Page 23 of An Uncertain Claim

Lisa tilted her head to the side. “You’re the Alpha’s mate and…if my nose is right, you’re pregnant. So you mate and become our Alpha female. How is it complicated?”

Tanner’s shoulders moved as if he were trying not to laugh and I glared at him, then Nathan, who finally took pity on me.

“It’s just not the right time, Lisa. Now tell me what’s going on with the invitation.”

Lisa launched into an explanation, and I plopped down into a chair to listen since I understood all the technical jargon. Lisa watched me as she spoke, and her expression grew more and more curious. Finally, she stopped and spoke directly to me. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Right. Oops.I didn’t look dazed and confused like most people probably did when she got into technical shit. “Um, I have some experience with hacking,” I admitted. I wasn’t used to admitting that to anyone.

“Oh, really?” Tanner asked, his tone overly innocent.

“Let it go,” Nathan said quietly before I could ask about Tanner’s strange behavior.

Tanner winked at me and shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to Lisa, who still stared at me. It started to feel a little awkward. “I have a degree in cybersecurity engineering from NYU.”

That seemed to satisfy her because she finally shifted her focus back to her Alpha. “Anyway, I’ve tried every trick in my arsenal. But I have worse news. I finally managed to contact Henry. No luck.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Tanner burst out and threw his hands in the air.

Nathan stroked his beard and moved his weight from one foot to the other, his only outward signs of his frustration. It made me feel a little smug that I was learning to read his tells. Although they weren’t always necessary when he talked to me. It hadn’t escaped my notice that he only seemed to lose his cool with me. I figured it was just another sign that we couldn’t coexist in a single space—especially not forever. If we started the mating process, it would be very hard to be apart once we’d officially driven each other to the brink of insanity.

“He couldn’t crack it,” Nathan stated, apparently needing clarification.

Lisa shook her head, and my curiosity got the better of me. “Who is Henry?”

“The only person we know of with more skills than me, Nate, and Tanner combined,” Lisa explained as she drummed the fingers of both hands on her desktop. “He used to run this department.”

A devil and an angel appeared on my shoulders and started arguing in my head. The devil wanted me to keep my cards close to the vest and my talents off their radar. The angel argued that it would be selfish and if I could help protect people, I had a responsibility to do it. The devil was an asshole and I mentally shoved him off my shoulder before high-fiving the angel.

“I can help, but I need to do it on the server where your firewall is the strongest.”

Nathan’s piercing silver eyes landed on me, and I wrestled down the shiver that threatened to race down my spine. “You can help?”

Tanner and Lisa were staring at me like I’d grown a second head. “How could you possibly help?” Lisa asked dubiously.

I didn’t respond to Lisa; I kept my eyes locked with Nathan’s as I asked him to take the leap between trying to be more honest and giving me his complete faith. “You have to trust me.”

He didn’t say anything at first and I wasn’t offended by his need to think through the situation. It wasn’t as if we’d known each other for long and I had no doubt that if it were anyone else in this world, he would never place his trust in them after only knowing them for less than two months.

“Um, Peyton,” Tanner interjected, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “I’m pretty certain you’re the one messing with official hospital and police records and stuff. And I totally respect your abilities, you didn’t leave a single digital print behind, but…I don’t see how you can help when the most skilled hacker we know couldn’t.” His tone suggested that he believed I was clearly out of my depth and he was trying to let me down easy.

After spending my childhood unable to gain approval, no matter what I did, I’d worked hard to find the kind of peace and stability within myself that mostly eradicated the desire to boast and prove myself worthy. So I shrugged off Tanner’s comment. However, as I waited for Nathan to make a decision, I felt the growing urge to convince him that there was no one better than me, that he needed me. And it threw me for a loop.

Well, shit. When did that happen?Somewhere along the way, I’d started to care what Nathan thought about me. Because…I’d grown to care for him—something I’d attributed to our budding friendship. But what if it was more than that? Sam and Linette were my friends and I’d never needed their approval. I had no clue what to do with this revelation.

“Peyton.” Nathan drew me from my thoughts with his commanding tone. “What haven’t you told me?”

Okay, I wasn’t expecting that question.I didn’t want to answer. In fact, I really wanted to respond by asking him the same thing. However, now wasn’t the time to dig into that particular can of worms, so I diverted the discussion back to the matter at hand. “You’ll just have to trust me, Nathan.”

“You truly believe you can do this?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation.

After another stretch of silence, he finally nodded. My heart fluttered and my panther purred happily. The lightness I felt at being given his faith made me reevaluate my thought process when it came to sharing—but only with Nathan. I’d promised to be more open and honest, and I’d had every intention of doing so, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be holding back plenty. Now I wondered if it would lift even more of the heavy burdens I carried off my shoulders. Sharing with Samantha had helped to keep me from falling to pieces, but it had been more about mutual pain and feeling less alone than being unburdened. I hadn’t felt like I could stand up a little straighter the way I did now.

“Follow me.”

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