Page 21 of Sinful Mates

All the tears and fighting back my demons consumed my energy like a fireplace devouring wood faster than it could be supplied. “Take me home. Make love to me. Help me move past this.”

“Your wish is our command, sugar.” Slade’s devilish smile promised to make me forget everything but his calloused palms, rough touch, and deep, growled words.

CHAPTER8

Castor

I hadto get the drop on this avatar before he made his next move. Before he completely destroyed the Jackals from the inside out. My woman and brothers weren’t safe until this asshole died.

Every avenue I tried led to a dead end. Access to Thoth’s information highway had limitations. Sure, I hacked into top-secret and high-security databases for information. Transferred money to illegal accounts without a trace. Obtained evidence to bribe our enemies. Boundaries to my reach prevented me going further in this case, and it was time to tap into another avatar’s power, with reach beyond my own in a different pantheon.

Whisky in hand, I escaped Slade’s kitchen to the porch, basking in the moon’s glow. Calls like this required privacy. Adult content and not suitable for children’s ears. Above all that, I needed a break from the kid, her energy, her presence needing time to adjust.

Through the window, Slade whipped Aaliyah’s ass with a tea towel, and she flung bubbled dishwater at him. They laughed, distracting Mia from packing the plates away, and the cute little thing scooped up bubbles and blew them at Zethan. He wiped them off and squashed them in her hair. Squeals peeled through the windows.

Throat rumbling with a laugh, I sipped at my triple finger of whisky, preparing for my call.

Discipline daddy Alaric jumped in, ushering her to finish her chores, get bathed, and her teeth brushed before bed. Irony that the party animal, prankster of the club got tough on Mia made me bark out a laugh.

Warmth branched out across my chest at our expanded family. I didn’t know how I fit into the equation yet. What my role might be. Father? Mentor? Life threatener to anyone who hurt her?

I stayed out of raising the girl. She wasn’t my kid, and I had no say in her upbringing, although Aaliyah gave us permission to set ground rules and execute them. If we wanted space, we were to tell Mia. Should we catch her breaking the rules, our mate expected us to emphasize the rules and punish accordingly. I might belong to the god of reckoning, but I wasn’t disciplining the sweet thing. A job for my mate. I also didn’t want to mess things up the way I did in the past.

Memory caught me in its hold, taking me back to the past. Pain I buried for so long rushed to the surface, raw, dark, and screaming with sorrow. Once I might have had the chance to be a father. Screwed that up, too. Liz fell pregnant with my kid. Complications in her first trimester led to her losing the baby. Work called me away, and if I was just there, maybe it would be different. The gods’ way of telling me I wasn’t father material.

Time with our mate became more precious with the new limitation in our relationship. I was a selfish bastard and resented having to share my mate with the others. The first to shove Slade out of the way when he hogged our woman. Greed my sin for wanting more time with my mate. Sue me.

Despite the new challenge to navigate, I didn’t harbor an ounce of indignation toward the kid. Getting swept into our war and losing her parents wasn’t her fault. Truthfully, after the blows dealt us, the hits and losses, acrimony might have destroyed the Jackals, Aaliyah, and her mates. This sweet, innocent creature brought us light and laughter where there was only bitterness and darkness.

If anything, Aaliyah, harborer of secrets, rankled me. Taciturn woman was full of more surprises than her goddess. We all had secrets. Shame. Kinks. Things we didn’t want to see the light. None quite as startling as a daughter she adopted out. My mate needed to answer for her secrets and why she kept them. Empty out any remaining if she wanted our trust again. Neglect ruined my marriage and I wasn’t letting dishonesty wreck what I had with my mate. Uneasy with the new state of affairs, I pulled back, needing reassurance of her loyalties.

Mia squeaked as Slade put more suds on her head, and she flicked them off all over Zethan. He laughed, snatched the tea towel, and cracked it over Slade’s ass with a harsh snap. First time he smiled in days. Recent events kicked him in the gut. Not entirely unexpected. Taken care of, though.

Leading up to the disastrous turn of events, Zethan and I discussed the possible outcomes of this war with the Wolves at length. Emergency preparation never killed anyone, especially not with an adversary always one step ahead. Mia’s kidnapping and hostage situation threw everything upside down. For starters, I didn’t even know the kid existed. Blind oversight, since Aaliyah used her ex’s surname, not Heller, on Mia’s birth certificate. Alternate scenarios we predicted applied to Mia’s situation, and we enacted relevant counter measures to rescue her.

Zethan said all along he was willing to take the fall so long as Aaliyah came out alive, even if that meant we disobeyed Slade’s orders. Reality and plots were two very different things when planning for the worst. Sacrifice and demotion wrecked him, his bond left in tatters, like a grenade went off in his ribcage. I was the only one he trusted to step into his shoes. Alaric too loyal, his adherence to a military-style chain of command and his benching due to mental health concerns eliminated him as a contender. Unfortunately, the men didn’t approve of a female in their ranks, thereby forcing Aaliyah into limbo with the club. We couldn’t afford for Slade to find out we plotted against him, even if the stakes were mutual. That would tear apart everything we worked so hard for. At this hour, that would hand victory to the avatar behind all the meddling.

My gaze coasted to Aaliyah. Chaos tangling her bond said Zethan’s demoted position hurt her just as much. Woman was too independent and stubborn to ask for assistance, so when it was made in her name, she suffered along with her mate.

Maintaining the façade, I pretended it was business as usual, adopting my VP role, carrying it out for him until the club and Slade forgave him. I had no doubt that balance would be restored within the avatars when the time came.

I scrubbed the tattoos on my fingers. Hieroglyphs symbolizing the cosmic law of Maat. Balance. Order. Law. Thoth’s role as the god of Reckoning was to enforce the law ofMaatthroughout Egypt and bring balance to the people and planet. If the avatars followed the law of the gods, my position of VP wouldn’t last, and my role as club enforcer restored. At least, I fucking hoped so. Though, if I returned to that role, thingswould bedifferent. On my terms. Fucking with people through emotional and psychological manipulation rather than blows from my fist. Bruises healed. Psychological trauma stayed with a person and got better results. Slower, yes, but more effective.

Voices from inside dragged me from my thoughts.

“That’s enough fun, missy.” Alaric lifted Mia off the floor and directed a withering look at Slade like a heat-seeking missile. “Bath time and then bed.”

Fuck. No thanks. Sitting around and taking care of kids wasn’t my scene. Danger and excitement called to me. Why I invested so much time in my legal cases. Maybe the gods had other ideas for me. Time would tell.

Up until three days ago, I enforced the rules for a living, delivering punishments for disobedience or violence to extract information. Technically, my job never stopped in an MC, but when I came home, I swapped reckoning for intelligent pursuits. Books, history, and magical experiments. Anything to wash my soul clean of blood. Raising a child didn’t fit into my agenda. Ambition, success, and making a name for myself were my calling... at least until the triad turned my life upside down.

Hunted by gangs, I changed my name, hairstyle, even my job, faking my death to hide from those assholes. Eventually they found me, but not before I found them. Fraud played in their ranks with a little intervention on my behalf and tore them apart. The Egyptian mafia swooped in on their territory and wiped them out, leaving my hands clean. Anyone who wanted me dead no longer lived to tell the tale.

Which made me think of the fucker avatar meddling with us. Clever bastard knew how to circumnavigate my abilities and leave no trace of himself. Just like me. Whoever they were, they’d studied us from afar, learning our vulnerabilities.

Fuck. Weaknesses. Mine a mile long. Terrible husband. Poor pet father. Friends… what were they? I worked too hard and too much. Determination not to repeat that with Aaliyah shot through my veins.

A check on my Rolex said I was already out here too long. Time to call my contact. My magick activated a secure line to prevent the call from being traced. Numbers beeped at the dialing sequence, and he answered in one ring. “Castor-boy-am-I-glad-you-called.” His words came out in a desperate rush. “I’ll do it. Whatever you need. Hit me up.”

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