“The guy riding the motorbike through town?” Harper continued. “That was Mack.” I raked a hand through my hair, wanting them all to shut the fuck up right now. “But he was doing that for me.”
“How does tearing through traffic, scaring law abiding citizens help you?”
Agnes put the question to me, not Harper.
“He—”
“My brother was a monster.” If we were going to tell this story, then I’d be the one to tell it. “He made clear that he would hurt any woman I took as mate, which is why I tried to keep my distance from Harper.” Agnes’ brows jerked down. “It didn’t work. I couldn’t keep away from your granddaughter because…” I was screwing this up, so I may as well tell the truth. “Because she’s the only woman I’ll ever want, ever need, even if she decided to try and confront my brother in his lair, alone.”
“Harper—!” Agnes spluttered.
“That was you?” We all turned around to see another woman walk down the hallway, a large man at her back.
“Mum?” Harper said.
“You were involved in that shootout yesterday?” Female wolves were always ferocious when protecting their pups, but right now I saw they had nothing on Harper’s mother. “Youwere at the quarry, where that… animal was taken down by the police?”
OK, pretty sure Harper’s mum was not a fan of shifters.
“Susie—” the man with her said, but she waved him off.
“What the hell were you doing there in the first place?” the woman snapped, but before Harper could answer, she glared at me and the rest of my pack. “These three… whatever they are.” She waved her hand in our direction. “They dragged you?—”
“They didn’t drag me into anything, Mum.” Harper had been kinda chill since the shooting, but all that old fire came rushing back now. She turned and faced her mother down. “I confronted Dax.”
“You what?”
The mother and grandmother glanced at each other, having an identical spontaneous reaction.
“And I’m the one that shot him dead, not the police.” She glanced at her grandmother. “Those rifle lessons you gave me ended up being real useful.”
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Silence reigned supreme as each woman seemed to struggle to process that information. Agnes’ friends’ eyes went wide, their focus shifting from one to the other of us.
“Well, you better sit down then,” Harper’s grandmother said with a huff. “I’ll put the kettle on.”
“A cup of tea isn’t going to resolve this,” Susie snapped. If I caught the fine tremor in her hand, then so did everyone else. She shoved it in her pocket and then forged on. “It’s no surprise something like this happened.”
Susie was going to look up at me, I just knew it, and sure enough, she did. Harper’s eyes had never looked so hard. This was all going to hell, and we’d barely even got in the door.
I’m sorry…
I looked across the crowd, all the noise fading away as I stared into Harper’s eyes.
Want me to get you out of here?I asked.I will.They can blame me for…I let out a sigh.Everything. Put it on me, beautiful. I can take it.
But you shouldn’t have to.
That determined look made clear that Harper was done submitting to this.
“Mum.”
“No, Harper.” Susie threw up a hand. “No. I’ve put up with this rubbish for long enough. You meet a perfectly nice man and you reject him in favour of what?” Each one of my packmates was on the receiving end of her death stare now. “Men that put you in danger.”
“No—” Harper said, but her mother cut her off.
“Men that will never be able to look after you, keep you safe.” Her nose wrinkled. “Men that become animals.”
“OK, we are fucking done here.” When Harper took a step towards the door, we moved with her, and for a moment I thought we’d leave, regroup and rethink meeting her family, but then my wild girl whirled around to confront her mother. “Actually, maybe we’re not. The audacity of you critiquing my guys?”
