Page 11 of Tossed into the Mob
“Get some rest.” Treyton grabbed a toothbrush and toothpaste from the shopping bag.
A noise outside made me jump, and the toothpaste fell out of my left hand, but Treyton caught it. Wow! He must have been on every high school sporting team with those reflexes.
"What if the person who shot me finds us?"
"They won't."He picked up the gun. Being linked to the mafia, he must know how to shoot. “I’ll stay awake tonight and make sure nothing happens to you."
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FIVE
TREYTON
“I’m scared.”
Perfectly understandable considering I was tossing my mate into a shifter mafia family dinner. He was terrified of the criminal element but wasn’t aware most of the people in the room would have a wolf inside them.
“I’m here.” I reached out, wanting to place a palm on his thigh or squeeze his hand, but I almost stroked his cheek, and just in time, I jerked my arm back and patted his arm which was what a colleague might do.
I hope you know what you’re doing.
I don’t. I didn’t.
“Thank you.” He stared at my hand, and I checked my nails, making sure I didn’t have dirt under them.
I had to be at the dinner or Grandpa would send people to look for me, no matter what excuse I gave. When he couldn’t find me, he’d contact Flint and his brothers. Brock would have a heart attack if Ranger confronted him, or he might earn himself another bullet because my cousin was a shoot-first-ask-questions-later guy.
The family might accuse me of what? Disrespecting our traditions by bringing a stranger into a private Durand space. I could shoulder their disapproval because I had to put my mate first.
“Flint and Grandpa Arnie,” Brock said under his breath more than once as his right knee jiggled. “Can I just call everyone sir?”
I was about to say that wasn’t necessary but decided it might ease his fears if I agreed. “Sure.”
I slowed the car and turned on the indicator when we reached Rudy’s home. It was his turn to host dinner this week, but my cousins’ dad was a terrible cook, so Grandpa was cooking. Rudy’s three kids had all kidnapped their human mates before they bonded, and in my head, I imagined the shocked silence, mutters, and maybe jeers if I admitted I’d been kidnapped.
But it wasn’t really. A half kidnap? A soft one? A barely-there version?
“Let’s leave out the bit about you abducting me.”
Brock’s harsh breathing must have hurt, and if he didn’t calm down, he’d hyperventilate. I grabbed a paper bag from the back seat and told him to blow into it. I was old school and I had those bags in my first-aid kit, but I’d anticipated his anxiety and pulled one out before we left the trailer.
“This is nice.”
“Mmmm.” The house wasn’t as huge as his sons’ homes, but the land it stood on was, and Rudy enjoyed a wild rugged landscape rather than the manicured lawns and rectangular hedges that were Flint’s style.
Even if Brock wasn’t with me, everyone would scent him on me. But we’d decided he’d stay in the car until I’d informed my family I had someone I wanted them to meet. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it would have to do.
I cut the engine, and Brock gripped the armrest as if it was a life preserver in the middle of a stormy sea.
“How’s your arm?”
“Better. Not as painful as my belly.” He leaned forward and pressed a hand on his stomach.
Now I was second-guessing having him stay here, but if I had him wait on the porch, the family would see, hear, or scent him. Maybe all three. And there were bodyguards stationed outside the house.
“Nothing bad will happen to you, and you might find out the identity of your alpha father this evening.”
“That’s assuming I don’t die of fright first.”
