Page 59 of Trick's Elite

Stiletto reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “Relax your jaw. You’re grinding your teeth.”

“I just… I want this to go well.”

“It will,” she said, calmly. “They love you. I love you. Eventually, that will be all that matters.”

He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “I want them to love you, too.”

She snorted a laugh. “That might be a tall order this quickly, Trick, but we’ll get there.”

When they arrived at the clubhouse, Brute, Ranger, and Rock were waiting in the parking lot, and Brute rushed forward to assist Trick with the wheelchair, as he helped Stiletto out of the car.

As she settled in the chair, Stiletto lifted her head and looked at the clubhouse, “Didn’t expect to be here so soon.”

Trick bent down until he was eye level with her. “I know I’ve asked a thousand times, but if you—”

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I want to leave, tell you.” She waved him off, eliciting chuckles from his brothers. “Let’s go. I want to meet your family… officially.”

“That’s your family, too, Stiletto,” Ranger said as he smiled down at her.

A throat cleared behind them. Trick and Ranger turned around to see Rex standing there. He glanced at Trick before his gaze settled between the two men and on Stiletto. “I’m Rex.”

Trick could practically feel his mate’s discomfort, but he just kept his eyes on Rex as Stiletto said, “I’m s—”

Rex lifted a hand to stop her and gave her a gentle half-smile. “Don’t apologize. What’s done is done. I have one question for you.”

When Trick felt her hand slip into his, he gave a reassuring squeeze. Stiletto squeezed back. “Okay.”

“Why did you jump in front of Trick and take that bullet?”

Pride and love swelled inside of Trick as he heard the vehemence in her voice when she replied, “They were trying to kill my mate. I now know how fucking twisted their view is on shifters. There are good and bad in shifters, just like humans, maybe less so. I know that now. I couldn’t watch them kill him for just existing. I couldn’t watch them kill him foranyreason. I love him. So, I jumped in front of him and took that bullet. And I’d do it again.”

Trick’s head swung around, and he narrowed his eyes on Stiletto as a growl rolled through him at her last sentence. To that, she rolled her eyes. The thought of her doing anything like that again made him completely unhinged.

Rex chuckled. “Well, that answers that. Welcome to the family, Sis.”

Stiletto

They had a great night at the compound with the Howlers and the Ol’ Ladies. The only one missing, from what Trick told her, was Kisy. She knew Kisy was also a member of the Claws, which made sense that she was with her club. Most of the men were polite and nice to her, but when she first arrived, they had been a bit guarded. By the end of the night, that guard had lowered. She knew it would take a while for them to see her without the academy attached, but she didn’t blame them for that.

The Ol’ Ladies were accepting from the beginning, especially Diamond, as she made sure to stay at Stiletto’s side the entire night. The women practically pushed Trick out of the way and took control of her wheelchair, insisting she sit with them at their table. They acted like she was always supposed to be there and launched into sharing all sorts of funny stories about the men with her. A thought crossed her mind as Ruby launched into a story about catnip and how Siren and Pike reacted to it.

If the heart of every person on the planet was as loving and open as the hearts of these women, there would be peace.

As soon as she finished the story and the laughter died down, Ruby asked, “So, why Stiletto?”

“Shocker,” Butterfly said, deadpan. “Ruby has questions.”

Ruby shrugged. “I am who I am.”

Grinning at their exchange, Stiletto answered, “My favorite knife is a stiletto. And I may have, very early on, woke Trick up with my knife to his throat. It was actually the moment things began to shift for me. During one of our date nights, Trick admitted he named me that because it was the hottest thing that had ever happened to him.”

The women were smiling, but several of them shook their heads. It was Gorgeous who uttered, “These men get turned on by the oddest things.”

Butterfly shrugged. “I pulled a gun on Bullet.”

Stiletto fist-bumped her. “Oh! I was told to ask you about how deadly heels could be.”

The table erupted in laughter.

---