Page 62 of Matched into the Mob

That was unexpected, but perhaps I was being selfish, hoping Matt would fall into my arms or discuss the possibility of us being true mates.

“I can get him what he needs.”

“He’s not here.”

That I knew, and the only text Matt had responded to over the last eight weeks was to tell me not to track Josh down but to leave him alone. I’d wavered about ignoring his instruction and fibbing but decided to do as he asked. He’d never trust me if I fucked up and somehow hurt Josh more than he already was.

“Yes.”

“I don’t know how to do this.” He sniffed and wiped away a tear.

Hold him. My beast had been mourning the loss of us.

Can’t. Not until he gives me permission.

“Do what?” He rubbed his mating mark, and I closed my eyes, summoning the strength to prevent me from dragging him onto my lap and burying my face in his chest.

“Be with you. It’s like slapping Josh in the face.”

I couldn’t convince him he was wrong, but I could tell some home truths.

“Does being with me, loving me and being loved in return, stop you from loving your brother?”

He turned, the tear stains trailing over his cheeks. “Are you in league with Tony? You tag-teaming me?”

I raised both hands, palms up. “No. He told me he was meeting you. That’s it.”

Matt scrutinized his mating mark. “I’ve cursed this so many times since that day, wanting it gone, wondering if I could get a tattoo to cover it.” His eyes welled up. “But I couldn’t.”

That was more positive than eight weeks of silence.

“Matt, I’m your ally and Josh’s too. When he returns, our family will nurture and protect him. We’ll give him whatever he needs.”

It wouldn’t be easy, because in Josh’s eyes, we were the enemy. Dad had been pestering me to find Josh and bring him home, but I kept my word to my mate.

“I’m not Dane and neither are my brothers, my extended family, or our pack.”

We didn’t count Tony’s human dad as one of us. Tony had no contact with him, as the guy had more in common with Dane than our shifters. And Emilio was a one-off. I hoped Matt wouldn’t ask me about either of them.

“I don’t hate you.”

That’s good,my wolf said.

We were a long way from good, but it was a start.

I couldn’t begin to put myself in Matt’s position, but my grandfather and father had been assassinated, so I had an inkling.

“I was very young when our grandfather was shot, but I remember every day that passed while we grieved Papa’s death. Dad held the family together, but we all bear emotional scars.”

Color drained from Matt’s already pale cheeks as he curled up in the seat. “I’d forgotten about their deaths. How did you keep going?”

“By vowing we’d never let anything come between us as a family and making sure that if they could see us, they’d be proud of how we were living our lives.”

“I doubt Josh would be proud if he could see what’s in my mind.” Matt picked at a thread on his jeans. “Not that he’s dead, though he was nearly dead.”

There was nothing I could say that would resolve his conflict, and trying to see it from his perspective, I understood if he ignored our mating bond.

“But I can’t go on like this. I have to make a choice. A or B, though reminding me of the gruesome deaths in your family has me leaning more one way.”

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