Page 35 of Packed Up In Vegas

Fuck.

We hadn’t paid off the mortgage on the pack house yet, and continuing to do that relied on us having steady work. All of our financial opportunities had ground to a halt the second Callie’s blockers had worn off; we just hadn’t known it. And by bonding her I had totally eliminated my ability to financially care for her.

“I know it’s a lot.” Miles set a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Trust me, I’ve been turning this over in my head for days while you were all occupied. I’m going to try for one more negotiation. If I thought storming the castle would accomplish anything, I would suggest it and have all of us go there right now, but they’re being a bunch of stubborn assholes.”

“They’re not usually this difficult, are they?”

“We don’t usually give them this much trouble.” Miles swallowed hard and shoved a hand through his hair. “I’m going to tell them that I’ll bear the burden of any actions Callie takes against the company. As long as they have someone to blame that’s not them, I hope it’ll be enough.”

“Can’t we just talk to Callie about this?”

“She’ll have years to be able to take action against the company if she wants to. They want security before she leaves the hotel.”

Frustration built, radiating like heat off embers in my stomach. “That’s not fair.”

“No, but we’re not the ones with the power here. I just wanted you to know before I throw myself under the bus.”

“Miles, you can’t do that.”

“I can and I will. I recruited our mate; I was a dumbass who didn’t think about cuffs and collars. Let me protect the pack. Callie needs you all way more than she needs me.”

I growled. “Don’t fucking do that, Miles. We are all her pack. You don’t have to be a martyr. Tell them Callie can sue all of us instead of them. If we fuck up in taking care of her, and in making her want to be part of this pack, badly enough that she wants to take legal action, then that’s our own fucking fault at that point.”

“Kai…”

“Don’t be a dumbass. We’re in this together. I’ll take responsibility for my own actions. Not a fucking one of us thought of cuffs and collars even after scenting her. We’ve done this long enough we should’ve known it was different just as much as you. So, you tell those fuckers if they want to be cowards, they can be, and we’ll take care of our own.”

Miles hesitated, but eventually nodded. “Let me adjust the contract and send it back. Go back to Callie for now. I’ll take care of it.”

I stared at him for a long moment. “If I find out you took sole responsibility for this, I’ll kick your ass.”

His smile was small, but it was there. “Noted.”

I felt bad leaving him in the hallway while he made the phone call, but I was already itching to touch Callie again. She was comfortably inside her blanket burrito and immediately started purring when I sat down next to her, tilting the whole mountain toward me so she could lean against my shoulder.

“Feel better after eating?”

Callie nodded.

Amir fished out a fruit tray from the cart the staff had brought to us and stabbed two chunks of watermelon onto a fork, holding it out for Callie. She ate both obediently.

I didn’t want to think that we could fuck up so badly she might come after us, but she had every right to do so if that was how she felt. I wanted Callie to be happy for a million more reasons that didn’t involve the risk of being sued. She was our forever now, and that meant we would take care of her one way or another.

“Can you come in here?” Callie asked.

“I’ll have to unburrito you to do that.”

“That’s okay.”

Amir helped me untangle her. I stretched out across the couch and Callie draped herself atop me.

“You are wearing way too many clothes. If I have to be naked, so do you.”

“In all fairness,” I said, “you don’t have to be naked. If you would rather have some clothes, we can get some for you.”

She pouted and I followed my instinct to nip it.

“If we both have clothes, it feels weird.”

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