Page 30 of Brick
His mom was so sweet. She’d instantly made her feel welcomed into the family even though she and Brick weren’t fully mated yet.
Adam rushed into the kitchen, skidding to a halt. “Where’s Brick?”
“In the security office,” Jade said. “Is everything okay?” Her stomach suddenly felt like it was filled with lead. Why did Adam look so upset? He was the alpha and they weren’t supposed to get rattled easily.
He paused, then said, “Jade, someone’s reached out to me. About you.”
Her heart felt like it stopped beating entirely.
“What? Who?” It had to be her alpha. Who else could it be?
“Dane Malrick.”
“Who’s that?” Alli asked.
“The male that Alpha Holloway was going to force me to mate.”
Chapter
Fourteen
The security office door opened hard enough to slam against the wall. Adam stood in the doorway, his eyes flashing amber.
Brick immediately knew something was wrong.
“I was just coming to find you,” Brick said. “We’ve got a problem.”
“I know. I was coming to talk to you about it.”
“Wait, what problem are you talking about?” Brick asked.
“The male Holloway arranged to mate with Jade just called me and demanded a meeting.”
“What?” Brick nearly roared the word.
“He’s outside town. He’s waiting for me to bring her to him.”
Everything inside Brick went dark and cold. “How did he find her?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll get to the bottom of it.” He gave Brick a long look and said, “He’s following protocol. He didn’t come into our territory; he reached out, alpha to alpha, to right what he perceives as a wrong. She was promised to him in an arranged mating, and he and Holloway are apparently both such enormous jackasses that they don’t believe females have the right to decide their futures. As far as this Dane fellow is concerned, Jade belongs to him.”
Brick snarled. “The fuck she does.”
“Hey, direct those fangs elsewhere, bro,” Adam said.
Brick hadn’t even realized his fangs elongated so quickly. Inhaling deeply, he rolled his shoulders and waited for his fangs to recede. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay to be pissed. But we have to be smart. We can’t risk the pack’s safety by refusing to meet with him. Jade is under the protection of the pack, and she’s not going to be leaving with anyone. But she does have to go with us and we do have to meet with him.”
He looked past his cousin toward the house. “We’re not fully mated yet.”
“I have a feeling this guy is enough of a dickwad to not care one way or the other. But we still need to deal with it according to pack protocol. I’ll make the arrangements to meet with him in an hour. You gather a security team and include Alli. She’s intimidating with a sword.”
“Will do. I… need to see Jade first.”
“Yeah, of course. We’ll meet in the kitchen in ten.”
Adam left and Brick turned to face Solan and Stewart, who were manning the video cameras. Solan nodded. “You don’t even have to ask. I’m there with you. Who else do you want on the team?”
