“Call if you need backup,” Tagge says before I can hang up. “Weareneighbors.”
“You ever gonna tell me why you were itching to mate me with your sister?”
“Speak soon.” He hangs up, and I shake my head.
Fine then, don’t tell me.
I stand up and drop my cell phone on my desk as I ask Finan, “What is it?”
“Joy and Emilio howled. They were patrolling the western border and found paw prints.”
I frown. “Just one?”
He nods. “Just one.”
“Fresh?” I walk out.
“About an hour old, and it’s not the feral.”
Cristofer.
“Get Cruz and Silas. You’re coming too. We need to end this once and for all.” I stop. “Wait. Wes and Cruz can stay here. Someone needs to keep an eye on the house and stop Kat from going near the cage. Have Troy shift and stay close. If this is a trap, I want him ready to act.”
“I can watch,” Marisa says as she steps out from the kitchen.
“You were eavesdropping.” My eyes narrow at her.
She’s wearing a stained apron from her punishment duties working in the kitchen.
She lifts her chin. “If there’s trouble, I can be more useful out there than scrubbing a pot. I can fight. You know I can.”
I eye her, contemplating it.
She’s a dominant wolf. Strong. Not an enforcer, but she could have been one if she hadn’t been so set on the idea of being my lover.
“Take Cruz or Wes,” she says. “I can watch the house with whoever you leave behind.”
“You never wanted to be an enforcer,” I remind her.
“But I can fight and I can protect.”
“You tried to kill Kat.” Which is the reason she’s on punishment detail in the first place.
I’d be trusting Marisa to watch her when I can’t be around to stop her from going after Kat again.
“Protecting the pack is the most important thing.” She lifts her chin. “Kat is pack now. That means protecting her too. I won’t let you down.”
I eye her for a beat.
She meets my gaze steadily.
“Take that apron off,” I tell her, and I turn to the kitchen, raising my voice. “Marisa is off punishment duty.”
Relieved sighs drift from the kitchen.
I arch my eyebrow at Marisa.
“What?” She looks defensive. “I wasn’t causing any trouble.”
