“Calm down,” he said, taking hold of my arm and leading me to the sofa. “I know it’s a lot to take in. Here, sit down.” Austin knelt before me and placed his hand on my knee.
I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or throw up. My hands were shaking uncontrollably and I was suddenly thirsty. Austin smoothed his hands over mine and patiently waited until I simmered down. Or until my heart rate stopped breaking the sound barrier.
“If you don’t develop a relationship with your animal, then you can’t be trusted with your own family. I can supervise your visits, or…”
“Or what?”
He stood up and walked to the other side of the room, where he leaned against the doorframe.
Damn, that lean.
“Or we can tell them. We can sit down and show them what you are. It’s something you should be proud of, and while we keep our world secret from humans, this would be one of the exceptions. She’s your mom, and eventually she’ll notice you’re not aging. But it’s important they don’t tell anyone, and I don’t know about your daughter.”
I blinked.
“My daughter?”
“She’s young, and you know how kids are. Not that anyone would believe her, but they won’t tolerate any disloyal—”
“Wait a second, Austin. My daughter?”
He furrowed his brow and his blue eyes flashed. “Yeah. And if that piece of shit I dragged down the stairs was her father, then I don’t want him hanging around or there’s going to be trouble.”
“Maizy isn’t my daughter, Austin. She’s my sister.”
Something shifted out of place in his expression, a new look I’d never seen before.
He closed the distance between us and instead of kneeling down to eye level, he leaned forward and put his hands on either side of the sofa cushion behind my head.
“Your sister? Wes’s sister?” he asked in disbelief.
I nodded.
I’d never really been scared of Austin until that moment. His eyes bored into me and I looked away. For a minute there, I thought he was going to yell, or maybe I fantasized a little bit that he was going to lean down and kiss me fervently.
But he came to some kind of conclusion after a hard stare and straightened up with his arms folded.
“I don’t want your ex coming around again. If I find out he has, I’m going to track him down and personally deliver the message.”
A knuckle cracked.
“Don’t worry,” I assured him. “I have no intention of seeing Beckett anymore. We’re over.”
I stared at Jericho’s belt on the floor, then at Austin’s. I remembered the slow precision with which Jericho unlatched the leather and slid it out, imagining Austin doing a move like that. Maybe it was for the best he didn’t shift after all.
I really wanted to kick myself.
“Does he have anything of yours? You mentioned the car title. I don’t want anything holding you to him.”
“Yeah,” I said. “But I read up on it and I can get a new one.”
“One of my brothers may be looking for a car,” he suggested.
“No.”
He titled his head. “And why not?”
“Beckett had sex in that car and I’d rather see it burn. I want to sell it to a stranger so I never have to see it again.”
“Tell you what. I’ll see what I can do about taking the car off your hands, and I promise—it’ll be gone for good.”
That was a relief. Buying or selling a car was stressful, and I didn’t really know how to handle those things. “Thanks, Austin. I’d appreciate it.”
Denver appeared and his voice boomed. “We got company!”
“Who?” Austin’s eyes were bright and alert.
“Jericho’s hunting them down.” Denver hopped on one foot while shoving the other into a sneaker. “We were twenty yards from the house and—”
“Shifters?” Austin peeled off his shirt and his abs tensed.
Denver flicked his eyes to me. “Yeah. One of them said we have an unclaimed bitch and he wanted to meet her.”
My eyes narrowed. “Who’s he calling a bitch?”
“Word’s out then,” Austin muttered. “Doesn’t take long. How the hell do they know about her?”
Denver shrugged as he tied his laces. “Only an alpha would have smelled her if she was close to the change. You been near any alphas?” Denver asked.
“How would I know? I get a ton of customers coming in and out of my store and I couldn’t tell you an alpha from a beta. Are you saying you can smell me?”
Denver quirked a smile and quickly switched over to a serious face. “They didn’t state what pack they belonged to. If Jericho tracks them down, you should have a talk with their Packmaster. I wouldn’t recommend going after them yourself,” he said, eyeing Austin who was squeezing his hands into fists. “You know the consequences if an alpha attacks another pack on the offense without provocation, especially if they’re not on our turf. Rules, bro. Play by ’em.”