Page 50 of Mated into the Mob

“Mmmm.” His sheepish expression didn’t fill me with confidence. “About as well as your dad. But don’t worry. I’ll crawl along.”

Oh gods. Why had I agreed to this? I asked the universe to keep my mate and baby safe.

The house was in an old industrial area, much of the surroundings still in disrepair. The client had bought anabandoned red brick factory and made it part home, part art gallery. There’d be few people on the streets, as most of the buildings were uninhabited.

I picked up takeout, and we ate in the car.

“This is fun. My first stakeout.” Tony shoved a fry in his mouth.

I didn’t correct him, but our work wasn’t fun. We were good at it and got paid accordingly, and sure, I got an adrenaline rush when I was successful.

The bodyguards got in my car, and I drove to the client’s home.

There was no need to shift yet, and after scouting around the front and sides of the two-story building with Victorian-style windows, I identified the aroma of a human mingling with the fragrance of sweat, tension, and oil paint.

“I’m going to take my fur. Stay here.” My beast would likely follow the scent away from the area, but I’d told the security guys where to meet me if I disappeared.

“Wait.” Tony pulled a tracker from his pack. “I’ll put this around your wolf’s neck so I can see where you are.”

My wolf leaped over a wrought-iron fence and through the tall grass of a deserted allotment, tall grass sprouting in the cracked concrete. From there he wound his way around the streets. In the distance, the soft purring of my expensive car told me my mate was in the vicinity.

Strange, my wolf noted.That our human mate is following us.

Strange didn’t begin to explain it.

My wolf traipsed over broken glass and crouched near a burned-out truck, staring into the darkness. Why the client lived in this dump of an area when he had money was beyond me, but his home was secure with high-tech alarms and cameras.

A feral cat arched its back and hissed at my beast before taking off, and mice scuttled through the undergrowth. My wolf padded and sniffed around rusted machinery and piles of trash.

The scent my wolf followed led us to an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by a padlocked fence. Part of the roof had caved in, but there was a flicker of light coming from a far corner and a lower murmur of two voices.

The stealthy humming of my car in the distance—and not for the first time I was thankful I’d spent so much money and it was so quiet—alerted me Tony hadn’t given up the chase.

This is more than weird. Our mate should be at home.

We mated a human.One with his own mind. We have to accept and love his differences.

I told my beast to concentrate on the task. We couldn’t afford another fuck-up. He leaped over the fence and squeezed into the warehouse through a broken door. He treaded over shattered glass, catching the pair as one was on the phone conducting a bidding war.

My beast handled the two men, and I retrieved the painting.

As I walked toward my car, Tony raced out, clapping. “That was so exciting.” He admired the painting. “Aren’t you going to call the?—?”

He caught sight of my face. “Oh. Ohhh!”

I waited, expecting tears and accusations, but he nodded and glanced toward the warehouse, his lip trembling, before getting in the car.

25

TONY

“You haven’t forgotten what today is, have you?

My pregnancy was advancing, and we needed baby clothes and paraphernalia. I’d been staring at websites late at night but wanted to feel and examine everything the baby would use and wear.

“Have not.” Flint walked out of the two-person shower enclosure that I would never not be amazed at. “Jog my memory.”

“You’re such a liar.”

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