by L. P. Maxa
“Baze doesn’t talk about anything unless he absolutely has to.” He could hear the smile in Jace’s voice that he was no doubt trying like hell to hide. “Franklin had to find out about you somehow though. Are there any records of you two together? Pictures, videos? Did you get best couple or most likely to pop out a littler?”
“What kind of school do you think we went to?”
“You know what I mean. Is there anything out there in the world that would link you two together?” Jace’s tone wasn’t harsh, and that was the only reason Baze wasn’t barging in to interrupt their discussion.
“My father didn’t like Baze. He didn’t want us together. So we kept things pretty hidden. We didn’t tell our friends we were dating. Hell, I think Baze even told his mom that we had broken up months before my father sent me away.”
He had. He’d wanted to make sure her father couldn’t possibly know about them until they were already mated. After that, there would have been nothing he could do to keep them apart. He’d have disowned her, but they were both prepared for that, and excited to be on their own.
Baze’s mother had been heartbroken for him; her kind words and hugs had made him feel guilty every day. But he knew she would understand in the long run, she’d see why he’d had to lie.
“Your father. Tell me about him.”
“He’s controlling, always has been. He thought Baze wasn’t good enough for me. He found us together and had me on a jet to Switzerland within the hour.”
“Tell me about what he does for business, who he spends time with. I don’t need to hear the teenage sob story, I need to try to find the connection. I need to know how my father knew to use you, not how yours broke your heart.”
Penelope sounded almost bored when she replied, “Are you trying to piss me off?”
“Is someone other than me about to be on the receiving end of that infamous Penelope Sutton attitude?” Baze figured he might as well make his presence known and save Jace from the wrath of his girl. “What’s the arguing about?”
Pen glanced his way, her expression withering. “Like you weren’t standing outside that door eavesdropping for the last five minutes?”
He was as quiet as a mouse, stealthier than a fox. How had she known he was there? Not that it mattered at the moment. He’d been caught, but he decided to gloss over it. “Her father owned a shipping company from what I remember.”
“Your rich, ruthless father was in the import-export business?” Jace scoffed. “Well, I’m sure that’s our connection right fucking there.”
“I’ve never heard the name Franklin in my entire life. And my father knows that I haven’t seen or spoken to Baze in ten years. Why would he tell anyone about my past? He wishes that part of my life never happened in the first place.”
She had a point. Why would her father talk about him at all? It didn’t make sense.
“Like I said, Franklin is meticulous. He has dossiers on any and every person he ever worked with. He digs deep, he has leverage, always. If he worked with your father, even once, he’d have done his due diligence. And that includes knowing everything there is to know about you.” Jace pointed at Pen, then leaned back in his chair, like he was a lawyer who had just made his case.
“You’re saying the knowledge that Baze and I were together as teenagers was something Franklin always had? And after all this time, he decided to use me to send a message? Why me? Why not Baze’s mom? It doesn’t make sense.”
He was with Pen on this one. Why her? And why him? Why not send a message using his own sons’ mother? Or hell, even Riley’s family. Why did he want to get to Baze?
“It makes perfect sense.” Jace stood, going over to look out the window toward the mountains. “It shows his reach, it shows his knowledge. It’s a complete power play. He knows your history, he knows that throwing you into the mix would pack the biggest punch. And as to why Baze? I assume it’s because he knows we’ve been the ones dealing with Ox.”
“And I’m a distraction.” Pen shook her head, setting her cute bare feet on the waxed concrete floor. “Everyone would be focused on who I was and why they didn’t know about me.”
“Exactly.” Jace gestured to Penelope. “She’s right.”
“Children raised by ruthless fathers, unite.” Pen raised her fist in the air and Jace actually let a real smile show.
“But why me? Why a message to me? We’re all in this together.” Franklin went after Madden and Corey, but they’re mated. They’re pack and they were here, with them and within Franklin’s reach. Plus, he’d hated Corey from the moment they met. He went after the twins and Riley, which made total sense. Of course he would go after the kids ratting him out and trying to have him arrested.
“Maybe he saw what I see.” Penelope looked over at Baze, her beautiful eyes dancing. “That you’re the alpha.” Then she moved her gaze to Jace. “And you’re his beta.”
Well, that was not what he expected her to say in that moment. He hadn’t really planned on mentioning the whole alpha/beta thing to Jace. The kid had so much on his plate already. Let alone the rest of the pack.
“You’re the alpha? What is she talking about?” Jace walked past them and shut his office door. “Our pack doesn’t have an alpha.”
Pen crossed her arms over her chest, making her tank top tighter along with Baze’s pants. Fuck. He needed to get his shifter under control when it came to his desire for Penelope. “Every pack has an alpha.”
“And you know this how?”
Jace had his concentration focused on Pen, which meant he couldn’t hear people were coming down the hall. “Enough.” Both Jace and Penelope turned their attention to him, but neither one was looking at the ground. Maybe she’d been wrong after all. He sure as hell didn’t intimidate either of them.
Pen moved to question him, but the door opened, stopping her. Keller stuck his head inside the office, his eyebrows raised. “We interrupting something?” He was shifter, like Baze and Jace. Keller would be able to feel the heaviness in the room.
“No.” Jace didn’t elaborate, which made him sound like he was lying.
Baze suddenly felt weary, like he was the liaison for the whole damn group. “Jace was questioning Pen about Franklin.”
“Did we learn anything new?” Dom leaned against the doorframe in that contained casual way he had. He should be alpha, he was more diplomatic.
“A few things.” Baze shrugged, trying to make it seem like there wasn’t any current tension between Penelope and Jace. “We can go over it all tonight at dinner. Molly’s cooking, right?” Would changing the subject work? Small talk about things like Molly’s cooking wasn’t Baze’s normal MO.
“Uh, yeah, I think so.” Keller was looking at him like he’d grown two heads. “Is everything okay? Things seem…”
“Tense as fuck.” Dom pushed off the wall and came farther into the office. “But if you want to wait until dinner to talk about it, that’s fine by me.” He moved toward the window, studying the same view Baze had admired the first time he’d been in the room. “Work starts back tomorrow.” Dom turned to meet Baze’s gaze. “You think it’s safe for Corey on campus? I was thinking we could tell Dean McCormick the doctor put her on bed rest.”
“Honestly, Dom, I have no idea if campus is safe.” Baze ran his hand through his hair, pulling it in frustration. “If you feel like Corey needs to stay here, then I’ll back you up.”
“Coop is gonna kill you, both of you.” Keller chuckled and walked out the door, shaking his head. Baze didn’t fault him for not wanting to be part of a conspiracy to keep Corey away from campus, her mate, or her job.
“He’s right.” Baze sighed, shaking his head. “Corey’s gonna be mad as hell and climbing the walls within three days.”
“Corey is my whole fucking world. The thought of something happening to her, or the baby? I can’t even let myself go there, man.” Dom nodded. “We’ll tell her tonight at dinner. She’ll be pissed, but I can handle her.”
&nb
sp; “No. I can handle her.” They all turned to see Madden standing in the doorway, a smirk on her face. “We can make it my idea, and I can get us an actual doctor’s note.”
Dom didn’t argue, which was a smart move. Madden had a unique skill when it came to breaking bad news to their hormonal pack mate; they’d been friends since they were little girls. They wore their history like a soft quilt. Everyone could see the easy way they had with each other.
“But I actually came here for Penelope.” Madden smiled, extending her hand. “Molly brought some mats home from the studio and since we can’t really leave the house, we thought we could do some yoga on the back deck.”
Pen hopped to her feet, brushing Baze’s shoulder as she walked toward the door. He reached for her hand, stopping her before she was out of sight. Their eyes locked for a brief moment, and then she was gone.
He let out a deep breath and sat down in the chair she’d vacated, quickly drawing in the sweet scent she left behind. He’d been on his way to find her, to talk to her. To spend time with her. To do the right thing, to do what she’d asked. To win her heart back.
“Well, you certainly look mated.” Dom sat down in the second chair, kicking his feet up on Jace’s desk, ignoring his snarl of protest.
Baze leaned his head back, rolling to the left to see his friend. “And how’s that?”
“Irritated and in love.” Dom winked. “How’s she doing with all this?”
He shrugged. “Pen’s a strong girl, she’s fiery. When we’re alone, she hands me my ass on a platter, but I know she feels off balance being here. She was thrown, quite literally, back into my life and neither one of us is too sure what happens next.”
“What do you want?” Dom asked. “I mean, you call her your mate. Are you going to complete the bond?”
Baze glanced at Jace, who was typing away on one of his two keyboards, seemingly ignoring their conversation about love and claiming. “I want to, of course I do. But Pen is hesitant.”
Dom tilted his head toward Baze. “You can’t blame her though.”
Baze shook his head. “No, I don’t blame her one bit.” He liked that Dom was on Pen’s side, and that he was making sure Baze was doing the right thing. As if he was treating her like pack already. “But I feel on edge, my shifter is going crazy.”
“You know what you need?” Both Dom and Baze turned their attention to Jace when he suddenly joined the conversation. “You need to beat the hell out of something.” He stood. “Let’s go work on Ox a little before dinner.” He grabbed a key from a hook on the wall and then walked out the room, not waiting for Baze to follow.
“There’s something wrong with that kid.”
Maybe Dom was right, maybe there was something wrong with Jace. But in that moment, beating the hell out of a bad man sounded pretty damn good.
Chapter Sixteen
Penelope
“You do yoga often? Your practice is really beautiful.” Molly was standing at the edge of the wooden deck, the sunset backlighting her and making her look like an ad for some sort of herbal tea people sell on Instagram.
Penelope finished her last salutation and sat down cross-legged on her mat. “I’ve been living in some pretty remote villages. It wasn’t really safe to go on long runs by myself and there certainly weren’t any gyms around.” She shrugged. “Yoga became my go-to form of exercise.”
“It shows.” Molly took a sip from a mint-colored steel water bottle, then sat on her mat. “Where all have you lived?”
Corey and Madden were seated now as well; everyone’s attention was on her. The newcomer, the outsider. She hated feeling like she didn’t belong and she suddenly wished that Baze was here. “I’ve spent most of my time in South Africa. I joined Doctors Without Borders as a volunteer when I graduated high school.”
“Wow, really?” Madden’s eyes went wide with excitement. “I always toyed around with the idea of doing that. I love to travel, and I’m a nurse. It was on my to-do list for life, until I ended up here and met Linc.” She laughed a little. “I think if I tried to move us across the country and Linc had to give up his fast cars and expensive shaving cream, he’d go crazy.”
Doctors Without Borders wasn’t an easy way to spend one’s time. It was grueling work, day in and day out. But to Pen, it’d always been worth it. The only reason she’d left South Africa was because she had wanted a change of scenery. She wasn’t quite ready to head to the states, but Mexico was a lot closer than she’d been to her father in ten years.
“Tell us what Baze was like when he was a teenager.” Corey was lying flat on her back, fanning herself with her hand.
Molly got up and rolled Corey to her left side, the slapped her on the ass playfully. “Yeah, Baze never talks about his past.”
She didn’t blame them for being curious. The way Baze acted around his pack was completely at odds with the boy she’d known in high school. Here he seemed mysterious and broody. Back home, ten years ago, he’d been funny and happy. Light. More Jasper than Jace if she was going to make any comparisons.
“Baze was fun, he was energetic. He liked to laugh, and he liked to joke around. He was kind, and romantic. He used to take me on these dates that would make me swoon.”
Pen smiled, getting lost in one of her favorite memories. “One time he took me on a hike into the woods. It seemed like we hiked for miles and miles, and when I thought I was going to collapse, we came to this clearing. He’d hiked up there first thing that morning and set up this amazing picnic for the two of us. He was always doing things like that, finding moments for us to be alone. Finding these remote locations so my father wouldn’t know.”
They’d been so careful. They’d worked so hard to keep their relationship a secret. Had her father always known? Had he always been one step ahead of them?
“It must have been hard to be apart.” Molly reached out and touched Penelope’s hand, sending her a sympathetic smile.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through.” Penelope shook her head. “We were going to mate the night my father found us. Baze wanted to make it special, and then…” And then he’d literally been pulled from her body and tossed aside like he meant nothing. She’d never seen those men before, the ones who were holding Baze back that night. “My father sent me away, and that was the last time we ever saw each other.”
“Until you were kidnapped, kicked around, and thrown to the wolves.” Corey pushed herself up to a sitting position. “So let’s cut to the chase before I go into labor from heat exhaustion.”
“Corey. It’s seventy degrees out here, I’m about to go get a sweater.” Madden rolled her eyes behind Corey’s back. “What my overly pregnant and a little bit rude friend is trying to ask you is, do you still love him?”
Had they brought her out here for her second interrogation of the day? Was she going to be questioned the whole time she was being kept in this house? She wasn’t mad, but suddenly she was so very tired. She’d had a rough week, and the moment she’d found a small amount of peace they’d gone in for the kill.
“Baze doesn’t open up to any of us. But we love him just the same, you know? He’s family, and I think that what Corey and Madden are saying is we don’t want to see him hurt.” Molly rose from her mat a second time, coming to sit next to Penelope, taking her hand. “Please don’t be mad, they shouldn’t have asked like that.” She gave Corey a hella glare.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’m hot and hungry and my back is killing me.” Corey sent Pen an apologetic shrug. “Are you going to break his heart? Do you have some guy out there waiting for you?”
“No, there is no guy out there waiting for me. There’s never been anyone else, not since Baze.” How could there be? She kept herself too busy for romance, burying herself in other people’s problems so she didn’t have to look at her own. Sure, she had men ask her out, and sure, she flirted. And maybe she’d made out with a few of those men. But the truth of the matter was that she was a twenty-eight-year-old (for all int
ents and purposes) virgin, and that had everything to do with how much she still loved Baze.
“I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now, seeing him again after all this time.”
Molly, she liked. She was kind and her tone was soothing. Madden and Corey were a bit on the abrasive side, and Pen wasn’t ready to deal with any sister types. Especially considering Baze didn’t have sisters, and those two didn’t really have any pull over her at all.
“It’s hard. I haven’t seen him in ten years. He still thinks of me as his mate, but I don’t even know him anymore.” She glanced at Corey, still annoyed with her attitude from a few minutes ago. “I was raised in shifter culture, I went to a shifter school. I know that even though our bodies will demand the bond, we don’t have to give in.” There, take that, human chicks. “If I need time to feel comfortable with my decision, then Baze will give it to me. His shifter will make sure he does.” Penelope would bet money that none of these females had been given that luxury.
“Keller accidentally claimed me, but it was mostly my fault.”
Her eyes shot over to Molly. “What?”
“The pain, it was so intense. And I kind of climbed on top of him in my sleep to make it stop.” She chuckled lightly. “It seems so silly when I say it out loud like that.”
“Are you happy?” Penelope knew the bonding would only work with your true mate, so Molly and Keller would have ended up together eventually.
“I am. I love Keller, and if I could go back and change things, I wouldn’t. But I understand where you’re coming from, Pen, I do. You knew Baze and you were in love with him. From what you’ve told us, the guy you were ready to mate with and the man who is here today seem like two different people.”
“Molly’s right.” Corey put her hand on her round belly. “The man you’re with now must seem like a stranger to you. You and Baze have more history between you than I have with my mate. I shouldn’t have been so brass.”
“Do you know any other way, preggo?” Madden sent Corey a sarcastic grin, and then turned toward back to Pen. “We’re all in this together right now, and we’re here if you need us.”