Page 18 of Targeted By Fate

“Do I have to meet all your brothers? Can’t we do it one by one?”

I’d forgotten he hadn’t officially met them as Keane, the man, and I would have arranged a more informal introduction, but both my older brother and Alpha texted, telling me to hurry.

“Sorry, my love. With Alpha present, they’ll behave.”

He shot me a glance as I steered the car around a corner. “And if Alpha wasn’t there, what would they be doing? Hanging from the chandeliers?”

“We don’t have chandeliers.”

My mate side-eyed me. “That’swhat you got from what I said?”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.” He patted my thigh, but my cock was so engorged, I worried I’d greet my brothers with a huge boner.

Keane nibbled a nail. “I should be more nervous about meeting your Alpha because of what you told me about Maynard and his mate.”

I batted away his worry with one hand. “That was because my brother-in-law was human,” I clarified. “Not that we don’t like humans, but it was complicated by Maynard having to reveal he was a hitman.

“He’s a hitman!” We’d pulled up outside our house, and Keane’s voice boomed across the street.

“Ummm, yeah.” Probably should have mentioned that before we arrived. “But the good kind.”

Keane smushed his face with both hands. “So when I meet him, should I duck? Or yell, ‘Don’t shoot?’”

I grabbed both his hands. “My darling, look at me and breathe in and out.”

“I have done that every second since I was born, Boaz. You don’t need to tell me how to breathe.” His voice rose so by the end of the sentence, he was screeching.

My mate walked away and waved me off when I tried to approach him. “Just let me be.”

I stood back, wishing I could take him in my arms and smother him with kisses, but I respected his demand that I leave him alone.

I shuffled my feet on the driveway as the curtains in the living room twitched. Two, then three, four, and finally five faces appeared. I ignored them because Alpha’s car wasn’t parked on the street, so he must have been running late.

When my mate strolled over to me, he apologized, saying though we were mafia, and he hadn’t had a problem with that, having a hit man in the family, someone he’d share a meal with and celebrate with, was a bigger deal.

“He takes down bad guys.” I kept the information to myself—for the moment—that he was supposed to kill his mate. That was a detailed discussion for another day.

Keane took a deep breath. “Better get this over with.” He tucked his arm in mine, and the curtain twitchers vanished. “Looks like we have a welcoming committee.”

“Oh, you saw that?” I laughed. “No need for introductions.”

Like the last time I was here, the door was wrenched open, but only by Lake, our baby brother. The other four were nonchalantly sitting on various sofas, pretending to read—did they know how to read?—or watching TV.

“Hello, I’m Lake, the youngest and most sane of the brothers.” He hugged Keane, and my mate melted into his arms. Lake was the easiest-going of my siblings, though he could handle himself in a fight, and his wolf was fierce.

“And we have chips and dips if you’re hungry.”

One by one my remaining brothers came over, and I introduced them. Maynard, being the eldest, was last.

“We’re so glad the effects of the drug have worn off, and we’d love to welcome you to the family properly, but we have new information of what happened to you and the others at the club.”

A car pulled up outside. Alpha! As the pack Beta, I opened the door and introduced him to my mate. Alpha was more circumspect than my brothers and probably came across as gruff, but I’d warned Keane.

He didn’t wait until everyone was seated, and I’d barely closed the door when he stated, “We have confirmation that the Ironclaw pack from out of state was behind the poisoning.”

Ezra held up his computer. “I tracked their messages that they thought were encrypted.” He grinned. “But they were wrong.”

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