Page 65 of Matched into the Mob

TWENTY-FIVE

MATT

“Don’t hate me, but?—”

I slapped my hand over Ranger’s mouth, not wanting to hear the end of that sentence. Whatever he was about to say wasn’t what I wanted to hear unless he’d seen Josh and he was okay.

“—this is my closet.”

I giggled. “Your huge walk-in closet.” It was the first time I’d inspected it because I had my own which was almost as big as my former apartment that Ranger had convinced me to give up.

Mine was almost empty. Some jeans, T-shirts, underwear, and shorts, plus all the socks Ranger had sent me when we were apart. And I had one suit. The one I’d put on for all my interviews.

I’d thrown away the ones I wore when I was working with Dane. Couldn’t donate them, because even after dry cleaning, they reminded me of him. No one looking for a suit in a thrift shop deserved them because I suspected they’d bring bad luck. I’d cut the expensive fabric into tiny pieces and put them in the garbage can on the street, far from my apartment.

“Okay. I just wanted to say hi and wave before skedaddling.”

Ranger took me in his arms, my safe place, and I breathed in his scent.

“We could have sex in here.”

He pulled away. “In the closet? Why, when we have a huge apartment.”

We had christened the beds, the couches, even the armchair in the study and the rugs that had to be sent to the cleaners afterward.

“Just thinking of places where we can fuck. I have a list and I check it off.”

“Really?”

“No, silly.” I wasn’t used to such luxury, and this apartment with the breathtaking view was still a little overwhelming.

Ranger scooped me up and strolled into the bedroom. He stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring at the night sky. “It’s the full moon tonight.”

Ahhh, the full-moon run. I hadn’t been to the previous one because it was just after we discovered I was pregnant. I’d had my head over the toilet, and Ranger had skipped it, but I understood it was a rite of passage to attend. Tony usually went with the kids, but he took his little ones into one of the cabins and they slept.

While the La Luna Noir members had all followed the situation with The Obsidian Circle in the news, including my involvement, I was a little uneasy about being surrounded by most of the pack because everyone tried to attend a full-moon run, according to Ranger.

“Just be yourself, Matt.”

That was what I was afraid of. My mouth might get me into trouble.

But him squeezing my palm and giving me reassuring looks couldn’t quell the nerves that were roiling my belly. This would be the perfect time to throw up.

What do you think, little one?But the baby wouldn’t cooperate, and I shoved my clammy hands in my pockets.

I was sorta part of the pack now, my extended family were shifters, and I had to embrace their traditions and make them mine.

But what was I supposed to do while they got furry and sweaty?

“Tony gave birth to Lottie during a pack run after our beasts killed Emilio and the other traitors,” Ranger announced.

If that was supposed to get me excited and say, “Oh goody. More bloodshed. I can’t wait,” Ranger had miscalculated.

“Ummm…”

“But don’t worry.” Ranger hugged me. “We have a lot more bodyguards now, and they have all been vetted.”

We disagreed on the bodyguard issue because having some guy follow me to the bathroom wasn’t part of the plan. Not mine, maybe Ranger’s.

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