Page 41 of Hunted

“I’ll be there before you have your baby, Aerin,” Moses promises.

“Things sound dangerous, Moses. Dad needs you more than I do.”

“And we’ll keep an eye out in case Shane or Bree show their faces here,” Mack says.

I recall the shifter they scented at the hotel. If Mack hadn’t been so sure that the scent was unfamiliar, I’d have thought it was Shane or Bree, already here to cause trouble.

“We’ll speak soon, okay?” Moses assures me. “Lucy and I are thinking of Thumper and we’ll come up there soon as we can.”

I force a smile to my lips, though I don’t see how Dad will let him come all this way, especially now. “Okay, Moses.”

After saying our goodbyes, I hang up and face Mack. “You didn't want me to answer the phone. Why? What's going on? What are you keeping from me?”

Mack gives me a long look and I know he’s debating not telling me. “I think we need to have a pack meeting tonight.”

In the past, our pack meetings have been brief, held before a meal or a run and more of an opportunity to talk and catch up with each other. This—whatever this is—sounds serious.

“Why?”

“Come here.” He holds his arms out to me.

I get up from my seat, and that in itself is no easy feat. But I make myself comfortable on his lap as he wraps his arms around my hips, drawing me as close as he can with my belly in the way. “I’m struggling.”

Alarm jolts through me. “Struggling with what?”

“I want—no, I need to keep you safe.”

“But?”

“I don’t want to worry you.” He combs his fingers through my hair. “There seems to be a new source of anxiety just when we’ve resolved something. Now there’s a problem with the Dacres.”

I lean against him. “I know.”

“I want to keep you safe and I’m terrified I’m going to fail.”

“You won’t fail Mack. You already keep me safe.”

He gives me a gentle squeeze. “So we’ll have a pack meeting tonight after dinner. All of us, about everything, and we’ll figure it out.”

“Does this have something to do with you not wanting me to answer the phone?”

He kisses the top of my head. “It does.”

14

MACK

I’d have preferred the pack meeting was at the dining table because this meeting is serious and we always conduct serious meetings in there.

The den is for relaxing, watching a movie with the pack, or curling up on the couch with Aerin to read a book from one of the many bookcases that fill our home.

But because Aerin’s lower back is hurting more days than not, and the last thing she needs is to be sitting on a hard dining chair for however long this meeting will last, we have it in the den.

Aerin is sitting on a couch, the rest of the pack spread around the room while I stand beside the window that faces the front of the house. “Someone called three times today, and each time I answered, they hung up.”

Bennett cocks his head as he scrutinizes me. “And that’s the reason for this meeting?”

“If the calls hadn’t come after we found signs of a wolf trying to claim territory belonging to me, I wouldn’t think twice about it.” I cross my arms as I examine my pack one by one.

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