Page 28 of Little Red and Her Creatures of Chaos
“Family meeting,” Luther calls out, and they head down a long hallway. I give the boys a wave and start to head back to the kitchen to wait. “That means you too, Radley.”
I turn around in surprise, and Mason wraps his arm around my shoulders. “You’re family now. Come on.”
My heart flips, and my stomach fills with butterflies. They’ve only just met me, and they’re already accepting me into this family. I already know what my choice is going to be, but this concretes it. “Are you okay?” I ask.
Mason kisses the top of my head and lingers there for a second. “I am now.”
Mason leads us out onto a giant back porch. He sits on a wicker couch and pulls me into his lap. Bryce sits beside him and pulls my feet into his lap. Nash sits on Mason’s other side, making sure his body is pressed against me.
Luther starts explaining what happened in the woods, and when he gets to the part about Mason’s mom, my mouth drops open. How dare she come back here after what she did? Anger that I didn’t even know I possessed floods my veins, and I lookat Mason. His face is drawn in sadness, but I can see the anger in his eyes. I snuggle closer to him in comfort, and his arms close around me almost too tight. He buries his nose in my hair and inhales. I feel his body relax against me, and I get a giddy feeling that I did that to him.
“What are we going to do?” Margie asks. “We have too many kids and elderly here to fight.”
“We can’t just let them take over our land,” Teddy argues. “Today was just for show. They have a bigger plan.”
“Your mom?” I ask Mason. That thought blows my mind. How can a mother do that to her son she willingly left? My mom might not win any Mother of the Year awards, but I don’t think she’d ever do something like this.
“She’s not my mom,” Mason growls. “She gave up that chance the second she left.”
“But are you going to be able to fight her if it comes to that?” Luther asks softly.
“Are you?” Mason throws back. “She attacked my beta.” Hismomattacked Bryce? “I’ll do whatever is necessary.”
“I’ll do what I have to do to protect this family,” Luther answers. “The other packs are preparing as we speak. We need a plan.”
“We need to patrol the area more frequently,” Nash responds. “We can leave some alphas to protect those who can’t fight.”
“For how long?” Beth asks. “Are we just supposed to wait for them to attack?”
“There were at least ten of them,” Bryce says quietly. “And they aren’t afraid to attack first.”
Mason’s body goes rigid again. “I’m so damn sorry, Little beta.”
“It’s not your fault.” Bryce shifts until he’s pressed against Mason’s side. Mason slings an arm around his shoulders and drags him closer.
“No. It’s not,” Luther agrees. “She brought them back here for a reason.”
“Maybe she realized what she gave up,” I say quietly. “I can feel how much you care about each other. I get the feeling she doesn’t get that anymore.”
“Not if they have omegas fighting for them,” Teddy says. “Omegas and betas are meant to be protected. I spotted at least four. The rest were alphas.”
“We need to check the area out. See if we can find where they’re hiding,” Luther says, running his fingers through his hair. “No one goes out alone.”
Mason nods and lifts me to stand. “We need to go back to the cabin.”
Bryce grabs my hand and leads me back through the house. I notice that he’s not even limping anymore, and the blood flow stopped. He wasn’t kidding about healing fast. When we get to the bottom steps, he frowns at me. “Where are your shoes?”
I look down at my bare feet and back to him. “I didn’t have a chance to grab them.”
Bryce turns around and holds his arms out behind him. “Hop on.”
“What? No! You were just hurt. I can walk.”
“I’m fine, and you aren’t walking through gravel barefoot. Hop on.”
“Fine, Mr. Bossy,” I grumble, grabbing his shoulders and jumping onto his back.
Bryce laughs and tucks his arms under my ass. “I have to take care of my girl.”His girl?
