Page 64 of In Plain Sight

“Somewhere we can talk, privately. No chance of others hearing,” I said in a low voice.

“I have a dampener in my office.”

“Too public. We need private for this,” I said again.

“Fine,” he said. “I have one at the house, too. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that should do,” I confirmed.

He drove quickly to his house. I hesitated as I checked the surroundings before hurrying inside. I didn’t say another word until we were inside his office there and I knew the dampener was on.

“Now what is all this about, Bran? You’re acting crazy,” Thomas said.

I dropped to my knees before him. “You’re not going to like what I’m about to say. You’re going to want to banish me, but I’m begging you not to do that, Thomas. Instead, I need you to accept me into your Pack. I will transfer my full allegiance to you, but you have to swear to me that you will take care of Ruby and the baby she’s carrying. Promise me, Thomas.”

I was desperate and had no other options. He would come for them upon my death and no matter what happened I couldn’t allow that. They would be safer here in Collier. I could move on and do what had to be done, but not until I knew they were safe.

“Bran, get up,” he said.

I shook my head and refused. I sat back on my feet and my shoulders sagged. “Promise me, Thomas.”

He ran a hand through his short hair. “What’s all this about?”

“Promise me,” I begged again.

Never in my life did I imagine myself on my knees begging for anything, but here I was, broken and desperate.

“Okay, okay. She’s my sister. Of course I’m going to protect her and the child,” he finally conceded, and the relief I felt was overwhelming.

“Accept me into your pack,” I told him. “I give my full allegiance to you on the promise you will take care of my family when I’m not here to do it myself.”

I turned my head and exposed my neck to him. He mumbled some words and told me to get up. I didn’t feel any different. I worried that it didn’t take because of my desperation, but as long as Thomas swore he would protect them, I could die in peace.

I managed to pull myself up into a chair and he sat just across from me. I could feel his desire to speed things up and understand what was happening. I’d largely left him in the dark, but he patiently waited for me.

“I’m not who you think I am,” I finally confessed. He didn’t react to that, so I went on. “I was sent here by my Alpha to get close to you. Close enough to gain access to the Westins, or specifically Elena, the witch. I was sent here to kill her.” Still there was no reaction from Thomas. “I swear to you, I never intended to use Ruby to gain that access. I prepared for every possible scenario, but her. She’s my one true mate and I love her more than anything. When my Alpha called today and praised me in advance for finishing the witch, he promised to come for Ruby upon my death, and raved over how they would both be celebrated by my heroism and I dunno, something inside me just snapped. Carrying the burden of a traitor won’t be easy for them, but with you and the family surrounding them with love, I know they’ll be okay and go on to live a good life. I don’t want him anywhere near her or our pup. Do you understand?”

Thomas took a deep breath. He was too calm. I’d just confessed things that should have pissed him off, but he didn’t even seem fazed. He leaned back towards his desk and grabbed a folder with my name on it. He tossed it to me.

I opened it slowly. Inside were pictures and notes, accurate ones, about me. He’d known all along.

“Why did you let me stay then? If you knew. Why?”

Thomas sighed. “You were already mated to my sister when we first met. I didn’t have time to run a background check, and I was more than a little pissed off about it, if you remember. Collier Pack is a farming town. We run a successful ranch, but I don’t hold the resources Kyle does over at Westin Pack. Now he has good reasons for that, you being one of them, but with the alliance we have, I do get full use of those resources when needed.”

“You had him run a full background check on me.”

“Yeah. I reached out to Patrick pretty much the second you arrived. It took a few weeks to capture a picture he could run facial recognition on, but we already suspected something was up by then. When Kelsey first got hurt here, you were our prime suspect. Confirmation of who you really were came in around the same time. Patrick wanted to pull you out immediately, but I asked him to wait.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Why? Because my sister was in love with you by then, and you were pretty convincingly in love with her, too. When the poisoning incident occurred, I couldn’t believe it was you. We couldn’t pin it to you. I told Patrick there was no way you could knowingly harm your mate like that, and he agreed to keep our suspicions quiet.”

“Wait, you mean no one else knows?”

Thomas shook his head.

“Not even Kyle?”

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