Blood in, blood out.
That ripped Prowler out of the warmth his daughter’s acceptance had wrapped around him.
“That brings me to how she came about her conclusion.”
“Her conclusion?” Kansas asked. “You didn’t tell her?”
“She’s a smart kid, you know that. Well, apparently, she’d been gathering clues for a while. She thought we were some mafia-esque crime organization.” He chuckled a little at the thought. She had the mafia part wrong, but the rest wasn’t all that far off the mark.
At least two brothers choked on their drink of choice.
“Fuck, Prez. You didn’t tell your teenage daughter about?—”
Prowler stood so fast his chair toppled over.
“Get the fuck out. Now.” Chef blanched at the order. Prowler had never kicked a patch out of church before.
“Yes, Prez.” He cowered as he exited the sanctuary.
Chef was a mouthy fucker for a human, yet he’d just acquiesced with zero hesitation. That wasn’t like him at all.
Prowler scanned his brothers looking for answers to Chef’s change of attitude.
The room was eerily quiet. His shifter brothers had their heads tipped back, and his human brothers had their heads bowed. All but Bulldog, who wouldn’t make eye contact with him and seemed to be extremely uncomfortable.
“What’s going on?” Prowler asked, his voice unsure and questioning.
“Ahem.” Bulldog cleared his voice, still not making actual eye contact. “It seems that quantums can be alphas after all.”
Prowler felt his brows drop in confusion. When he slumped back into his chair, his brothers seemed to be released from whatever stupor they’d been in.
“Prez, this is … interesting,” Kansas said with excitement directed at Prowler before seemingly talking to himself. “It was only ever a theory, but it is believed that quantums could, under the right set of circumstances, become alpha. But they could never prove …”
Kansas’s one-man conversation came to a halt, and his eyes flew to Prowler. “Did your wolf talk to you?” Without waiting for Prowler’s answer, Kansas blurted out. “Did you find your mate?”
Yes. Wolf howled. Prowler mirrored that sentiment.
“Yes and yes. Taylor is my mate and will be my ol’ lady.” The chatter around him became almost deafening.
All his brothers, even the ones without a furry side, were blown away by the information. Hell, Prowler had been himself when it all started happening, so he understood the excitement.
They had been operating blind, so to speak, for years. The only information they had for sure was what Kansas’s old pack had gleaned through unconscionable research and what he’d learned growing up with wolves.
Hunter and Monster were also both naturals. However, Monster was raised by his human mother with other humans, and Hunter’s shifter dad passed when he was seventeen, but they’d never been part of a pack.
They’d been winging it for years, and in all those years, there had been zero evidence that quantum had mates or could bond-bondwith their wolves the way naturals did … until now.
“This changes so much,” Monster breathed out in wonder.
“Does anyone object to me making Taylor my ol’ lady? Speak now.”
No one spoke, so his brothers banged their fists against the table and whooped. He had his answer.
Prowler hated to drag the mood down, but he had to, so he changed the subject. He would much rather enjoy their happiness and talk about the bond … both bonds. The need to learn every morsel he could was only overridden by keeping their secret and club business.
“What could possibly be more pressing than the bomb you just dropped?”
“Loose lips.”
