“You anchored her at twenty-three? No wonder you were so close to her, Nick. Babe, that’s a pretty impressionable age to have something so deep happen to you.”
Gabe laughed. “Sweetheart, you did say you were twenty-five?”
She tossed her hair back and gave him an imperious look. “I am twenty-five. But shit, after a few hours with Sarah, those are like dog years, I think. She’s very immature for an Alpha female. And petty. And she needs to wax her chin.”
Gabe burst out laughing again and Nick hid a smile beneath his hand. “Remind me to never piss you off.”
“And to always deal with unsightly body hair.” Nick grinned and kissed her shoulder.
“Okay, first of all, you will piss me off. You are a man and an alpha male, ergo, you will turn into an asshole of epic proportions and I will have to smack you down for it. Deal. And yes, please, I promise to keep the three-inch hairs from my chin if you’ll keep your balls nice and smooth for me. They may even get licked that way.”
Nick closed his eyes and groaned. “Okay, let’s keep focused here or I’m going to lose it. No more talking about licking my anything until we finish here.”
“I’m going to ignore that comment about being an asshole and try to not to feel like a creepy old man for having a wife who is sixteen years my junior and instead get back to the topic at hand.” Gabe raised an eyebrow at Tracy, who smirked. “Do you think that Ben may have been threatened by your becoming mated? Thinking that perhaps you’d challenge him at last?”
“He and I haven’t had any problems lately getting along. We never have. In my entire life the only time I’ve ever been mad at him has been over stupid shit. Nothing major. The man who shoved you tonight is a stranger to me.” And that’s what ate at him most.
“Okay, so I know how he acted to my face yesterday but what was his reaction privately?”
“He was…hesitant. I told him briefly on the phone that I’d met my mate but I didn’t tell him who. I thought he’d get a kick out of it, you know, some kind of political alliance between Cascadia and Pacific. But when I introduced you that changed. He took me aside and asked me if I was sure you were truly my mate. He seemed agitated. But he was fine to your face. I thought he may have been worried that your Pack was so much stronger and would be in our business a lot.”
Tracy laughed. “Well, if Nina wasn’t there to restrain Lex and Cade, I don’t have any doubt that they’d be up your nose a lot to keep an eye on me—that’s how they are. But that’s a big brother thing. Cade worries like an old woman and Lex is an insufferable meddler. But Nina keeps them both under her thumb so get that horrified look off your face.”
Nick checked his horror. “I don’t know, but I want to get to the bottom of this. There’s no way I’d have you in a place I felt you were unsafe.” Nick pushed a curl back behind her ear.
“Or me. And I don’t think it’s safe and I think your brother is hiding something a hell of a lot bigger than worry that you’d challenge him. I’m not sure what it is and I don’t know him like you do so I could be wrong. But a huge part of my job is based on intuition and I spend all day long reading people. I’d like to talk to him and Sarah more to see what we can see.” Gabe looked up at Nick over Tracy’s head. “And well, the tri-mate bond thing is going to be tricky enough, my place in the Pack will be problematic.”
Nick nodded. “I realize it feels that way and yes, it probably is that way. You rank higher than me so it would be silly of you to give up that to come be Second in Pacific. As our mate, you will be Second as well as you own position in National. I’m sure we can work out an advisory role for you. A mediator on the Enforcer’s rank would be really beneficial to us. It’ll help me to have another powerful wolf on my side in the inner circle too. Especially in this current situation with Ben and Sarah.”
“Okay. I can deal with that.” Gabe continued to gently stroke his hands over Tracy’s calves.
“Well, and getting back to the current problem—I love you with all my heart, Nick, but I won’t be a member of Pacific in this current state. I can join National at Gabe’s rank or go back to Cascadia and we can work out the commute. I won’t live in that situation and I sure as hell won’t hold a pledge to obey Ben or Sarah.”
Nick closed his eyes. “I’m sorry for putting you through this. Damn him! I can’t lose you, Tracy. I’d go insane if you joined National or went back to Cascadia.”
“No matter what happens with that, you won’t lose me, Nick. I’m yours, regardless of my Pack affiliation. You could join Cascadia but,” she shrugged, “Lex.”
“I know. He’s the Enforcer. Don’t think I haven’t obsessed over that a bit. God this is fucked up. I won’t allow Ben to hold this Pack if he’s going insane or going to break it in half. I’ll challenge him before I let you be driven away.”
“We have a bit before any of that needs to go that way.” Gabe tried to stay reasonable.
“And what are you going to do, Gabe? You’ve said you’d take the Second rank in a ceremonial way. But what do you want to do?” Tracy took his hand and kissed his knuckles.
He touched his chin as he thought. “I’ve been thinking. I’m damned good at what I do. I’ve trained for the last nearly twenty years to do it. There’s no room for me at Pacific. Excuse my bluntness here, but I’m much more powerful than Ben and there is no way I’d be in that Pack without challenging him. Tracy can join National, of course, and we can go bi-coastal. Theoretically, Nick could join National at my rank, but he’s not a mediator. I’m not sure where he’d fit in at National. I see some major problems with that.”
“Can you take some time off while we deal with this? You’re leaving tomorrow?” Panic raced through Tracy at the thought of him leaving.
Sensing her emotions, he pulled her into his lap. “No, honey, I’m not leaving tomorrow. I’ll take some time, I have it to take. There are some things brewing that I need to keep an eye on but my assistant will keep me apprised. Do you think I’d just leave you right now? With all this up in the air?”
“I don’t know. I’m all over the map here. You have a life in Boston. Friends and family and a Pack. You’re important, your job is important so of course I understand that sometimes I’ll come second to that. I just,” her bottom lip trembled and his heart constricted in his chest, “I don’t want you to go away and forget me. I worry that you’ll go away and I’ll never see you and you’ll feel trapped and…” A sob tore through her and he hugged her tight.
He could face the snarling woman, the warrior and the strong-willed mate, but the teary-eyed woman in his lap nearly broke his heart. “Tracy, honey, you don’t come second to anything. Not ever. We’ll work this out, I promise. But I’m not leaving you. Don’t cry, please. I don’t want you to cry.” He looked up at Nick, who moved to hug her from behind, creating one unified embrace.
“We’ll fix this, baby. I swear to you. The three of us will make this work. We’re meant to be and so we will be,” Nick murmured into her ear. “I love you. Gabe loves you. It’s going to be okay.” He’d make sure it was.
* * * * *
A thousand miles away, Warren Pellini answered his cell phone. “Hello there, Sarah, and how are you?”
“God damn it! Warren, Nick’s mate is Tracy Warden. Tonight at the Pacific Pack house we were wall-to-fucking-wall Cascadia wolves!”
Pellini chuckled. “Well, well, well. Small world, isn’t it? I bet that got your tiny heart racing, didn’t it?”
“Don’t laugh, Warren! This is serious. She’s Second now and I don’t have the hold on Nick that I had before.”
“As long as you stay calm and treat her well, what’s the problem? Is it that you can’t dangle Nick anymore?”
“She’s the problem! She’s a pushy bitch. She started all kinds of trouble and they left and Nick and Ben are at each other’s throats and Ben is worried that Nick will challenge him and now my meddling in-laws are up in our business. Can’t you just have her killed?”
The amused smile
slid off Pellini’s face and the look that replaced it wasn’t friendly at all. “Whyever would you say such a stupid thing, Sarah? That’s not funny at all. I would never do such a thing and it’s not something to joke about. Especially on the phone.” The last was said through clenched teeth in a low growl that raised the hair on Sarah’s arms.
“I, uh, I’m sorry. I’m just upset.”
“Nevertheless, you need to take care of your own problems, Sarah, and let me remind you that our business is very important to my family. If you continue this trouble with the Wardens it does not bode well for our continued relations.”
Sarah’s heart threatened to burst from her chest. “There’s another thing.” Her voice was small when she said it but she had no choice. She had to tell him now because if he heard it thirdhand, he’d be even more angry.
“And that is?”
“There’s a tri-mate bond.”
“Really?” Interest laced his voice. “With who?”
“Nick, Tracy and Gabe Murphy.”
“The Mediator? He’s there?”
“Yes. There was a border issue to deal with and he came in to mediate it between us and Cascadia. That’s how Nick and Tracy met to begin with.”
“How much does Nick know about our business relationship?”
“He doesn’t. I only told Ben because he figured it out on his own. He’s very nervous about it.”
Pellini sighed. “Sarah, this is quickly becoming messy. My people hate messy. It takes away from profit and we have to spend entirely too much time cleaning up. I’ll think on some things and get back in touch with you.” He hung up before she could say anything else.
She put the phone back in the cradle and looked out the window. It was all so damned simple before. She cursed herself again for being stupid enough to seek out Pellini’s help when she needed the cash to cover a large transaction she’d floated late the year before. But the deal had been so good, and she’d overextended herself and once the deal was completed she could pay back the accounts she’d drawn on and be square with her clients again.
And the deal had gone very well, but the money was so good and it had been so pleasant dealing with Warren Pellini that she’d gone to him three more times. Until the deal had gone south, leaving her owing a very large sum of money that she should never have taken from her client accounts. Suddenly she’d been facing arrest and jail if anyone found out. She’d had to borrow double from Pellini to pay back the client accounts, leaving her in the hole with the Pellini group. Being the sick bastard he was, he’d taken advantage of that opening and had thrust himself into Pack business and really, before she knew it, Pacific had been laundering large volumes of cash for Pellini.
She never should have gone to Pellini to begin with but she was desperate. The bank wouldn’t extend her any more credit and she was on the verge of losing her business. And her greed had gotten her into a world of trouble and with her, the Pack.
Three months before, Ben had found out and confronted her and while he was still really angry with her, he loved her, she was his mate and he wanted to fix it and get the hell out from under the mob.
And now the Pack that hated Pellini and who Pellini hated right back was related to hers and she had a very angry, very nervous mate and had lost her best friend. All because of that bitch Tracy Warden.
Chapter Five
Several boxes of Tracy’s clothing and other goods from her house arrived the next morning at the apartment, courtesy of Nina’s quick thinking.
Nick raised an eyebrow as she looked for a place to put it all. The problem was that he had as much clothing as she did, which didn’t bode well for their present living conditions at all. Hell, he had no idea where Gabe was going to put anything at all.
“Sweetie, can’t you leave some of it in a box for now?”
“Nick, you know what? You’re an ass. This place is too small.” She turned to glare at him. Gabe was on the phone in the study and looked up but kept out of it for the time being.
“I’m an ass because you have too many clothes?”
“I have too many clothes? You’re a man, Nick, and you have more clothes than I do! You have more pairs of shoes than I do. Oh, okay that’s a lie, no one has more shoes than I do, but still, you give me a run for my money. In any case, you’re an ass because you want me to keep my clothes in boxes while yours hang up and are in drawers. Way to make me feel at home.”
She plopped on the couch.
He sighed, biting back a smile at her comments. “And what would you propose? That I put several thousand-dollar suits in a box while you hang your jeans up?”
Her eyebrow slowly rose and Gabe snorted a laugh and murmured something over the phone.
“I propose that you get some comfortable shoes on. We’re meeting the realtor in twenty minutes to go and look at houses. I figure for now we can rent until we figure out just what the hell is going to happen. When we want to buy, did you know that Lex is an architect? He designed the house that he and Nina and Cade live in now. It’s been in Architectural Digest, you know.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Of course. Can’t just be the big bad Enforcer, he has to be some fucking fabulous architect too. Is there anything Lex can’t do?”
Tracy laughed. “Well, that took your mind right off me setting up a date to go look at houses to rent. I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future.” She got up and shoved him in a chair and scrambled atop his lap. “As for what Lex can’t do? Why, my darling sweet wolf, he can’t be you. And that’s everything.”
Nick looked up at her, into that face with those big green eyes and those freckles and fell for the thousandth time in the thousandth way. “You’re really good, you know that?”
“I have to be to keep you.” She rolled her hips, grinding herself over him, and he grabbed her, holding her to him as he arched into her.
She brushed her lips over his and he breathed her in, letting her presence calm and soothe him.
“Let’s go in the bedroom,” he murmured, kissing her chin.
“Can’t. We have to leave soon to meet the realtor at her office.” Her hands in his hair, she pulled him up so that their lips were touching again. “But I definitely want a rain check.”
“Can’t you call her? Put it back a few hours?”
“Nope.” She stood up and straightened her clothes. “It is my plan to have a place by the end of today if it kills you and Gabe. I want my dog here, I want my own closet. I want a place that doesn’t have echoes of your past conquests.”
He winced and Gabe walked up behind her and encircled her waist with his arms. “Hi, sweetness. You giving Nick a hard time?”
“I am not!” she said with mock indignation. “It’s time to get ready to go see the realtor. So let’s go.”
Once they all got downstairs to the garage, they piled into Gabe’s rental because Nick’s Porsche was too small for the three of them.
“And where am I going?” Nick asked Tracy with a smile.
“I looked through your Pack address book and called Shelley. The other realtor you wanted to use was part of that whole mess last night and I don’t want any part of that. But she didn’t seem to be and I saw that she worked for a realty company and when I called and chatted with her she had a lot of great ideas. I’m sure you know where she works.”
Nick sat there looking at her. “You called Shelley? You know that she and I…that we…”
“Oh stop stuttering.” Tracy waved her hand. “It’s fine. I know what she was to you and I know what I am to you. Even better, she knows it too. So let’s get moving. I want to find a place to live and I want to do it today.”
Gabe knew better than to even suggest that it might take some time to find a place. She’d proven to him that she could pretty much move mountains by sheer will and so he just sat back and handled some Pack business on his cell phone on the way to the realtor’s.
Once there, each male took one of her arms and they garnered a few curious looks
as they went into the office. Shelley stood near the reception desk speaking with someone when she saw them come in.
“Hi!” She approached with a smile, and ignoring Gabe and Nick, kissed Tracy’s cheek. “You look great. Let’s go back to my office and I’ll show you a few places I think would be good for you all.” Looking up briefly at Nick and Gabe, she motioned her head toward her doorway and they followed.
Once inside, Tracy sat next to Shelley and they discussed the listings on rentals in the area, the various amenities and drawbacks to each one. In the end, they found four to go look at and rejected a few.
Tracy rode with Shelley in her car while the men, Nick finally giving up the argument, followed in their car.
“It drives him crazy to imagine what I might be telling you,” Shelley said with a laugh as they drove.
Tracy laughed. “Oh I know anyway. Why wouldn’t he have slept with you? You’re gorgeous and he’s hot. It seems a natural thing. But you certainly seem to be fine with it so what’s the problem?”
The redhead looked at her from the corner of her eye. “Well, yes. I’m just amazed you think so. I mean, after what went down last night I’m surprised you’re even speaking to any of us. I can’t believe it all happened the way it did. God, you must think we’re all a bunch of savages.”
“I think that there’s something going on that I don’t understand but I don’t blame all of Pacific for it. Do you have any ideas?” Tracy asked casually, wondering what Shelley would say, if anything at all.
“Well, if you’re asking me, I’d have to say I think Sarah is behind it. She and Jo are bosom buddies, you know, and Jo is dumb as a rock. Way too stupid to have thought that little scene up on her own. And that stuff on the porch? Well, I don’t know the whole story but it sounded like Sarah was in the wrong somehow and you took her to task for it. And good for you.”
Tracy briefly outlined the situation with the phone call and Shelley was scandalized. “You have to be kidding me! I’d have killed the bitch!”
Tracy laughed. “I seriously wanted to for a while but Nick wanted so much for things to be all right that I let it go. I mean, I knew part of her apology was for Nick’s benefit but I didn’t know all of it was! I just have a hard time believing last night was about her wanting Nick to herself. I mean, she’s risking tearing the Pack apart with this. She has to know that Nick is my mate. She doesn’t stand a chance.”