with the unwavering support of his family.
