Page 31 of Out of Peril

“No way. She's one of a kind and keeps all the bad people away. She didn't have to take me and Maya in. We were nobodies to her. But she adopted us like we were her own pups, and now we're family. Hey, maybe you could join our family. Or Pack. That's what she tells us. We're her Pack now.”

My heart broke hearing his story. I was happy for the kids and glad she'd taken them in. I'd always had a soft spot for children and hated to think of any one of them being raised all alone inside a collection. But knowing my mate was so desperate for a Pack that she took in two strays and made them family upset me.

“So tell me about this vision you had,” I said, more than ready to change the subject.

“Well, you and Lindsey are fighting about something and suddenly a whole bunch of men come storming the house with guns. That girl you were with back at the auction is with them. And they kill Lindsey. And then a stray bullet takes out Maya too. I'm left behind as they drag you away with them. Because they're coming for you.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine and the hair on my arms stood up.

Westin Force would definitely come for me. They could be tracking me right now. But there was no way I could let them harm Lindsey or Maya like that.

Somewhere in our journey here, I'd lost my cell phone. But I knew there was a chance they could still track me with the chip they'd implanted.

I touched my ear and then smacked it. “Hello? Is anyone listening?”

Dante looked at me like I'd truly lost it this time.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking coms. When I go on a mission there's a teeny tiny little microchip implanted in my ear that allows me to talk to the rest of my team and for them to hear everything going on.”

Slowly he looked around like someone was going to jump out of the shadows or something.

“They're listening to us?”

I chuckled. “I don't think so. I haven't been able to hear them since shortly after we left Venezuela. If I can't hear them, I'm pretty sure they can't hear us.”

“Isn't that weird though? Like what if you have to go to the bathroom. They just tag along and listen to it?” He looked so disgusted.

“I guess I never thought about it like that before.”

I supposed that satisfied him because he dropped the topic as we got back to work cleaning. The four of us seemed to concentrate in the same areas, like none of us wanted to leave the others after the panthers had invaded our space. We were all a little jumpy too.

“When I was little, my grandmother would play music and it made the time pass faster,” Lindsey said.

I was happy she shared a good memory with us. Lord knew she needed more of those.

“Oh yeah, what was your favorite?”

“Pat Benatar.”

I grinned and started singing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot" at the top of my lungs.

She stood there just staring at me in surprise as the kids jumped around and danced to my song.

I winked at her. My dimples weren't the only trick in my arsenal. I had a great singing voice and could dance too. As I transitioned into “Love is a Battlefield,” I pulled Lindsey into my arms and danced around the room. She was having too much fun to try and push me away. Caught up in the moment, I wasn't even sure she realized she was having fun until the kids started to giggle and clap at my display.

She suddenly froze in my arms and I knew the moment was over, but for one perfect song, I'd held her in my arms and life felt pretty damn good and perfectly normal.

She didn't have to say a word because I could feel her pulling away and chose not to make a big deal about it. I let her go and got back to work while humming another song.

Lindsey was temperamental and could switch in a second. But the little normal moments still gave me hope that just maybe she'd let her guard down for good and let me in. And I realized that's what I wanted more than anything. I may not be fighting our bond, but it also wasn't smooth and easy. Then again, everything in life had always come easy for me. Maybe it was time I actually worked for something.

I started concocting a plan to woo her. I would win her over with little things.

After a few more hours, Maya began to whine. “I'm hungry.”

“I bought some groceries. Let's go into the kitchen,” Lindsey said.

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