Page 39 of A Baby for the Beast
"I know," I respond, clapping his back before disengaging. "But I'm doing it."
I scan over the small crowd in the living room, my eyes meeting Hayley's. Lilah's talking to her about something, and she's nodding along, but my girl's attention is fully on me. Her lips curl slightly before she mouths 'be safe.' I press a hand to my heart and nod. I'm not going to be kept from my omega, but I'm not going to let someone threaten her and get away with it.
No one stops me as I leave Sam and Janie's house, though I can feel Henry wanting to do something. I'm surprised they let me leave without a fuss. There was a good chance Henry and I actually fought, but he doesn't even follow me back outside. None of them do, which I should probably worry about a little bit more. It's hard to do that when there are more pressing matters.
I'm so caught up in my own thoughts of making sure I do this the best possible way that I completely forget about Jace saying he was coming with until I'm backing out of the driveway, and his stupid face is grinning at me in the rearview mirror.
I slam on the brakes, forcing a laugh out of him when he sees how pissed I am. "Get out."
"Fuck no," Jace throws his head back and laughs harder. "You need a wingman, a murder wingman."
"That's not a thing," I growl. "Get out before Sam and Henry realize you're here and have my balls for roping you into this."
"I'm the one who convinced them to let me come," Jace says, his smile still tugging at his lips, but he's back to looking at his phone.
I put the car in park and throw my door open. Jace lets out a little sound of surprise, and when I jerk his door open, ready to physically wrangle him out of the car, he pushes his back against the far door and starts kicking at me.
"I'm coming with!"
"You're going back inside," I say, grabbing his ankle and using my strength to pull him as he thrashes about. Remus comes out, growling and snapping his teeth, demanding submission.
"Doesn't work on me, old man," Vilkas growls back, Jace's beast burning bright in his eyes as Remus huffs and lowers himself so he can stare down the younger beast. Remus snaps his teeth, demanding submission, and Vilkas just stares, baring his teeth right back. "I've been a good actor, huh?"
"How long?" Remus asks, his irritation gone, now he's more amused than anything.
"How long have I been pretending you scare me?" Vilkas asks, his rough, growly voice showing some of Jace's annoying laughter in it as he asks.
"Yes, how long?" Remus asks, letting his leg go. We're done trying to force him out of the car for the time being. The only way we can now is to physically remove him since we can't make him.
"The whole time, probably," Vilkas shrugs. "Seemed smart to look scared."
"Who knows?" Remus asks, curious about why he's keeping this a secret.
If the rest of the family knows they've done a good job, they're not letting me know. The few times Remus has come out, Jace has always been good about ducking his head. Actually, looking back on family dinners, he does any time any of the beasts come out, even Romulus, who is as into fighting as his appearance makes him out to be.
"You," Vilkas shrugs. "I don't need to be the strongest in the family. None of us actually fight."
I think back to a couple of months ago when Fenrir and Romulus did actually fight in Sam's backyard because Romulus made a remark about Sarah's ass when she bent over. That was more like some brotherly fighting, and no one ended up actually injured, but there's definitely fighting that happens.
This is so far down on things that are important right now.
Remus must agree with me because he gives me back control of our body, and it's a weird feeling Vilkas out when he's nottrying to keep himself nonthreatening. The air is heavy with his dominance, and it has my brows pulling high on my forehead.
"If only you were good at actually fighting."
"Ass," Vilkas growls, the dominance thickening, making me have to work to keep my instincts from wanting to submit.
I've never felt it before, and it's strange to feel it now. I don't like it. Remus doesn't mind it because he and Vilkas seemed to be on level with one another, but I'm definitely weaker than Jace's beast. Jace's blue eyes take over the golden ones, and he sits up in the backseat.
"You ready to go now?"
I sigh because I really don't have a choice now. "Fine, but you stay in the car."
"Getaway driver, nice," Jace says, smirking before pulling his phone out and swiping through some messages.
I grumble, unhappy with this turn of events, but it's not like I'm going to be able to get him out of the car.
If Sam or Henry tries to give me shit for this, I'll just have Vilkas come out and show them that he's actually powerful. They won't just take me at my word for it, I already know that much for sure.
