Page 75 of Sigma
“Just most of the coven and council,” Linc says, reaching to shake my hand. “You good?”
I shake his hand. I’m not a fan of being near this many bodies in a confined space and even less thrilled that Linc and Joel are here near my mate, but the irritation is a little less than itwas last time I saw Linc. Maybe it’s because of how connected I feel to Cicely now, I don’t know, I just wish I carried a scent so I could bathe her in it, make her smell like me, make sure everyone who gets within twenty feet of her knows she’s taken, knows she’s mine.
“And me,” Cicely’s father says from behind me. “Figure this out, Mitch, so I can go home and sleep beside my mate.”
“You can sleep beside Kathleen now, Dad,” Cicely mutters, kissing his cheek.
“She refuses to sleep in the car,” Lorenzo responds miserably.
“You don’t need to sleep in the car,” Cicely mutters, rolling her eyes.
“You can borrow my and Stan’s camper, Lor,” Cat Savage offers. “Just a little one but it’s yours any time.”
“Appreciate it, Cat,” Lorenzo says.
“Aye. My missus can relate, Lor,” Mitch says. “She insisted on making the trip with me this time. I’ve spent so much time here as of late I was able to get her over for nothing, had so many air travel points.”
Cat laughs. “I’m happy to have you both. And I’d like to keep you both here.”
Mitch laughs jovially, reaching to shake my hand. He says, “I want you to know I’ve not shared anything about you to the Supernatural Council Collective.”
I’m glad he doesn’t seem to be holding the fact I refused to come to him against me.
He goes on. “I’ve been digging, and they’ll see that if they take a look. All council members have full access to one another’s internal logs for system searches, but I’m within my rights in myposition to exercise discretion and my own judgement when it comes to supernaturals of the same category as myself. So that’s what I’m doing. I’ve not broken any rules. Now, the conundrum here is that if it’s deemed after my examination that your animal is a risk to the public, the onus would be on your alpha to handle that and either take responsibility for it or pass the torch to the SCC. But as you’re a lone alpha with no pack, unfortunately that would fall on the SCC and I have to say, we–”
“He’s part of our pack,” Tyson cuts in. “Our council takes responsibility.”
The room goes silent. And it’s a relief Tyson spoke so quickly because I knew where it was headed and a shock of cold has already hit my veins.
I’m box-breathing now.
“I thought–” Mitch starts.
“As soon as he mated Cicely, he became one of ours,” Linc adds.
“Exactly,” Joel chimes in.
I exhale harder than I intend, letting it show.
Cicely leans into me, her arm wrapping around my waist. It helps.
Mitch looks around the room and seems like he’s assessing us all before he says, “As long as you folks understand you’re taking full responsibility.”
“We said we do,” Riley replies with irritation.
There’s obviously some bad blood remaining between him and Mitch.
“Good,” Mitch says and claps his hands. “Then let’s get started. Follow us, Jared. You can bring your mate, but the rest of thesefolks should stay in the waiting room. We’ll shut the door and alert you all if we need backup.”
“I’ll come in,” Tyson states.
“Anybody object to that?” Mitch asks.
I don’t. I get it. Mitch is in good shape, but it’d be good someone else with brawn stays close.
“Take my belt,” Joel offers, reaching for his waist.
“No need,” Ty states.
