Page 14 of Revenge of the Blood Pack

She giggles. Actually giggles. The woman who looked like she wanted to mace me a few minutes ago. "I got you, sweetie." Then, she's off.

I sigh and look at him. "Have you become a ladies' man?"

He grabs his beer in those massive hands of his. "Jealous?"

I laugh, which isn't something I do very often. "I guess it's only fair after I got all the ladies for most of our lives."

"High school is over and there's a new prom king in town," he tells me in a teasing voice, then tips back his beer and drinks. The whole damn thing.

"Whoa, work day, man."Fuck. Did I just say that?

He slams the empty mug down. "Still a square, I see?"

I shake my head with a chuckle, then remember that he was already late arriving. Checking my watch, I feel my heartbeat pick up. Asha isn't exactly patient, so as much as I want to relax and talk, that's not what we're here for. "We need to talk about the mission."

"Okay, something other than what they told me in my debriefing?" He's studying his empty mug like it did him wrong.

I clear my throat, not sure how to approach this with my brother, other than to be straight. "As you're aware, there is a group known as the Blood Mages. They are half vampire, half mage. And they fully embraced their stereotype of insane and dangerous mixed breeds.” He doesn’t even blink, so I conclude he was told this much already. I press on. “We're not entirely sure how it occurred, but they were able to imprison severaldozen people from a pack of half-breeds the Enforcers were watching, the Blood Pack, and then proceeded to experiment on them. Many of the prisoners died. Others escaped and have since reigned chaos all over the country."

"That's a lot of ‘Blood’ this and that," he says.

The waitress comes by and drops off another mug, flashing him a smile. "Anything else?"

"Another beer, please, ma’am," he tells her.

"Actually, no more beer, but we’ll probably get some food. We’re on a bit of time crunch though…" I tell her.

She barely tears her eyes off my brother. “No problem, our kitchen is fast. There’s a menu on the wall, or more at the back of your table.”

We both thank her, and then check out the menu on the wall as our waitress hurries off again.

My brother drinks his beer, this time a little slower. "That was all covered in the file."

That's true, but I was just laying down the basics before diving into the hard stuff. "What's not in the file is just how horrific this pack has become. They were absolutely victims of the Blood Mages, but now they've become monsters just like their tormentors. All of them were shifters with some mix of other supernaturals in them, and now they've also had 'mage' mixed in. So, they can do magic... but it's dark magic. Magic that's wrong. That requires blood to fuel it." And before he can say that he knows that too, I push on. "And what we're going to see on this mission is going to be bad. Maybe even worse than what you experienced in the military."

I don't add on that this is his chance to back out, to accept he isn't ready for this, because we both know that's what I'm saying.

He nods, as if he was expecting that. "Don't worry about me. I can handle it."

“Braxton, I mean it. You’re finished with the military. You don’t need to go into another career filled with death and blood.” And maybe deep down I don’t want him to. After all he’s been through, he deserves a little peace in his life.

“You went from the military to being an Enforcer,” he tells me, lifting a brow.

He’s not wrong.“But I’m–”

“Stronger? Tougher? Built for this?” He laughs with a shake of his head. “Maybe once upon a time I was soft, brother, but I’m not any longer.”

Soft? Is that what he thinks?Braxton was never soft. He cried easier. He had more emotions. He was scared of monsters in the dark and often slept in my bed, but that never made him soft. He was simply more sensitive, more open in a way I envied, and I never wanted to take part in destroying that piece of him, no matter how badly my boss had said Braxton wanted this job. My boss had made it clear that if I didn’t take my brother onto my team, he wouldn’t get a position with the Enforcers. I’d never take this opportunity from him, but I also need him to be sure that this is what he wants.

“Having emotions doesn’t make you soft.” He’s about to interrupt, so I lift a hand. “If you want this, then I’ll support you.”

The fight goes out of his eyes. “I don’t just want this, Max. Ineedit.”

So that’s the end of it.

I pull out the file on Asha's pack from my jacket and place it on the table. "This file contains basic information about the Blood Pack and Blood Mages, but more than what you learned when you signed on. Most of the details are classified, even from you, but I believe it has everything you need to know for the new mission that you're jumping into. I think it's better you read thisfirst. I'll fill you in on any missing parts," I say, pushing the file his way.

"I don't care what it says, I can handle this." There's a challenge in those soft blue eyes of his. Like he doesn’t think me giving him the file was showing him I accept him, but more my way of trying to scare him.

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